Listen to a reading of this article: Criticizing your government is propaganda. Disagreeing with neocons is supporting fascism. Opposing an empire is defending tyranny. Seeking de-escalation causes escalation. Nuclear brinkmanship is safety. Diplomacy is appeasement.
To name but two recent examples, the United States invaded Panama and Grenada for less.
Not to mention threatened WWIII over Cuba.
And if, for example, Russia were to sponsor a blatant coup by French Canadian radicals to hijack the Ottawa government and frenchify the rest of Canada at gunpoint and rabidly oppose les pigdogs plusgrandes Americaines, you can bet your bottom dollar that Washington would not waste a minute before it invaded.
I was thinking about this just now, and there must be a stronger word than "provoked".
The US wanted this war. It planned, funded, trained, weaponized, propagandized, fomented uprising and coup, overthrew a government, and installed a puppet regime to produce this war.
All that seems to go well beyond mere "provocation".
The decision to end one’s life is personal, but there seems to be one or two things that many attempted suicides have in common. When the mind is overrun by an inability to reconcile what was once perhaps certainty with overt strands of contrary thoughts and realizations, the rationale for acting (living) may lose its voice. In this respect, the thoughts and ideations and aspirations and judgements about self, about right and wrong...about what matters most, weigh more on the individual than the prospect of divining what is real and what is objectively true.
I have met more than a few people who are so emotionally invested in their immutable truths, from their religious beliefs to their perceptions of their own character to their self-identity as Americans, that arguing about what is right or what is reasonable or what is fair is not penetrating their emotional armor. In this context, facts seem to be irrelevant. And this is where propaganda is so effective and so pernicious.
I wonder if the “average” apolitical American who questions nothing beyond what’s on the dinner menu...I wonder if he/ she has noticed how this current war is being chronicled in incessant, unsparing storytelling as no war has ever been reported. It’s as if the media has been unleashed to tell Americans all about this war, when 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan featured paltry interviews with generals and politicians, all prosecuting a war against, we were told, terrorists. (If Shock and Awe was not an unnecessary, “unprovoked” colossal act of terrorism, what was it?) If even the most apolitical of our fellow citizens cannot tell that their attention to this war is being drawn with purpose to keep them on the “right track,” they are exercising blind faith in their government and media, and are immunized against reality.
I dropped a link to a provocative article that I read recently which addresses the proxy war, the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline, and how it will change the face of Europe. Having to purchase fuel from the U.S. will significantly impose on German manufacturing and that in turn will ripple through the continent. The road to a fascist Europe, including a fascist Germany has gotten much less complicated. The boomers who think Putin is Hitler, may live to see another Fuhrer, and if Europe goes that way, V. Putin might become the most reasonable, most centrist leader in Europe!
One of your best posts ever and that’s saying something!
People need to speak out otherwise only those who wish to hide the truth will be heard. It’s part of personal integrity and responsibility. It won’t make you popular and you will lose friends, but they are already lost to societies conditioning anyway.
The US needs war, wants war, relies on war. Without the Military Industrial Complex and the huge revenue it generates America would go bankrupt. So they need to be at war constantly and they are. This is just a variant a ‘proxy war’. All the profit from kit, advisors supplies etc but no body bags coming home as Ukrainian blood is spilt. In a country that most American citizens couldn’t find on a labelled map. Good chance to prep and make pacts for the coming imperial war with China using Taiwan as an excuse.
The other added benefit is ‘bear baiting’ draining Russia financially, militarily and making them the bad guys again since the farce of attempting to keep the Cold War going failed. But the bear has been very restraint, to people seriously believe that they could not over run the entire Ukraine in a week if they wanted to? The Ukraine forces are entrenched mainly in civilian areas and Russia doesn’t want a blood bath.
All they simply requested was that the Ukraine remain an independent Sovereign nation free from NATO. Thus providing a buffer zone rather than toe to toe borders and the problems it brings. Sadly now the Ukraine has lost its Sovereignty to Western bankers. They will never even pay of even the interest on their debts, they are owned.
Thank you. And a mystery — if our beloved US is basically - a bipartisan fascist non-democracy - why is it fashionable for GOP RINOs to call fascist Democrats — communists (?!) and “left” (?!) ?
I'm going to screenshot those last 3 paragraphs for the "spiritual" people in my Facebook group who think I am anti-war and anti-nuclear brinkmanship because I "have not made peace with death". Thanks for all you do.
Intimacy is established first and foremost by one’s relationship with oneself. I think people (myself included) really fear their own demons more than another’s. But they project their fears outward and in so doing create self-fulfilling prophecies.
Fear of our own vitality is a sign of trauma, which runs deeply in our dna from eons of what we’ve done to each other. But we must build a bridge to our fearful disembodied selves if we hope to heal.
So yes to deeper intimacy, but this means deeper in-to-me-I-see. Facing our own shadows with love. And courage.
My absolute favourite is politicians(we know who) outright blaming Putin/Russia for their own steaming pile of shit policies. For Christ, Truss was only so far as saying it was Russias fault for her pathetic 44 day attempt at Prime Minister
The biological addiction analogy seems appropriate here in understanding "people who've spent their entire lives marinating in US propaganda." If one's brain is addicted to opioids, the brain receptors for its own internal opiates (endorphins etc.) become desensitized. By analogy, marinating in a society perennially at war desensitizes those brains to the internal logic that their society could possibly be a major causal source for international conflict. To the opioid addict, drug-addled behavior is normality; by analogy, to the propaganda-marinated, war-driven madness seems like standard international relations. Given the difficulty of detox, one wonders how the mass of propaganda-drugged individuals in US society (and beyond) can possibly be healed. I want to say that love is the answer, but I wish I believed it operationally.
Caitlin, O Caitlin. Once again, you hit the nail squarely on the head. You do know how reassuring it is (even in this disturbing time) to know there are others who are both seeing with clarity the truth of what is going on and saying it clearly? Thanks, sister!
There's what, 60 LNG tankers stuck ALL around Europe, unable to get planet destroying FRACKED cargos re-gassified (8-9 are US, stranded off Spain?) How many of these sitting targets have ANY security against nazi dicks with Javelin or other US taxpayers' $78K missiles?)
US Launched 251 Military Interventions Since 1991, and 469 Since 1798
The US military launched 469 foreign interventions since 1798, including 251 since the end of the first cold war in 1991, according to official Congressional Research Service data....so , one need about IQ of 36 to see this!, but according to G. Carlin 'educated American', and about half(? maybe more) of eu!....when you have sheep's they can only graze grass, you have adequate product.....so.....not that sheeps are bad, but limited, by brain spam! ....
Energy flows where attention goes. Focus on what we want. Love and peace. Health and healthy habitats. Freedom which requires free speech and a free press. Matt Taibbi did an interesting interview with Tim Robbins about The Art of Finding Common Ground. Robbins had the grace to admit he was wrong.
To name but two recent examples, the United States invaded Panama and Grenada for less.
Not to mention threatened WWIII over Cuba.
And if, for example, Russia were to sponsor a blatant coup by French Canadian radicals to hijack the Ottawa government and frenchify the rest of Canada at gunpoint and rabidly oppose les pigdogs plusgrandes Americaines, you can bet your bottom dollar that Washington would not waste a minute before it invaded.
I was thinking about this just now, and there must be a stronger word than "provoked".
The US wanted this war. It planned, funded, trained, weaponized, propagandized, fomented uprising and coup, overthrew a government, and installed a puppet regime to produce this war.
All that seems to go well beyond mere "provocation".
Anyone got a better word?
The decision to end one’s life is personal, but there seems to be one or two things that many attempted suicides have in common. When the mind is overrun by an inability to reconcile what was once perhaps certainty with overt strands of contrary thoughts and realizations, the rationale for acting (living) may lose its voice. In this respect, the thoughts and ideations and aspirations and judgements about self, about right and wrong...about what matters most, weigh more on the individual than the prospect of divining what is real and what is objectively true.
I have met more than a few people who are so emotionally invested in their immutable truths, from their religious beliefs to their perceptions of their own character to their self-identity as Americans, that arguing about what is right or what is reasonable or what is fair is not penetrating their emotional armor. In this context, facts seem to be irrelevant. And this is where propaganda is so effective and so pernicious.
I wonder if the “average” apolitical American who questions nothing beyond what’s on the dinner menu...I wonder if he/ she has noticed how this current war is being chronicled in incessant, unsparing storytelling as no war has ever been reported. It’s as if the media has been unleashed to tell Americans all about this war, when 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan featured paltry interviews with generals and politicians, all prosecuting a war against, we were told, terrorists. (If Shock and Awe was not an unnecessary, “unprovoked” colossal act of terrorism, what was it?) If even the most apolitical of our fellow citizens cannot tell that their attention to this war is being drawn with purpose to keep them on the “right track,” they are exercising blind faith in their government and media, and are immunized against reality.
I dropped a link to a provocative article that I read recently which addresses the proxy war, the destruction of the Nordstream pipeline, and how it will change the face of Europe. Having to purchase fuel from the U.S. will significantly impose on German manufacturing and that in turn will ripple through the continent. The road to a fascist Europe, including a fascist Germany has gotten much less complicated. The boomers who think Putin is Hitler, may live to see another Fuhrer, and if Europe goes that way, V. Putin might become the most reasonable, most centrist leader in Europe!
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2022/10/25/why-germanys-pursuit-toward-peace-in-ukraine-is-paralyzed/
One of your best posts ever and that’s saying something!
People need to speak out otherwise only those who wish to hide the truth will be heard. It’s part of personal integrity and responsibility. It won’t make you popular and you will lose friends, but they are already lost to societies conditioning anyway.
The US needs war, wants war, relies on war. Without the Military Industrial Complex and the huge revenue it generates America would go bankrupt. So they need to be at war constantly and they are. This is just a variant a ‘proxy war’. All the profit from kit, advisors supplies etc but no body bags coming home as Ukrainian blood is spilt. In a country that most American citizens couldn’t find on a labelled map. Good chance to prep and make pacts for the coming imperial war with China using Taiwan as an excuse.
The other added benefit is ‘bear baiting’ draining Russia financially, militarily and making them the bad guys again since the farce of attempting to keep the Cold War going failed. But the bear has been very restraint, to people seriously believe that they could not over run the entire Ukraine in a week if they wanted to? The Ukraine forces are entrenched mainly in civilian areas and Russia doesn’t want a blood bath.
All they simply requested was that the Ukraine remain an independent Sovereign nation free from NATO. Thus providing a buffer zone rather than toe to toe borders and the problems it brings. Sadly now the Ukraine has lost its Sovereignty to Western bankers. They will never even pay of even the interest on their debts, they are owned.
Thanks for trying to talk some sense into "Westerners". You are one of the few journalists who gets it and continues to cry out to the world.
Thank you. And a mystery — if our beloved US is basically - a bipartisan fascist non-democracy - why is it fashionable for GOP RINOs to call fascist Democrats — communists (?!) and “left” (?!) ?
I'm going to screenshot those last 3 paragraphs for the "spiritual" people in my Facebook group who think I am anti-war and anti-nuclear brinkmanship because I "have not made peace with death". Thanks for all you do.
Intimacy is established first and foremost by one’s relationship with oneself. I think people (myself included) really fear their own demons more than another’s. But they project their fears outward and in so doing create self-fulfilling prophecies.
Fear of our own vitality is a sign of trauma, which runs deeply in our dna from eons of what we’ve done to each other. But we must build a bridge to our fearful disembodied selves if we hope to heal.
So yes to deeper intimacy, but this means deeper in-to-me-I-see. Facing our own shadows with love. And courage.
My absolute favourite is politicians(we know who) outright blaming Putin/Russia for their own steaming pile of shit policies. For Christ, Truss was only so far as saying it was Russias fault for her pathetic 44 day attempt at Prime Minister
The biological addiction analogy seems appropriate here in understanding "people who've spent their entire lives marinating in US propaganda." If one's brain is addicted to opioids, the brain receptors for its own internal opiates (endorphins etc.) become desensitized. By analogy, marinating in a society perennially at war desensitizes those brains to the internal logic that their society could possibly be a major causal source for international conflict. To the opioid addict, drug-addled behavior is normality; by analogy, to the propaganda-marinated, war-driven madness seems like standard international relations. Given the difficulty of detox, one wonders how the mass of propaganda-drugged individuals in US society (and beyond) can possibly be healed. I want to say that love is the answer, but I wish I believed it operationally.
Caitlin, O Caitlin. Once again, you hit the nail squarely on the head. You do know how reassuring it is (even in this disturbing time) to know there are others who are both seeing with clarity the truth of what is going on and saying it clearly? Thanks, sister!
There's what, 60 LNG tankers stuck ALL around Europe, unable to get planet destroying FRACKED cargos re-gassified (8-9 are US, stranded off Spain?) How many of these sitting targets have ANY security against nazi dicks with Javelin or other US taxpayers' $78K missiles?)
This conflict has made me realise just how unbelievably dumb, so very many people are.
People who I once thought had some intelligence, have shown themselves to be blind, deaf and permanently asleep.
They are happy being fed their views by the BBC and the Guardian and never, ever stopping to question the obvious propaganda.
Trump, Covid, NHS, 2020 election, Vaccines, sportsmen dying, Sads, Ukraine, Putin.
Only the official narrative is received, while actual evidence is blocked and ignored.
That realisation has been quite liberating, in that I (mostly) no longer care if they live or die.
I know it's harsh, but a lot of humanity doesn't want saving, or deserve it.
US Launched 251 Military Interventions Since 1991, and 469 Since 1798
The US military launched 469 foreign interventions since 1798, including 251 since the end of the first cold war in 1991, according to official Congressional Research Service data....so , one need about IQ of 36 to see this!, but according to G. Carlin 'educated American', and about half(? maybe more) of eu!....when you have sheep's they can only graze grass, you have adequate product.....so.....not that sheeps are bad, but limited, by brain spam! ....
🥰 Inspiring...thanks Caitlin
Energy flows where attention goes. Focus on what we want. Love and peace. Health and healthy habitats. Freedom which requires free speech and a free press. Matt Taibbi did an interesting interview with Tim Robbins about The Art of Finding Common Ground. Robbins had the grace to admit he was wrong.