This is a joint investigation with the German news magazine Der Spiegel.
A TOP-SECRET U.S. intelligence document obtained by The Intercept confirms that the sprawling U.S. military base in Ramstein, Germany serves as the high-tech heart of America’s drone program. Ramstein is the site of a satellite relay station that enables drone operators in the American Southwest to communicate with their remote aircraft in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and other targeted countries. The top-secret slide deck, dated July 2012, provides the most detailed blueprint seen to date of the technical architecture used to conduct strikes with Predator and Reaper drones.
Amid fierce European criticism of America’s targeted killing program, U.S. and German government officials have long downplayed Ramstein’s role in lethal U.S. drone operations and have issued carefully phrased evasions when confronted with direct questions about the base. But the slides show that the facilities at Ramstein perform an essential function in lethal drone strikes conducted by the CIA and the U.S. military in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa.
The slides were provided by a source with knowledge of the U.S. government’s drone program who declined to be identified because of fears of retribution. According to the source, Ramstein’s importance to the U.S. drone war is difficult to overstate. “Ramstein carries the signal to tell the drone what to do and it returns the display of what the drone sees. Without Ramstein, drones could not function, at least not as they do now,” the source said.
The new evidence places German Chancellor Angela Merkel in an awkward position given Germany’s close diplomatic alliance with the United States. The German government has granted the U.S. the right to use the property, but only under the condition that the Americans do nothing there that violates German law.
The U.S. government maintains that its drone strikes against al Qaeda and its “associated forces” are legal, even outside of declared war zones. But German legal officials have suggested that such operations are only justifiable in actual war zones. Moreover, Germany has the right to prosecute “criminal offenses against international law … even when the offense was committed abroad and bears no relation to Germany,” according to Germany’s Code of Crimes against International Law, which passed in 2002.
This means that American personnel stationed at Ramstein could, in theory, be vulnerable to German prosecution if they provide drone pilots with data used in attacks.
While the German government has been reluctant to pursue such prosecutions, it may come under increasing pressure to do so. “It is simply murder,” says Björn Schiffbauer of the Institute for International Law at the University of Cologne. Legal experts interviewed by Der Spiegel claimed that U.S. personnel could be charged as war criminals by German prosecutors.
A top-secret slide confirms the central role Germany plays in the U.S. drone war.
RAMSTEIN IS ONE of the largest U.S. military bases outside the United States, hosting more than 16,000 military and civilian personnel. The relay center at Ramstein, which was completed in late 2013, sits in the middle of a massive forest and is adjacent to a baseball diamond used by students at the Ramstein American High School. The large compound, made of reinforced concrete and masonry walls and enclosed in a horseshoe of trees, has a sloped metal roof. Inside this building, air force squadrons can coordinate the signals necessary for a variety of drone surveillance and strike missions. On two sides of the building are six massive golf ball-like fixtures known as satellite relay pads.
In a 2010 budget request for the Ramstein satellite station, the U.S. Air Force asserted that without the Germany-based facility, the drone program could face “significant degradation of operational capability” that could “have a serious impact on ongoing and future missions.” Predator and Reaper drones, as well as Global Hawk aircraft, would “use this site to conduct operations” in Africa and the Middle East, according to the request. It stated bluntly that without the use of Ramstein, drone “weapon strikes cannot be supported.”
“Because of multi-theater-wide operations, the respective SATCOM Relay Station must be located at Ramstein Air Base to provide most current information to the war-fighting commander at any time demanded,” according to the request. The relay station, according to that document, would also be used to support the operations of a secretive black ops Air Force program known as “Big Safari.”
The classified slide deck maps out an intricate spider web of facilities across the U.S. and the globe: from drone command centers on desert military bases in the U.S. to Ramstein to outposts in Afghanistan, Djibouti, Qatar and Bahrain and back to NSA facilities in Washington and Georgia. What is clear is that most paths within America’s drone maze run through Ramstein.
Creech Air Force Base in Nevada is central to multiple prongs of the U.S. drone war. Personnel stationed at the facility are responsible for drone operations in Afghanistan — which has been on the receiving end of more drone strikes than any country in the world — and Pakistan, where the CIA has conducted a covert air war for the last decade. The agency’s campaign has killed thousands of people, including hundreds of civilians. Some drone missions are operated from other locations, such as Fort Gordon in Georgia and Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico.
The pilots at Creech and other ground control stations send their commands to the drones they operate via transatlantic fiber optic cables to Germany, where the Ramstein uplink bounces the signal to a satellite that connects to drones over Yemen, Somalia and other target countries. Ramstein is ideally situated as a satellite relay station to minimize the lag time between the commands of the pilots and their reception by the aircraft, called latency. Too much latency — which would be caused by additional satellite relays — would make swift maneuvers impossible. Video images from a drone could not be delivered to the U.S. in near real time. Without the speed and precise control an installation like Ramstein allows, pilots would practically be flying blind.
A diagram in the secret document shows how the process works. Ramstein’s satellite uplink station is used to route communications between the pilots and aircraft deployed in a variety of countries. Video from the drones is routed back through Ramstein and then relayed to a variety of U.S. intelligence and military facilities around the U.S. and the globe. Another diagram shows how pilots at Creech connect to Ramstein and then to the Predator Primary Satellite Link, which facilitates direct control of the drone wherever it is operating.
All of this — location, combined with the need to securely house the large quantities of equipment, buildings and personnel necessary to operate the satellite uplink — has made Ramstein one of the most viable sites available to the U.S. to serve this critical function in the drone war.
When the prominent German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the German public television broadcaster ARD published an expose on Ramstein in May 2013 and alleged that the base was being used to facilitate drone strikes, it created a massive controversy in Germany. The report spurred parliamentary investigations and calls for the U.S. to explain exactly what it was doing at the base. In response, the German and U.S. governments mischaracterized the reporting and the German government claimed it had no hard evidence of Ramstein’s role in lethal strikes.
A month later, in a June 2013 speech in Berlin, President Obama addressed the issue of Ramstein’s role in the drone war. He did not mention that the satellite relay facility at Ramstein enables U.S. drone strikes. Instead, he denied a claim that the journalists had not made: “We do not use Germany as a launching point for unmanned drones … as part of our counterterrorism activities,” Obama said.
President Barack Obama and Chancellor Angela Merkel (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
In response to questions for this article, Pentagon spokesman Maj. James Brindle echoed the precise language of previous government statements. “We maintain robust civilian and military cooperation with Germany and manage all base activities in accordance with the agreements made between the United States and German governments,” he said. “The Air and Space Operations Center at Ramstein Air Base conducts operational level planning, monitoring and assessment of assigned airpower missions throughout Europe and Africa, but does not directly fly or control any manned or remotely piloted aircraft.”
The German government has issued similar statements, saying no drone pilots are based at Ramstein and no drones are launched from the base. “The U.S. government has confirmed that such armed and remote aircrafts are not flown or controlled from U.S. bases in Germany,” government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said last year. In 2013, members of the Bundestag, the German parliament, submitted written questions to their federal government. “To the knowledge of the Federal Government, is it true that U.S. drone attacks in Africa could not be carried out without a special satellite relay station for unmanned flying objects in Ramstein?” the lawmakers asked.
“The Federal Government has no reliable information in this regard,” read the official reply. Pressed further on the satellite facility and its purpose, the government replied: “The Federal Government has no information regarding the installation of the satellite system or when it started operating.”
Internal German government communications provided to The Intercept by Der Spiegel show how some German officials tried and failed to get the government to confront the U.S. about what connection facilities in Germany had to drone strikes. According to a June 2013 document, a senior Foreign Office official, Emily Haber, advocated demanding a clear answer from Washington about the role U.S. facilities in Germany played in drone strikes. Haber was overruled: “The Federal Chancellery and the Defense Ministry would prefer to ‘sit out’ the pressure from parliament and the public,” the response read. The unofficial German-U.S. agreement appears to amount to a “don’t ask, don’t tell” understanding.
While most, if not all, of the official statements by both governments may be technically true, it is also true that without the base, it would be very difficult for the United States to sustain the current drone war. The slide deck contains an array of arrows showing the complex system used to operate drones across the world. In the end, all arrows point to Ramstein. “Everything relies on Ramstein and Creech as central hubs for communication” in both armed and unarmed drone operations, says the source. Aside from the possibility of using an undisclosed satellite uplink station, the only drone operations that would not rely on Ramstein in these regions would be those conducted via aircraft that have a line of sight to a ground control station.
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS in Germany, as well as opposition politicians, have long suspected that Ramstein has played a direct role in the U.S. drone war. They have called on the German government to stop allowing the armed U.S. drone program to operate from German soil.
Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the former director of the Combined Air Operations Center, accused such critics of the drone program of being influenced by “misinformation that’s provided by terrorist organizations that these things are being effective against.”
Deptula oversaw the implementation of the U.S. armed drone program starting in 2001. In an interview with The Intercept, he defended the use of drones. “Operations conducted by remotely piloted aircraft really are the most accurate and precise means of applying force,” Deptula says. “Why would the Germans want to shut down operations that effectively provide information to increase situational awareness of a community of nations that are trying to combat terrorism?”
Kat Craig, the legal director at Reprieve, an international human rights organization that represents victims of drone strikes in Yemen and elsewhere, said the notion that critics of the drone program are being manipulated by propaganda from terrorist organizations “would be laughable, were it not so offensive towards civilian victims of drone strikes.”
A new report from The Open Society Foundations, published this month, studied nine U.S. drone strikes in Yemen and found that 26 civilians were killed, including several children and a pregnant woman.
“It has become all too clear that, too often, those carrying out the strikes simply do not know who they are hitting,” Craig said. “This misguided campaign has been allowed free rein because it has been kept hidden from public scrutiny.”
Yemenis gather around a burned car after it was torched by a drone strike on January 26, 2015. Among the dead was a teenage boy. (AFP/Getty Images)
WHILE THE GERMAN government has so far managed to dodge questions on Ramstein’s role in drone strikes, the country’s judicial system may not have that option.
Two related cases have been winding their way through the German legal system. In 2010, a German citizen was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan. Two years later, a federal prosecutor opened a preliminary investigation “to examine whether Bünyamin Erdogan’s violent death qualified as a war crime under Germany’s international criminal code.”
The case was later dropped after investigators determined that at the time he was killed by a missile fired from a drone, Erdogan was not considered a civilian protected under international law. Rather, they asserted that he had been a “member of an organized, armed group that participated as a party in an armed conflict.” Pakistan, according to German interpretations of international law, is considered a war zone in cases involving known militants in certain areas.
German courts haven’t established whether other targeted countries, such as Yemen and Somalia, qualify as war zones. Last October, a Yemeni man whose relatives were killed in a 2012 U.S. drone strike filed a lawsuit against the German government. Faisal bin Ali Jaber said his brother-in-law, a well-respected moderate imam known for his anti-al Qaeda sermons, and his nephew were killed in a strike.
Jaber claimed the strike would not have been possible without the use of the satellite relay facility at Ramstein. “Were it not for the help of Germany and Ramstein, men like my brother-in-law and nephew might still be alive today. It is quite simple: without Germany, U.S. drones would not fly,” Jaber said at the time. “I am here to ask that the German people and Parliament be told the full extent of what is happening in their country, and that the German government stop Ramstein being used to help the U.S.’s illegal and devastating drone war in my country.” A member of Jaber’s legal team accused Germany of “hiding behind status-of-forces agreements,” saying the government should “admit its responsibility for civilian deaths caused by U.S. drone warfare.”
In response to the suit, the German defense ministry submitted a reply on behalf of the government, which is named as the defendant in the case. “The defendant denies, by claiming ignorance, that the satellite-relay-station in use on the air base transfers field data of unmanned aerial vehicles from Yemen to the U.S. or to other unmanned aerial vehicles and that the air base is a fundamental hub for the data transfer necessary to operate unmanned aerial vehicles in Yemen,” read the January 20 filing. As for the suit’s demand that Germany prevent the relay station at Ramstein from facilitating drone strikes, the German government stated that it could not be expected to act “as a ‘global public prosecutor’ towards other sovereign states and punish alleged infringements outside of their own sovereign territory.”
However, some legal scholars in Germany aren’t satisfied with that response. They argue that if U.S. personnel based at Ramstein are involved in what the government considers an extra-judicial killing in a non-declared war zone, they would not be entitled to immunity — at least not on German soil. The NATO Status of Forces Agreement explicitly grants German authorities the right to investigate members of the U.S. military suspected of having committed a crime.
To date, German prosecutors have shown little interest in pursuing such action. The German government position boils down to this: We have asked the U.S. if they are violating any agreements or laws and the Americans have said no. Case closed.
“What happens between the U.S., Ramstein and the drones is a division of labor in different locations,” says Wolfgang Kaleck, the head of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, one of the organizations bringing the Yemen suit against the German government. “The German government doesn’t ask tough questions because they obviously don’t want to know what really happens.”
Getty Images
GERMANY HAS FIGURED prominently in the American drone war from the very beginning.
In 2000, the U.S. Air Force launched an initiative to explore arming drones, the same year that the CIA — contemplating the assassination of Osama bin Laden — began using unarmed Predators to try to track the high-value target.
It was through this surveillance project that a scientist working with the CIA and the U.S. military devised a prototype for what would become the system for operating drones from half a world away that endures to this day.
Originally called “split operations,” the method involved drone pilots operating from Ramstein, while the actual aircraft would fly out of an airfield in Afghanistan’s neighbor Uzbekistan. From there, the drones could record live video over a complex near Kandahar where bin Laden was suspected of residing. “They chose Ramstein because that was the most convenient place where they could be on a very secure location and still reach a satellite that had a footprint that covered Afghanistan,” says Richard Whittle, author of the book Predator: The Secret Origins of the Drone Revolution. “And that worked.”
The successful development of the split operations was welcomed by those within the U.S. intelligence community who were pushing for authorities to assassinate bin Laden — it would make their mission easier to accomplish.
But plans to assassinate bin Laden with a Hellfire missile launched from a drone piloted from Ramstein hit a snag. “A Defense Department lawyer raised the issue that you couldn’t pull the trigger from German soil under the U.S. Status of Forces Agreement without telling the German government you were going to do it and getting their permission,” says Whittle. Fearing that the German government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would reject the proposal or that the existence of the facility and the plot to kill bin Laden would leak, the CIA went back to the drawing board. “You have to remember at that time, the whole idea of assassinating Osama bin Laden had a different feel to it than it did later after 9/11,” Whittle told The Intercept. “He was barely known among the general public. The whole idea of the CIA running a targeted killing was entirely different and there was a lot of hesitation.”
The CIA considered moving the ground control station to a ship in the ocean or to another European location. But all of those scenarios would come with risks and technical complications. In the end, the CIA decided to position pilots at a ground control station within CIA headquarters in Langley and then use fiber optic underwater cables to facilitate lightning fast communications between pilots in the U.S. and the drones they would control. The cable to Germany would be the artery connecting the pilots to the planes that would hunt bin Laden and other terror suspects. It would run from the U.S. to Ramstein, which would house a powerful satellite uplink that could hit satellites in Afghanistan. But the key was that the actual commands to deploy drones as weapons would be issued from American not German soil, thus freeing the U.S. from the obligation to get the Germans’ approval for the mission. The system was called “remote split operations.”
Soon after taking office in 2009, President Obama authorized an expansion of the drone war, including opening new fronts in Somalia and Yemen. But the U.S. military discovered a gap in its satellite coverage. So, in early 2009, after “an urgent call from the Pentagon’s Joint staff,” a commercial satellite provider, Intelsat, shifted its Galaxy-26 satellite from the U.S. to orbit over the Indian Ocean. This repositioning of the Galaxy-26, which could be reached by U.S. drone operators by using the relay station at Ramstein, facilitated the rapid expansion of the U.S. drone program.
Former drone sensor operator Brandon Bryant, who conducted operations in Yemen, Afghanistan and Iraq, said that without Ramstein, the U.S. would either need to find another base in the area, with the ability to hit satellites in the Middle East and Africa, or place U.S. personnel much closer to the areas they are targeting. “Instead of being able to be [inside the U.S.] with their operations, they would have to do more line-of-sight stuff, more direct deployments, more people going over there rather than [operating] in the states,” Bryant, who has become an outspoken critic of the drone program, told The Intercept. The U.S. is “doing shady stuff behind the scenes like using satellite and information technologies that, if able to continue being used, are going to just continue to perpetuate the drone war,” he charged.
“Ramstein is the focal point for drone communications,” says Dan Gettinger, co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. “If the communications infrastructure didn’t exist, the drone would be just a remote control plane, a toy basically.” It is “more important to the drone operations than the weapons a drone carries.”
The top-secret slides show how embedded Ramstein has become in the drone war. They describe in detail the system by which a geolocating device affixed to the drone feeds back to a satellite and down to the station at Ramstein. The GILGAMESH platform, which The Intercept first reported on in February of 2014, utilizes a device placed on the bottom of the drone. It operates as a fake cell phone tower, forcing individual mobile phones of targeted individuals to connect to it so that their location can be pinpointed and used in “find, fix and finish” missions.
The slides show that GILGAMESH operations ran out of several sites, including Djibouti, a base from which the U.S. has launched drone aircraft into Somalia and Yemen. The slides also describe how drones are equipped with a collection platform, “AIRHANDLER,” which relays data back to ground control stations via Ramstein.
Construction on the Satellite Relay Facility at Ramstein. (Image: Josh Begley)
RAMSTEIN IS NOT the only crucial U.S. military installation in Germany. The U.S. has a separate key facility an hour away, in Wiesbaden, Germany, called the European Technical Center (ETC). According to a previously reported classified document provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the ETC “is NSA’s primary communications hub in that part of the world, providing communications connectivity, SIGINT collection, and data-flow services to NSAers, warfighters and foreign partners in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.”
In the top-secret drone architecture slide deck obtained by The Intercept, the ETC is shown as having satellite links to Bagram air base in Afghanistan as well as a fiber optic connection to the NSA’s counterterrorism facilities in Georgia, where many GILGAMESH operators supporting drone operations are based.
As the U.S. expands the global reach of its drones, Ramstein is poised to play a crucial role in new war frontiers. Last June, the Air Force awarded a contract to a major satellite provider that boasts that it “leverages our global satellite fleet to provide communications capability” for drones. The contract will support the operations of the Germany-based U.S. Africa Command. “Work will be performed at Ramstein Air Base, Germany and the western portion of Africa,” the contract announcement states.
In 2011, the Air Force requested $15 million to build a center similar to the Ramstein satellite facility at a U.S. military base in Sigonella, Italy. As of November 2014, according to a U.S. military contracting document, the project was still in a pre-solicitation stage and construction had not been completed. The Air Force’s request for funding of the station underlined the centrality of Ramstein to all current drone operations. It asserted that the proposed Italy site would “act as a back-up system to the Ramstein site to avoid single point of failure.”
———
Additional reporting by Ryan Devereaux, Laura Poitras, and Josh Begley. Margot Williams, Sheelagh McNeill, Alleen Brown, Andrea Jones, Sharon Weinberger, and Henrik Moltke contributed to this story.
Illustration: Connie Yu
“btw: it’s approved that german army “marks” targets 4 drone strikes…”
https://twitter.com/designieure/status/591663201542082561
good report
good report
It wasn’t difficult to predict that a Germanwings plane goes down as pressure mounted on the German government to proceed with legal action to force the us to remove drone operations from Ramstien.
https://www.facebook.com/andy.lewis.3785
yeah yeah, but what’s wrong with the drone program anyway?
Consider “signature strikes” – which arbitrarily decide someone (usually some guys in a truck) are suspicious in some behavioral way. This then becomes the way the ‘suspicious’ suddenly become “militants” who can then according to Obama/CIA logic be killed by drone. Often the actual identities of the men (and sometimes women and children) are not known at all by the drone-operator or his/her commanders.
And consider “double-taps” where a drone strike is quickly followed by another one in the presumption that only undesirables worthy of death would try to rescue or tend to any wounded in the initial explosion.
And consider that some of the intel to “identify” targets has come from the ground level of untrustworthy informants and others who may well have personal agendas or vendettas against some in the community, falsely accusing them of being terrorists.
And consider that according to the US (again Obama/CIA ‘logic’) every male “of military age” (basically anyone over 14 or so) killed by drone and other “targeted” operations is counted as a “militant,” whether they were specifically targeted or not, indeed whether they were any kind of militant or not.
Also, consider that just plain stupid mistakes are made by drone operators, their supervisors and the technicians in related countries (like Germany).
Drone strikes: regular people, from all walks of life, from religious practitioners to goat herders, are swept up in a net of murder that is far less discerning than is claimed.
But Obama doesn’t want more inmates at Gitmo, which was another wretched way of illegally taking people from the “possible problem file” to the “possible problem incapacitated” file, so he does things this way – which is evidently not better by any stretch except in terms of convenience for the establishment.
But the idea that all or even most of those assassinated were an actual threat to the US rather than innocent or merely a potential inconvenience is laughable. With “targeted” killing, as with all its militarism, the US is plainly protecting the corrupt establishment’s ability to have full spectrum dominance, corporately and militarily, not protecting the American people or dealing with “terrorism” as Western propaganda defines it.
.
“yeah yeah, but what’s wrong with the drone program anyway?”
This !!!
American, Italian Hostages Killed in CIA Drone Strike in January :
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/23/politics/white-house-hostages-killed/
Germany’s sovereignty restricted by US and allies, insider’s book claims
http://rt.com/usa/germany-us-pact-komossa-978/
[Journalist] of Major German Newspaper Says He Planted Stories for the CIA
http://www.globalresearch.ca/editor-of-major-german-newspaper-says-he-planted-stories-for-the-cia/5429324
Video at the end of the text.
Dear Intercept journalist,
Thank you very much for existing. Thank you very much for your open eyes, open mind and realistic point of view of what America has become since the overall betrayer to democraty, G.W. Bush.
I am living in Europe, and without your light I would strongly believe that the neocons of America have changed that great Nation into something very comparable to North Korea. I read ver often your articles. I would love to have in Europe such strong journalist work. Unfortunately almost all are sold to the neocons philosophy as regards war, religion, science, climate change and financial economic casino.
Sorry for my english. I hope to be clear enough in expressing my admiration of your work.
All the best and keep on going with that
This is how Former German Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich defended the NSA surveillence in 2013 :
“Dieser edle Zweck, Menschenleben in Deutschland zu retten, rechtfertigt zumindest, dass wir mit unseren amerikanischen Freunden und Partnern zusammenarbeiten, um zu vermeiden, dass Terroristen, dass Kriminelle in der Lage sind, unseren Bürgern zu schaden.”
“This noble purpose, to save lives in Germany, justifies, at least, that we work together with our American friends and partners to prevent that terrorists, criminals are able to harm our citizens.” (English translation)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXjosDOUT4
Here is one who revealed war crimes & now needs our help:
Chelsea Manning, imprisoned in Fort Leavenworth military base, “is amassing a growing pile of legal fees. That mounting debt has reached over $100,000, and could stall Manning’s appeal process.”
http://sputniknews.com/us/20150422/1021199285.html
https://twitter.com/SaveManning
CraigSummers 2015 selected quotes ////// Collect It All /////////
Sunlight Disinfects™ H/T SP
“The US remains a bulls-eye for jihadists, but the American Muslim population is not a very good source to carry out attacks except for the occasional one like the Boston bombing – and that was by a pair of misguided Chechens who logically should have chosen a target in Moscow instead (Russia, not Idaho). Europe remains a hot bed for Islamism as the crackdown on terrorists returning from Syria has shown today in Belgian.”
Thanks
“The “hapless” Muslim defense. Sound familiar?”
Thanks
“Sting operations have been a part of law enforcement for a long time. They are used in all phases of law enforcement ranging from disaffected bootleggers to aimless car thieves to hapless pedophiles – not just to catch Islamic terrorists……..in some cases, a different guideline might be used for sentencing some of the less threatening convicted people (maybe just the ones limited to threatening Jews).”
Thanks
“One thing you, Nate and I have in common. We are about a half a world apart from Snowden. God I would do anything to watch Russian hockey – and with Putin at his side. It simply doesn’t get any better than that. It’s gotta be like watching the Super Bowl with Obama. Dreaming again.Take care.”
“His statements – at times – have been nearly indistinguishable from the statements of Bin Laden (remember the “cause and affect” versus “justification” argument?)”
Thanks
“The quote of Awlaki in the Scahill article (also after the Paris attacks) is a part of an anti Israel campaign which apparently includes collective punishment of Jewish people. It’s not just blind luck that Scahill did not even mention the Jewish target either.
To that end, Greenwald is politically motivated so I don’t view what he leaves out as an oversight, but as a carefully orchestrated. In that sense, not all collective punishment (or human rights) is treated equally by Greenwald. In fact, just the opposite.”
Thanks
“That’s a reasonable assertion for many people, but I’m skeptical about Greenwald. He has a long history of bashing western and Israel policies especially as it pertains to Muslims”
Thanks
“I don’t expect an “advocate” like Greenwald to cover important stories like the murder of the prosecutor in Argentina because it targets Iran for supporting terrorism against Jews – and the collective punishment of people just because they are Jews (even though – like in Paris – they might not even have been Zionists)”
Thanks
“That story simply doesn’t meet the political criteria for Greenwald – the human rights advocate. The Argentina government might have been complicit in covering up Iran’s role in the murder of 70(+) Jews which is probably why the prosecutor was murdered – but choose your poison. None of that matters at the Intercept.”
Thanks
“No news source that I have read propagates the propaganda of the Islamic terrorists like the Intercept:”
Thanks
“Finally, you would think that someone at the Intercept would acknowledge that innocent Jews were targeted in Paris. There is nothing that states your position quite like silence about innocent people targeted for murder even as you repeat the propaganda of Awlaki about US support for Israel.”
Thanks
“…..Because of how many times I’ve seen you be corrected numerous times about one issue after another repeatedly…..” ?Not this issue ~ craigsummers
Thanks
“I’ve only read one article by Mr. Devereaux – and it was the most cowardly article I’ve seen in a long time”
Thanks
“None of this justifies the creation of Israel at the expense of the Palestinians, but it does show exactly how hypocritical so-call “liberals” are. And I have no idea how you can impose “western values” on Israel considering how most western countries came into existence. No matter what anyone tries to tell me, when you single out Israel – the one Jewish state in the world – and degrade and delegitimze her Jewish character, then you are not only a fucking hypocrite, but an antisemite as well. Israel definitely deserves criticism for some of their policies concerning the Palestinians, but the Palestinians and Arab countries are not without blame in the conflict. That’s a certainty.”
Thanks
“When you cross the line from legitimate criticism of Israel i.e., wrongly taking Palestinian land, disproportionate responses and your focus becomes the internal criticism of Israel as a Jewish state; when you delegitimize the Jewish peoples right to self-determination – a right granted under the UN charter – then you cross the line into antisemitism. There is nothing unique about “hostility” directed at Israel, or “hostility” to the Jewish character of Israel – or “hostility” to the conspiratorial ideas surrounding Jewish power. That’s been a part of human history in one form or another for thousands of years. Now a days, this comes from the right – and the left.”
Thanks
“It’s not unusual for obsessive opponents of the legitimacy of Israel to support (inadvertently or purposely) the collective punishment of Jews”
Thanks
“That was a perfectly legitimate response by Israel in the face of total anihilation. And the wars in 1967 and 1973 – both brought on by Arab military mobilization and/or invasions were also instrumental in Israeli settlements activity. I’m not supporting Israeli settlements, but the Palestinians and Palestinian Arabs are going to have to accept some responsibility for their own actions”
Thanks
“You might not like me inferring that the Intercept supports the collective punishment of Jews, but it’s been fairly obvious”
Thanks
“I’ve cited it numerous times”
Thanks
“I’m tired of posting it over and over again. So who really is lying here? I will just wait until the appropriate time to re-post what I have posted before.”
Thanks
“Anti-Jewish bigotry is fine with you if you agree with the person politically”
Thanks
“I noticed a few “labels” being tossed around by your King – pigeonholing if you like.”
Thanks
“In general, people support empowering the intelligence agencies because of the threat of Islamic terrorism.”
Thanks
“That’s because I’m honest about the minimal US role in the Syrian war.”
Thanks
“A better question might be: has Greenwald ever a greed a with a US policy? Greenwald’s world view is fairly simple. Muslim violence is a response to US imperialism and the existence of Israel – no matter what the circumstance. You could probably apply this to other conflicts like Ukraine as well, but the Muslim Middle East and Islamic terrorism is his specialty – at least finding excuses to justify attacks against the west. Every once in awhile, he will acknowledge the brutality of Islamist like ISIS, but then retreat into his anti-western viewpoint with something like we are as bad or worse. I simply disagree with his extreme and simplified world view”
Thanks
“There are obviously no guarantees in intervention – or in non intervention.”
Thanks
“it’s antisemitic because Jewish power, Israel firsters and other conspiracies of Jewish control are behind his hatred for Jews”
Thanks
“What is amazing is the sound of the goose stepping from the mouseketeers.”
Thanks
“Despite what you think, you are about as far to the left politically as anyone I’ve discussed the issues with”
Thanks
“you don’t know a fucking thing about Ukraine. Can you even locate it on a map”
Thanks
“Sometimes your level of anti-Americanism surprises even me.”
Thanks
“Fair enough – now take off your anti-American blinders. The far left is fixated on American policies to the exclusion of human rights everywhere else in the world ”
Thanks
“You are no liberal, and you have no desire for truth or justice. That’s a certainty.”
Thanks
“Then you better find it and quote me. I’m not depending on your memory or mine for something I YOU say I said.”
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“The left (liberals) used to criticize all policies that were wrong – including US policies. The far left is obsessed by US policies”
Thanks
“that is typical of the radical left which opposes US policies under all circumstances ”
Thanks
“The US didn’t underwrite a coup. That’s another crock of bullshit. That doesn’t mean that the CIA wasn’t involved. However, you can just about bet the bank that the KGB….er. SVR was fully engaged”
Thanks
“while I support the Palestinian effort to take their case to the international arena to help pressure the Israelis, they have built the mud puddle they are wallowing in right now.”
Thanks
The BDS campaign is about dismantling the Jewish state. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thanks
“The response by Yousef Munayyer is exactly the way the Palestinians should approach this issue – politically (and peacefully). I have always supported that position. ”
Thanks
“There is no doubt that Hamas will attempt to provoke Israel into another confrontation for political reasons. The more Palestinian children that die, the better for their cause.”
Thanks
“The Palestinians gained politically by the remarks of Netanyahu, and they will continue to take their cause into the international arena. Limited sanctions will continue to grow. This is entirely predictable. However, there will be no return of Palestinian refugees to Israel. Immigration and land laws will continue to benefit Jews in Israel. Israel will remain a Jewish state until they freely decide to dismantle the borders.”
Thanks
“Dismantling of the Jewish state would of course cause a mass exodus of Jews who would be in serious danger from Sunni terrorists like Hamas and ISIS. BDS will not succeed in the way you hope, Mona”
Thanks
“There will be no avalanche of support for the BDS campaign because the goals are wrong (and unrealistic). Economic pressure can help establish a Palestinian state, however.”
Thanks
“As long as Islamists continue to make gains in the Middle East through violence – especially targeting Jews world-wide – right wing Jewish Israeli politicians will be able to aggressively promote their agenda.”
Thanks
“Europe has a major problem with Islamic extremism (Hapless Muslim Syndrome).”
Thanks
“As long as the threat continues to escalate, western governments will do what is necessary to “monitor” the source of the threat.”
Thanks
“Hamas continues the strategy of Arafat agitating Israel into confrontations for international support (political reasons).”
Thanks
“No one with the brain of a “caterpillar” could read it any other way”
Thanks
“Greenwald has a long history of explaining attacks against the west by Islamic terrorists as “cause and effect” – as opposed to justification.”
Thanks
“While it is a bit of jump from a quote about Israel’s covert support for anti-Iranian regime “elements”, it is not a stretch to suggest that Greenwald is trying to explain away Iranian development of nuclear weapons and support for terrorism against the state of Israel even as he tries to politically exploit the rift in US-Israel relations. Of course, if I hadn’t read Greenwald for the last two years, it would be a much more difficult leap.”
Thanks
“If Netanyahu has even the brain of a caterpillar”
Thanks
“Referring to Israel as an ethno-supremacist state (meaning European i.e., colonialism), or that Zionism equals racism while ignoring the obvious racism directed at Jews by the Palestinians and Arabs throughout the Middle East is what I am talking about?”
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“EXTREME LEFTISM BEGINS WITH EXTREME ANTI-AMERICANISM – and nobody exhibits that more than Greenwald”
Thanks
“You can tell by the amount of articles written by Glenn on on healthcare exactly where it stands in importance. The same goes for the civil liberties of Americans. It’s a sideshow for him – something to pay back our man in Moscow for turning over the stolen documents – and so he can use them for a political hammer like this article, for example (which has zilch to do with the civil liberties of Americans).”
Thanks
“You are a lost cause Mona. The sad thing is that you are supported by people on this site who provides you protection – including the biggest hypocrite on this site – sillywillyputty. Greenwald is a far left winger to say the least – as you are.”
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“Mona is the only person at this site that openly declares that AIPAC controls the Congress and the President of the US. She has been saying this for two years”
Thanks
“As long as you promote antisemitic tropes like Jews own the government; work in the interest of Israel over their own country; Zionism is racism etc., I will post similar far right anti Jewish bigotry from different far right hate sites so you can enjoy reading how similar the far right and the far left are in their goals for Israel. Post what you want in response. I don’t care.”
Thanks
“there is no difference between what Mona writes and a typical right wing hate site”
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“Hate is hate. You seem to be perfectly OK with far right wing hate – defending Mona regularly.”
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“That’s the point Mona. It doesn’t matter who post it. It’s ignorance and bigotry. There are plenty of ignorant bigots out there Mona and it doesn’t matter whether its comes from the far right or the far left.”
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“It’s kind of funny how you spend so much effort denouncing the “labeling” of people as “fringe”, “extreme”, “hard” and “far” left, but seem to accept the labeling of Jews without even a whimper of protest.”
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“……Bigotry is wrong, period, end of sentence. Are you suggesting that your ability to understand this simple concept is compromised?….” No, I’m suggesting that this simple concept is sometimes difficult to grasp for some posters at the Intercept. Thanks for your honesty because no one else has the guts to call this person out.
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“You can just about bet on a far left wing site that stereotyping of “certain” people is OK. Bigotry is fine as long as it’s anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism.”
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“The NSA documents simply add to Greenwald’s politically motivated anti-American articles – and his selective use of intelligence for political reasons. Because Greenwald (and the Intercept, in general) ignores civil liberties, human rights and the civil rights of people everywhere else in the world is for political reasons”
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“Personally, I don’t think there are any trolls on this site, but even if there are, so what? Just deal with their arguments. After all, even a paid troll has a political point of view.”
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“Sorry Mona. I have answered that question a hundred times – and I’m not playing his game. Sillyputty lied and he knows it – so there is nothing for me to respond to. I never expected any answers by sillyputty anyway. As in the past, he will have plenty of opportunity to enter into our future discussions about the Jewish state which he has entirely avoided. It’s also fairly clear that while sillyputty has not explicitly endorsed your bigotry, he implicitly endorses it. He is just a little cagier about hiding his positions – but they have been fairly clear for a long time (and they are more clearly exposed now). It really is quite simple to sniff out the far left Mona. Quite simple.”
Thanks
“I have zero problems answering sillyputty’s question. I’ve answered it already probably 50-100 times on different threads. However, I’m not going to help sillyputty out even in the least. I suspect he believes that there should be no Jewish state. Jews should not have a state of their own. Of course, like all fringe leftists, this applies to only one state in the world – Israel.”
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“Palestinians have reasons for their racist attitudes toward ISRAELI Jews, but the Saudis have no more of a reason for their hatred of Jews than Americans, British etc would have for hating Muslims after the creation of the Muslim state, Kosovo.”
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“as I have pointed out so many times, are your concerns about the oppression of the Palestinians or that there exist a “Jewish state”? Are you so concerned about a perfect democracy in Israel when democracies simply don’t exist in most places in the world let alone in the Middle East? The delegitimization of Israel has far less to do with the rights of the Palestinians than the Jewish character of Israel – and it is what extremist on the left have in common with the far right.?If your ultimate goal is to support a Palestinian state because Palestinian Arabs have the same right as Jews to self determination, then we agree on that. If you just seek to dismantle the Jewish state, then I really have nothing to say other than you are a common intolerant bigot like Mona. Simple.?Finally, Israel will remain a majority Jewish state well into the future – until the Jewish people decide on a bi-national state.?”
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“sillyputty can answer his own fucking question – and when he does the discussion can begin. However, the discussion is irrelevant since the Jewish state exist – and will exist – until the Jews of Israel vote otherwise. I think that a single state is a possibility, but not from a boycott and not anytime soon. There is absolutely no way with the current state of affairs in the Middle East i.e., the rise of the Islamists, that Israelis will vote for a single state solution – and Mona is dreaming if she believes that Europe and/or America will pressure Israel into a single state solution. Remember……Jews run US foreign policy, Mona.”
Thanks
“The article focuses on left wing antisemitism which – as a civil liberties loving liberal like yourself – certainly will be “unfamiliar” ground for you:”
Thanks
“The BDS campaign is simply about dissolving the one Jewish state in the world. Mona supports the BDS campaign because of that one goal – and she purposely lies about the similarities between apartheid South Africa and Israel to delegitimize Israel.”
Chlorine,
What’s your point pasting this here?
General
The same reason I post this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-FwKDLfd18
“….One thing you, Nate and I have in common…..”
Gold.
Keep truckin’
R
Keep on Keeping on.
http://www.edwinshirley.com/history/
Thanks
Chlorpromazine
I’m not quite sure why you posted all of that, but regardless of your reasons, if you are willing to go back and quote someone, try Benito. He is an amazing poster.
Funny you should say that… I completely agree. Benito is in a league of his own.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gnTXlzITqk
Was looking for the 100’s of times you had ‘answered’ SP’s question initially.
2014 is a bigger task… All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.
Cheers
Ha! Mussolini was wonderful, no?
Upon arranging your 2015 posts to read sans reply/out of context It did cross my mind that Benito looked at in the same way would be interesting. To attempt quoting what ‘he thinks’ would be less easy (sifting through elaborate sarcasm etc). . .
You are of course becoming ‘loved’ for speaking your mind alone…
I refuse to congratulate you on this however…
Mussolini was horrid… I expect his ‘parody’ here has him turning in his grave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mTxuYtFo0o
“Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” ~ Confucius
Worzel
Since 1776, the U.S. has been “at war” 93-% of the time. Post-WW2, the U.S. has not waged or participated in an honourable war/conflict/etc.
The victims change, but the USA’s game remains the same: “Spreading freedom and democracy” with bombs and bullets.
May god have mercy on our souls.
http://www.ivaw.org
.
How many people must the U.S. kill to avenge the 9/11 attacks?
NOTHING honorable about the US’s participation in World War II, above the level of the individual (misguided) martyr in the trenches.
I really gave this article and the information it contains a very long thought…
My FIRST reaction (of course) was: Yes,… maybe we (in germany) can stop this…or at least try to ;-)
BUT
On the 2nd thought… when your thinking includes the “big picture”… I there came up some disturbing points/obstacles I like to share:
1. You really need:
– a government who is willing to act (and except of a handful of countries I know… mostly the “bad 5″ like Russia, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Ecuador I know of no country who will do this … even if 90% of the world population KNOW that it would be the right thing to do.
– a juristical system that is willing to do so… as “officially” this is OK, as the US-Govt. tells everyone, and their lawyers tell so too…and technically the shooting is happening in America (the joystick guys in Nevada) etcpp.
2. Will it stop the rone-strikes ?
– Probably not, as they can move easily to Italy, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel or wherever … as they have US Bases in 120 Countries around the world anyway ! Or just put all the Tech onto a ship.
and 3. Even IF it will work out… It will for sahure not solve the main problem, that the USofA is the worlds greatest war-monger for nearly a century ! The number of victims lets Hitler look like a bloody amateur, the big business is profiting from every weapon sold and every bullet shot, and sadly all that power that comes with it shurely let all americans profit from it, as the one with the bigger gun always makes the rules, right ? So there is no way (or will) they will stop this ! There never was and there never will be !
Shure, we all can fool ourself by dreaming of a peaceful world without war and hunger and suffering and sickness and dream on about all of the nice things that could be… but thats what it is: A nice dream that will never be !
Because there will always be a bully, a guy who gains profit from the suffering of others, if you buy an iPhone which was made under “difficult” circumstances in a 3rd world country, or yozu buy a T-Shirt made in Thailand or Inia or Myanmar, it doesn’t matter because YOU don’t care… you really don’t give a shit as long as it is cheap and you can afford it ! And if you can not afford it you get a loan from the bank, right ? The same bank which finances all the suffering and exploring of the 2rd world countries, so you can have a nice life !
And even if there are 100 Snowdens or Mannings or Assanges… Who cares ? YOU for shure don’t ! So what ?
And for the less inteligent people, who didn’t get the point of my final conclusion I like to make it clear:
YOU ARE THE PROBLEM !!! And there is NOTHING “WE” can do about it, because there will always be some IDIOTS in this world ! Because YOU will be always greedy, egoistic, work for money to buy things you think you need (but you don’t)… to have a “nice life”… thats all what matters to YOU !
And THAT problem we can not fix, sorry !
:-(
Idiots aren’t omnipotent; they won’t necessarily rule forever. The first step in overcoming them is to withdraw your consent. Germany may not have the power to force the US to change its policies but it does have the power to state clearly and unequivocally that it opposes those policies and does not consent to having its territory used to enable illegal killings.
Also, herr Chris might want to let that big Bong rest for a minute.
Germany may not have the power to force the US to change its policies, but there are +/- approximately 193 sovereign nations around the world. *And because the world is round … it blows my mind. %^)
You should really watch the last Chomsky Interview: http://rt.com/usa/250729-complete-chomsky-rt-interview/
Final conclusion of Chomsky: ‘International law cannot be enforced against great powers’
In other words… They can do as they please and nothing will change !
So… dream on, or get realistic ! Saves you a lot of wsted time of your precious life ;-)
And that will change WHAT exactly ?
Or let me ask this: When was the USofA ever made responsable (for example at the ICC Court) for their actions ?
For the Drone-killings, or the nicaragua-Coup, or any other crime they did ? Right,… Null, Zero !!!
So what will change ? Dream on ! Hold up some posters on the street, elect someone else,… Whatever you will do… have phun ;-)
You have no power,…and every following generation will be lied to as they did to yours,… the wheel spins on and on… and when you get old you may recognize that you wated your time and the following generation do the same mistakes as you did eh´´when you were young and ambitious… get rich, try to change things,… whatever… but every civilization comes to an end… now hat the ocean is poisoned, you drinking water is rumming out (or is poisoned too), you food, your air… reminds me to an old pediction from a wise native american (another victzim of the US system… their first genocide): When the last tree has fallen,…
Satyagraha,
RCL
NYC District Attorney says new encrypted Iphone will be the choice of phone by “terrorists” because they “cannot be accessed by law enforcement”:
http://investmentwatchblog.com/district-attorney-says-encrypted-phones-may-make-you-a-terrorist-because-they-cannot-be-accessed-by-law-enforcement/
We’re all living in Amerika, Amerika ist wunderbar!
yeah,… Heil Führer of the Free World, God s(h)ave the Queen and all other MoFu’s of the 5-eyes ;-)
I think I need a bigger Bong too ;-D
As it hurts so much if you think about it with a clear head every day… this fucked-up world… really, I start to pray for a giant meteor to hit this rock !
That seems to be the only solution to all of this shit ;-) And then we can maybe start over in a few million years ?
Or maybe some intelligent lifeform will rescue us… but then they should come soon ! VERY SOON ;-)
For what it’s worth:- Go via Google Maps to Uzun Ada (= Long Island) in the Bay of Izmir and there, @ its south, one will encounter an array of a dozen or so large concave discs (cf. sunlight vs. shadow) pretty much identical to those seen here in the three 2005 / 2012 / 2014 Ramstein photos. This is exclusively a military [< NATO] island, so wossup?
Frau Merkel, Tear Down This (tell-tale hearts’) WALL! – EAP
BTW, “Game of Drones” : Grate reframe!
Jeremy Scahill, “You Rock!” lol So, more and more privatization of the USA’s government operations! How cozy for corporate America and their investors! Where will this unbelievable story take us from here? Hopefully a movie and a blockbuster book! Certainly not a favorable reading in some future history recolection!
It’s an odd disconnect between the Germany’s post-1945 vigilance about getting democracy right, and the casualness with which it now betrays its own public. If the German political elite believes that Germany can and should support US foreign policy initiatives, including drone wars, it should have the decency to apprise the public of that fact, not least in light of the questions about the legal legitimacy of that support. It’s worth mentioning, of course, that German leaders do not have a monopoly on contempt for the electorate.
Aren’t these the same documents revealed to reporters some time ago by Ed Snowden, as portrayed in the film, Citizen Four?
What a pricey overreaction – and then there’s the CIA signature deception that seems to control our foreign policy.
One day our allies aren’t going to be our allies anymore. I suppose that could be the source of this: a belief that we have enemies everywhere. It’s just a matter of time. In that way we look like we’re becoming more like Israel. Forget international opinion about what we do and how we do it- only crazed military solutions are on the table.
I think Israel’s abuse of Palestinians might be more motivated by the survival of their people than the US, though. Not that it would make what we’re doing any better if they were working for us. Our government corporate merge only requires that we stay out of what they’re doing lest they have to give us a reason to believe the propaganda.
US foreign policy seems to be in service to whoever is paying as well as creating a structure for business advantages as well as reacting to anticipated “defiance” and or war in the future.
Having to control everything looks very weak and ultimately is. The future for the people looks very disappointing, extremely depressing and at times terrifying.
It’s Muslim-on-Muslim violence with non-Muslims as collateral damage. Nuke ’em all and let Allah sort them out.
I think it is strange that Americans support drone attacks. We didn’t like it much when we were attacked by drones on September 11, 2001. And while the drones couldn’t have actually have brought down the towers, it was still annoying and provocative.
They say that the drone which hit the Pentagon took out the Pentagon’s accounting department.
Nice try Si1ver1ock…
But most Americans are addicted to the “Blue Pills” (See “The Matrix”) and have no desire for either truth or escape from illusion.
As such….the lies continue ad nauseum potentially to final nuclear dustification of most beings and the planet.
I hope for survivors who took the “Red Pill.”
You know, I’ve tried to figure out why it took me so long to catch on to the Truth. It sort of goes like this. I do my job and I just sort of expected others to do their job. It wasn’t that I was hiding from the Truth. It just wasn’t my job to investigate 9/11. It really was someone else’s job to have a criminal investigation, check for explosive residue and so on. I expected that the professionals would do their jobs.
Instead, what I see now is, across the board, system failures.
Congress is failing.
The Judicial system is failing.
Journalism is failing.
Department of Justice, FBI, etc is failing.
Banking system failed and is on life support.
NSA and CIA are failing.
The military has failed in Afganistan, Iraq etc.
SEC, Treasury , Federal Reserve etc.
Virtually all major institutions either have failed or are failing. That’s how we end up with someone like Obama ruling by decree. It’s the only thing left that works.
What is the big deal?!?
Aren’t Russians the ones we should be blaming for having some “pro-Russia” fellow such as Putin as their head of state? Who are we to blame Germans for still accepting being an occupied land after the Viederreignigung? Isn’t that their sovereign business?
“Technically”, all Germany is doing is transferring electromagnetic signals. They aren’t actually doing anything wrong after all. They aren’t the ones pulling the trigger, right?
Do you remember the parts about the collateral murder video:
~
http://collateralmurder.com
~
in which U.S. troops are actually having collective fun at killing unsuspecting people as if they were using computer games and how they were rationalizing their actions when some other people driving their kids to work tried to help people being shot at saying “well, they brought it to themselves” and saying that “we then brought the kids to the clinic (after killing their father and shooting at them)”? How humane of U.S. troops! The same video footage, by the way, for which Manning is serving a 35 year sentence “for breaking laws and regulations”. Of course, embedded “freedom-loving” U.S. journalists couldn’t see any of this. Poor them, they could have won a Pulitzer prize!
I wonder if their German “collaborators” are having collective fun as well.
Satyagraha,
RCL
“Viederreignigung”
amazing how your own mind plays games with you and, yes, they are in need of yet another thorough “Reinigung”
RCL
Well, not exactly!
Murder is what ISIS morally deafferented nuts do when they behead folks on camera in technologically unkosher ways and, on top of that, make it public on the Internet. Great Lord, how crazily terroristic those terrorists are!
When gringos murder people using drones (specially those killed in “double taps” (of course, the USG well knows those individuals must be their families or other people with some sense of humanity compulsively “acting without thinking”)) all they do is “spreading democracy statistically”, make sure “there is freedom in the Universe”, for “‘the’ greater good” as determined by their “duly elected representatives” …
Do you remember the parts about the collateral murder video:
~
http://collateralmurder.com
~
in which U.S. troops are actually having collective fun at killing unsuspecting people as if they were using computer games and how they were rationalizing their actions when some other people driving their kids to work tried to help people being shot at saying “well, they brought it to themselves” and saying that “we then brought the kids to the clinic (after killing their father and shooting at them)”? How humane of U.S. troops! The same video footage, by the way, for which Manning is serving a 35 year sentence “for breaking laws and regulations”. Of course, embedded “freedom-loving” U.S. journalists couldn’t see any of this. Poor them, they could have won a Pulitzer prize!
I wonder if their German “collaborators” are having collective fun as well. They aren’t actually doing anything wrong after all, right? They aren’t the ones pulling the trigger. “Technically”, all they are doing is transferring electromagnetic signals …
If you believe that one was just “an accident” sone simple 3rd grade Math will show to you that the prorated genocide of gringos and their “f#ck the EU” fiefdoms (including people inhumanely killed in concentration camps) have actually greatly surpassed Nazis’ and when Nazis were doing their “greater good” things they didn’t obfuscate over Afghanistan, Iraq … or care that much about “UN approval”:
// __ Adolf Hitler reads Roosevelts letter before Reichstag
~
youtube.com/watch?v=bqVc7kDtV_M
~
but went head on against Russia and kept “spreading democracy” even after the Red army put the killing ratio 1:1
~
Satyagraha,
RCL
Obamination !!!!!!!!!!!!
Two things to think about, which will make you even more sad probably on current state of the world…
1. The real “beauty” of killing the other people by drones is that actually nobody is responsible for any death. Before, while killing someone, you could at least have chance to “smell” and “feel” the death/ murder that you did. If it was a pistol, tank, knife, bomb or whatever. Now its like a computer game. Thats the true nature of this system…to dehumanize killing and strip it from any feelings that could lead to a doubt. Like someone said before – Nazis would be proud
2. The photo in that article shows some truck destroyed by drone attack, where some kid died. Now, who will know about his death ? It doesnt matter ! “Lets just concentrate on Boston marathon killing and make that most important problem in the world, just to rationalize and strength or policies and actions and our “war on terror”” – and this what Empire’s media do. Remember kids: live of one SSman is worth more than the life of 100 partisans/ peasants from that village god knows where. and the terrorist is everyone who is not willing to obey.
Germany is still occupied and has yet to regain its independence. One would have thought with reunification there is no longer a need for foreign troops. The Germans, to avoid complicity in, or the enabling of, war crimes, must evict the USG which has no legitimate “defense” presence.
How would you suggest the German government should go about evicting the USG from Germany? Calling up the fire department to flush them out? There are more than 270 American sites in Germany, not just Ramstein, where no German is even allowed to be near! That is not what I would recognize as free country. Yes, the Russians have left years ago and therefore have gained some reluctant admiration from me but the Americans, the French, the Brits, the Belgians and the Dutch are still there. Do you have the slightest notion at all what it means to be living in an occupied country, that is not even fully “reunified”? To me the Americans can go to hell, the sooner the better. Perhaps then the world can breath easier.
Well, here is a wild idea on how Germany could give the boot to the 270 American sites in Germany:
Have a freakin’ VOTE on it!
If the majority vote for them to go, then they go.
It seems I’m the only one here. Gottta get this off my chest:
American exceptionalism is another way of saying ‘Master Race.’
But the US establishment has learned from the Nazis’ mistakes (interestingly, by some very reliable accounts the US removed influential Nazis after WWII and took them to her corrupted bosom), and while continuously trying to instill militaristic fervor in the populace the establishment’s basic aim now is to keep people either apathetic or tribally loyal to one of the two parties owned by the establishment – rather than be obviously totalitarian and reactionary as a culture (which was stupidly attempted again in Cheney’s reign but predictably garnered too much criticism).
America – like Nazis, only more effective propagandistically and, functionally, unopposed militarily. What progress!
All the ‘fun’ of indefinite detention, torture, assassination, rendition, black sites, corporatism (fascism) and endless war, only with no Hitler!
“Anything you can V-2, I can drone better.” Come on, sing along!
SING! Obey the Fourth Reich!!!
I’m not sure what is it that amerika learnt from the nazis. The US was founded as a slave society, and carried her little genocides almost two hundred years before the nazis came to the scene. If anything, the nazis learnt from amerika.
Actually, not exactly!
Nazis, even if in their own crazy ways, were more honest than the U.S. government. Even their propagandistic b#llsh!t was more honest/less “freedom-lovingly” elaborate. They didn’t seem to care that much about “UN approval” based on “weapon of mass destruction” stories:
// __ Adolf Hitler reads Roosevelts letter before Reichstag
~
youtube.com/watch?v=bqVc7kDtV_M
~
and when they were into their “greater good” things they didn’t obfuscate over Afghanistan, Iraq, … but went head on against Russia and kept “spreading democracy” even after the Red army put the killing ratio at 1:1
Now, gringos “self-evidently” see themselves as “‘the’ land of ‘the’ free and ‘the’ ‘brave’ …” when all they have pretty much ever done (except when they fought off British occupation) is murdering and messing with people who can’t defend themselves on an equal basis. They call it being “responsible” and, apparently, they “self-evidently” believe their own b#llsh!t
Some 3rd grade Math will show you that the prorated genocide of gringos and their “f#ck the EU” fiefdoms (including people inhumanely killed in concentration camps) have actually greatly (7X) surpassed Nazis.
Satyagraha,
RCL
US worse than the Nazis? Wow, who knew?
The U.S. worse than the Nazis? Wow, who knew?
In case you aren’t one of those bots and NSA shills they use:
a) based on your command of the English language your educational level should be past 3rd grade, so, you should be able to do very basic Arithmetic and understand basic English grammar, enough to see “worse” is an adjective; exactly a comparative one
b) when you compare “The U.S.” (-government- you meant, right?) to Nazis, you should based your comparison on some measurable/tangible and contextualized aspect. Otherwise it is just a subjective opinion. In this case, since it is a war of people against people, you should compare the genocide on a societal level.
Again, some 3rd grade Math will show to you that the prorated genocide of the USG and their “f#ck the EU” fiefdoms have actually greatly (7X) surpassed Nazis (including people inhumanely killed in concentration camps).
I know most people have been brainwashed to the point of not being able to do “basic Math”, so, let me help those who think and are like you. Let’s calculate the prorated genocide of the abusive invasion of the U.S. government and their friends (including Germany)
Here is the data to check it yourself:
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~
// __ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
~
Third Reich in World War II (1939) Population: 84,000,000
Deaths (of their own): 8,000,000
death as % of population Third Reich total (population/deaths): (8,000,000 / 84,000,000): 8.0% to 10.5% prorated genocide as total deaths divided by the % of their own’s
~
Third Reich’s craze:
total # of people killed as a result of WWII: 70,000,000
prorated genocide by Nazis: 8,750,000
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~
// __ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
// __ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_Census
~
US 2000 Population: 281,421,906
Total Deaths of US troops: 4,460
death as % of population US total (population/deaths): =(4460/281421906)*100 = 0.001585%
prorated genocide as total deaths divided by the % of US deaths: 110,000 / 0.001585
prorated genocide by the USG: 69,400,631
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~
A simple division will let you see what I mean. That I will leave for you as homework, buster.
Now, if you are hungry for more homework. Could you explain to me the meaning of that “land of ‘the’ free” thing? When the U.S. is by far the country with the largest incarceration rate? Part of the homework this time is finding the data yourself in order to make that statement falsifiable and, no, the baseline information you will need to figure that one out you will not hear from FOX news anchors or celebrities. Sorry!
c) most people with a shred of morality would find abuse very fundamentally wrong. If you are “‘the’ brave …” (so you think) you are not supposed to prove it to yourself by attacking Afghanistan, Iraq, … but by attacking Russia, China … When you say that to gringos (I have as I am doing here) they say to you “but we must be ‘responsible'”. Yeah, right! How “responsible” is abusing people who can’t defend themselves on an equal basis!?!
Gringos even have their own cosmic, “philosophical” believes and rationalizations … They, the “good Christian nation” they are, say they hear “God” telling them things, such as, “to save ‘freedom’ in the Universe” (yeah, their Star Wars b#llsh!t ;-)), but when you ask them if they can physically record those conversations so that other people can actually hear “what ‘God’ tells them …” they look at you like “you don’t get it” …
Germany/Germans are one of my best known hells. I went to school in Germany and lived there for 4 years of my “impressionable” youth, so I smelled their sh!t pretty well.
// __ The everyday microaggressions I experience as a black woman in Berlin.
~
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/08/black-woman-in-berlin#comment-29660285
~
In fact, I think what infuriates the “freedom loving”, “morally superior” West about Germans is that they threw their party home (in Europe). They didn’t go all the way to Asia, Africa and “America” (the continent) to mess with and abuse inferior “savages”. Apparently, as “Aryan/white/blue eyes/superior” as they thought of themselves, they were not imaginative enough to get that “white man burden” b#llsh!t. That definitely was a breach of a long standing European “gentlemen agreement”.
My adorable ISM girlfriend (originally, an upper-middle class teenage brat who got a job filming abuses of the Israeli government against Palestinian people, who at some point dropped the camera and started escorting children to school, and was even directly threatened and shot at by the IDF), spent years touring the U.S. advocating against the abuses of the Israeli government. She has explained to me, once again, as we watched John Oliver’s (youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M) excellent satire (on so many counts!) that people in the U.S. are so insulated swimming in their own illusive “freedom-loving” sh!t that they don’t even get offended when confronted with the abuses of their own government because as Oliver himself pointed out none of this is relevant at all to them, to the point of not being even real (let alone true). It is not even about it being right or wrong. She pointed out to me how those who at least knew somewhat who Edward Snowden is just regurgitated the U.S. media spin. She has told me that as it happened with herself people in the U.S. would get enraged if they knew about what their government does to other people, that is why media outlets so carefully do them the favor of guarding their illusions.
More than some excellent satire, Oliver’s was an excellent anthropology. It was also sad; hopelessly so! I wonder what would have happened had he asked people if they had watched the collateral murder video.
Satyagraha,
RCL
In case you aren’t one of those bots and NSA shills they use:
a) based on your command of the English language your educational level should be past 3rd grade, so, you should be able to do very basic Arithmetic and understand basic English grammar, enough to see “worse” is an adjective; exactly a comparative one
b) when you compare “The U.S.” (-government- you meant, right?) to Nazis, you should based your comparison on some measurable/tangible and contextualized aspect. Otherwise it is just a subjective opinion. In this case, since it is a war of people against people, you should compare the genocide on a societal level.
Again, some 3rd grade Math will show to you that the prorated genocide of the USG and their “f#ck the EU” fiefdoms have actually greatly (7X) surpassed Nazis (including people inhumanely killed in concentration camps).
I know most people have been brainwashed to the point of not being able to do “basic Math”, so, let me help those who think and are like you. Let’s calculate the prorated genocide of the abusive invasion of the U.S. government and their friends (including Germany)
Here is the data to check it yourself:
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~
// __ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
~
Third Reich in World War II (1939) Population: 84,000,000
Deaths (of their own): 8,000,000
death as % of population Third Reich total (population/deaths): (8,000,000 / 84,000,000): 8.0% to 10.5% prorated genocide as total deaths divided by the % of their own’s
~
Third Reich’s craze:
total # of people killed as a result of WWII: 70,000,000
prorated genocide by Nazis: 8,750,000
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~
// __ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War
// __ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_United_States_Census
~
US 2000 Population: 281,421,906
Total Deaths of US troops: 4,460
death as % of population US total (population/deaths): =(4460/281421906)*100 = 0.001585%
prorated genocide as total deaths divided by the % of US deaths: 110,000 / 0.001585
prorated genocide by the USG: 69,400,631
~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~
A simple division will let you see what I mean. That I will leave for you as homework, buster.
Now, if you are hungry for more homework. Could you explain to me the meaning of that “land of ‘the’ free” thing? When the U.S. is by far the country with the largest incarceration rate? Part of the homework this time is finding the data yourself in order to make that statement falsifiable and, no, the baseline information you will need to figure that one out you will not get from FOX news anchors or hear celebrities talk about. Sorry!
c) most people with a shred of morality would find abuse very fundamentally wrong. If you are “‘the’ brave …” (so you think) you are not supposed to prove it to yourself by attacking Afghanistan, Iraq, … but by attacking Russia, China … When you say that to gringos (I have as I am doing here) they say to you “but we must be ‘responsible'”. Yeah, right! How “responsible” is abusing people who can’t defend themselves on an equal basis!?!
Gringos even have their own cosmic, “philosophical” believes and rationalizations … They, the “good Christian nation” they are, say they hear “God” telling them things, such as, “to save ‘freedom’ in the Universe” (yeah, their Star Wars b#llsh!t ;-)), but when you ask them if they can physically record those conversations so that other people can actually hear “what ‘God’ tells them …” they look at you like “you don’t get it” …
Germany/Germans are one of my best known hells. I went to school in Germany and lived there for 4 years of my “impressionable” youth, so I smelled their sh!t pretty well.
// __ The everyday microaggressions I experience as a black woman in Berlin.
~
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/08/black-woman-in-berlin#comment-29660285
~
In fact, I think what infuriates the “freedom loving”, “morally superior” West about Germans is that they threw their party home (in Europe). They didn’t go all the way to Asia, Africa and “America” (the continent) to mess with and abuse inferior “savages”. Apparently, as “Aryan/white/blue eyes/superior” as they thought of themselves, they were not imaginative enough to get that “white man burden” b#llsh!t. That definitely was a breach of a long standing European “gentlemen agreement”.
My adorable ISM girlfriend (originally, an upper-middle class teenage brat who got a job filming abuses of the Israeli government against Palestinian people, who at some point dropped the camera and started escorting children to school, and was even directly threatened and shot at by the IDF), spent years touring the U.S. advocating against the abuses of the Israeli government. She has explained to me, once again, as we watched John Oliver’s (youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M) excellent satire (on so many counts!) that people in the U.S. are so insulated swimming in their own illusive “freedom-loving” sh!t that they don’t even get offended when confronted with the abuses of their own government because as Oliver himself pointed out none of this is relevant at all to them, to the point of not being even real (let alone true). It is not even about it being right or wrong. She pointed out to me how those who at least knew somewhat who Edward Snowden is just regurgitated the U.S. media spin. She has told me that as it happened with herself people in the U.S. would get enraged if they knew about what their government does to other people, that is why media outlets so carefully do them the favor of guarding their illusions.
More than some excellent satire, Oliver’s was an excellent anthropology. It was also sad; hopelessly so! I wonder what would have happened had he asked people if they had watched the collateral murder video and what they thought of it.
Satyagraha,
RCL
Interesting. You disconnected your peter from your balls and nothing else changed a bit. Wow, who knew? :-s
Lol…Another Peter had a similar issue with mis-located balls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qgKDN7f7Vc
Gringos are so convinced of their own delusional b#llsh!t and rationalizations that they were quite shocked when a German citizen, who actually clarified he wasn’t a “terrorist”, “crazy”, … but acted in full consciousness, took a machine gun, waited for and killed some gringo troops at an airport while they were “‘heroically’ and ‘patriotically’ coming home after service”… “Why would anyone possibly do that, when all we are doing is ‘doing them the favor of fighting for freedom'”?!?
For those of you who don’t know gringos, I am not being sarcastic or making fun of them at all. They actually, quite naturally, think like that.
It amazes me and I find scary in general on a societal (not personal) dimension (and to me society are we all inclusive sharing this planet Earth) how easy it is to manipulate any kind of people.
// __ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)
~
youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M
~
Those who accept evo-devo persuasive lines would tell you, we (humans) are just pretentious monkeys who sorrily can’t see ourselves for what we are when we see ourselves on a mirror, actually we are AFAIK the only social animals who have such things as politicians, royalty, …
Satyagraha,
RCL
You are not the only one having that perception.
On that topic: “Exceptional Hypocrisy: The Defining Principle of America’s Foreign Policy”
http://off-guardian.org/2015/04/13/exceptional-hypocrisy-the-defining-principle-of-americas-foreign-policy/
[“In a nutshell, liberals and conservatives overwhelmingly agree that America is the bestest, most unique, and original country in the world–they just disagree on the details that make America so gosh darn better than everybody else. Implicit in the conservative-liberal consensus is the universally insulting presumption that goodness, democracy, freedom, and self determination are values that are somehow unique and natural only to Americans.
Adherence to this dangerous political religion is undoubtedly the root cause behind America’s deplorable track record of double standards and duplicitous double dealing with vassal states around the world. Because the United States considers itself as the special, exceptional, and indispensable nation, it alone reserves the right to defy international laws that all others must obey.”]
See how American foreign policy fans the “exceptionalism” with the song……
“VIDEO: Nazis march in Odessa, April l7″
http://off-guardian.org/2015/04/18/video-nazis-march-in-odessa-april-l7/
Really sucks IMHO.
If American school children were taught the TRUTH about World History and American History in our schools this country would be a different place. But we all know they are not.
Go to your local high school tomorrow and walk into the principal’s office and ask for the name of the different history teachers. Then meet with those teachers and ask to see the “textbooks” they are now using and do a quick study of them. “Exceptionalism” is TAUGHT through lies and deceit!
Here is just one example of the barbarity of the United States in our “history” that we will never see in any American high school textbooks:
http://rense.com/general46/germ.htm
Imagine, the truth being taught, warts and all, to American students. No more “Christopher Columbus” klap-trap, but that he was actually a mass murderer of the Arowak Indians. Most of you realize the atrocities go on and on and on.
As Edward Snowden told Glenn Greenwald at the beginnings of their relationship: “I have seen the darkest corners of the surveillance establishment and the thing they fear the most is sunlight onto what they are doing.”
This is what I believe the U.S. government fears the most in the American people. That we should become truth-seekers and through that we will shine a light into the darkness for all the world to see.
>” … exceptionalism is another way of saying ‘Master Race.’”
Well. I think you’re relatively exceptional cindy loo … but I hesitate to call you the ‘Master Race’ :)
*Hell fire, nobody wants the Nazy (h/t Ms Ragsdoll) back … nor the bandits neither one!
This is good article, a bit too long.
Who ever sets up type-size and digital ink(bold):
The article comes in perfectly, with a right type-size and digital ink.
But the comments are too small to see w/o eye-strain and greyish.
I’m sick of too-simple design, Red and Black, Forever, Nothing Else.
I’m too busy looking at other sites, but couldn’t resist putting in my
usual complaint.
I read nyt.I don’t have enlarge the type, to read the comments.
The comments come in black, not grey.
I used to have TI as a pinned tab, now,
I hardly ever read it.
Sorry, to bother any of regular readers.
They said they’ll fix the comment section sometime in the next twenty years, I don’t see what your problem is!
However: “This is good article, a bit too long.” This reminded me of this, I have to be honest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCud8H7z7vU
Mozart was Austrian, incidentally.
Well, as long as the NYT keeps it short with large type, that should be all you need. No matter how wrong they are…
Unfortunately, Germany doesn’t dare challenge the US government:
“Berlin shirks responsibility. These documents suggested that the US Department of the Army informed the German Ministry of Defense that it was installing a relay station for drones in Ramstein in November 2011. There was no consensus among German officials on how they should react to this information. An internal note even suggested that the ‘Chancellor’s office and the Defense Ministry were planning to wait out the pressure from the parliament and the general public.'”
http://www.dw.de/germanys-ramstein-airbase-heart-of-us-drone-program/a-18391007
So, basically, no one influential is going to do anything about this. Terrified (or perhaps ‘terrorized’ is a better word) by the USA, no one powerful dares speak up
Just about all mass media is avoiding this issue!
Great article, though. Nice graphics.
Ah well, no one can say you didn’t try.
It’s just that, … ‘there are in fact only so many notes the ear can hear in the course of an evening…’ or a week/month/year/decade/half century.
“The German government has granted the U.S. the right to use the property, but only under the condition that the Americans do nothing there that violates German law.”
Or else what?
Seriously what are the Germans going to do, kick the US army out? Ask them nicely to leave?
But this is why they want everyone “protected by NATO”, you silly goof! There can’t be any competition. And eventually there won’t be anybody to protect you all from except the Bad People who we don’t like!
US foreign policy: as easy, transparent, and impenetrable as a class of twelve-year-old girls, yet as demanding as a screaming two-year old with access to WMD’s.
// __ Glenn Greenwald at Yale Law School – “With Liberty and Justice for Some”
~
youtube.com/watch?v=MRiQ0SGJ_98
~
// __ With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful Paperback – July 3, 2012
~
amazon.com/Liberty-Justice-Some-Equality-Powerful/dp/1250013836/
~
Satyagraha,
RCL
Too bad we can’t draft Glenn to run against Hillary.
Must. See. Debates.
Oh well, I can dream, can’t I?
There is no such thing as terrorism, only extremism. The 9/11 attack made extremists out of a lot of otherwise peaceful Americans. Drone attacks make extremists out of otherwise peaceful Libyans or other victims in the Middle East. It is not possible to have a war on extremism, because it exists in many forms in every country. It is not possible to eliminate extremism with heavy weaponry or bombs, because survivors and innocents caught up in carnage may also become extremists. When bombs kill civilians that is recruitment fuel for extremists. Starve extremists of the oxygen of publicity. Don’t persecute minorities in the search for extremism, by alienating them it may drive them towards extremist values.
As much as Germany are to blame here and should not be hiding their role in the “War on a Concept”, especially deceiving the German public who are generally opposed to foreign intervention, but the US military would be doing this with or without German support. While the drones could not operate without the German base, if Germany had not allowed them to operate there they would have found another friendly country to work from. The only winners in this “War on a Concept” are arms companies.
Maybe in the future we can have a War on Violence – where violent people are rounded up by an angry mob and beaten to death – a self-perpetuating and endless war of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. Maybe a War on Anger, or War on Laziness, it’s all getting a bit Third Reich / Stalinesque.
Well said.
Just like here is no such thing as right and left anymore, “extremist” is foreshadowed by “corporatist”. A corporation is a not a “who”, but an “it”, that can reek major havoc to get what it needs to survive. Progressives are ant-corportists in my course of understanding, not the cluttered interpretations of “The Left” by the apologists of the corporatocracy. We still use meaningless terminology, like “Xerox” for “copy” or “consumer” for “citizen” or “customer”. Just thought I’d add!.
With “climate change” upon us and Hillary! or Marco or Rand or Jeb becoming the next president perpetuating the false notion that Putin is “Hitler” considering the doomsday clock has been moved to three minutes to midnight, will the human race ever have the opportunity to “evolve”?
Perhaps this wouldn’t be an issue if we weren’t still Militarily occupying Germany.
Or the other well-over 100 countries with American military bases or the almost every country with a supermassive American embassy presence eclipsing every other country’s embassy presence (and sometimes/often the country’s own gov buildings) including legal attaches and DOD attaches.
quote”To date, German prosecutors have shown little interest in pursuing such action. The German government position boils down to this: We have asked the U.S. if they are violating any agreements or laws and the Americans have said no. Case closed.”unquote
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO…HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
If incredulity were weather, the German government would be a fucking 5.9 hurricane.
“Are you tearing the hens to shreds in the hen house and eating them?” asks a hen to the fox. “No.” replies the fox. “Oh, well then. Case closed” says the hen.
note to self.. file this under
Great Moments in Monumental fucking Hubris
“……We have asked the U.S. if they are violating any agreements or laws and the Americans have said no. Case closed…..”
Give Merkel some credit for recognizing the economic benefit of US military installations in Germany. When the cold war ended, there was no longer a need for American bases in Germany. So it was a relief when the US chose to route their drone program through Germany. The “war on terror” has been good for the German economy. And just when the Germans thought things couldn’t get any better, KABOOM, the Russians invaded Ukraine. What unbelievable luck. Now the US military is beefing up installations boosting the EU economy especially in eastern Europe. I mean, is Putin a God-send or what?
Case closed.
quote”Give Merkel some credit for recognizing the economic benefit of US military installations in Germany.”unquote
I’m positive the innocent victims who’ve been vaporized by the Drone delivered Hellfire missles, directed via Germany, don’t give a flying fuck. Nor do I. Now, crawl back into that cesspool where you were spawned. But clean up that stinking slime trail as you go.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA….HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO…HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Yes, there is no need for American bases in Germany. But they are still there and, you know who pays for their upkeep? Not the Americans, of course not, but the Germans. Is this “good for the German economy”? Hardly. That is money which leaves the country and ends up in America and helps to “curtail the American deficit” by the millions. The Americans are like modern-day locusts, feeding on people who have no way of defending themselves — not just the Germans. And: “the Russians invaded Ukraine”. Did I read right? Mr. Craig Summers, I would have expected better from you. Ukraine is not the Crimea which belonged to Russia for centuries and the people of Crimea voted for Russia in a democratic process that was at least as legal as the “democratic” elections in your country. And nobody with a sound mind sees the necessity of bringing the civil war in Ukraine right to the doorsteps of Russia.
…you know who pays for their upkeep? Not the Americans, of course not, but the Germans. Is this “good for the German economy”? Hardly.
There are also the “gifts that keep on giving” which are associated with military bases in general, even long after they have been decommissioned.
http://www.militarycontamination.com/index.php
“……And: “the Russians invaded Ukraine”. Did I read right? Mr. Craig Summers, I would have expected better from you. Ukraine is not the Crimea which belonged to Russia for centuries and the people of Crimea voted for Russia in a democratic process that was at least as legal as the “democratic” elections in your country……”
I’m sure the Russians were just thinking about the citizens of Crimea longing to rejoin Russia – just democracy in action. Nothing to do with their naval base. Of course, when democracy is conducted at the point of a gun (after the Russians invaded), then it really isn’t democracy, now is it. And if the Russians were so concerned about “democracy”, they could start by holding a referendum – a democratic referendum – on Chechnya seceding and gaining their independence. We all know the real story there. Russian sent in troops twice in the 1990s to put down rebellions (“war on seceding terror”) leaving tens of thousands dead.
The Russians signed an agreement with Ukraine recognizing their territory – which included the Crimean Pinensula. The Russians violated their own agreement and illegally annexed Ukrainian territory. So far, 5000 people have been killed (without so much as a whimper from the Intercept).
Thanks.
Putin is winning everything Craig. And you are so upset. You have changed Craig. Take a holiday, go to see Uncle Bibi for a bit. Go to Eilat or something and come back refreshed having re-read the ‘Bill O’Reilly History Of The World’. Do you have any idea (in figures) how much US military bases, in Germany, contribute to the German economy? If you are allowed to say of course.
Thanks Craig.
Thanks Rolling. You can look it up as well as I can.
Less than 1% of German GDP.
Both German public-service television networks (ARD + ZDF) ignored Scahills disclosures.Not a single word in the news.Media blackout.
There’s a very limited market for the truth. But I’m sure there are small specialist media outlets, catering to people with this eccentric taste, that will report the story. It’s better not to suppress the truth, but rather keep it safely corralled.
And the CIA has a great deal of experience with managing small publishing houses, as well as in identifying said eccentricities among key media figures. By monitoring the emergence of truth through these tiny outlets, it can trace its origin or its final resting place, tweak its expression, change a few words here and there, find a friendly “expert” to issue a “harrumph” or two.
Still, the broader market is somewhat unpredictable and you never know when it might develop a taste for novelty. Sometimes the truth even goes viral!
There’s a very limited market for drivel.
Keep trying. A limited market is better than no market.
quote”There’s a very limited market for the truth.”unquote
Said like a true liar of liars. Speaking of liars, how’s that bout with syphilis workin out for ya? I mean, ya couldn’t even cover it up with a self induced grenade wound. Which you used to sit out the war in a hospital. Not only are you a liar, you were a fucking coward too. btw, if you’re gonna walk the walk Beeno… then you reap the truth as well.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/02/humanities.research
The story you link presents no actual evidence. Which only emphasizes the point that everyone ultimately chooses their own truth.
Good Germans following orders from superiors while pretending not to know anything? So not much has changed in the banal, obedient character of the German since the heyday of the Eichmanns. The German volk have always been morally impervious to the smell of burning human flesh.
That is a bit harsh.
Protesting might gain the moral high ground, but it would also starkly reveal Germany’s powerlessness. So its probably better for Germany to mutter some concerns under its breath, but when the US says ‘What!? Speak up’, Germany should promptly declare ‘Oh, no nothing’. This shows they do have some standards, but doesn’t risk incurring the full wrath of the United States.
Yeah, of course. The Germans are terrible. I was wondering if you could give me an example of a people, that is not obedient to concentrations of extreme power, who provide excuses other than “I was following orders.”
This whole German bashing, I feel, as someone not born and brought up in the west, to be a worthless attempt to absolve yourselves of your own culpability. “Yeah, it’s all the fault of the Germans. We’re pulling the trigger, but those goddamn Teutonic sons of Eichmann made me do it.”
Well said. I’m so sick of the Nazi references.
I understand your frustration given the similarities between contemporary American Patriots and 20th century Nazis have yet to be sufficiently understood. When Hipocrites Are U.S. ™ finally goes out of business, then Patriots® can get sick of Nazi references too. Until then, they will just have to get used to the increasing volume and frequency.
At some point, Western governments will have to stop deluding themselves about their culpability in formenting “terrorist” attacks. You cannot engage your country in extra-judicial kidnapping, torture, and murder without consequences. Synically, and I mean this with sorrow and regret, I hope that the executives of Five-Eyes intelligence services and the military get the blowback that they deserve.
I wonder what percentage of people in Germany are sick of their government being the US’s bitch?
more each year this goes on
The most amazing thing (and unsuspectingly so) I learned about gringos is that in the U.S. lies are not just a tool, but industries.
How easily effective lies and b#llsh!t are, to the point of quietly and “persuasively” bullying Germany into becoming a police state and making “f#ck the EU” countries “freedom-lovingly” welcome gringo paranoia to such an extent!
It is somewhat shameful to me to see a country like Germany who has more than too good reasons to say and who can actually say no to this being driven into U.S. created and maintained b#llsh!t!
IMO, there are however important differences between lies intended for public consumption a la: “war is peace”, “freedom is slavery”, “not wanting to know about your privacy is the best way to have your privacy and eat it too”, “it is about metadata”, … and when politicians (after being initially successful with the first phase) start truly believing their own lies and seeing their own very twisted self-servingly “logical” artifacts as if they were self-evident reality. To me a prime example was:
// __ freespeechtv (Feb 10, 2014): Jeremy Scahill & Glenn Greenwald Reveal NSA Role in Assassinations Overseas
~
youtube.com/watch?v=VczLwMByW50
(7:10) “human intelligence is used -afterwards- …”
~
Now if you don’t understand what they could possibly mean, let me translate this into English for you.
USG officials mean they try to find out if the people they killed are the ones they intended to kill in order to check them off their lists so they show “results” that proof how efficient …
“sure, we do our best to check the identities of people we kill in drone attacks AFTER we kill them” …
~
Satyagraha,
RCL
Spot on, mate. We gringos in the U.S. are arguably the most heavily propagandised people on earth and gullible as all he11. Terrorist is our new boogeyman. We will chase a boogeyman like a cat chases a laser dot – except we use Hellfire missiles.
We arouse ourselves with noble-sounding buzz words like ‘freedom’ and ‘justice’ and ‘democracy.’ We impose “freedom and democracy” upon smaller, weaker countries with bombs and bullets.
Murder is murder. Period:
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. ” — Albert Einstein
Well, not exactly!
Murder is what ISIS morally deafferented nuts do when they behead folks on camera in technologically unkosher ways and, on top of that, make it public on the Internet. Great Lord, how crazily terroristic those terrorists are!
When gringos murder people using drones (specially those killed in “double taps” (which, of course, USG well knows those individuals must be their families or other people with some sense of humanity compulsively “acting without thinking”)) all they do is “spreading democracy statistically”, make sure “there is freedom in the Universe”, for “‘the’ greater good” as determined by their “duly elected representatives” …
Do you remember the parts about the collateral murder video:
~
http://collateralmurder.com
~
in which U.S. troops are actually having collective fun at killing unsuspecting people as if they were using computer games and how they were rationalizing their actions when some other people driving their kids to work tried to help people being shot at saying” … well, they brought it to themselves …” and saying that “we then brought the kids (after killing their father and shooting at them) to the clinic …”? The same video footage, by the way, for which Manning is serving a 35 year sentence “for breaking laws and regulations”. Of course, embedded “freedom-loving” U.S. journalists couldn’t see any of this. Poor them, they could have won a Pulitzer prize!
I wonder if their German “collaborators” are having collective fun as well. They aren’t actually doing anything wrong, right? They aren’t the ones pulling the trigger. “Technically”, all they are doing is transferring electromagnetic signals while enjoying watching those “signals” as office perks as NSA folks do when they watch their “dick pic”…
Now, gringos “self-evidently” see themselves as “‘the’ land of ‘the’ free and ‘the’ ‘brave’ …” when all they have pretty much ever done (except when they fought off British occupation) is murdering and messing with people who can’t defend themselves on an equal basis. That collective illusion is carefully cultured by U.S. media with movies and a carefully orchestrated campaign in which they depict themselves in Star-War fashion as some sort of “good Christian nation” Romans enforcing their ways.
The prorated genocide of gringos and their “f#ck the EU” fiefdoms (including people inhumanely killed in concentration camps) have actually greatly surpassed Nazis’ (3rd grade Math) and when Nazis were doing their “greater good” things they didn’t obfuscate over Afghanistan and care that much about “UN approval”:
// __ Adolf Hitler reads Roosevelts letter before Reichstag
~
youtube.com/watch?v=bqVc7kDtV_M
~
but went head on against Russia and kept “spreading democracy” even after the Red army put the killing ratio 1:1
Gringos are so convinced they are “‘the’ land …” that they were quite shocked when a German citizen, who actually clarified he wasn’t a “terrorist”, “crazy”, …, took a machine gun, waited for and killed some gringo troops at an airport while they were “patriotically and heroically coming home after service”… “Why would anyone possibly do that, when all we are doing is ‘doing them the favor of fighting for freedom'”?!? For those of you who don’t know gringos, I am not being sarcastic at all. They actually, quite naturally, think like that.
It amazes me and I find scary in general on a societal (not personal) dimension (and to me society are we all inclusive sharing this planet Earth) how easy it is to manipulate people
// __ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)
~
youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M
~
Satyagraha,
RCL
Well, not exactly!
Murder is what ISIS morally deafferented nuts do when they behead folks on camera in technologically unkosher ways and, on top of that, make it public on the Internet. Great Lord, how crazily terroristic those terrorists are!
When gringos murder people using drones (specially those killed in “double taps” (which, of course, USG well knows those individuals must be their families or other people with some sense of humanity compulsively “acting without thinking”)) all they do is “spreading democracy statistically”, make sure “there is freedom in the Universe”, for “‘the’ greater good” as determined by their “duly elected representatives” …
Do you remember the parts about the collateral murder video:
~
http://collateralmurder.com
~
in which U.S. troops are actually having collective fun at killing unsuspecting people as if they were using computer games and how they were rationalizing their actions when some other people driving their kids to work tried to help people being shot at saying ” … well, they brought it to themselves …” and saying that “we then brought the kids to the clinic (after killing their father and shooting at them) …”? The same video footage, by the way, for which Manning is serving a 35 year sentence “for breaking laws and regulations”. Of course, embedded “freedom-loving” U.S. journalists couldn’t see any of this. Poor them, they could have won a Pulitzer prize!
I wonder if their German “collaborators” are having collective fun as well. They aren’t actually doing anything wrong, right? They aren’t the ones pulling the trigger. “Technically”, all they are doing is transferring electromagnetic signals while enjoying watching those “signals” as office perks as NSA folks do when they watch their “dick pics”…
Now, gringos “self-evidently” see themselves as “‘the’ land of ‘the’ free and ‘the’ ‘brave’ …” when all they have pretty much ever done (except when they fought off British occupation) is murdering and messing with people who can’t defend themselves on an equal basis. That collective illusion is carefully cultured by U.S. media with movies and a carefully orchestrated campaign in which they depict themselves in Star-War fashion as some sort of “good Christian nation” Romans enforcing their ways.
The prorated genocide of gringos and their “f#ck the EU” fiefdoms (including people inhumanely killed in concentration camps) have actually greatly surpassed Nazis’ (3rd grade Math) and when Nazis were doing their “greater good” things they didn’t obfuscate over Afghanistan and care that much about “UN approval”:
// __ Adolf Hitler reads Roosevelts letter before Reichstag
~
youtube.com/watch?v=bqVc7kDtV_M
~
but went head on against Russia and kept “spreading democracy” even after the Red army put the killing ratio 1:1
Gringos are so convinced they are “‘the’ land …” that they were quite shocked when a German citizen, who actually clarified he wasn’t a “terrorist”, “crazy”, … but acted in full consciousness, took a machine gun, waited for and killed some gringo troops at an airport while they were “patriotically and heroically coming home after service”… “Why would anyone possibly do that, when all we are doing is ‘doing them the favor of fighting for freedom'”?!? For those of you who don’t know gringos, I am not being sarcastic or making fun of them at all. They actually, quite naturally, think like that.
It amazes me and I find scary in general on a societal (not personal) dimension (and to me society are we all inclusive sharing this planet Earth) how easy it is to manipulate people
// __ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance (HBO)
~
youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M
~
Satyagraha,
RCL
“Too much latency — which would be caused by additional satellite relays — would make swift maneuvers impossible. Video images from a drone could not be delivered to the U.S. in near real time. Without the speed and precise control an installation like Ramstein allows, pilots would practically be flying blind.”
Autonomous drones would eliminate that problem, and before you hit CAPS LOCK, that eventuality is already in the works, if not already deployable. Just a terrifying musing on my part. Let’s see if the German people can organize and get something done against their lying asshole leader, unlike us, who seem to be taking a perpetual nap. Wake up, people. If everyone reading the articles here at TI, and were as alarmed as I think we should be would take it upon themselvse to just wake up their own family we would have an exponential increase in activism, which we desperately need.
Just a brief hint on U.S.occupied Germany: There are over 60,000 U.S. military and 12,000 British military permanently stationed in Germany, plus thousands of U.S. agents of many agencies. Obama 2009 at Ramstein: “Germany is an occupied country and will remain this way!”. Multiple German experts have exposed the “guidance” and “funding” for many German journalists working for major German newspapers. The BND with an estimated 10,000 agents and technicians is the German “partner” of the CIA. The BND emerged from the Wehrmacht “Fremde Heere Ost” commanded by General Reinhard Gehlen until 1945, until he was taken in by the U.S. CIC with his files and “contacts” in Soviet occupied Eastern Europe. The new headquarter of the BND in Berlin has 6,000 rooms and has always a staff of analysts on duty 24/7. The targets in 2003 for the “shock & awe” bombing of Bagdad where selected and guided by two known German BND agents who relayed the details to the U.S. Air Force command in Dubai. Since the 1990’s German NGO “activists” have been infiltrated to “help” governments in Latin America: The Germans do not arouse suspicion, but are the “Trojan horses” of the CIA in Latin America.
Thank you for passing on free information On the United State Modus Operantis to the Chinese and the Russians. Do you really think anyone cares about this info beside our Enemies. The USA has become the laughing stock of the world. Everyone is trying to take us out and no one respect us anymore.
Keep passing on info on How we operate our military and do not be surprised when they overtake this country.
Yea great reporting article.
The activist — Kat Craig, legal director at Reprieve– quoted with such relish in the piece above is a well-known Socialist lawyer in the UK with a track record of meddling where terrorists and suspected extremists are concerned. Her abbreviated bio is on the Reprieve website. Socialists and others on the Left in Europe certainly work hard at the destruction of hundreds of years of European civilisation.
Shit, American government are doing drone strikes on Russia and China from Germany?!
“Everyone is trying to take us out and no one respect us anymore.”
The thoughts of a bully.
If you think ~95% of the species is your enemy then quite a few people are entitled to and interested in this information.
But I concede one other point you made — the one about respect. I seem to have misplaced it and can’t find it. I would spend another decade searching if you would just give me a reason.
Why so much violence?
Mr. Begley,
Excellent graphics accompanying an equally excellent article by Mr. Scahill and colleagues.
I’m riding Nemo’s coat-tails here in praise of graphics, formatting changes, etc. that have added much to another very good article. Thank you all.
I wonder what kind of “friendly persuasion” was exerted on the German government to get that done…
And I also wonder whether there are some general guidelines, yet unknown to the public, ruling the requisition of privately-operated satellites for military purposes, as there are at the internet-level :
“So, in early 2009, after “an urgent call from the Pentagon’s Joint staff,” a commercial satellite provider, Intelsat, shifted its Galaxy-26 satellite from the U.S. to orbit over the Indian Ocean. This repositioning of the Galaxy-26, which could be reached by U.S. drone operators by using the relay station at Ramstein, facilitated the rapid expansion of the U.S. drone program.”
United States “Full Spectrum Dominance”:
“The Harvard School of Empire Building” by Professor James Petras:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article41575.htm
The American People must demand a RESET on foreign policy and not one Republican nor Hillary Clinton will demand it.
Now what? Martin O’Malley?! Jesse Ventura?! Anyone? Anyone?!
Jesse Ventura would be ideal, but I don’t think it’ll happen. I think the chant during the primaries should be “Anybody but Hillary,” and then make sure to vote for O’Malley, Chaffee, or better yet, some inanimate object.That should put everything in sufficient perspective.
Despite my extreme reservations about McCain I always thought he showed a lot more humility than any of the other candidates several years back. And I think humility is what the US needs some of. Not that he would have made a great president but I am fairly certain someone who has been severely traumatised has some far more personal insight to offer. Scandal is an abominable show but I watch it because of its deplorableness but this past week’s episode made we wish like hell the US had a president like the current role of VP in that show.
In the meanwhile I am reading a study about how the majority of past presidents have been possessing of psychopathic traits of one degree or another (probably true of any country). This isn’t necessarily bad – there are a ton of different ways that can shake out. FDR fell into the “wrong” side of average on the Hare checklist yet he helped do some remarkable things. This current administration, though, is (not at all in an idiotic Icke sense) incredibly reptilian and far far further along that same continuum. What we need is to stop and pay more attention to things below the surface. I am not all rah-rah Hillary but I suspect she will (yes will; let’s be realistic) be a bit better than what the US has now in SOME ways (not all). Change sometimes has to come in increments. And the people are deeply traumatised (and some are not even sure they are, how, or by whom).
“I am not all rah-rah Hillary but I suspect she will (yes will; let’s be realistic) be a bit better than what the US has now in SOME ways (not all).”
I’m curious about the ways you think Hillary Clinton will be better.
In my opinion, if anything Hillary Clinton is even more deceptive, and even more of a corporatist and militarist than Barack Obama – which is dreadful since he’s evidently a crony-capitalist, a vicious killer and a pathological liar. This means even more lies, corruption, inequality and violence, more entrenched corporatism and more militarization of police and more interventionism.
I don’t care for anyone else currently running, either, but Hillary is a mess (in my opinion) who will make things worse.
Well she had more dignity than Kerry does as SecState. I don’t know that she would seek to deflate this Russia is the enemy crap (proabably going to see this train go to the brutal end of the line) but she could if she wanted to; I don’t think Obama could do anything if he wanted to (and I definutely don’t think he wants to. He was always very obviously a sociopath to me). Honestly I don’t know if Hillary will make anything better. I don’t knlw that anyone will. The most I have any hope for in any election is slowing down the roll, or at absolute best not making things any worse. There was sincerity in Hillary’s body language and microexpressions in 08. That may have changed. But there was NEVER any in Obama’s. His microexpressions were glaring. Hell even his overt expressions were glaring. In general maybe we can hope for a president who won’t sneer with disdain and superiourity as much. Fair to ask for?
And to reiterate my metaphor.. the train has already run wayyy the f*ck away. I am not trying to be a troll but I think the system is completely beyond positive change at this point.
I want John Cusack for president though.
If history is to repeat itself (and it has a very nasty habit of doing so), there is a very good probability that good ol’ Hillary (“glass ceiling or no glass ceiling”), if she is the Democratic nominee, will lose to the Republican in November of 2016. Period.
So, will pragmatics come into play with the electorate?
If we MUST have a “Republican” nominee who will win, perhaps we should all register as Republicans to help “choose” the best of the worst??
I suppose Rand Paul would prove to be the least militaristic, at least if his father has anything to say about his positions.
We can immediately rule out Jeb Bush….just because. Rubio, Cruz, Graham, Walker and Co. are all total tools of the MIC.
It seems Rand Paul (cough) would be the least bad of the bunch.
I’m just sayin’. Do we want to wake up the day after the election to a President Rubio or Paul?
I feel like we have all been thrust into this highly dysfunctional “family” where every few years we are forced to “choose” to have Bad Uncle Jeb or Bad Uncle Bill be the “decider” for the planet.
Nevermind. I’m moving to Ecuador. (Kidding).
It also seems that the RC-135 US spy plane that was intercepted by Russia the other day is also part of Big Safari
http://www.ndiagulfcoast.com/events/archive/38th_symposium/RutledgeSymp12.pdf
The U.S. is “doing shady stuff behind the scenes like using satellite and information technologies”
– What? Using technology to defeat terrorists? Shady indeed!
You got a very valid point there. Actually, the wonderful use of information technology starts even earlier – with the creation of the terrorists. Then the rest follows. Very useful thing, this information technology. Brilliant of you to point this out ;-)
quote”Using technology to defeat terrorists? Shady indeed!”unquote
No you moron. Using technology that incinerates innocent civilians. Now that we’ve cleared that up, go fuck yourself.
Terrorism is a political tactic rather than some sort of Evil Empire.
It cannot be defeated — never! — because the tactic of terror can be used by anyone.
When the US uses terror tactics (see drone strikes, “shock and awe”, and rendition and torture), the US use of technology enhances their terroristic political agenda — which is to threaten, bully, manipulate, and co-opt the human decency out of the rest of the world..
US terror attacks against angry third world populations will continue until the rest of the world finally refuses to give the US legal immunity from its crimes.
The US uses terrorist acts based on extremist thoughts with the heavy financing necessary to “fight” against extremist thoughts by people who have no heavy financing and occasionally manage to blow something up. Terrorism creates extremism. Being terrorised makes people want to blow shit up to feel empowered. I am pretty sure the cause and effect are totally skewed right now. And I am not advocating for anyone to get blown up. But what is more terrifying? Being in a bomb blast or being randomly attacked by shit coming out of the sky to blow you or people you know up, where you live, out of nowhere, without performing any overt acts, and without even having a specific thing to blame other than “America”?
Which terrorists?
The puppet-masters in the International Central Banking Cartel running the US Federal Reserve fractional-reserve banking scam on nation state populations to exert economic domination over those populations?
The puppet-politicians serving them in all three branches of the US Federal Government from Washington D.C.?
The terrorists that have been conveniently fabricated by false-flag events with subtile involvement by National Intelligence Agencies like the CIA and NSA and with full endorsement by the MSM propanganda arms; which transfers those same events into justification for clever manipulation of Federal statuary laws in order to advance the corporate war mission and empirical military long-term objectives of the Federal Government of the United States of America…like the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror”?
Or….the home-grown type of the American variety that want peace and economic abundance so question the motivation, actions, and intent of Congress, Executives, and the Supreme Court (if not the entire justice system) to uphold the provisions of the Constitution by acting on behalf of We the People?
Links on Big Safari
http://www.vocativ.com/usa/nat-sec/colonel-labyrinth/
http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/systems/big_safari.htm
http://fas.org/irp/program/collect/big_safari.htm
http://www.ndiagulfcoast.com/events/archive/38th_symposium/RutledgeSymp12.pdf
“The Tell-Tale Heart” is, of course, also a short story by Edgar Allan Poe.
http://www.poestories.com/read/telltaleheart
Maybe it’s not on point — or maybe it’s a literary and elegant metaphor by the authors. It is about murder and concealment, after all.
It’s a very interesting association, as the beating of the tell-tale heart drove the protagonist to confess, own up to his guilt.
Speaking of “murder”:
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder. ” — Albert Einstein
The assumption the US government wants us to buy is that if it didn’t drone strike the “targets” and those “collateral damage” who happen to be near them, these targets would somehow become a lethal threat to the US or “US interests.” This is quite obviously ridiculous as 1) they are nowhere near the US, 2) corporate and often corrupt interests should not be conflated with American ones, and 3) many of those assassinated are evidently just regular people.
Consider “signature strikes” – which arbitrarily decide someone (usually some guys in a truck) are suspicious in some behavioral way. This then becomes the way the ‘suspicious’ suddenly become “militants” who can then according to Obama/CIA logic be killed by drone. Often the actual identities of the men (and sometimes women and children) are not known at all by the drone-operator or his/her commanders.
And consider “double-taps” where a drone strike is quickly followed by another one in the presumption that only undesirables worthy of death would try to rescue or tend to any wounded in the initial explosion.
And consider that some of the intel to “identify” targets has come from the ground level of untrustworthy informants and others who may well have personal agendas or vendettas against some in the community, falsely accusing them of being terrorists.
And consider that according to the US (again Obama/CIA ‘logic’) every male “of military age” (basically anyone over 14 or so) killed by drone and other “targeted” operations is counted as a “militant,” whether they were specifically targeted or not, indeed whether they were any kind of militant or not.
Regular people, from all walks of life, from religious practitioners to goat herders, are swept up in a net of murder that is far less discerning than claimed.
But Obama doesn’t want more inmates at Gitmo, which was another wretched way of illegally taking people from the “possible problem file” to the “possible problem incapacitated” file, so he does things this way – which is evidently not better by any stretch except in terms of convenience for the establishment.
But the idea that all or even most of those assassinated were an actual threat to the US rather than innocent or merely a potential inconvenience is laughable. With “targeted” killing, as with all its militarism, the US is plainly protecting the corrupt establishment’s ability to have full spectrum dominance, corporately and militarily, not protecting the American people or dealing with “terrorism” as Western propaganda defines it.
I doubt very much that there will be any more accountability for this than there has been for Iraq, Gitmo, torture, Wall Street corruption and the overall criminality of the corporatist and militarist establishment, but it is somewhat gratifying that thanks to articles like this one at least people have a chance to be informed enough to criticize it – if they dare.
“it is somewhat gratifying that thanks to articles like this one at least people have a chance to be informed enough to criticize it – if they dare.” – Cindy
Indeed. Also, please realize that your comments, this one in particular, does a damn good job of summing up the scenario for readers, which is a quite valuable thing in itself. Should your path go that way, I encourage you to continue using your courage, empathy and outspokenness to further our voices on these issues in whatever capacity you can.
“If they dare” – well quite: the FBI have already rounded up quite a few TI readers and posters on this forum. If only we could live in freedom in Russia where public dissent is always allowed.
the FBI have already rounded up quite a few TI readers and posters on this forum. – Peter ball
Really? Who, specifically?
He was mocking. Note the Russia comment. Next it’d be if you don’t like how things are then leave and become a “Russian communist” or some such nonsense. He is implying that you have free speech and completely ignoring what really happens if you exercise it by implying they’d just round people up now instead of watch the hell out of them.
Nice try.
Cindy, nice post, well said. Have you watched the movie Good Kill? Thought it was a pretty well done if perhaps overly sympathetic movie on the subject. I am convinced most people refuse to engage in dialogue unless it is shoved down their throats by the media, sometimes more sneakily than others (Zero Dark Thirty, ugh). It seems to me Americans don’t have a reason to think they should care. After all they’re “winning” (or at least they are the aggressors, and it isn’t on American soil (but the threat is! riiiight). Though I have stated numerohus times even if they understand this stuff there isn’t much the average person would feel capable of doing. Risk prison/harrassment/watchlists/surveillance for change is a reasonable if hard tradeoff, but risking it for no real chance of change is kind of a losing hand.
This article is almost like someone “puffing out his chest and pretending he’s Rambo” – to quote Mr Greenwald – when the CIA has already openly admitted through its report on the U2 spy planes the importance that Ramstein base has for all its activities in Europe and elsewhere. In all my dealings with Germans I am pretty much convinced that those fellows have not been able to grow out of their shameful ancestry. So there is no need for the Germans to be indignant about the activities that are being carried out from their territory – it is being done with their active consent and connivance.
It’s easy to target Germans, but they didn’t do anything other civilizations wouldn’t readily have done. You’re no better than Germans. Most civilizations/cultures don’t even acknowledge their misdeeds. So get down from that pedestal or perch or high horse or all of the above, and get yourself some perspective.
This article trashes any contention that things have changed in Germany in the last eighty years. And what you term “civilization” is hardly how I would expect “civilized” people to behave. But then you are entitled to your own convoluted yardstick.
“Civilization” was a wrong use of English in my comment. How about “ethnic group?” Is that a better yardstick for you? Are you from a superior shameless ancestry?
Yes, according to my convoluted yardstick, I find the Germans to be much better behaved, when compared to other groups.
And I don’t think that this article suggests that Germans haven’t changed. I think like most govts, the German govt is doing things without the knowledge of it’s public. That’s what this article suggests.
“Most civilizations/cultures don’t even acknowledge their misdeeds.”
German ‘misdeeds'; yeah, we all remember Germany’s mia culpa in 1945 …
Yeah. The Americans killed off the Indians. The Cambodians got rid of a couple of million of their own. The Japanese practiced swordplay on the real heads of the Chinese, and the Hutus massacred the Tutsis, but of course, the Germans are a special evil,… because they hurt Western sensibilities. That’s the only massacre everybody is supposed to care about. Everybody else’s death is irrelevant. Everybody kills everybody, given the chance, but the Germans… oooo the Germans,… they’re special.
Mr. Scahill
Drones are an effective weapon that targets and kills terrorists while disrupting terrorist planning and training. These are the same terrorists that account for 75% of the civilian casualties in Afghanistan according to the UN mostly by the use of IEDs – an indiscriminate killer of civilians. They have been given a “safe zone” in Pakistan by the Pakistan government who support the Taliban for their geopolitical goals in Afghanistan. The Pakistan government has supported the Sunni Islamists (Taliban) since their rise to power in 1995. The Taliban object to drone strikes because they are effective in the “war on terror” (and they are terror defined):
“On June 22, 2013, at 10.00 p.m. local time, about 16 attackers entered into the base camp where foreign tourists who come to climb the Nanga Parbat Mountains usually stay. The attackers then opened fire, resulting in the deaths of ten tourists……..The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement released later on the day of the attack. The group claimed it was a retaliation in the wake of the fatal US drone strike against Waliur Rehman, a pro-peace Taliban commander,[18] who was killed on 29 May 2013.[7] The group’s spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan said ?Through this killing we gave a message to international community to ask U.S. to stop drone strikes?.[19]……”
The Taliban sends the message of murder to the International community to stop the US drone strikes obviously because they are an effective weapon. The Intercept responds.
I think we have killed enough terrorists who have caused us harm in 9/11 and on a few occasions thereafter, which includes their old, bearded CEO. So now we should just leave them alone and let them take care of themselves along with the people they live with. I mean, if civilians are being killed in Afghanistan then why should we bother? Let them get killed! Who are we to deliver justice through remote controlled vehicles? As long as they don’t harm us we should be good. And if they harm us then we just go and nuke them to their Alla Hebdos. They will ultimately figure out a way to insulate themselves from their own terrorists. This World-wide Judicial Authority belong to Charlie God, so let Him handle it the way He sees fit.
Alas, that won’t happen. This War on Terror is hardly about reducing “terror” ;-) No? The drones are playing their bit in reducing the world population to a level we have determined would be good for us and our business. So just stick to the truth and don’t obfuscate the issues by wildly pasting unnecessary quotes.
Well General, I don’t think we would have invaded if not for the terrorists training camps located in Afghanistan – and run by Bin Laden. We certainly would not have invaded had the Taliban turned Bin Laden over to us as the US government requested. We are in the process of withdrawing from Afghanistan, but I sincerely hope we don’t leave too soon and the Taliban take the country back over. That would not be good at all, but I get your point.
I think you should to understand the left a little better (like this article). It has nothing to do with the legality of drones. Did the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula ever ever come up in the Greenwald article about the Ukrainian fascists? No. The best thing that can happen in Afghanistan is for the Taliban to take over. Failure is the best result. See what intervention accomplished? The more innocent people that are killed in the process, the better. How many articles have we already seen by Greenwald extolling the western failure in Libya? Of course, it has nothing to do with Libyans or that this just happened recently – and revolutions take time (or that it could have devolved into another Syria). How many times do we hear about Vietnam (but never about South Korea, Kuwait of Kosovo)? How many times do we hear the US is behind the revolution in Syria, or was responsible for a coup in Ukraine?
Your position on US policies is sound if you want more of an isolationist policy. I don’t have any problem with that (although I don’t agree with it). You are an honest poster in my opinion. You are certainly more honest than the folks here that publish their opinions. Far more.
Thanks.
CraigSummers doing his Benjamin Netanyahu impersonation.
The best thing that can happen in Afghanistan is for the Taliban to take over. Failure is the best result. See what intervention accomplished? The more innocent people that are killed in the process, the better.
Well, we should sound alike. He’s my uncle.
“Well, we should sound alike. [Benjamin Netanyahu]’s my uncle.” – CraigSummers
The thing about maturing is that you recognize the faults in those around you and evolve accordingly. Relatives are not chosen, but behaviors are.
One realizes that this whole experience must seem like an intervention, CraigSummers (it is) but just step out of that pigeonhole for a moment, empty your pockets of labels, and relinquish your retorts of ad hominems.
It really is the only path forward.
You might also seriously fact-check your lede into this latest diatribe:
“Drones are an effective weapon that targets and kills terrorists while disrupting terrorist planning and training” – CraigSummers
If, that is, you actually want people here to actually read and take seriously anything that you write on here. After all, when the lede fails, the rest of the argument almost always follows suit.
“I never give in to the temptation to be difficult just for the sake of being difficult. That would be too ridiculous.” – Jacques Derrida
“…….If, that is, you actually want people here to actually read and take seriously anything that you write on here. After all, when the lede fails, the rest of the argument almost always follows suit……”
Most of the people on these threads are stuck in their own little world of political pigeon-holing on corporate, Jewish and American power. I couldn’t change anyone around here if I tried. Mona is a case in point. So I don’t realistically expect anyone will take me seriously, but I do enjoy the political debate.
But back to your “rebuttal”. You quoted me: “drones are an effective weapon etc……”. If you disagree with that statement, then you are going to have to do better than “:…. when the lede fails, the rest of the argument almost always follows suit…..”. In effect, what you are asking me to do is just take your word for it. Sorry, but that has been your habitual response. Where’s the beef?
“Drones are awesome and perfect. Terrorists hate them. Maoists discredit them.”
I’ll say one good thing about them. They’re cheaper for shoring up a crumbling empire than the next generation of stealth bombers.
“drones are an effective weapon etc……”. If you disagree with that statement, then you are going to have to do better than “:…. when the lede fails, the rest of the argument almost always follows suit…..”. In effect, what drones are an effective weapon etc……”. If you disagree with that statement, then you are going to have to do better than “:…. when the lede fails, the rest of the argument almost always follows suit…..”. In effect, what you are asking me to do is just take your word for it. Sorry, but that has been your habitual response. Where’s the beef? – CraigSummers
You answered your own question. The “beef” is as I stated:
When you say something like “drones are an effective weapon etc……” in effect, what you are asking me to do is just take your word for it. Sorry, but that has been your habitual response.
Where’s the proof?
I posted an example, but you continue to dodge. You are such a disappointment. Here, I”ll post your response to save you the trouble:
sillyputty
“…….There’s the obfuscating, pigeonholing, labeling, sociopathic commentary now…..”
“…….“The problem you keep having…….is that by insisting that every person has to be labeled, pigeonholed, stereotyped and categorized, you keep committing the most blatant ad hominem fallacies….your arguments are guilty on a regular basis of this:”…..”
“……I told you from the beginning that this would happen to you. Labeling, stereotyping and pigeonholing, while they seem like an effective shorthand when trying to make a point, does nothing more than highlight the intrinsic tribalism and very poor communication skills of those who use it……”
“…….but almost always about misdirecting (straw-man fallacy), labeling, pigeonholing, and other assorted ad hominems……”
“…….I told you very early on that this would happen. You simply cannot continue to give everyone a label and then try and stuff their ideas into your notion of where they belong and expect any kind of meaningful dialog…….”
“……By the way, the SHOUTING is simply the latter stages of label-itis……”
@Mona – will you please just get into that pigeonhole……..crafted for you?
.”I posted an example, but you continue to dodge.” – CraigSummers
You didn’t site an example of drones being an effective weapon that “kills terrorists while disrupting terrorist planning and training,” you cited an example where people sought revenge/retribution and lashed out after a drone strike.
These are not the same things, therefore it is not me that is dodging, it is you that citing an unconfirmed assertion as your premise, and then, dumb-foundingly, supplying an example that doesn’t even support the claim that you made in the first place.
So I’ll reiterate my initial assertion:
You might also seriously fact-check your lede into this latest diatribe:
“Drones are an effective weapon that targets and kills terrorists while disrupting terrorist planning and training” – CraigSummers
If, that is, you actually want people here to actually read and take seriously anything that you write on here. After all, when the lede fails, the rest of the argument almost always follows suit.
And your did.
Baldie
As has always been the case with you Baldie, you are long on smart-ass responses and short on substance. That has always been your MO. However, on one of those rare occasions when you try to deliver a substantive post, you generally make a complete idiot of yourself.
Thanks.
Your whellkum.
Dr. Emily Haber, Staatssekretärin des Auswärtigen Amt am 20.6.2013:
“Der Bundesregierung liegen weiterhin keine gesicherten Erkenntnisse zu von US- amerikanischen Streitkra?ften in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland angeblich geplanten oder gefu?hrten Einsa?tzen vor. Gema?ß Artikel II des NATO-Truppenstatuts haben Streitkra?fte aus NATO-Staaten „das Recht des Aufnahmestaats” zu beachten und sich jeder mit dem Geiste des NATO-Truppenstatus nicht zu vereinbarenden Ta?tigkeit zu enthalten. Der Bundesregierung liegen keine Anhaltspunkte dafu?r vor, dass sich die Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika auf deutschem Staatsgebiet vo?lkerrechtswidrig verhalten ha?tten.”
“The Federal Government still has no ascertained knowledge of allegedly planned or led operations by US forces in the Federal Republic of Germany. Under Article II of the NATO Status of Forces Agreement, forces from NATO countries have to respect “the law of the host State” and to refrain from any activities that are incompatible with the spirit of the NATO Status of Forces Agreement. The Federal Government has no evidence to suggest that the United States would act contrary to international law on German territory.”
https://machtelite.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/bundesregierung-log-uber-bedeutung-ramsteins-im-us-drohnenkrieg/
if you are an American, I would call you a traitor as you have sold out! If you and your so called team are not American, you have probably signed the death warrant for some. The person who disclosed this to you, I hope he or she is sentenced to multiple life terms for disclosing it!
The bastards are always smearing heroes,Gilgamesh the latest.Why no programs entitled Ted Bundy,or Jeffrey Dahmer assassination show..
I was thinking the exact same thing : the story of Gilgamesh is one of initiation on the path to wisdom… Then, there was that other, highly ironic, “Operation Geronimo”. The US government has a real problem with history…
Hey, they redefined patriot and enduring (no less!) freedom. i am hoping to hear more about operation founding fathers. and liberty. there must be an operation liberty bell, right? get crackin!
I find this unidentified man pathetic, when buildings fall again I hope it is his family in them, along with anyone who thinks its OK to share America’s secrets
“when buildings fall again ”
Bwahahahaha! Falling buildings were only needed once – now, endless war is here to stay, as 9/11 changed everything
Hey storm trooper, what’s with the “beltway culture” Friday release? Just kidding, but not really. Wouldn’t it get picked up everywhere better early in the week though? I mean no diff to me, I’m already looking forward to next week – and not just because Monday’s 4/20 and I live in Colorado.
Oh – yeah, never mind…
Kathy Kelly has recently begun a prison sentence for a drone protest.
Kathy Kelly SHUT DOWN CREECH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREN3PfSQpc
Drone warfare is state terrorism, since it disregards civilian lives, serving dubious political agendas. Kind of like when AQ blows up a car in Baghdad, killing 5 policeman & 10 civilians.
The most poetic description I know comes from Rammstein’s eponymous 1988 song ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1GW-PNnoI ): “… Ramstein – A sea of flames. Ramstein – Blood is coagulating on the asphalt. Ramstein – Mothers are screaming. Ramstein – The sun is shining….” The fellow even wears a pair of mismatched goggles vaguely reminiscent of the optics under the drone.
From the location of this drone command to the remarkable tendency of US ISPs to set up their offices next to FBI/CIA/NSA buildings (and I don’t mean vice versa), the incredibly slow speed of light seems to dictate the spy state’s architecture.
Funny, I was thinking of the same song as I read this.
Also of the remarkable technical similarities between drone killing and flash trading
This had to do with the 1988 Ramstein air-show crash?
Sometimes it takes a while for a creative work to come into its own. Queen’s song about the AIDS epidemic (The Prophet’s Song) wasn’t well appreciated in 1975. People panned the absurd plot of the Lone Gunmen episode about an airplane attack on the World Trade Center. Morgan Robertson’s “Wreck of the Titan” wasn’t timely in 1898. We shouldn’t be reluctant to reference works to whatever historical events they seem to fit best.
Didn’t Seven Days’ I think first ep, with the plane crashing into the White House, predate the Lone Gunman ep? Not a nitpick just something I remember thinking of then.
Re: the US warcriminals’ illegitimate assertion of the prerogative to murder anyone anywhere anytime for whatever secret, undisclosed reason, and re: their attempt to justify expansion of government powers by claiming they’re only after Really Bad Guys…
This piece is worthwhile:
http://www.salon.com/2012/05/08/a_vital_and_unlearned_lesson_from_julius_caesar/
And these:
salon.com/2011/10/22/a_remaining_realm_of_american_excellence/
salon.com/2011/09/30/awlaki_6/
I hope this gets a big discussion going in Germany.
Nah, nobody cares. 60% of German voters are pro war, otherwise they wouldn’t vote these crooks into office.
To Mr. Scahill and all the reporters who contributed to the production of this piece–well done !
Hopefully the German people are more interested in seeing their laws enforced than the American people are in capitulating to their elites in the name of “security”.
The legitimacy of claiming these strikes are legal under the war against Al Qaeda dating back to early W period may be a debatable point… what is NOT debatable is the sheer Hypocrisy of Obama, and any liberal supporting him who is not calling him out on 1000’s of executions committed with his Go-Ahead. Obama was self-righteously condemning the water-boarding, and detentions at Guantanamo… Does he think that ordering executions with no due process whatsoever, and all the collateral deaths caused in the process are actually better?? It literally fries my brain and makes me wonder how the left can resolve that cognitive dissonance in theirs.
Liberals, progressives, and Democrats — Obama’s base — aren’t the “left”.
Whatever you want to call it. I see left wing used to describe Liberals and Progressives very commonly, but if you prefer… yes I mean Liberals , progressives and Democrats.
@ Vivek
I consider myself “left” and/or “progressive” and/or “liberal” but probably more accurately as a “democratic socialist/social democrat/socialist” in the European or Scandinavian sense of the political ideology or label. I’d agree that has little of anything to do with the Democratic Party as it exists in America today except and to the extent that many people like me who self identify as left/liberal/progressive/socialist sometimes choose to vote “Democratic Party” candidates under a LOTE calculus. But as I get older I do that less and less because I think it’s a self-defeating electoral strategy.
I’m a registered Democratic Party member in Oregon, for primary purposes, but don’t consider myself aligned with the national Democratic Party in any way and refuse to give money to them, although I occasionally give money, or volunteer time, to individual candidates who happen to be members of that party.
I didn’t vote for Pres. Obama in 2012 but did in 2008. I do tend to vote for Oregon Democratic Party candidates (though not always if there is a Green or Independent or other affiliation in Oregon if their policies are more in line with my preferences) in Oregon because they are as close as you’re going to get in America to actual “liberal” policies within a state in America. Which is not to say there are not other “liberal” states, and I’d agree that the national Democratic Party has nothing to do with “liberal/progressive/socialist” policies, although some of its powerless members, particular some in the Progressive Caucus, would very much like to refashion the Democratic Party, policy-wise, into something more closely aligned with the European/Scandinavian understanding of “liberal/democratic socialist”. And of course I support those efforts.
Nevertheless, I neither support due process free drone assassinations of any human being, nor do I support Obama for engaging in such actions. And without cognitive dissonance I consider myself “left/liberal/progressive”. Am I not allowed to self-identify in such a way if the national party infrastructure or policy-making apparatus, of which I am not directly affiliated or supportive of, chooses to take illiberal, anti-progressive or anti-socialist positions which I do not support with either my money or my votes? Should I abandon my support for my state Representatives and Senators, who are Democratic Party members, and who try and champion the liberal, progressive or socialist policies that I agree with despite not actually achieving them because they aren’t the majority of the members of the Democratic Party or in the majority at present in the House or Senate?
I’m all for creating a new “socialist” third-party in America. I try and send a bit of money when I can to those who are trying to do so by whatever name, but I think it is smarter and more efficient to try and recapture the infrastructure and reorient the policy ideology of the existing Democratic Party. Not saying we’ll succeed but I think it stands a better chance than trying to build something from the ground up that is viable. But I certainly agree that the national or state Democratic Party apparatus should not be conflated with the “left” or “liberal” position as a function of ideology because by an large it isn’t.
The two party system is certainly a sham, and the National Democratic Party pretending to represent liberals and progressives is certainly a sham IMO. They represent wealthy interests just like the Republicans do. I personally think that guy who flew his copter onto the capital lawn is Aces in my book. He took a real risk to use his 15 minutes of fame to state the obvious… Which is the fact that we desperately need radical campaign reform to start weeding out the corruption and provide for the emergence of a true multi-party system.
There is no way you can successfully air a range of creative ideas in the current Washington environment. I personally favor multi-party systems where there is no clear dominance even when one party gets the most votes, they must negotiate to form coalitions.
I am personally much more Libertarian, a bit fiscally conservative, but conservatives keep killing their chances to get in and work on the abysmally irresponsible financial situation now facing the federal government, by insisting on dragging religion in time and again. Nothing is our god given right IMO, they are our constitutionally agreed upon rights. We have the right to insist our government balances the checkbook just like responsible citizens have to. The Democrats seeming desire to field Hillary Clinton as their candidate is exhibit one that they do not represent progressives or liberals.
But lets be honest, the biggest problem really is the general disengagement of the population. Obama says he favors mandatory voting, I say we shouldn’t have mandatory voting unless people are able to pass very simple tests to see if they have the slightest clue about current events, issues, or even how their government runs… otherwise I think people who don’t care enough to vote of their own election, should have the right not to vote if they so choose.
Truth is nothing short of an out and out revolution is likely to shake apart the current political racket in Washington, and the truth is also that most likely there is nothing short of revolution that will stop the surveillance state from rolling forth. There is just no one who craves power, like most politicians, who doesn’t like the idea of wielding the power that kind of information affords.
Very good points you make, and obviously not all of those who self Identify as being left/liberal/progressive voted for, or support Obama… nevertheless he did get elected so obvious quite a few do. I think the difference is whether a person allows themselves to be sucked in, hypnotized, and programmed by media driven identity politics, or instead actually pay attention to the bigger picture and weigh each issue on its merits. Almost impossible to find truly balanced, unbiased journalism in the mainstream. Everyone has an agenda, and conservatives are just as guilty as liberals buying into the two party charade.
Reminded of how people treat grossly abused dogs. And I suspect that is how the administration sees such people: at some point they have abused the animal so much for so long that they think the only “safe” option is to “put them down” or else they will “bite”. They of course will not take responsibility for the abuse but they see themselves as the rescuers… just not from themselves.
Re: the imperial policymakers’ self-serving definitions of war zones
See this excerpt from David Swanson’s excellent “War is a Lie”
Wars Are Not Fought on Battlefields
http://truth-out.org/archive/component/k2/item/93978:david-swanson–wars-are-not-fought-on-battlefields
And this from the ACLU:
aclu.org/sites/default/files/theworldisnotabattlefield/
“German legal officials have suggested that such operations are only justifiable in actual war zones”.
That’s academic, as at the moment the USA is engaged in NO legal wars. Arguably, the last legal war the USA fought was Korea, as it had UN backing. Afghanistan – illegal unprovoked war of aggression. Iraq – ditto. Libya – ditto. Somalia – ditto. Yemen – ditto. Pakistan – ditto. Ukraine – ditto. And so on. Any American (or other person) who murders someone in any nation (regardless of meaningless noises about conflict, war, or enemy combatants) should be subject to prosecution and imprisonment if found guilty. That applies to Barack Hussein Obama, who is responsible for all those thousands of murders.
German government thwarts investigation of NSA scandal
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/05/03/snow-m03.html
excerpt:
See also:
The NSA given a free hand to operate in Germany
wsws.org/en/articles/2013/07/11/gspy-j11.html
The return of the state secret police in Germany
wsws.org/en/articles/2014/06/27/germ-j27.html
US conducting drone war from Germany
wsws.org/en/articles/2014/04/08/rams-a08.html
NSA, European intelligence agencies work closely together
wsws.org/en/articles/2013/07/09/nsae-j09.html
German chancellor defends Western intelligence agencies
wsws.org/en/articles/2013/07/13/germ-j13.html
Can’t help but wonder if this story isn’t related to the discussion between Greenwald and Snowden, followed by footage of Scahill, near the end of “Citizen Four”, regarding a new whistle-blower source inside the drone war.
it is related….:-) I noticed it too.
Jeremy Scahill writes:
Jeremy does a good job of showing 1) how fraudulent Merkels’ professed respect for “German law” is, 2) how an axis of evil exists between the imperial centers of Washington and Berlin, 3) how the political leadership of both Germany and the US deceive the civilian populations of the two countries and violate the rights of people around the world, 4) why we should be wary of German imperialism (see also this piece by James Petras http://petras.lahaine.org/?p=2016)
It is necessary to ask what it is about the average American’s (received) assumptions about the world that dampens public outrage and pre-empts popular opposition to such murderous programs. Why keeps Americans from seeing the violence that the ruling class’ inflicts on the world with impunity?
Most Americans do not analyze policy from a class perspective. Americans are led to believe that government officials, whether here or abroad, are well-meaning, benevolent, sincere, legitimate (that is, have the sanction of the public) public servants and that these “leaders” decide policy based on the needs of the “country” which they “serve”. Class structure and relations are flattened and overlooked. The fact that the policymakers are the enemy of the 99% is obscured, and instead, they’re falsely portrayed and endeared to us as our “guardians”, proxy parent-figures.
When Americans are told that such and such country is “our” ally (“America’s” ally), most Americans don’t ask, “Whose ‘ally’?”
Americans aren’t exposed to analysis or critique of imperialism. It’s similar to the way that discussions about power are avoided.
Michael Parenti says:
James Petras says:
Not only are many hundreds of millions of Americans programmed by the ruling class to misunderstand how the world works, and to not think about what the 1% want, and to be ignorant about what is being done in our name and with our money, but also, at the same time, Americans are kept in a state of irresponsibility, fearfulness, self-preoccupation, despair, and perceived powerlessness. Americans are subjected to lies about the past and the present, and most have not acquired a foundation of knowledge, or developed the tools to recognize how we’re being fooled and unwittingly collaborating and supporting fascism and terrorism.
“It is necessary to ask what it is about the average American’s (received) assumptions about the world that dampens public outrage and pre-empts popular opposition to such murderous programs. Why keeps Americans from seeing the violence that the ruling class’ inflicts on the world with impunity?”
I suspect a big part of this is related to the vast expanse this entire apparatus occupies and the seeming inability to fight it. Cognitive dissonance then takes over and leads people to embrace that which they feel helpless to fight. Insert obligatory SSS reference if desired. Generally though I suspect more people would fight if this information didn’t also basically say “hi, guess what happens when you argue?” It’s a vicious cycle. People need to believe it’s okay because otherwise they need to take responsibility.. and they have so very little precious power.
This is how Former German Federal Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich defended the NSA surveillence in 2013 :
“Dieser edle Zweck, Menschenleben in Deutschland zu retten, rechtfertigt zumindest, dass wir mit unseren amerikanischen Freunden und Partnern zusammenarbeiten, um zu vermeiden, dass Terroristen, dass Kriminelle in der Lage sind, unseren Bürgern zu schaden.”
“This noble purpose, to save lives in Germany, justifies, at least, that we work together with our American friends and partners to prevent that terrorists, criminals are able to harm our citizens.” (English translation)
https://machtelite.wordpress.com/2013/06/29/erich-ist-zuruck-innenminister-friedrich-besucht-united-stasi-of-america/
The same justification will be used for the german drone war support.
artwork by my friend, Jason Farmer
http://blacknewsexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/king-obama-drones.jpg