Worldwide Nightmare Theatre, Empire of Chaos Enhanced and Expanded

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

https://www.gregpalast.com/roger-sto...iend-person-2/
This is a really different spin on Mueller than what I've read previously. Mind you, I am anxious about all sorts of possible fallout from the Special Prosecutor's aims and powers. Palast comes down to fears like, "When they came for the pus buckets, I didn't say anything....."
Spoiler Alert::

I looked up Randy Credico, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but the name of his lawyer, Margaret Ratner Kunstler. Kunstler? I remembered a lawyer named William Kunstler who defended the Chcago Eight Seven. I thought, "Coincidence? Unlikely!" And, by golly, she's his widow! I also found the following on the Wikipedia page about her late husband, William Kunstler:

Margaret Ratner Kunstler is Julian Assange's attorney. Beginning in the summer of 2016, she revealed to Randy Credico that Wikileaks would release information about the Podesta and the Hillary Clinton campaign in the near future. On August 27, 2016, Credico sent a text message on to Roger Stone that "Julian Assange has kryptonite on Hillary." Through information from Margaret Ratner Kunstler, Credico continued to give Stone updates about the subsequent release on Wikileaks of numerous emails stolen from Podesta and the Hillary Clinton campaign which were released beginning on October 7, 2016.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

We part ways right there. You are giving your opinion of the article.

Sorry I didn't notice this sooner, but, better late than never... One of many similar bits from the article:

How come the "good guys" turn out to be bad guys? How come those nice, moderate leaders who guarantee the “stability” of the Middle East – and naturally I’m including the Saudis in this – turn out to be so horrible. Not the people. I’m talking about the autocrats and dictators and kings and princes and venal tyrants to whom we smile and grovel and fawn and kneel.

That's not reportage, that's editorializing -- the stuff of an op-ed piece rather than a news piece. Not "Here are the facts," but a guy standing on a soapbox, red-faced, eyes bugging out, cords standing up on his neck, spittle flying from his mouth, delivering a Jeremiad at the top of his voice.

Nothing wrong with that, mind you, but don't confuse it with news reporting.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Blackwater founder's Hong Kong firm signs Xinjiang training camp deal

Erik Prince ‘unaware’ of deal in region where up to a million Uighurs are reportedly held in detention camps

A Hong Kong-listed security firm founded by Erik Prince has signed a preliminary deal with authorities in China to build a training centre in Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims have experienced a huge security crackdown.

Frontier Services Group, which specialises in providing security and logistics for businesses operating in risky regions, said it had signed a deal to run a training base in the city of Kashgar, according to a statement posted on its Chinese website.

The firm was founded by Erik Prince, a former US Navy Seal and the brother of the US education secretary, Betsy DeVos.

[kladner]

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51022.htm
.....comment on hold.....

There is no doubt that what’s going on here is another criminal interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation by the United States and its European lackeys. And yet these arrogant actors have the cheek to accuse Russia of “interfering in Western democracies”.

Anyone with an open mind knows that in Venezuela it is a classic demonstration of motive and means for regime change. The motive is Venezuela’s vast natural oil wealth, believed to be the biggest known reserves of hydrocarbons on the planet. Augmented to that factor is the country has been governed for the past 20 years by socialist administrations committed to developing the wellbeing of the nation, instead of pandering to Western capital. Present economic woes are due to years of American sanctions, or financial warfare.

As for means, the events in Venezuela are following the US playbook for regime change used in countless other countries, most notably Ukraine.
Washington has bankrolled opposition groups some of which have Neo-fascist tendencies, using violence, sabotage and murder to destabilize the country.

[Dr Sardonicus]

The Europeans are late to the game. Canada, the OAS, and the Lima Group announced their non-recognition of Maduro's fraudulent re-election weeks ago. Of course, they were following Donald Trump's orders. Maduro said so!

The Venezuelans who are voting with their feet and leaving the country in droves are just following Trump's orders. The black-market currency exchangers are just following Trump's orders. That's why a chicken at the grocery store -- if there is a chicken -- costs millions of Bolivars. And why it's illegal in Venezuela to publish the black-market ("parallel") exchange rate.

Not to worry, though. As long as the Venezuelan military stays on Maduro's side, the regime can rest comfortably on its bed of pikes, he can disclaim any responsibility for his stewardship and blame everything on the United States(*). Socialist Realism will triumph!

(*) And I do mean everything. They blamed Hugo Chavez's cancer on "being injected by imperialist forces."

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

The Europeans are late to the game. Canada, the OAS, and the Lima Group announced their non-recognition of Maduro's fraudulent re-election weeks ago. Of course, they were following Donald Trump's orders. Maduro said so!

The Venezuelans who are voting with their feet and leaving the country in droves are just following Trump's orders. The black-market currency exchangers are just following Trump's orders. That's why a chicken at the grocery store -- if there is a chicken -- costs millions of Bolivars. And why it's illegal in Venezuela to publish the black-market ("parallel") exchange rate.

Not to worry, though. As long as the Venezuelan military stays on Maduro's side, the regime can rest comfortably on its bed of pikes, he can disclaim any responsibility for his stewardship and blame everything on the United States(*). Socialist Realism will triumph!

(*) And I do mean everything. They blamed Hugo Chavez's cancer on "being injected by imperialist forces."

Hey. If John Bolton and Elliot Abrams say it, it must be true. I congratulate you on your reliable sources. If those are the upstanding diplomatic types we rely on for Truth in Our Back Yard, then nothing could possibly go wrong. Just ask the indigenous folks in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by kladner

Just ask the indigenous folks in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Don't forget Grenada. That episode still rankles in these parts.

[kladner]

Originally Posted by xilman

Don't forget Grenada. That episode still rankles in these parts.

And Panama. And Nicaragua. And any other uppity peoples who don't understand who their Lords and Masters really are.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by kladner

Hey. If John Bolton and Elliot Abrams say it, it must be true. I congratulate you on your reliable sources.

Would you care to show me where I cited them as sources? Everything I mentioned has been in widely-broadcast news reports. Hugo Chavez first put forth the idea of being injected with cancer back in 2010 or 2011. When he died, Maduro said he'd appoint a commission, which, he said, he hoped would "prove" that Chavez has been injected by imperialist forces. Obviuosly, he wanted the commissioners to be open-minded


While you're at it, please explain why Cuba, which the USA has been conducting "economic warfare" with since Our Friend Fidel took over 60 years ago, and did stage a (failed) military invasion, isn't in anything like as bad of shape as Venezuela.

I realize that such bastions of freedom as Russia, China, Turkey, and North Korea have recognized Maduro's re-election, along with various Caribbean nations, who were, I am sure, not influenced in the least by dependency on Venezuelan oil.

BTW, Il Duce's decision to impose oil sanctions might actually help Venezuela, because it has caused the price of oil to go up.

[kladner]

You don't need to cite them specifically. You are singing their song.

Which "widely broadcast" sources are you citing. NYT? WaPo? WSJ? Some other mainstream propaganda organs?

I'll leave you to rationalize interventionism and illegal sanctions to your heart's content. You sneer at the Caribbean nations' support as being bought. Who do you suppose buys the entities who rejected the election?

Once again, who made the US "God" and the arbiter of all things "democratic?" Why is the record of supporting right-wing dictatorships so pervasive?

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by xilman

Don't forget Grenada. That episode still rankles in these parts.

That was back when Ronnie Ray-gun was Prez. Curiously, the invasion of Grenada began just a couple of days after the Marine barracks were bombed in Lebanon. [W.C. Fields voice]It must have been a coincidence...[/W.C. Fields voice]

Of course, it was also shortly after the overthrown leader Maurice Bishop had been executed. And, apparently, Governor-General Scoon requested US help. I'm sure that had nothing to do with it, though.