World Politics

[python]

... Is it that easy for a few radicals on both sides to derail it time and again?

unfortunately, it is much more than a few radicals...

@ 1st i was inclined to compose a long response to your genuine, well-meaning question, but will limit myself pointing what has become of israel and the israelis. (i do perfectly realize the other sides carries huge responsibility too for the current mess).

...check this out. from the post ww2 jewish catastrophe and the legitimate drive to build its own home - so that jews could defend themselves - to the current superstate towering over its neighbors both economically and militarily.

tragic history and human insecurity first lead to idealistic ideology of zionism, then to the jewish state that made the ideology official.yes, an advanced democratic state with the official state ideoplogy! please, point me to a modern liberal democratic state that has an official ideology.

the ideology evolved from ethical and reasonable to become a brain-washing tool for all, i stress all, generations of israelis...from defensive in nature to jewish over reactions (understandable historically) to agressive to arrogant.

it's no secret that a high proportion of jewish people, including the israelis, are professionals. as a scientist i worked with many. here's my personal opinion, like it or not - quite a few, but not all, have considered themselves exceptional if not superior.

take my opinion for what you wish, but if you mix inflexible ideology with superior attitude and armed it to its teeth, you will get, yes - as we all know from several real examples, a dangerous, virulent extremism.

we strongly dislike it when it is of muslim variety...

we deceive ourselves that a christian variety is controllable in democracy...

and we simply are blind to the jewish variety..an entire nation in fact
----
i signed in again to modify that last statement. it is incorrect. thousands of israelis went to the streets in protest. but unfortunately the majority approve the brutality of its govt.

 

[Amsterhammer]

The hypocrisy of so many Americans is way, way beyond sickening. If the genocide and war crimes being perpetrated on the poor, innocent civilians of Gaza was being carried out by any other country against any other people, we would be seeing the world rise up in outrage. Much of the world has 'had it' with Israel, while the US maintains its 101% support for anything and everything that Israel chooses to do. The kill ratio of civilians is running at way over 1000 to 1, tens of thousands of innocent people have had their homes and their lives destroyed, while a whole new generation of young Gazans will be imbued with a hatred of Israel that will stay with them forever, and lead to many more suicide bomb volunteers. This is so far beyond tragic....words fail me.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Dear God...the Israelis will now use the excuse of the kidnapped soldier to justify new levels of barbarity.....another market has just been bombed, another 40-50 civilian dead....death toll now over 1500, compared to 64 Israeli soldiers.

It's enough to make you scream......

 

[Semper Fidelis]

“And we have to confer with the Qataris, who have told me over and over again that Hamas is a humanitarian organization.”

 

[Pazuzu]

unfortunately, it is much more than a few radicals...
.. thousands of israelis went to the streets in protest. but unfortunately the majority approve the brutality of its govt.

You'd think that Palestinian children and infants - the truly innocent - being killed and maimed would be enough to get adults on both sides to set aside their differences (and ideologies) and get serious to work something out. The Protestants and Catholics were able to reach an accord to end the violence in Northern Ireland, too bad the same can't happen in Israel/Palestine and all of the other hot-spots in the world.

At any rate, the US should withhold all future financial support of Israel, until the two-state solution becomes a reality.

 

[blutto]

....more news from the moral high ground....

"IDF Sniper Admits On Instagram To Murdering 13 Gaza Children "

...from... http://countercurrentnews.com/2014/07/idf-sniper-admits-on-instagram-to-murdering-13-gaza-children/

Non Cheers

 

[hrotha]

Considering how easy it is to fake such things, I would take that report with a grain of salt. I doubt that account is legit.

 

[blutto]

....as news pours in from the high moral ground we may need more salt....which btw I agree with hrotha on this, salt is always good to have around...

"The Times of Israel posted an article titled "When Genocide Is Permissible."

No, really.

They took it down, but the Internet never forgets. From the now-removed article:

"We have already established that it is the responsibility of every government to ensure the safety and security of its people. If political leaders and military experts determine that the only way to achieve its goal of sustaining quiet is through genocide is it then permissible to achieve those responsible goals?"


http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gaza-strip-palestinian-genocide-permissible-claims-israeli-writer-1459390

Cheers

 

[Amsterhammer]

It turns out that the 2,000-year struggle for Jewish survival comes down to a state of settlements, run by an amoral clique of corrupt lawbreakers who are deaf both to their citizens and to their enemies. A state lacking justice cannot survive. More and more Israelis are coming to understand this as they ask their children where they expect to live in 25 years. Children who are honest admit, to their parents' shock, that they do not know. The countdown to the end of Israeli society has begun.

It is very comfortable to be a Zionist in West Bank settlements such as Beit El and Ofra. The biblical landscape is charming. You can gaze through the geraniums and bougainvilleas and not see the occupation. Travelling on the fast highway that skirts barely a half-mile west of the Palestinian roadblocks, it's hard to comprehend the humiliating experience of the despised Arab who must creep for hours along the pocked, blockaded roads assigned to him. One road for the occupier, one road for the occupied.

This cannot work. Even if the Arabs lower their heads and swallow their shame and anger for ever, it won't work. A structure built on human callousness will inevitably collapse in on itself. Note this moment well: Zionism's superstructure is already collapsing like a cheap Jerusalem wedding hall. Only madmen continue dancing on the top floor while the pillars below are collapsing.

We have grown accustomed to ignoring the suffering of the women at the roadblocks. No wonder we don't hear the cries of the abused woman living next door or the single mother struggling to support her children in dignity. We don't even bother to count the women murdered by their husbands.

Israel, having ceased to care about the children of the Palestinians, should not be surprised when they come washed in hatred and blow themselves up in the centres of Israeli escapism. They consign themselves to Allah in our places of recreation, because their own lives are torture. They spill their own blood in our restaurants in order to ruin our appetites, because they have children and parents at home who are hungry and humiliated. We could kill a thousand ringleaders a day and nothing will be solved, because the leaders come up from below - from the wells of hatred and anger, from the "infrastructures" of injustice and moral corruption.

Good stuff, huh? Sounds like some radical Israeli lefty. These wise and prescient words were written in 2003 by Avraham Burg, the Speaker of the Knesset. How times have changed. They'd lynch him for this now. The whole article is excellent, highly recommended for a glimpse of what could have been if only Israelis didn't make a habit of voting for batsh!t insane parties.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/15/comment

 

[ToreBear]

Well, if your starting hypothesis doesn't make sense in light of what we're seeing, it's likely incorrect. Israeli society has become increasingly radicalized the last 10-15 years, with the left wing being marginalized, and a significant portion (not just a few radicals), including the right-wing parties now in power, seem to think a two-state solution would not be in Israel's interest.

The current military operation makes little sense unless Israel is actively trying to render Palestine inviable by destroying its infrastructures and perhaps sabotaging the extremely fragile understanding between Fatah and Hamas.

Add to that the far right-wing factions who advocate the occupation and settlement of the whole of 'Eretz Yisra'el as an inalienable right of the Jewish people. They may be a minority, but they appear to be a significant one.

On the Palestinian side, it's not clear at all that most people want a two-state solution either. Gazans in particular seem to be more radically against the idea, which is understandable, since they suffer the brunt of Israel's military offensives. Hamas for example does not recognize the state of Israel, and while Fatah has been more ambiguous about it (the PLO negotiated with Israel on the basis of a two-state solution), apparently they don't recognize Israel per se either.

See this recent poll, which has depressingly low percentages both for Israelis and Palestinians.

All good points, though in relation to the non recognition of Israel by Fatah and Hamas, it is a red Herring.

The PLO(and Hence Fatah) recognized Israel back in the late 80s IIRC. Hamas has a charter from the 80s that doesn't recognize it, but defacto they have. It has been part of the negotiations between Fatah and Hamas. I think back in 2009 or something they worked around that by saying that if a negotiated settlement that recognizes Israel is accepted in a referendum, Hamas will accept it.

They haven't changed their charter. The question is why should they? Political parties don't recognize states in their charters. Does for example Likud Yisrael Beiteinu, Yesh Atid, the Jewish Home and Hatnuah recognize the state or palestine or have in their charters commitments to do so? No(I haven't checked, since I'm very sure the answer is no).

Hence this is a non Issue. Hamas has committed to the PLO having resposibility in such matters. And PLO has already recognized Israel long ago.

The reason this keeps coming up is that Netanyahu has changed the wording from "recognize the state of Israel" to "recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state".

This is a ridiculous demand. States are not recognized that way. Also IIRC the non Jewish population of Israel is 15-20%. What about their rights?

This is all just PR used to avoid negotiations.

The reason there has been no two state solution, is that there is no will on the Israeli side. This is illustrated by the continuation of settlements. Had the Israelis been serious about two states they would build the housing in Israel proper and not in the west bank. By building in the west bank, they make it more difficult for themselves to agree to a peace deal. The more people live there, the more difficult it will be to move them.

 

[hrotha]

While I agree that the biggest obstacle is Israel's lack of will, as shown by the ever-growing settlements in the West Bank, I disagree about the recognition of Israel by Fatah and Hamas.

Hamas' Abu Marzouk denied that Hamas would recognize Israel as part of their agreement with Fatah. As for Fatah, yes, the PLO implicitly recognized Israel when they agreed to a two-state solution, but it's not as clear-cut as that.

I agree this is not the major issue preventing peace right now, but it might be in the future, if Israel is ever truly willing to pursue peace. Then again, in such a hypothetical scenario it's likely that the Palestinian political factions would soften up and adopt a more pragmatic approach.

 

[ToreBear]

While I agree that the biggest obstacle is Israel's lack of will, as shown by the ever-growing settlements in the West Bank, I disagree about the recognition of Israel by Fatah and Hamas.

Hamas' Abu Marzouk denied that Hamas would recognize Israel as part of their agreement with Fatah. As for Fatah, yes, the PLO implicitly recognized Israel when they agreed to a two-state solution, but it's not as clear-cut as that.

I agree this is not the major issue preventing peace right now, but it might be in the future, if Israel is ever truly willing to pursue peace. Then again, in such a hypothetical scenario it's likely that the Palestinian political factions would soften up and adopt a more pragmatic approach.

This is a very complex issue. I haven't really focused much in depth on it lately, so my memory would need a major refresher. I don't think our disagreement is worth it, so Ill just explain my understanding.

I base my impressions on interviews with Meshal and other Hamas people. In the context of today they will not recognize Israel as part of any precondition to any negotiation. It would be something that the Israelis have to give something for. Hamas would then have to alter it's charter, and that is not something they would do without there being a clear cut benefit.

Changing the charter is a contentious issue for Hamas due to the different viewpoints within their organization. Some would not change it, while others would. This could create arguments and splits, and is not worth it until there is a deal on the table

As for Abbas, yes that is also a bit advanced. Your jpost llink states their position:

Ahmed said the PLO had recognized Israel with the signing of the Oslo Accords.

“An organization recognized a state and a state recognized an organization,” he said.

“Now states should recognize each other when a Palestinian state is declared next September.”

Fatah is a political party that is a major part of the PLO, as such it follows the PLO line in the above quote.

The real recognition would only happen when Palestine is a state. Now they were adopted by the general assembly as a state with observer status in 2012, so this might now have changed(its the september he is talking about).

It's kind of like the 2002 arab peace initiative. The Arab League countries agreed to recognize israel as part of this initiative. Israel ignored the initiative. Likely because they didn't want to go back to the 1967 borders.

To sum it up, Recognition is a a part of the final deal. And you wont get Hamas to react to such hypotheticals. They will cross that bridge when they need to(but i'ts a very small bridge).

 

[python]

http://www.dw.de/ukraine-denies-using-ballistic-missiles/a-17827342?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf

first it was cnn and then dw reported that ukraine is using ballistic missiles in the east. both referred to some american intelligence sources. the americans have not commented officially.

why would the cia leak such info to keep their client from an escalation ?

 

[ToreBear]

http://www.dw.de/ukraine-denies-using-ballistic-missiles/a-17827342?maca=en-rss-en-world-4025-rdf

first it was cnn and then dw reported that ukraine is using ballistic missiles in the east. both referred to some american intelligence sources. the americans have not commented officially.

why would the cia leak such info to keep their client from an escalation ?

It was a pentagon leak or something to barbara starr.
I suspect it's a combination of pr management, understanding of the word ballistic and concern that the Russians will start using such weapons instead of the shorter range weapons they are using now.

I'm not sure they have used them, but I think they used them.

Their target was likely Saur-Mogila 47°55'20.08" N 38°44'29.20" E

It's a hill with a monument(likely fortified) that makes life difficult for the Ukrainian army. And since the Russians seem to have started taking out Ukrainian aircraft flying close to the border they couldn't use planes, so they used the scarab.

It poses no risk to civilians since the hill is not populated, and the missile is guided.

So in essence, perhaps they did and won't admit it due to a perceived stigma or something. Who knows.

Edit: Barbara Starr calling it a "game changer" likely stigmatized it's use in some way. I don't think she knew what she was talking about, since I have trouble seeing it as a game changer.

 

[Pazuzu]

Good stuff, huh? Sounds like some radical Israeli lefty. These wise and prescient words were written in 2003 by Avraham Burg, the Speaker of the Knesset. How times have changed. They'd lynch him for this now. The whole article is excellent, highly recommended for a glimpse of what could have been if only Israelis didn't make a habit of voting for batsh!t insane parties.

At this point it's fear driving things, turning otherwise decent people into irrational reactionaries. It's a vicious circle of fear and loathing as violence begets further violence... with apparently no room for compromise or accommodation. America should yield its economic stick and cut off all financial aid to Israel until a viable Palestinian homeland is created.

If we can place sanctions of Russia for their actions we should also do so to Israel.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Oh, he's dead after all. Our bad.



But we're gonna keep bombing anyway.

 

[Jagartrott]

The world is on fire. The hypocrisy of the West is nauseating.
It feeds the pessimist in me.

 

[python]

a plea by the 9 powerful former us intelligence officers who claim working 260 years for the us clandestine interests.

Obama Should Release Ukraine Evidence
http://consortiumnews.com/2014/07/29/obama-should-release-ukraine-evidence/

a very interesting read !

particularly interesting i found their parallels with the soviets downing the korean airliner and the syrian chem. weapons...they totally destroy billy kerry as a dangerous amateur entrusted to conduct foreign policy of the nuclear superpower...curiously, i did not find this convenient bombshell among the archives of the kremlin mouthpiece rt

some quotes, first the most weighty hint at the us is likely lying about the ukraine 'story':

We are hearing indirectly from some of our former colleagues that what Secretary Kerry is peddling does not square with the real intelligence.

Washington’s credibility, and your own, will continue to erode, should you be unwilling – or unable – to present more tangible evidence behind administration claims.

As intelligence professionals we are embarrassed by the unprofessional use of partial intelligence information. As Americans, we find ourselves hoping that, if you indeed have more conclusive evidence, you will find a way to make it public without further delay.

a powerful read, indeed.

 

[Merckx index]

a plea by the 9 powerful former us intelligence officers who claim working 260 years for the us clandestine interests.

a very interesting read !

a powerful read, indeed.

It certainly is, thanks for this link. And apparently they have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get Obama's attention:

We reiterate our recommendations of May 4, that you remove the seeds of this confrontation by publicly disavowing any wish to incorporate Ukraine into NATO and that you make it clear that you are prepared to meet personally with Russian President Putin without delay to discuss ways to defuse the crisis and recognize the legitimate interests of the various parties. The suggestion of an early summit got extraordinary resonance in controlled and independent Russian media. Not so in “mainstream” media in the U.S. Nor did we hear back from you.

The comments are also very interesting, especially this one, which provides some insight into what the Russian people are being told:

Here are some things discussed in the Russian news sources and blogs which seems to be collaborated by official news (indirectly). I cannot give you links to “sources” as all of them would lead to blogs/youtube etc which cannot be reliably verified, but if you can verify some of this information through more reliable means, it may be useful for people to know.

1. Ukraine government with support from US/CIA is/was planning a series of terrorist acts in Ukraine including attacking nuclear and chemical plants, blowing up highly-populated buildings etc. The plan was/is to blame rebels and Russia and use as a pretext for further isolation of Russian up to using NATO forces openly in Ukraine conflict and beyond. Copies of documents proving this (places, times, names etc) were provided (yesterday I believe) to a US embassy in one of the ex-USSR countries which led to those events being postponed (hopefully cancelled). As I understand some of these were planned for August 2nd or about that time. As a result Kerry announced just recently that US/Ukraine want peace with rebels “immediately” (to renew Ukrainian forces which are failing in the offense), not in the future as this changed their plans (as the pretext for involving NATO explicitly and not through contractors may not be immediately available) .

2. US is working with Romania and Moldova preparing an attack on disputed Pridnestrovje (Trans-Dnestr) region in Moldova (building up Romanian troops under Moldova flags). At the same time US is working with Ukraine to build up defensive positions on Ukrainian side of the same region. The plan it seems is to attack Russian peacekeeping force in the region and retake it by force. One can only guess at consequences…

3. Things seem to be going on in the conflict region between Armenia/Azerbaijan with US trying to take control over the process (through UN, but we know how it goes). I don’t have details here and US activity is not new here, but it appears this has been activated recently.

3.[sic] US has activated all its influence agents/NCO inside Russia trying to spur up internal conflicts. Again, not a new thing, just suddenly active across the board.

One of the signers of the letter, William Binney, formerly worked for NSA, but quit shortly after 9/11, and has been a strong critic of it ever since. From wiki:

Binney has also been publicly critical of the NSA for spying on U.S. citizens, saying of its expanded surveillance after the September 11, 2001 attacks that "it's better than anything that the KGB, the Stasi, or the Gestapo and SS ever had"[9] as well as noting Trailblazer's ineffectiveness and unjustified high cost compared to the far less intrusive ThinThread.[10] He was furious that the NSA hadn't uncovered the 9/11 plot and stated that intercepts it had collected but not analyzed likely would have garnered timely attention with his leaner more focused system.[7]

After he left the NSA in 2001, Binney was one of several people investigated as part of an inquiry into the 2005 New York Times exposé[11][12] on the agency’s warrantless eavesdropping program. Binney was cleared of wrongdoing after three interviews with FBI agents beginning in March 2007, but one morning in July 2007, a dozen agents armed with rifles appeared at his house, one of whom entered the bathroom and pointed his gun at Binney, still towelling off from a shower. In that raid, the FBI confiscated a desktop computer, disks, and personal and business records. The NSA revoked his security clearance, forcing him to close a business he ran with former colleagues at a loss of a reported $300,000 in annual income. In 2012, Binney and his co-plaintiffs went to federal court to get the items back. Binney spent more than $7,000 on legal fees/

 

[Amsterhammer]

Sorry, call me naive if you wish, but I'm not buying Ukrainian 'false flag' attacks on their own "chemical and nuclear installations". The Russians are starting to sound like Alex Jones who, as we all know, is deranged.

Apropos this 'group' of ex-spooks - I am friends on Facebook with the highest ranking CIA officer at the fall of Vietnam, so he's a good deal older than these people. I asked him about this group. Here his reply.

" It is a group , of about 25 or 30 former Intel officer mostly confined to former analysts, i.e,. DDI types . I tried to join their group as I think their reasoned protests make sense , but I have never received a reply from them ."

 

[ToreBear]

Putin's Media Lives in an Alternate Reality

I earned my degree in journalism back in the 1970s from universities in both Moscow and Warsaw. Instructors at both institutions used the same archetypal example to explain the nature of propaganda, saying that we can describe a glass as half-empty or half-full.

Both statements are true, but they serve opposing propaganda purposes. The first assertion carries a negative connotation, whereas the second is full of optimism. The idea was that we could effectively influence readers, viewers or listeners in this way without resorting to the use of lies.

That was essentially how all Soviet propaganda worked: The authorities interpreted objective facts to suit their own purposes.

Now everything has changed. The glass is empty, the world sees that it is empty, but the Russian media proclaims: "The glass is completely full." And no sooner does the glass become full again than we hear: "It is empty. There is nothing there." I worked for Soviet newspapers during the terms of four Soviet leaders, from Leonid Brezhnev to Mikhail Gorbachev, and this is the first time the authorities have lied so brazenly and shamelessly. They have truly reached a new low.

Here is an indisputable fact: A passenger plane was shot down over territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Everyone understands that it was a mistake and not an intentional act, and the separatists could have admitted as much.

In a similar situation, when Soviet forces mistakenly shot down a South Korean airliner in 1983, Soviet media did not deny the incident but focused all its propaganda efforts on explaining the context of how it happened, claiming, for example, that the South Korean crew had "provocatively changed course."

This time the Kremlin-controlled media has repeatedly claimed that: the airplane was not shot down at all, but fell out of the sky by itself; a bomb exploded aboard the airplane; the airplane was hit by a Ukrainian missile fired from the ground; a Ukrainian air force fighter pursued and then attacked the plane; the U.S. shot down the plane in order to damage Russia's reputation; no living people were aboard the plane as it flew on autopilot from Amsterdam, where it had been pre-loaded with "rotting corpses."

Difficult as it is to believe, that last, completely ridiculous version of events, which was put forward by Igor Girkin, the commander of the pro-Russian terrorists responsible for the tragedy, not only aired on all state-controlled media outlets, but was the subject of serious discussion.

All of those versions of events were deliberate lies, and all of the reporters and commentators who authored and discussed them knew they were telling lies. And yet they still did it. At the same time, their behavior did not suggest that they were unaware of the existence of the Internet, where citizens could find ample evidence refuting their claims: videos, photos, recordings of intercepted telephone conversations and eyewitness testimony. For Russia's state media journalists, it was not enough to simply twist the facts to their own purposes: They felt compelled to tell bold-faced lies.

An experienced, older journalist and I recently debated whether this practice is deliberate or the result of simple incompetence. After all, the authorities could just spin the facts to suit their propaganda goals. Why bother building a parallel universe? "In our time," my companion said with a sigh, "we maintained higher standards," attributing the problem to unprofessionalism.

But I think it is done deliberately. When propaganda is based on nuances of interpretation, the chance always remains that someone with a fresh perspective or a critical mindset can cast doubt on those claims. However, when the authorities base their propaganda entirely on lies, they achieve their desired result faster and leave no room for doubt. Thus, lies provide a quicker and more effective means to the end.

Andrei Malgin is a journalist and literary critic.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/putins-media-lives-in-an-alternate-reality/504339.html

Good article that explains the current Russian propaganda. I don't see any point in delving into conspiracy theories.

To me it's clear what happened. To me the mystery is what variant of the Buks where used. Production date of the missile or missiles if two or more were launched. Variant of missile(s) used. If they came from Russian(most likely) or captured Ukrainian stock. etc..

 

[ToreBear]

This is kind of funny:

Without Realising It, Russian Soldiers Are Proving Vladimir Putin Is Lying About Eastern Ukraine
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/russian-soldiers-social-ukraine-2014-7

 

[python]

.. 1-2 posts above i posted a plea from 9 former american intelligence officers - a plea to produce more than words behind west/washington's own propaganda...none, has come to light. the former american spooks called what has been produced through twitter UNPROFESSIONAL, embarrassing...

in fact, they have given several examples as to why 'the standard of proof' washington used to-date is so low...either because they've got none or what they do have, according to their own intel sources, aint what has been spun.

i do not think a conspiracy mind is needed to suspect those screaming from roof tops in stead of producing evidence of foul play.

those american intelligence professionals herded into closed briefings several trusted journos to 'take their word'. and purely incidentally they were reminded prior to those briefings of criminal responsibility if they disclose the briefers faces and names.

i dont trust those who hide their faces when they talk to me.

 

[blutto]

....some rather poignant comments about the moral high ground....


There is a perverted logic to Israel’s repeated use of the Big Lie—Große Lüge—the lie favored by tyrants from Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin to Saddam Hussein. The Big Lie feeds the two reactions Israel seeks to elicit—racism among its supporters and terror among its victims.

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/...nd-imf-plan-to-dismantle-ukrainian-economyThe complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_israel_lies_20140803

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Non-Cheers

....kinda funny but just after I posted this I found myself caught in a major traffic jam for an hour or so...luckily I found a radio program that helped pass the time...it was a CBC program called Ideas....and this particular one looked at propaganda....the bottom line is that the modern Big Lie was born in WW1 and was used to win the war against the dastardly Hun...all subsequent Big Lies are simply a variation of that original....

...apparently the key thing to the Big Lie is the idea that the great unwashed are basically stupid.....and best way to herd them to the "proper" destination is not by using factual arguments but simply appeal to their emotions ( in fact, those fact thingees get in the way of an efficient delivery of the Big Lie...so no facts please! ...)...

...so Hedges it seems didn't quite get the genealogy of the Big Lie right....it wasn't just them guys that use the big but us guys, in fact we invented it....the other thing that Hedge kinda missed on was the other unfolding of the Big Lie, that is the slagging of Russia and its leader, the arch villain Putin....

 

[blackcat]

in fact, they have given several examples as to why 'the standard of proof' washington used to-date is so low...either because they've got none or what they do have, according to their own intel sources, aint what has been spun.

but the premise is that a hypothetical proof matters.

we are talking power politics
the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must
Thucydides

its inconsequential.

I have a polymath friend from the former USSR, and he confirmed to me the anecdote about the Soviet apparatchik on a study tour of the US in the khruschev admininstration and he asked his American attache how that you guys will print all the same narrative when we have to twist the editors arms at Pravda.

Python can you make this more elegant and eloquent?