Tag: Russia

The Russian Connection: Pieces Falling In Place

Every day another piece of evidence is revealed that sheds more sunshine on the connection between Russia and the Trump campaign. In an article in Politico it was reported that a close associate of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort was being investigated for ties to Russian intelligence. Konstantin Kilimnik, an operative based in Kiev …

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Obstruction of Justice

The first charge in the articles of impeachment against President Richard M. Nixon was obstruction of justice: Subsequent thereto, Richard M. Nixon, using the powers of his high office, engaged personally and through his subordinates and agents in a course of conduct or plan designed to delay, impede, and obstruct the investigation of such unlawful …

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Trump and the Russian Connection

There is a country song by Garth Brooks called Friends in Low Places. It’s a catchy tune about having friends that aren’t at the top of the social strata. Donald Trump on the other hand has friends in high place but while they may be high up in that social hierarchy, Trump’s friends, much like …

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Nixon 2.0: What Did Trump Know; When Did He Know It

Some of you may be too young the remember Watergate the scandal that ended Richard M. Nixon term as president. It was 1972, during the campaign to re-elect the president (CREEP), when five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee office in the Washington DC hotel complex known as Watergate. What followed …

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Rant of the Week: Trump’s Russian Water Works

The revelation this week from an unconfirmed dossier that appeared in the online news outlet, Buzzfeed, that the thin skinned orange bigot who is about to occupy the White House did something rather kinky during his stay in Moscow a few years ago. Needless to say, the cable and late night talk show hosts ran …

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Pondering The Reasons and Sources Of Hacks

What is hacking in the first place? It is the use of a computer to gain unauthorized access to data and systems. Plain and simple, it is espionage, spying. It is illegal. Besides the hacking for personal information to steal credit card and from bank accounts, it is done by countries to spy and disrupt …

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The Putin Connection

The Republican nominee for president has deep ties to Russia and it’s head of state Vladimir Putin that long preceded his friendship with Paul Manafort. And, as Charlie Pierce said, this should raise alarm bells for anyone concerned about democracy. Pierce leads us to an in depth article by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo …

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High crimes and media misdemeanours

On November 24, a Russian fighter jet was shot down by Turkish forces. This much we know. But beyond that, the facts are slippery, the coverage compromised and the narratives politically loaded. Ankara says the jet violated Turkish airspace, whereas Moscow insists that Turkey shot down its plane over Syrian territory. The messages, which present …

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The Russian plane crash and the battle of narratives

We examine the conflicting media reports of the Russian plane disaster in Egypt; plus, the rise of automated journalism. When a Russian-operated airline went down in Sinai on October 31, killing all 224 on board, it drew together Russia, the UK and Egypt in what has now become a battle over the airwaves to contain …

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Anti-Capitalist Meetup: Will The Real Axis of Evil Please Stand Up? by Geminijen

Last Tuesday, in his speech to the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister of Israel added a new power to the “Axis of Evil”. According to Netanyahu, “Militant Islamists” (including not only  ISIS in Iraq and Syria but Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and other Al Qaeda groups in Africa and the Middle East)”, want to dominate the world like the Nazis; only unlike the Nazis, they believe in a “Master faith” instead of a “Master Race”

Obama, in his speech four days earlier announcing that he would begin Air Strikes in Syria, also discussed “extreme fundamentalism” in the Middle East. Although he did not specify Islamists as the only fundamentalists, he emphasized the necessity of eliminating  these groups and, using a combination of the idea of “American Exceptionalism” and a retread of the colonial playbook where the civilized countries (read mostly white, western) have to quell the extreme militant fundamentalists (read “savages”)in the Middle East. This was of course, his justification for invading Syria and bombing ISIS.

The “Axis of Evil”,  originally inspired b the Nazis in World War II, was recreated by George W. Bush in 2002 and initially included three Nation States –Iraq, Iran and North Korea  –and became Bush’s excuse to invade Iraq.  Under his administration, this concept was later expanded to include Cuba, Libya and Syria. The American president offered no evidence to support what we now know was slander and had much more to do with protecting US oil interests than protecting the American people, not to mention the lives of other peoples of the world.

Of the original six members, Cuba and North Korea are effectively quarantined by Western-imposed embargoes, isolated from balanced international relations and development. Of the other four, Iraq and Libya, were invaded by US-led forces in the name of fighting Islamic terrorism, and have been destroyed and realigned to serve Western interests.

It is no accident that Obama is targeting one of the two remaining members, Syria, while changing the stakes from targeting a specific country to the concept of “extreme (read Islamic) fundamentalism” which is much broader and not hampered by nation state boundaries blurring the lines of what is legal and illegal under international law as well as increasing the threat of endless war since it is unclear what nation state you would negotiate with to end the war.

In analyzing the current crisis with ISIS, an historical analysis provides some perspective. Since the 1970’s, capitalist interests have morphed into a toxic combination of religious fundamentalism  and extreme militarism to achieve their economic goals  — whether that is the reawakening of the Christian-based KKK and the rise of the Patriots and Tea Party in the United States; the Evangelicals, military dictators and death squads in Latin America; the Orthodox Zionist Jews and the concept of a Greater Israel in the Palestinian conflict; or extreme Islamic fundamentalism  in the larger Middle East.  

It is unclear why this fundamentalism has such appeal these days – maybe it’s because the world is scarier as we globalize and people want to retreat to the “good old days”, to concepts they believe will not change. Maybe it’s because fundamentalism is unquestioning and based on faith rather than reason and it makes it easier for the 1% to manipulate the rest of us. Maybe it is because religious fundamentalism is not restricted by national borders and makes it easier to rationalize the new global paradigm. Maybe it is a combination of all of these.

Whatever the reason, the drums of war are rumbling again, and we are hoping that the drum beats will be loud enough to drown out the voice of reason by finding a new enemy.  An enemy who can be the bad guy — pure evil that must be squelched mercilessly which we can only do with war.  We, of course, are the “good guys” and wear the white hat because, as always, “God (and a white supremacist morality) is on our side.”

But I would suggest it is not Islamic extremists, terrorists, drug lords, rogue states, corrupt regimes, authoritarian superpowers or Eastern Block” (the “Red Menace sans Communism)who are “the enemy.” It is the multinational oil interests, the military industrial complex and the American government and its allies who are the real “axis of evil.”   It is the system of capitalist corruption, exploitation and enrichment that has put the world into poverty, conflict and on the brink of yet another major war.

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