The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of "Anti-Russian Jingoism"

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:32am

c99 essay.jpg

Norman
Soloman recently wrote about the growing insanity of the use of anti-Russia language in the press as well as by individuals, and about a move to counter this.

'''''

Perhaps many of you have seen what Caitlin Johnstone has written:

https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/peace-talk-between-nuclear-superpower...

"Only assholes and morons oppose these peace talks. If you want to help steer this ship into the iceberg of nuclear holocaust, then I want you thrown overboard. Get a fucking grip, you raving lunatics. Stop this. Stop this immediately."

People (not C99ers) imo do need to get a grip where it comes to cavalierly and thoughtlessly supporting the smearing of Russia and the Russian people in their haste to get rid of Trump, and in doing so support the MIC in it's insane push toward war.

Norman Solomon recently wrote about this disturbing phenomenon.

Since early 2017, the U.S. mass media have laid it on thick with the rough political equivalent of a painting technique known as chiaroscuro – “the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition,” in the words of Wikipedia. The Russiagate frenzy is largely about punching up contrasts between the United States (angelic and victimized) and Russia (sinister and victimizer).

Countless stories with selective facts are being told that way. But other selectively fact-based stories could also be told to portray the United States as a sinister victimizer and Russia as an angelic victim. Those governments and their conformist media outlets are relentless in telling it either way. As the great journalist I.F. Stone observed long ago, “All governments lie, and nothing they say should be believed.” In other words: don’t trust, verify.

Often the biggest lies involve what remains unsaid. For instance, U.S. media rarely mention such key matters as the promise-breaking huge expansion of NATO to Russia’s borders since the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the brazen U.S. intervention in Russia’s pivotal 1996 presidential election, or the U.S. government’s 2002 withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, or the more than 800 U.S. military bases overseas -- in contrast to Russia’s nine.

For human survival on this planet, an overarching truth appears in an open letter published last week by The Nation magazine: “No political advantage, real or imagined, could possibly compensate for the consequences if even a fraction of U.S. and Russian arsenals were to be utilized in a thermonuclear exchange. The tacit pretense that the worsening of U.S.-Russian relations does not worsen the odds of survival for the next generations is profoundly false.”

FWIW I have decided to share this with my Facebook Fiends (!!!) in hopes to counter some of the fail.

Edited for clarity and to add jpeg.

Tags:

Nuclear Disarmament

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Comments

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:48am

I agree with those quoted in Solomon's article:

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/07/16/climb-down-summit-hostile-...

Many of the petition’s grassroots signers have posted comments along with their names. Here are a few of my favorites:

From Nevada: “We all share the same planet! We better learn how to do it safely or face the consequences of blowing ourselves up!”
From New Mexico: “The earth will not survive a nuclear war. The weapons we have today are able to cause much more destruction than those of previous eras. We must find a way to common ground.”
From Massachusetts: “It is imperative that we take steps to protect the sanctity of our elections and to prevent nuclear war anywhere on the earth.”
From Kentucky: “Secure elections are a fundamental part of a democratic system. But this could become meaningless in the event of thermonuclear war.”
From California: “There is only madness and hubris in talk of belligerence toward others, especially when we have such dangerous weapons and human error has almost led to our annihilation already more than once in the past half-century.”

Yet a wide array of media outlets, notably the “Russiagate”-obsessed network MSNBC, keeps egging on progressives to climb toward peaks of anti-Russian jingoism. The line of march is often in virtual lockstep with GOP hyper-hawks like Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. The incessant drumbeat is in sync with what Martin Luther King Jr. called “the madness of militarism.”

Meanwhile, as Dr. King said, “We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent coannihilation.”

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:42am

Putin is no idiot, Trump is, and the Media are corrupted

hot air spewing dragons. /end of summitting

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https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:50am

Hi mimi. We are in your time zone for he next few days

@mimi before heading back to US.

Think this could apply to Germans as well?

We need a major shift in the U.S. approach toward Russia. Clearly the needed shift won’t be initiated by the Republican or Democratic leaders in Congress; it must come from Americans who make their voices heard. The lives -- and even existence -- of future generations are at stake in the relationship between Washington and Moscow.

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 8:28am

of course, the Germans just do not know enough

@divineorder
About US propaganda. And they are too well off to go on the streets to protest against Trump's so-called treason and for Putin's so-called innocence. I guess. If I have understood your comment correctly…

And our representatives and Mutti Merkel and Mr. German President, what is his name, Steinmeier, will always stay distinguishedly silent at the side walk and are waving a friendly hallo to both.

Do not ask me why they are. I guess they are just so-called smart cowards ...

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:25pm

The question for me is not whether Trump committed treason.

@mimi US is not at war with Russian, has ongoing agreements and protocols. Trump is guilty of being a dipshit, yeah, but treason? Who knows.

For me it is a question of how citizens may pressure both governments toward nuclear disarmament. This has been a goal of many for decades. It still should be a goal for all of humanity.

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:15pm

sure it should be a goal for all humanity

@divineorder @divineorder
but it is humane that people are scared and that makes them docile and polite vis a vis two super powers and keep them from pressuring both governments toward nuclear disarmament.

I know only silly solutions that are dangerous to put in words and in actions. See me being a coward? Yes, me being part of the human humanity.

Please do not take offense. I know this is a known unknown answer.

—

https://www.euronews.com/live

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 7:29am

Reducing geopolitical tensions

1. Close at least 75% of foreign bases

2. Disband NATO

3. Cease black ops

4. Restrict Pentagon budget

5. Disarm nukes

Not asking too much here, am I?

Submitted by Citizen Of Earth on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 7:39am

You are asking for sanity. That's your problem right there.

@QMS

It can be argued that Trump has been doing the exact opposite of all of those.
- Increase Military spending by $100B
- Escalated troop deployments in Afghanistan by 30,000
- Is asking for increased spending on NATO
- Is spending $$$$$$ on modernizing US Nuke missiles

—

Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 8:09am

That's fer sure

@Citizen Of Earth Looking for sanity in all the wrong places. Long standing handicap.

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:28pm

Hi QMS, yes, with you on your list. As I am sure are the

@QMS ones who signed the letter:

https://www.thenation.com/article/common-ground-for-secure-elections-and...

The initial 26 signers of the open letter – “Common Ground: For Secure Elections and True National Security” -- included Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, writer and feminist organizer Gloria Steinem, former UN ambassador Gov. Bill Richardson, political analyst Noam Chomsky, former covert CIA operations officer Valerie Plame, activist leader Rev. Dr. William Barber II, filmmaker Michael Moore, former Nixon White House counsel John Dean, Russia scholar Stephen F. Cohen, former U.S. ambassador to the USSR Jack F. Matlock Jr., Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Alice Walker and Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, former senator Adlai Stevenson III, and former longtime House Armed Services Committee member Patricia Schroeder. (I was also one of the initial signers.)

Since its release five days ago, the open letter has gained support from a petition already signed by 30,000 people. The petition campaign aims to amplify the call for protecting the digital infrastructure of the electoral process that is now “vulnerable to would-be hackers based anywhere” -- and for taking “concrete steps… to ease tensions between the nuclear superpowers.”

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 4:18pm

@divineorder A lot of people on that

@divineorder A lot of people on that list that I don't trust, but I care about the ideas, not who's saying them. Unless you're talking about a perpetual liar like Karl Rove.

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 4:20pm

@divineorder I just noticed they're

@divineorder I just noticed they're putting "protect digital infrastructure from election hacking" right next to "stop nuclear war." Interesting.

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 7:29am

Good travels to you...

Solomon was interviewed by the real news in text or video...
https://therealnews.com/stories/was-the-trump-putin-meeting-constructive...

But the real gem was a diamond discussion with Glenn Greenwald....
video or text about 30 min each
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/16/debate_is_trump_putin_summit_a_da...
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/16/part_2_debate_on_russian_meddling

An hour well spent IMO. It's Glenn at his best.

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by Citizen Of Earth on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 7:31am

Did Trump say a bunch of really stupid shit in Helsinki?

Yes. Of course he did. He always does when he opens his fat fucking mouth.
Was it treason? No IMO. That's just the MSM grasping for ears and eyeballs.
But I found some of his press conference comments extra, profoundly stupid , even for him. Using a World Summit to talk to his Dimwitted Base. Hahaaha. Fucking idiot. "It's all the Dems fault. There was no collusion. US Intelligence and Meuller are on a witch hunt. Putin says he didn't mess with the election, so I believe him." W.T.F.
It was like being at one of his fascist campaign rallies.

I agree with Caitlin Johnstone. Let's not start WWIII with Russia. Let's dial back the aggression.

But c'mon. The Two Biggest Assholes In The World just shook hands. Let's enjoy the irony of the photo op.

—

Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Submitted by The Aspie Corner on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 8:23am

Not to mention he's using the presidency to prop up his brand.

@Citizen Of Earth There's not a day that goes by that he isn't making some business deal right in the open that happens to coincide with one of his shit policies.

—

Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Submitted by Citizen Of Earth on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 8:38am

Just read that US Taxpayers paid $77K

@The Aspie Corner @The Aspie Corner
to his Scotish Golf Course when he went there for a photo op this week. Now $77K is chump change. But Trump used this EuroTrip to advertise his golf course. It's just something he does. "Always be selling."

And when the Repubs give the fucker $100B to build his idiotic Wall, pay attention to who gets paid to build it. Trump contractors???
PS I fully expect Repubs to pay for the fuckin wall if Trump agrees to Gut SocSec and Medicare. Tit for Tat and Tuff Shit for the rest of us.

—

Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 4:30pm

@The Aspie Corner That is, IMO, where the

@The Aspie Corner @The Aspie Corner That is, IMO, where the actual Trump/Russia corruption lies: in his business deals. I don't believe the Russians hijacked our election, nor do I think that NOT believing in that is like being at a fascist Trump rally.

I don't know why it's necessary to believe in a Russian election hijack to understand that Trump is corrupt, that he has business connections in Russia that no doubt affect his policy decisions, and that he's a shitty President--and shitty person.

Of course, I'd be surprised if there were five politicians in Washington, D.C. who don't have similar relationships with foreigners and even foreign states which similarly affect their policy decisions. That kind of corruption is so endemic that the first time I heard a mainstream politician hold forth on the issue I actually laughed. I mean, this has been the (corrupt and shitty) business as usual since World War II. My mom wasn't even born when this shit started, and now these guys who are in it up to their eyeballs are fulminating about Trump? Still, that doesn't make Trump doing it right--it just makes his politician critics assholes pretty much just like him.

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:31pm

Speaking of branding, wonder how Putin's brand after Fox inter

@Citizen Of Earth interview is faring?

Putin denies having dirt on Trump in heated Fox News interview https://t.co/Ph8tV1iUqq pic.twitter.com/tClbL4uZU3

— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 17, 2018

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by Citizen Of Earth on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:59pm

Honestly if a video surfaces of Donnie

@divineorder
getting a golden shower from a moscow hooker, I will just think, "Ha, it figures" . hahaha.

As for Putin, I'm sure the Russian Aristocracy is cheering the summit result (ie Putin's Poodle). Average Russian scraping out an existence probably doesn't give a shit.

—

Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Submitted by jarrayy on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 8:09am

It is as if we live in an Alternate Reality

Other than commenting on Twitter, I don't talk about politics all that much anymore. It is tiring and depressing. People I like, respect, seem to have gone insane. I go to the office and people breathlessly recap -- or watch -- Rachel Maddow, and praise the heroic CIA. The ease at which people have been led to accept the need to go to war with Russia because we were "attacked" and this is "Pearl Harbor" is frightening. When I say I do not want my son to die because Clinton lost an election, I am met with replies of "do you want your son to live under a Putin regime?"

Family members tell me with a straight face Clinton needs to be installed as president. Any response to that, in their minds, in support for Trump. This is liberal birtherism. One cannot argue with, reason with, these people. We're doomed as a species if this continues.

—

One Day it will be Someday

Submitted by lotlizard on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 9:59am

Wow! Trump is Salvador Allende; Clinton is “POTUS Pinochette”;

@jarrayy
and soon it’ll be 9/11 in Chile, as CIA-choreographed uproar has billionaires, neocons, liberal Democrats, and corporate media all clamoring for nothing less than a coup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Chilean_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

Submitted by QMS on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 10:08am

If the "Rulers" are so damned scared

@lotlizard of socialism, then it must be good!

Submitted by jarrayy on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 11:01am

@lotlizard Yes. I agree. I do not

@lotlizard Yes. I agree. I do not want to agree, but the population is primed for such an action. It is interesting though, how the same "it could never happen here" crowd that in the past treated the good ol' USA as being removed form history and immune from such "third world" problems, now embrace a nice, old-fashioned, coup. These are the same people who told me Obama "had this" when I voiced concern over his continuation and normalizing of Bush/Cheney crimes because someone like Trump would never, ever, become president, ya know. After all how could he, or any Republican, ever get beyond the African American/Hispanic/Female fire wall?

—

One Day it will be Someday

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:40pm

jarrayy great comment which describes my reality as well.

@jarrayy @jarrayy However, I can't sit by and not say anything. My challenge is to push back without telling them what ignorant fcks they are for falling for the obvious propaganda.

It's big ask, to try and educate them. Most don't even realize what has happened to the media over the last 30 years.

My wife does not see the point in engaging them. I can't help myself.

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by jarrayy on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:40pm

Yup

@divineorder That's the thing. But even if I try to be polite, I still come off as having the attitude that I think they are ignorant Fs. Ha.

—

One Day it will be Someday

Submitted by jarrayy on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 2:45pm

Yup

@divineorder @divineorder That's the thing. But even if I try to be polite, I still come off as having the attitude that I think they are ignorant Fs. Ha.

EDITED. Sorry for the double comment. Slow wifi made me impatient and I clicked save twice.

—

One Day it will be Someday

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 4:33pm

@jarrayy I would rather live under

@jarrayy I would rather live under a Putin regime than have everyone I know die.

Sorry, Charlie, "better dead than red" is not acceptable politics. We're talking about life on earth here, and a handful of American partisans don't get to decide for all 7 billion of us that it's time to die.

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by Creosote. on Fri, 07/20/2018 - 10:08am

Standing with you there CSMS

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal
How wonderfully convenient it is that all the Trump-Putin stuff erases real concern about or action against global warming.
Mania is preferable and profitable.
Curious to see if the book of Stone-VVP interviews may bring out VVP's efforts to keep things livable a bit longer.

Submitted by Roy Blakeley on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 8:43am

2003 all over

This is so much like the lead up to the invasion of Iraq: The MSM completely abandoning all critical analysis of the "evidence" from the US intelligence agencies and repeating unproven allegations as fact until they become a staple of received knowledge. The FBI and the CIA always lie when it comes to foreign intelligence. That's what they do. They have been doing it all of my life and they are becoming steadily more brazen. Mueller is a reliable servant of the foreign policy establishment and the MIC. He took over the investigation of the PAN-AM flight 103 bombing and diverted it into a framing of two hapless Libyans for political reasons. The absurd indictment of Russian intelligence officers was clearly designed to damage the Helsinki summit.

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:21pm

As always, thanks, Lookout. Looking forward to

@Lookout @Roy Blakeley @Lookout viewing those!

It's been a wonderful experience as usual. We have been gone from 'home' since mid-April, and we are just about ready to head back.

Am glad we did this trip again, who knows, it may all be over for humanity soon.

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:46pm

Roy B , that's exactly what I am seeing.

@Roy Blakeley @Roy Blakeley

Ray McGovern

Ray’s shortest interview (of 5) today: why Trump is well advised to cast a jaundiced eye on US intelligence, even as the NYT drinks freely from CIA Kool-Aid. An early ten minutes on AM 970/New York City with Joe Piscopo.https://t.co/BGIFAa46Wn pic.twitter.com/8qFKdCHQEE

— Ray McGovern (@raymcgovern) July 18, 2018

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by Dr. John Carpenter on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 1:32pm

I see it too.

@divineorder and that’s what scares me. Not Trump, but that we’re being Gulf Warred again and people are falling for it again.

—

Idolizing a politician is like believing the stripper really likes you.

Submitted by detroitmechworks on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 9:57am

Considering the number of Russians in the Portland Area

If it comes down to it, I know who I will be hiding in my attic. Muslims too.
Because I may not agree with them, but there's no way in hell I will give them over to the real enemy.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEMUga92Hcc]

—

I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 1:56pm

Really hope it does not come to that.

@detroitmechworks @lotlizard @detroitmechworks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Americans

According to the Institute of Modern Russia in 2011, the Russian American population is estimated to be 3.13 million.[5]

Many Russian Americans do not speak Russian,[6] having been born in the United States and brought up in English-speaking homes. In 2007, however, Russian was the primary spoken language of 851,174 Americans at home, according to the U.S. Census.[5] According to the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard, 750,000 Russian Americans were ethnic Russians in 1990.[7]

The New York City metropolitan area has historically been the leading metropolitan gateway for Russian immigrants legally admitted into the United States.[8] Brighton Beach, Brooklyn continues to be the most important demographic and cultural center for the Russian American experience. However, as Russian Americans have climbed in socioeconomic status, the diaspora from Russia and other former Soviet-bloc states has moved toward more affluent parts of the New York metropolitan area, notably Bergen County, New Jersey. Within Bergen County, the increasing size of the Russian immigrant presence in its hub of Fair Lawn prompted a 2014 April Fool's satire titled, "Putin Moves Against Fair Lawn".[9]

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by Akze on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 11:09am

They call Trump treasonous but said nothing when

Two weeks ago congress hosted Andriy Parubiy the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, and the founder of not one but two neo-Nazi parties, and one neonazi militia. Nazis killed 20 million Russians.

—

Solidarity forever

Submitted by divineorder on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 12:51pm

Akze yes, and the average person in the US didn't even know

@Akze this happened and has little background to judge the event.

Two weeks ago the Beltway foreign policy establishment rolled out the red carpet for a Ukrainian neofascist who promised to stop Nordstream II for them. A former Obama official was there to receive him after he met with Paul Ryan. https://t.co/zQpHJJjCj3

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 11, 2018

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by Akze on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 1:43pm

I was referring to the pundits, not your average joe / jane

@divineorder

—

Solidarity forever

Submitted by Cant Stop the M... on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 4:16pm

Thanks for this, d.o.

Sometimes these days I can't believe my eyes.

—

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Submitted by divineorder on Thu, 07/19/2018 - 8:18am

Welcome! I first was just going to put in an EB comment but

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal because we are in European time zone just now would have been in dead thread.

Decided to see if anyone else wanted to talk about it.

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by divineorder on Thu, 07/19/2018 - 8:14am

Yes, thanks, I got that you were, just was adding the bit

the people.

—

A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

Submitted by The Liberal Moonbat on Thu, 07/19/2018 - 11:17am

Vladdie, would you like some sausage?

—

In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!