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“The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic.”

-- H.L. Mencken

News and Opinion

Hedges: The Pimps of War

The same cabal of warmongering pundits, foreign policy specialists and government officials, year after year, debacle after debacle, smugly dodge responsibility for the military fiascos they orchestrate. They are protean, shifting adroitly with the political winds, moving from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party and then back again, mutating from cold warriors to neocons to liberal interventionists. Pseudo intellectuals, they exude a cloying Ivy League snobbery as they sell perpetual fear, perpetual war, and a racist worldview, where the lesser breeds of the earth only understand violence. They are pimps of war, puppets of the Pentagon, a state within a state, and the defense contractors who lavishly fund their think tanks — Project for the New American Century, American Enterprise Institute, Foreign Policy Initiative, Institute for the Study of War, Atlantic Council and Brookings Institution. Like some mutant strain of an antibiotic-resistant bacteria, they cannot be vanquished. It does not matter how wrong they are, how absurd their theories, how many times they lie or denigrate other cultures and societies as uncivilized or how many murderous military interventions go bad. They are immovable props, the parasitic mandarins of power that are vomited up in the dying days of any empire, including ours, leaping from one self-defeating catastrophe to the next. ...

The Biden administration is filled with these ignoramuses, including Joe Biden. Victoria Nuland, the wife of Robert Kagan, serves as Biden’s undersecretary of state for political affairs. Antony Blinken is secretary of state. Jake Sullivan is national security advisor. They come from this cabal of moral and intellectual trolls that includes Kimberly Kagan, the wife of Fred Kagan, who founded The Institute for the Study of War, William Kristol, Max Boot, John Podhoretz, Gary Schmitt, Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, David Frum, and others. Many were once staunch Republicans or, like Nuland, served in Republican and Democratic administrations. Nuland was the principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. They are united by the demand for larger and larger defense budgets and an ever expanding military. Julian Benda called these courtiers to power “the self-made barbarians of the intelligentsia.”

They once railed against liberal weakness and appeasement. But they swiftly migrated to the Democratic Party rather than support Donald Trump, who showed no desire to start a conflict with Russia and who called the invasion of Iraq a “big, fat mistake.” Besides, as they correctly pointed out, Hillary Clinton was a fellow neocon. And liberals wonder why nearly half the electorate, who revile these arrogant unelected power brokers, as they should, voted for Trump.

These ideologues did not see the corpses of their victims. I did. Including children. Every dead body I stood over in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Gaza, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen or Kosovo, month after month, year after year, exposed their moral bankruptcy, their intellectual dishonesty, and their sick bloodlust. They did not serve in the military. Their children do not serve in the military. But they eagerly ship young American men and women off to fight and die for their self-delusional dreams of empire and American hegemony. Or, as in Ukraine, they provide hundreds of millions of dollars in weaponry and logistical support to sustain long and bloody proxy wars. ...

I do not know if these people are stupid or cynical or both. They are lavishly funded by the war industry. They are never dropped from the networks for their repeated idiocy. They rotate in and out of power, parked in places like The Council on Foreign Relations or The Brookings Institution, before being called back into government. They are as welcome in the Obama or Biden White House as the Bush White House. The Cold War, for them, never ended. The world remains binary, us and them, good and evil. They are never held accountable. When one military intervention goes up in flames, they are ready to promote the next. These Dr. Strangeloves, if we don’t stop them, will terminate life as we know it on the planet.

Propaganda of the week. I know that I'm calling it early, but I doubt that this one can be beat. It's like Hillary wrote it her own bad self:

Russia Airs Its Ultimate ‘Revenge Plan’ for America

As Russia’s war of aggression continues to ravage its neighbor, the Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus has been more blatant than ever in outlining the country’s goals for its biggest nemesis: the U.S.

Last week, American intelligence officials reportedly assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin may use the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine as a pretext to order a new campaign to interfere in U.S. elections. Though AP reported that “it is not yet clear which candidates Russia might try to promote or what methods it might use,” Russian state media seem to be in agreement that former U.S. President Donald Trump remains Moscow’s candidate of choice. The time is coming “to again help our partner Trump to become president,” state TV host Evgeny Popov recently declared. On Thursday’s edition of the state television show The Evening With Vladimir Soloviev, Putin’s pet pundits offered an update on plans for 2024.

“We’re trying to feel our way, figuring out the first steps. What can we do in 2023, 2024?,” Russian “Americanist” Malek Dudakov, a political scientist specializing in the U.S., said. He suggested that Russia’s interference in the upcoming elections is still in its early stages, and that more will be accomplished after the war is over and frosty relations between the U.S. and Russia start to warm up. “When things thaw out and the presidential race for 2024 is firmly on the agenda, there’ll be moments we can use,” he added. “The most banal approach I can think of is to invite Trump—before he announces he’s running for President—to some future summit in liberated Mariupol.”

Dmitry Drobnitsky, an omnipresent “Americanist” on Soloviev’s show, suggested that Tulsi Gabbard should be invited along with Trump. Dudakov agreed: “Tulsi Gabbard would also be great. Maybe Trump will take her as his vice-president?” Gabbard has recently become a fixture of state television for her pro-Russian talking points, and has even been described as a “Russian agent” by the Kremlin’s propaganda machine.

If state television is any indication, the real agenda of the Kremlin’s operatives was never limited to boosting any particular candidates, but rather aimed to harm America as a whole. Dudakov stressed: “With Europe, economic wars should take priority. With America, we should be working to amplify the divisions and—in light of our limited abilities—to deepen the polarization of American society.” He went on: “There is a horrific polarization of society in the United States, very serious conflicts between the Democrats and Republicans that keep expanding. You’ve already mentioned that America is a dying empire—and most empires weren’t conquered, they were destroyed from within. The same fate likely awaits America in the near decade. That’s why, when all the processes are thawed, Russia might get the chance to play on that.”

US, EU sacrificing Ukraine to 'weaken Russia': fmr. NATO adviser

Last marines defending Mariupol ‘running out of ammunition’

The last Ukrainian soldiers defending Mariupol said they were “running out of ammunition” on Monday and expected to be killed or taken prisoner very soon by Russian forces surrounding the city.

Writing on Facebook, the 36th brigade said its 47-day defence of Mariupol was coming to a tragic conclusion. “We were bombed from airplanes and shot at by artillery and tanks. We have been doing everything possible and impossible. But any resource has the potential to run out,” it said.

Russian troops have been besieging the city on the Sea of Azov since the beginning of March. The territory controlled by Ukrainian forces has gradually shrunk to a few central areas. The surviving marines are now holed up in the Azovstal iron and steelworks next to the port. ...

In their message, the marines in Mariupol also say they feel “written off” by their commander in chief. They say repeated promises to relieve the crushing Russian blockade of the city, or to evacuate some of their wounded by helicopter, came to nothing. “There were chances. Due to silliness they were not implemented,” the brigade wrote.

Austria Chancellor Nehammer to Moscow as Russia Advances on Kramatorsk, More Surrenders in Mariupol

Common Dreams almost gets it, but not really.

Mehdi Hasan Asks Official Why Biden Can Call Putin a War Criminal—But Not MBS

During a televised interview late Sunday, journalist Mehdi Hasan pressed a State Department official on U.S. President Joe Biden's willingness to call Russian President Vladimir Putin a "war criminal" while sending weapons to Saudi Arabia as the kingdom wages war on Yemen.

"Ambassador, it is good to see the U.S. government calling out war crimes in Ukraine and assisting in the documenting of those war crimes, but I do wonder, and I'm sure many others wonder too, where is that same kind of commitment when it comes to other conflicts?" Hasan asked.

"For example, the war in Yemen, where multiple atrocities have been documented by both sides, but one of those sides is our ally, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," he added. "Wouldn't we have more credibility if we condemned war crimes by our friends and not just by our enemies?"

Beth Van Schaack, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, responded that "the United States has worked tirelessly to promote accountability and documentation of abuses all across the world."

"There's a number of situations" at the International Criminal Court (ICC)—which probes and prosecutes genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression—that the Biden administration has been "very supportive of," Van Schaack said. "The standards apply to all parties and we are looking at all conflicts around the world with an eye toward bringing the parties better into compliance with international law."

The exchange on Hasan's show—which airs on MSNBC and the streaming service Peacock—continued with the host pointing out that Van Schaack "didn't address the Yemen war example."

Citing 2016 reporting that the Obama administration—for which Biden served as vice president—allowed a massive arms sale to Yemen despite concerns that the United States could be implicated in war crimes for supporting the Saudi-led air assault on Yemen, Hasan again raised the issue of credibility.

"Wouldn't we have more credibility if we called out war crimes by our own allies instead of selling them weapons?" he asked.

Describing the president's failure to criticize Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, as "the most obvious example in the world" of the unequal treatment of leaders accused of atrocities, he added, "How come Joe Biden can call Vladimir Putin a war criminal but not others, for example, the crown prince?"

In response, Van Schaack noted that the Biden administration has diminished the amount of support it is providing to the Saudi-led campaign in Yemen and is working to ensure that those involved in that conflict comply with international humanitarian law, reiterating that "the standards apply to all parties."

Inflation Hits 40 YEAR HIGH, Biden Blames Putin

Sweden and Finland make moves to join Nato

Sweden’s ruling party has begun debating whether the country should join Nato, and neighbouring Finland expects to reach a decision within weeks, as Moscow warned that the Nordic nations’ accession would “not bring stability” to Europe. Both countries are officially non-aligned militarily, but public support for Nato membership has almost doubled since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to about 50% in Sweden and 60% in Finland, multiple opinion polls suggest.

Sweden’s centre-left Social Democrats, led by prime minister Magdalena Andersson, said their “security review” was about more than just joining the 30-nation alliance, adding that the party could decide to apply even without the backing of members. Having stressed at the outbreak of the war that non-alignment had “served Sweden’s interests well”, Andersson said she was “ready to discuss” the policy in light of Moscow’s aggression, and in late March said she “did not rule out” joining Nato.

“When Russia invaded Ukraine, Sweden’s security position changed fundamentally,” the party said in a statement on Monday. The Social Democrat general secretary, Tobias Baudin, said the security review would be complete “before the summer”. ... Finland, which shares a 1,340km (830-mile) border with Russia and, like Sweden, is a Nato partner after abandoning its position of strict neutrality at the end of the cold war, is expected to outline its decision regarding the alliance before midsummer.

French presidential runoff: 'The momentum is on Le Pen's side'

Pakistan assembly elects Shehbaz Sharif as new prime minister

Shehbaz Sharif, the brother of three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, has been sworn in as the new prime minister of Pakistan.

Sharif, 70, took office after a historic and turbulent week in Pakistani politics in which the former prime minister Imran Khan was toppled by a no-confidence vote, which he had gone to great lengths to stop, and the opposition coalition took power.

On Monday afternoon, Sharif was elected by lawmakers to become the next prime minister, with 174 votes in the 342-seat parliament. Speaking after the vote, Sharif said: “Truth has won.”

All the members of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party boycotted the parliamentary vote and did not put forward their own candidate. Khan was not present in the chamber when the vote took place. Later on Monday night, President Arif Alvi, a member of Khan’s party, missed the swearing-in, which was held at his residence, saying he was unwell.

Mexico president López Obrador wins recall referendum amid low turnout

Nine in 10 Mexicans voting in an unprecedented recall election engineered by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador have backed him to stay in office, underlining his domination of a polarised political agenda.

Critics and supporters had viewed his victory as a foregone conclusion in a ballot that had fed speculation it could open the door to extending presidential term limits, now limited to a single six-year period.

Between 90.3% and 91.9% of voters were predicted to have supported López Obrador, a preliminary estimate from the National Electoral Institute showed on Sunday night.

Unleashing a string of barbs at adversaries, López Obrador hailed the referendum result as “historic”, and compared his tally favourably with the number of votes won by rivals he defeated to win the presidency, and in other elections. ...

A pugnacious leftist, López Obrador was the architect of the first so-called recall referendum in modern Mexico, describing it as vital to confirm his democratic mandate.

Maryland expands abortion access as lawmakers override Republican governor

Maryland has become the 15th US state to allow health professionals other than doctors to carry out abortions, as part of a bill expanding access to reproductive rights for women.

Under the new law, midwives, senior nurses and trained doctor’s assistants will be authorised to perform medical abortions from 1 July. The bill also directs the state to ring-fence $3.5m a year for abortion-care training.

The bill was vetoed by the Republican governor, Larry Hogan, but approved on Saturday with substantial majorities in the state house and senate. ...

The law, which may face legal challenge from anti-choice groups, also requires most insurance companies to cover the cost of an abortion at no cost to the patient. The average cost of an abortion is $500 but costs vary widely across the US and can be much higher when accounting for travel and days off work.

Marjorie Taylor Greene: judge mulls move to bar Republican from Congress

A federal judge has indicated that an attempt to stop the far-right Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene running for re-election will be allowed to proceed.

The challenge from a group of Georgia voters says Greene should be disqualified under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, because she supported insurrectionists who attacked the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.

A similar challenge in North Carolina, against Madison Cawthorn, another prominent supporter of Donald Trump, was blocked.

But on Friday Amy Totenberg, a federal judge in Georgia, said she had “significant questions and concerns” about the ruling in the Cawthorn case, CNN reported. Totenberg said she was likely to rule on Greene’s attempt to have her case dismissed on Monday, two days before a scheduled hearing before a state judge.

[The 14th amendment] says: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Congress can reverse any such prohibition.

Pelosi, Corporate Dems Will NEVER Stop Blaming The Left For Their OWN FAILURES: Briahna Joy Gray

Democrats Bail On Promise To Shed Light On Corporate Political Spending

Buried in the 2,741 pages of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill that President Joe Biden signed last month is a provision that bars the government’s Wall Street watchdog agency from forcing corporations to disclose their political donations.

The stipulation, part of a deal with Republicans to keep the government up and running, means that Democrats are poised to once again break their long-standing promise to shed light on the massive secret corporate spending that now dominates U.S. politics — just as a Biden appointee appeared ready to finally tackle the issue.

For more than a decade, Democrats have been pledging to bring increased transparency to America’s elections by requiring corporations to disclose their political spending, as a way to counteract the flood of “dark money” that’s been flooding into elections since the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision granted businesses and nonprofits the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.

But Democrats have repeatedly allowed Republicans to include language in must-pass spending bills blocking any efforts by the government to require public companies to disclose their spending — and they quietly did so again last month, too.

Joe Rogan BLASTS Nancy Pelosi For Tesla Stock Purchase, ‘How Is That NOT Insider Trading?’

I guess there's no left party in the UK either:

UK Labour Party Slammed for Seeking Injunction Against Climate Activists

The United Kingdom's ostensibly leftist Labour Party came under fire Monday after calling for nationwide injunctions to block direct actions by climate campaigners that shut down oil terminals to demand an end to new fossil fuel investments.

"On the Conservatives' watch, drivers are being hammered by rising petrol prices and now millions of motorists can't access fuel," tweeted Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer. "The government must stop standing idly by and immediately impose injunctions to put an end to this disruption."

Steve Reed, Labour's shadow justice secretary, made similar remarks Monday, outraging supporters of the Just Stop Oil (JSO) demonstrations—which started at the beginning of April—along with other leftists within and beyond the U.K.

"The Labour Party has just called for nationwide injunctions against climate protesters who are peacefully demonstrating against fossil fuels for all of our futures," said Joe Ryle, who campaigns for a four-day work week and serves as the media and communications lead for a think tank.

"This is a disgrace, flies in the face of all the climate science, and will be deeply unpopular with Labour members," asserted Ryle, a former press officer for the political party.

Former party leader Jeremy Corbyn made clear he disagrees with the push by Labour to criminalize or further block legitimate climate activism directed at the fossil fuel industry.

"We need a Green New Deal and a sustainable planet for future generations," said Corbyn. "Those protesting against fossil fuel giants should be applauded, not arrested."

"Absolutely incredible," declared British columnist Owen Jones. "In Keir Starmer's game-changing video in the Labour leadership campaign, he was showcased as a crusading lawyer who defended activists from being prosecuted by the state. Now he's calling for environmental protesters to get locked up!"

‘Black carbon’ threat to Arctic as sea routes open up with global heating

In February last year, a Russian gas tanker, Christophe de Margerie, made history by navigating the icy waters of the northern sea route in mid-winter. The pioneering voyage, from Jiangsu in China to a remote Arctic port in Siberia, was heralded as the start of a new era that could reshape global shipping routes – cutting travel times between Europe and Asia by more than a third.

It has been made possible by the climate crisis. Shrinking polar ice has allowed shipping traffic in the Arctic to rise 25% between 2013 and 2019 and the growth is expected to continue.

But Arctic shipping is not only made possible by the climate crisis, it is adding to it too. More ships mean a rise in exhaust fumes, which is accelerating ice melt in this sensitive region due to a complex phenomenon involving “black carbon”, an air pollutant formed by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. When black carbon, or soot, lands on snow and ice, it dramatically speeds up melting. Dark snow and ice, by absorbing more energy, melts far faster than heat-reflecting white snow, creating a vicious circle of faster warming.

Environmentalists warn that the Arctic, which is warming four times faster than the global average, has seen an 85% rise in black carbon from ships between 2015 and 2019, mainly because of the increase in oil tankers and bulk carriers. ...

Yet unlike other transport sectors, including road, rail and inland waterways, where air-quality standards curb emissions, no regulations exist for shipping. Last November, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a resolution on the use of cleaner fuels in the Arctic to reduce black carbon, but left it as a voluntary move.

Pacific Gas & Electric agrees to pay $55m to avert California wildfire prosecution

Pacific Gas & Electric, the nation’s largest utility provider, has agreed to pay more than $55m to avoid criminal prosecution for two large wildfires started by its ageing power lines in northern California.

PG&E does not admit wrongdoing in the two settlements reached with prosecutors for last year’s Dixie fire, one of the biggest wildfires in California’s history, and the 2019 Kincade fire in Sonoma county. The deals expedite damage payments to the hundreds of people whose homes were destroyed.

PG&E will also submit to five years of oversight by an independent monitor similar to the supervision it faced during five years of criminal probation after it was convicted for misconduct that contributed to its natural gas explosion that killed eight people in 2010.

The embattled utility company has been blamed for more than 30 wildfires since 2017 that wiped out more than 23,000 houses and businesses and killed more than 100 people. It previously reached settlements with wildfire victims of more than $25.5bn.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

If It Feels Like You’re Being Manipulated, It’s Because You Are

Facebook Warns About Consortium News Story

NATO Planning Massive Military Buildup Along Russia’s Border

Austrian Chancellor visits Putin, as Russia destroys Slovakia's S-300

Is the US hindering much-needed diplomatic efforts?

The Reasons For And Dangers Behind The War In Ukraine

Psaki blames Putin Price Hike. Putin & Lavrov harden stance. Trudeau trains Azov.

Economic Shock Therapy for Neoliberals

Macron (Radical Neoliberal) vs. Le Pen (Reactionary Fascist) in France

Macron and Le Pen restart campaigns with Mélenchon a potential ‘kingmaker’

Elon Musk will not join Twitter board after all, company’s chief says

Saudis Give Billions to Jared Kushner; Turkey Suspends Trial of Saudis Accused of Killing Khashoggi

“Pandemic, Inc.": J. David McSwane on Chasing Capitalists & Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick

Twitter CHAOS Shows Elon May Pursue HOSTILE TAKEOVER

Saagar Enjeti: Inside Jared Kushner's DISGUSTING Saudi Corruption

BLM Lobbied Big Tech To CENSOR Stories About Group's Shady Finances

A Little Night Music

Lloyd Price - Lawdy Miss Clawdy

Lloyd Price w/ Fats Domino - Mailman Blues

Lloyd Price - Just Because

Lloyd Price - Oooh-Oooh-Oooh

Lloyd Price - Have You Ever Had The Blues

Lloyd Price - Will You Love Me Tomorrow

Lloyd Price - What Do You Do To My Heart

Lloyd Price - Summertime

Lloyd Price - I Yi Yi Gomen-a-Sai (I'm Sorry)

Lloyd Price - Tennessee Waltz