Terrorism is whatever we say it is
There is no internationally agreed upon definition of terrorist.
Dropping thousands of tonnes of bombs on a civilian population from 30,000 feet certainly terrorizes a population, but it's never considered to be terrorism.
However, just because a nation's military does it, doesn't mean it isn't terrorism. The U.S. keeps Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a terrorist blacklist, along with the governments of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Israel (but no one else), despite it being clearly a military unit.
Meanwhile, Israel's military is assassinating civilians in Iran and bombing civilian areas in Syria, but for some reason that isn't terrorism.
But this essay isn't about Iran. This essay is about Russia.
According to a report from Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Secretary of State Antony Blinken to designate Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism” or else Congress would do it.The Politico report cited two sources familiar with the call who said the conversation happened earlier this week. As secretary of state, Blinken has the authority to designate a state as a sponsor of terror, and Congress could also do it by passing legislation.
The designation is meant to expand sanctions on the targeted nation. Currently, only Cuba, Iran, North Korea, and Syria are designated by the US as state sponsors of terror. Cuba’s designation was lifted by the Obama administration but was reimposed during the final days of the Trump administration.
Since the US has already hit Russia with so many sanctions, the designation would have little impact on Moscow. But designating a state as a sponsor of terrorism opens up sanctions on other countries that do business with them. The move would also signal that US-Russia relations won’t be repaired for years to come as such designations are usually difficult to reverse.
Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) are pushing for the designation and introduced a resolution that would call on Blinken to enact it.
Exactly what terrorism has Russia conducted? The same terrorism that Cuba and North Korea has done. Nothing.
All this will do is make certain that there will be no calming of tensions with Russia - ever. There will never be a lifting of sanctions. There will never be a scaling down of troop levels.
Maybe those politicians in Washington think that eventually Russia will fold. This isn't the 1980's. The U.S. isn't nearly as strong as it was 40 years ago, and the world isn't as enamored with the U.S. as it once was.
Comments
The United States
is a state sponsor of terrorism, not Russia. As documented by the United States Department of Defense Information, our government supports terrorist organizations, including Al Qaeda, in Syria.
Oh, sure. Point out facts
Don't you know how unpopular facts are in Washington?
you'll never get elected if you keep that up.
The Obama people had a big hate
on Gen. Flynn precisely because of his willingness to expose the Deep State agenda- AKA doing his job and telling the truth.
And feared his appointment as Trump's national security adviser - which would have put him in a position to kick butt and take names. Flynn, knew his way around the military-intelligence complex and where the bodies were buried - or at least where to start digging.
Hence the entrapment and bogus prosecution - now they (the authors of the real coup) want to frame him as a coup plotter/insurrectionist.
The ever more expansive and selectively applied definition of 'terrorism' has been a growing problem at least since the Clinton Administration. It is clearly out of hand under the third Obama Administration. But all too many, even here, seem to be tolerant or downright encouraging of such abuse - as long as it's directed at Trump supporters.
Balance here (Perna pled guilty lacking resources to fight the charges and expecting a sentence of a few months - but the government then decided to seek a domestic terrorism 'enhancement' for a potential six years.)
'The government', in this case being Matthew Graves - the DC Federal Prosecutor. Also having a leading role there is Lisa Monaco - a Russiagate architect and the person who initiated the idea of charging Gen. Flynn under the Logan Act...
Why Has a Federal Prosecutor Been Given Power of Life and Death Over Jan. 6 Defendants?
Thank you for saying
all of this. From the start, I have felt that getting Flynn out of government was the most important goal of the Russiagate effort. I felt they could handle Trump with no problem, but the fact that Trump could be influenced by Flynn was a threat to the deep state like no other. You have described why Flynn was so dangerous to them better than anyone I've read.
And thank you for the information about Matthew Perna. I have paid zero attention the January 6th issue because I'm obsessed with Ukraine, and our political leadership calls the coup there a peaceful revolution, during which 100 people were shot to death by snipers, government buildings were burned down, and the president's car was blown up. At the same time, they call January 6th an insurrection. I just feel like throwing up if I pay any attention to what they're saying.
"Terrorism" is not only what we say it is,
but also where and when we say it is.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Yeah, very odd that the MIC can switch terms
in the middle of a created conflict with the 'freedom fighters' becoming terrorists and vice versa.
ISIS, Wahhabi, Sunni, Shiites, Taliban, et.al are all perfectly willing to declare Jihad against the
imperialist Great Satan. Some can be bought and trained with weapons to fight against a perceived
threat to western hegemony. Perhaps confusion, propaganda, or memory loss can be blamed on how
in one conflict each group is either labelled friend or foe, when in the next nation of conquest, the roles
are reversed. Meddling in other countries affairs requires lying to the public to justify the expenditure of
blood and treasure. Eventually the lies catch-up and contradict. The narrative then exposes itself as misinformation
and the trust in the broadcasting institutions diminishes.