Common Sense and Plain Talk

Seems common sense isn't common, nor is plain talk. No, censorship and suppression are par for the course today. We don't have free speech, we have acceptable and allowed speech, wrapped in lies and propaganda. No wonder most people are so unaware of US malevolence.

I think the c99 community for the most part has straight talk. We've been proven correct more times than not...including the pandemic, imperialistic wars, and electoral politics. Over the last several months many of us have stressed the decline of US empire and the rise of a BRICS+ cooperative enterprise. It feels to me that we sit on the fulcrum in a major shift of power. Jeff talks about friendship among neighbors and its economic benefits in the second clip below. It is simply common sense that we all should cooperate for our collective community to prosper. I think the US is making a colossal mistake vetoing the ceasefire this week. Now the world holds the US responsible (as they should).

A week ago Jeff Sachs was on the Duran, and he said something which has stuck in my mind. US strategy is to convince other nations that their neighbors are their enemy. He continued {paraphrased), "our answer, is don't worry we'll build a military base in your country and protect you." Of course it isn't to protect them, but to enable US exploitation of resources, labor, and so on.

Peace and security in a world at war w/ Jeffrey Sachs (30 min)
Jeffery was also on yesterday with Alexander and Greg. (1.7 hours)
Economic Changes in the World - Jeffrey Sachs, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen

The idea of your neighbor is your enemy came up again in another clip.
US is Militarizing Itself to Death, While China Emphasizes Cooperation. (16 min)

time stamps....
02:28 cannot live without somebody who is different,
05:43 not Both-And
13:48 And it's very clear in the communiqué
15:20 But von der Leyen obviously being more or less
Referencing the recent Xi-Biden meeting, Jan Oberg argues that the US exaggerates the threat of China in order to justify its military buildup and maintain global dominance, instead of accepting a multipolar world. He explains that the US Military-Industrial-Media-Academic Complex propagates this Cold War agenda, portraying China as a threat which allows the US to cling to the outdated belief that it must contain and dominate China, rather than cooperating as a partner.

Huge Strategic Defeat - Making New Enemies | Dmitry Orlov (33 min)

Dmitry Orlov was born in Leningrad, USSR, into an academic family, and emigrated to the US in the mid-1970s. He holds degrees in Computer Engineering and Linguistics, and has worked in a variety of fields, including high-energy physics, Internet commerce, network security and advertising. He is the author of several previous books, including Reinventing Collapse and The Five Stages of Collapse.
He referred to a Jewish territory in Russia. News to me. More about the current situation in the oblast.

Nothing says warmongering criminal like genocide, and the on going Gaza tragedy now rests squarely on US and Israeli shoulders...and the world knows it. The 3rd ceasefire veto by the US this week speaks volumes about the moral bankruptcy of US policy.
If you missed UN Secretary-General António Guterres 12 min speech, it is worth your time IMO.
Security Council Briefing by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council that he invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter because we are “at a breaking point,” warning that there is a high risk of the total collapse of the humanitarian support system in Gaza, which would have devastating consequences. This follows Wednesday’s urgent letter by Guterres - one of the most powerful tools at his disposal - urging the body to help end carnage in the war-battered enclave through a lasting humanitarian ceasefire.
Speaking to Council Members today (08 Dec), Guterres said that he fears the consequences could be devastating for the security of the entire region, as the world has already seen the spillover in the Occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

The US has now implicated itself not only enabling the genocide with arms but also vetoes. The people see the crime and are reacting all over the world. (4 min)

The globe has taken to the streets to show its support for Palestinians who are facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. This is as the United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and people around the world are protesting against it.

2.5 min
For the past two months, demonstrators around the world, have rallied to support Palestinians and condemn Israel’s bombing of Gaza. From the US to Europe. Asia and Latin America public support has been consistent and outspoken.
I'll say again the US is hurting itself AND Israel. The genocide isn't in anyone's best interest.

The Origins of the Israeli Genocide of Gaza and its Geopolitical Implications by Prof. Sami Al-Arian. Excellent heart felt presentation (1 hour).
Professor Sami Al-Arian joins us to offer an analysis of the ongoing ethnic cleansing that Israel is committing against the Palestinian people with the support of the US.
Sami Al-Arian's parents were forced to leave their homes in the 1948 Nakba (the creation of Israel) and became refugees in Gaza. After becoming a university professor in the US, Prof. Al-Arian's was persecuted by the US government in the post September 11 era. After imprisonment and a sham "trial", Prof. Al-Arian agreed to be deported to Turkey, to save his family the cost and stress of continuing to fight the US federal government in court. Prof. Al-Arian was honored with Community Church's annual Sacco & Vanzetti award in 2022.

Dan Cohen on the lies of the Israeli war machine. It’s not two civilian deaths to one Hamas fighter as IDF claims, it’s more like 300 to one...

INTERVIEW: Lies, damn lies and IDF statistics (20 min)

Max was back on the Judge's show this week. Both he and Dan (above) spent weeks in Gaza creating a film, Killing Gaza.

Max Blumenthal (TheGrayZone): Indiscriminate Israeli Fire

The open air prison of Gaza has long been used by Israel to test and promote their weapons and violent tactics. Antony Loewenstein suggests Gaza is a weapons lab for the arms industry (52 min). Whether it's drone technology or the infamous Pegasus spy software, Israel has long developed and refined repressive technologies used by governments around the world by testing them on Palestinians. Antony Loewenstein, journalist and author of The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World, joins The Chris Hedges Report for a deep dive into the disturbing links between Israeli Apartheid, the arms industry, and global repression of civilian populations.

Chris Hedges: The Evil Israel Does is the Evil Israel Gets
Israel’s settler colonial project perpetuates the cycle of violence against the indigenous inhabitants of historic Palestine. Palestinians have been forced to speak back in the language Israel speaks.

Here in the US...95 Democrats and 216 Republicans Support Resolution Conflating Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism.
“This extreme and cynical Republican resolution does nothing to combat antisemitism, relies on a definition that conflates criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism, paints critics of the Israeli government as antisemites, and falsely states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism,” Omar said in a statement about her vote. “We must stand against any attempt to define legitimate criticism of this war and the government perpetrating it as antisemitism.”

The Senate on Thursday voted down a resolution that would have directed President Biden to withdraw all US troops from Syria, where US forces have come under frequent attack in response to President Biden’s support for Israel’s Gaza onslaught.

The bill failed in a vote of 13-84 and received support from seven Democrats, five Republicans, and one Independent, Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT). The resolution was introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who argued the US occupation of eastern Syria risks a major regional war.

“Keeping 900 US troops in Syria does nothing to advance American security. Rather, our intervention puts those servicemembers at grave risk by providing an enticing target for Iranian-backed militias,” Paul said.

Like Trump clearly said, "We've there for the oil."

Putin's whirlwind trip to the Arabian Peninsula and his following meeting with Iran's president hint at a Russian effort to bring the genocide to a close. However the focus was probably oil related.

Yet another war? Seems we can't get enough
A new war is threatening to break out in Latin America over what was a tiny piece of the British empire, oil and gas rich Guyana Essequibo. Haz Al-Din explains...(23 min)

Like many conflicts, this traces back to British colonialism. The oil rich area was a UK colony carved out of Venezuela.

Meanwhile China remains a target. Brian explains...
US Missiles Made for & Aimed at China (24 min)

US missiles systems are being rushed to the Indo-Pacific region specifically to threaten China within its own borders by breaching Chinese defense capabilities...
- US policy think tanks admit China's military exists solely to defend Chinese territory and is incapable of significantly threatening the continental US;
- US analysts admit China has formidable anti-access area denial capabilities including anti-air and anti-missile defense systems, rocket and missile forces, and air-to-air capabilities that meet or exceed US capabilities;
- To breach Chinese defenses and maintain US domination over Asia the US is developing short, intermediate and long-range missiles including hypersonic missiles designed not to defend US territory, but to attack Chinese defenses;
- US missile programs will suffer because of America's smaller industrial capacity than China's meaning, similar to how the US proxy war in Ukraine is failing because of America's inability to match Russian military industrial production.

References below the clip.

But what about Ukraine you may ask.
Well, TPTB are glad that story has fallen off the front page. It looks like "elensky is about to be ushered out (one way or another), and Zaluzny will create some sort of end to the US proxy war in Ukraine.
U.S. Is Withholding Aid To Push Ukraine Towards Negotiations With Russia

There current path then seems to be a different one towards negotiations with Russia - regime change in Kiev.
President Zelenski is unwilling to take up peace talks. If he can be pushed out of office during the next few months his likely replacement, General Zaluzny, will probably be more inclined to seek an end of the war.
Thus the current tactic is to pressure Zelenski into leaving by withholding all future funds. If another Ukrainian leader comes in, aid might again flow to prevent a total takeover of the country by Russia.
Still - the aid calibration would be a problem. So may be giving up and leaving, as Biden did in Afghanistan, might be the preferred option.

The Duran discuss the Zelensky - Zaluzhny, power struggle (30 min).

Meanwhile back at the ranch Biden and TPTB are pulling out the old Vietnam domino theory trope.
The Duran also discuss that situation. Russia-NATO Domino theory to secure Ukraine money (35 min)
It is as incorrect today as it was then in Vietnam.

Straight talk and common sense are sorely lacking these days and times. Journalists and truth tellers are targeted because they are revealing the underbelly of US policy. Julian is a prime example, but there is also the targeting and murder of journalists and scholars in Gaza and Lebanon. TPTB want their horrors hidden. However, this war is being televised across the world and the US and Israel will pay the price sooner or later. I hope you'll add stories, ideas, and insights in the comments below. The thread is open...