The Evening Blues - 6-4-25
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features Chicago blues harmonica player, singer, and songwriter Little Mack Simmons. Enjoy!
Little Mack Simmons - Just your fool
"Belief in a cruel God makes a cruel man."
-- Thomas Paine
News and Opinion
This is Israel. This is what the Zionist project looks like. The dead kids. The blown-out hospitals. The desperate, starving civilians. This is it.
There is no alternate version of Israel where these things are not happening. The liberal Zionist vision of a two-state solution and a just and peaceful Israel exists solely in the imaginations of the people who envision it. Nothing like it has ever existed. Everything about the modern state of Israel is unyieldingly hostile to that vision.
You either support the existence of the Israel you see before you, or you support the end of the apartheid Zionist entity. There is no hidden third option. There are no other positions on the menu. To pretend otherwise is to live in a fantasy land.
You either want to burn children alive, or you don’t. You either want to deliberately starve civilians, or you don’t. You either want to bomb hospitals, or you don’t. You either want to deliberately assassinate Palestinian journalists while forbidding foreign journalists entry into Gaza, or you don’t. You either want to deliberately massacre civilians and systematically destroy civilian infrastructure in order to force the removal of Palestinians from a Palestinian territory, or you don’t. And if you don’t, you must oppose the state of Israel.
That’s Israel, the state. Not just Netanyahu. Not just extremist settlers. Not just “far right elements within the Israeli government”. Israel itself. Because everything we are seeing Israel do is the result of everything Israel is as a state.
Everything Israel is doing is the result of everything it has always been. As soon as the west decided to drop a settler-colonialist state on top of a pre-existing civilization wherein the new immigrants would receive preferential treatment over the indigenous inhabitants who were already living there, it became inevitable that Israel would wind up in the condition it’s in today.
Because there was no way to uphold that status quo without mass displacement and nonstop tyranny, violence and abuse. There was no way to set up a tiered society where one tier is placed above the other without indoctrinating the public to accept that apartheid system by systematically dehumanizing the members of the disempowered group.
Set up a status quo of dehumanizing a group of people and manufacturing consent for violence and abuse against them, and you will inevitably wind up with a far right apartheid state which is committing genocide, as surely as dropping a stone off a building will result in a stone falling to the ground.
What we are seeing in Gaza today was baked into the state of Israel ever since its inception.
All those dead kids on your social media feed are the fruit of a tree whose seed was planted after the second world war. That tree has been bearing more and more fruit, and it will continue to for as long as it remains standing. Because that’s just the kind of tree it is. The only kind of tree it ever could have been.
Saying “I support Israel but I don’t support the actions of Netanyahu in Gaza” is like saying “I like this apple tree but only when it sprouts coconuts instead of apples.” That is not the kind of tree it is. The apple tree will only produce apples, and the genocide tree will only produce genocide.
Israel’s supporters avoid confronting obvious truths like these. Support for Israel depends on mass-scale psychological compartmentalization. Everything about it revolves around avoiding unpleasant truths instead of deeply and viscerally reckoning with them.
Averting the eyes from the video footage of Israel’s atrocities in Gaza. Averting the eyes from the contradictions between the values they purport to hold and everything Israel is as a state. Averting the eyes from the mountains upon mountains of evidence staring us all in the face. That’s the only way support for Israel is able to continue.
In order to become a truth-driven species, we need to stop hiding from uncomfortable truths. And one of our favorite hiding places for uncomfortable truths at this point in history is the modern state of Israel, and the western empire’s support for it.
"Death Traps": U.S.-Israeli Gaza Aid Scheme Paused After 100+ Killed While Waiting for Food
Masked Israeli troops block media visit to West Bank site of Oscar-winning film
Masked Israeli soldiers have blocked an international group of reporters from visiting Palestinian villages on the West Bank that have been under sustained attack by Jewish settlers, and which were the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary film.
The Academy Award won by No Other Land has not stopped the attacks on Masafer Yatta, a cluster of villages on the southern edge of the occupied territory, which has been the target of settler violence and house demolitions and forced displacement by the army for many years.
After soldiers almost complete destroyed one of the hamlets in the area, Khalet Al-Daba’a, in early May, two of the film’s co-directors, Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra, invited journalists to visit the area, which is Adra’s home, to witness the extent of the destruction first hand.
“It’s not easy for me to write this, but my community Masafer Yatta will be destroyed unless more activists and journalists don’t urgently come and join us on the ground,” Adra wrote on X. “Settlers are now in [Khalet Al-Daba’a] village 24/7 after the army destroyed it.”
The convoy of 20 reporters in press vehicles was stopped on the way to Masafer Yatta on Monday by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers wearing black balaclava-type masks hiding most of their faces. In a video taken at the scene and posted by Abraham, an IDF major gives the journalists “a reasonable time of 10 minutes” to leave.
Palestinian Woman Confronts Gabor Mate’ Over Surviving Genocide!
At least 27 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire at food point
At least 27 people were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for food at a distribution point set up by an Israeli-backed foundation in Gaza, according to health officials in the strip. It is the third such incident in three days, with Israel admitting on Tuesday for the first time that its forces shot at individuals who were moving towards them.
The Gaza civil defence spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal told Agence France-Presse: “Israeli forces opened fire with tanks and drones on thousands of civilians who had gathered since dawn near the al-Alam roundabout in the al-Mawasi area, north-west of Rafah.” It is the same site where on Sunday more than 30 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire while they were heading to the distribution hub.
Gaza’s health ministry said 27 people were killed early on Tuesday. Hamas-affiliated media also carried the reports. The United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Türk, described the “deadly attacks” on civilians around food distribution as a war crime. “Deadly attacks on distraught civilians trying to access the paltry amounts of food aid in Gaza are unconscionable,” Türk said. “Attacks directed against civilians constitute a grave breach of international law and a war crime.”
“There were three children and two women among the dead,” Mohammed Saqr, the head of nursing at Nasser hospital, which received the 27 bodies, told the Guardian. “Most of the patients had gunshot wounds, others had shrapnel all over the bodies, which means they were targeted with tanks or artillery munitions.” Doctors at Nasser hospital said the Israeli forces had mostly targeted the heads, the chest and the upper parts of the bodies of the victims, and that the health facility was running out of blood units and medical supplies.
'DESPICABLE': Piers Morgan GRILLS Israeli Rep On Gaza Children
Israel warns Palestinians against travel on roads to Gaza aid hubs, labelling them ‘combat zones’
Israel’s military has warned residents of Gaza against travel in areas leading to aid distribution centres, after at least 27 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire as they waited for food at the points set up by the US-backed foundation.
An Israeli military spokesperson on Tuesday said roads leading to the distribution centres set up by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) were considered “combat zones”.
In a post on social media, the GHF announced that its distribution points would be closed on Wednesday for “update, organisation and efficiency improvement work”. The group did not give more information on the improvements it intended to make. Operations would resume on Thursday, the group claimed.
The organisation said it was in discussion with the Israeli military to boost security measures beyond the immediate perimeter of GHF sites.
Col. Larry Wilkerson: Trump's Grip on Ukraine Conflict Is SLIPPING — What Happens Next?
NATO risks nuclear catastrophe with attack on Russian airports
The destruction of strategic bombers deep inside Russia by the Ukrainian secret service SBU shows that NATO will stop at nothing to escalate the war with Russia, even if it means provoking a nuclear catastrophe. ... It is inconceivable that NATO was not informed and closely involved. Such a complex operation, prepared over a long period of time, cannot be carried out without reconnaissance data that only the US has at its disposal. Military and intelligence officials from NATO and Ukraine are in constant, close contact, and President Zelensky exchanges information with the heads of government of NATO countries on an almost daily basis.
The action was obviously designed to humiliate and provoke the Russian government. The following day, the second round of direct talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Istanbul, which ended after only an hour without any significant results.
In Moscow, the attack will be interpreted as a NATO attack on strategic targets within Russia, and the regime will respond accordingly. Official sources have so far remained cautious. The Russian Ministry of Defense merely stated that “some aviation equipment had caught fire” and that “all terrorist attacks” had been repelled. But bloggers close to the Russian military are calling the attack “Russia’s Pearl Harbor.” In December 1941, the Japanese air force destroyed parts of the American Pacific Fleet in the Hawaiian port. The following day, the US declared war on Japan and entered World War II.
The widely read channel “Dva Majora” accused NATO of “directly undermining the nuclear strategic balance” and “reducing our country’s nuclear protection.” The Telegram channel “Rybar,” with 1.3 million subscribers, called for an end to talks with Ukraine and a “new level of escalation of the conflict.” The newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets, the second largest in the country, described June 1 as a “black day for Russia’s long-range and military transport aircraft” and called for the same “determination and harshness” against Ukraine as Israel has shown against Hamas.
President Putin will respond to the growing pressure, and NATO’s experienced strategists know this very well. Attacks on NATO targets outside Ukraine that have a similar strategic significance to the destroyed Russian bombers cannot be ruled out. The danger of further escalation and expansion of the war in Ukraine, including the use of nuclear weapons, is greater than ever before.
LtCOL. Karen Kwiatkowski : Did the US Engineer Drone Attacks on Russia?
Ukraine hits bridge linking Crimea to Russia with underwater explosives
Ukraine has detonated a massive underwater blast targeting the key road and rail bridge connecting the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula to Russia, damaging its underwater supports. The operation, for which Kyiv’s SBU security service claimed responsibility, is the second high-profile operation by Ukraine in days striking significant Russian assets after a sophisticated drone raid on Moscow’s strategic bomber fleet on Sunday.
The attack came as Ukraine confirmed it had been invited to the Nato summit later this month, after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it would be a “victory” for Russia if it was not present.
The latest strike on the 12-mile-long Kerch bridge – a prestige project of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, which he opened in 2018 – comes amid what appear to be determined efforts by Ukraine to change the narrative promoted by the Trump administration that Kyiv holds few cards in the war. The mining of the bridge, which is heavily defended by Russian forces, follows the audacious long-range drone attack on airbases deep inside Russia, which Zelenskyy claimed had damaged “34% of [Russia’s] strategic cruise missile carriers”.
In a further development on Tuesday, Russia’s state investigative committee accused Ukraine of carrying out “acts of terrorism” by blowing up two railway bridges in Russia over the weekend. Seven people were killed and 113 injured, including children, when two trains crashed as a result of the attacks.
A Russian rocket attack on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy on Tuesday killed at least four people and wounded 25, officials said. Zelenskyy denounced the assault, saying it underscored the fact that Moscow had no intention of halting the war.
Moscow Crushes Kiev US Ceasefire Hopes, Toughens Istanbul Demands, Furious Zelensky Wants Sanctions
Are Lindsey Graham’s contortions about to prod Trump into Russia sanctions?
Has Lindsey Graham been playing the long game with Donald Trump? Graham, who has calibrated his pro-Ukraine support since the inauguration to stay in the US president’s orbit, has said he expects this week that the Senate will begin moving his Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, a bill that he says would impose “bone-breaking sanctions” on Vladimir Putin and a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil and other goods, potentially targeting China and India.
The fate of the bill still depends on whether Trump gives the go-ahead, according to congressional insiders. But Trump’s growing frustration with Putin has emboldened some in the GOP to begin speaking out on the conflict again – with the notoriously flexible Graham leading the charge for tougher sanctions on the Kremlin. Is it nearing a critical mass moment in Congress – a body that has largely abdicated its role in foreign policy since Trump’s inauguration?
“I hope so, because it is the right action to take,” said Don Bacon, a Republican House representative who has criticised the White House on its Ukraine policy. “But it is risky to speak for others. I know where I stand. The Senate has an overwhelming majority in support of sanctions and we should move out. It is in our national security interests that Russia fails here and it should be obvious that Putin doesn’t want peace, but wants dominance over Ukraine.”
Trump’s shift on Russia has come as his efforts to negotiate a speedy ceasefire have failed.
Laura Loomer WAGES WAR On NEOCONS Over Venezuela
Newark mayor sues New Jersey’s top US prosecutor over detention facility arrest
Newark’s mayor, Ras Baraka, sued New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor on Tuesday over his arrest on a trespassing charge – which was later dropped – at a federal immigration detention facility.
Baraka, who leads New Jersey’s biggest city, is a candidate in a crowded primary field for the Democratic nomination for governor next Tuesday. The lawsuit against Alina Habba, interim US attorney for New Jersey, coincided with the day early in-person voting began.
The lawsuit seeks damages for “false arrest and malicious prosecution”, and it also accuses Habba of defamation for comments she made about his case. Citing a post on X in which she said Baraka “committed trespass”, the lawsuit says Habba issued a “defamatory statement” and authorized his “false arrest” despite “clear evidence that mayor Baraka had not committed the petty offense of ‘defiant trespass’”.
The suit also names Ricky Patel, Newark’s federal Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent in charge.
California to appeal after judge dismisses lawsuit over Trump tariffs
A United States judge dismissed California’s challenge to Donald Trump’s tariffs, allowing the state to file an appeal over the court’s ruling that the dispute should have been filed in a specialized US trade court in New York. The ruling, handed down late on Monday by US district judge Jacqueline Corley in San Francisco, did not delve into the merits of California’s lawsuit. Now, three separate US appeals courts may simultaneously consider the legality of Trump’s sweeping tariffs on US trading partners and a separate set of tariffs targeting imports from China, Mexico and Canada.
Since February, Trump has issued new tariffs, paused tariffs from taking effect, and raised and lowered rates as he attempts to negotiate new trade deals with other nations. The on-again and off-again tariffs have whipsawed businesses who work with international suppliers.
Although legal experts expect that the US supreme court will ultimately decide the legality of the tariffs, rulings from different intermediate courts in the meantime could further sow confusion.
A panel of three judges in the Manhattan-based US court of international trade and a federal judge in Washington DC have already declared that Trump did not have unilateral authority to impose tariffs without input from Congress. The Trump administration has appealed both rulings, in cases brought by 12 US states and several small businesses.
Corley’s ruling is more limited than either of those decisions and does not address the legality of Trump’s tariffs. Instead, Corley ruled that California should have sued in the court of international trade, which has exclusive jurisdiction over tariff disputes in the US.
"Empire of AI": Karen Hao on How AI Is Threatening Democracy & Creating a New Colonial World
Elon Musk calls Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax bill a ‘disgusting abomination’
Elon Musk, the billionaire tech entrepreneur, has opened a new rift with Donald Trump by denouncing the US president’s tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination”. Musk’s online outburst could embolden fiscally conservative Republican senators – some of whom have already spoken out – to defy Trump as they continue crucial negotiations on Capitol Hill over the so-called “one big, beautiful bill”.
“I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk wrote on his X social media platform on Tuesday. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”
Musk, who had previously voiced criticism of the proposed legislation, quipping that it could be big or beautiful but not both, added on
“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.” He continued: “Congress is making America bankrupt.”
Caribbean beaches blighted by record masses of stinking seaweed
A record amount of sargassum has piled up across the Caribbean and nearby areas in May, and more is expected this month, according to a new study. The brown prickly algae is suffocating shorelines from Puerto Rico to Guyana and beyond, disrupting tourism, killing wildlife and even releasing toxic gases that forced one school in the French Caribbean island of Martinique to temporarily close.
The amount – 38m tonnes – is the biggest quantity of algae observed across the Caribbean Sea, the western and eastern Atlantic, and the Gulf of Mexico since scientists began studying the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt in 2011, said Brian Barnes, an assistant research professor at the University of South Florida who worked on the new report from the University of South Florida’s Optical Oceanography Lab.
The previous record was set in June 2022 , with some 22m tonnes. “The peaks just seem to keep getting bigger and bigger year after year,” he said. But scientists don’t know why yet. “It’s the million-dollar question,” he said. “I don’t have a supremely satisfying answer.” ...
Every year, the amount of sargassum expands in late spring, peaks around summer and starts to decline in the late fall or early winter, Barnes said. The new record is likely to be broken – experts said they expect even more sargassum for June.
Meta signs deal with nuclear plant to power AI and datacenters for 20 years
Meta on Tuesday said it had struck an agreement to keep one nuclear reactor of a US utility company in Illinois operating for 20 years.
Meta’s deal with Constellation Energy is the social networking company’s first with a nuclear power plant. Other large tech companies are looking to secure electricity as US power demand rises significantly in part due to the needs of artificial intelligence and datacenters. Google has reached agreements to supply its datacenters with nuclear power via a half-dozen small reactors built by a California utility company. Microsoft’s similar contract will restart the Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the site of the most serious nuclear accident and radiation leak in US history.
Illinois helps subsidize Constellation Energy’s nuclear plant, the Clinton Clean Energy Center, with a ratepayer-funded zero-emissions credit program that awards benefits for the generation of power virtually free of carbon emissions. That expires in 2027, when Meta’s power purchase agreement will support the plant with an unspecified amount of money to help with relicensing and operations.
The deal allows Constellation to expand Clinton, which has a capacity of 1,121 megawatts, by 30MW. The plant powers the equivalent of about 800,000 US homes. Clinton began operating in 1987 and last year Constellation applied with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew its license through 2047.
The deal could serve as a model for other big tech companies to support existing nuclear while they also plan to power datacenters with new nuclear and other energy sources.
Also of Interest
Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.
'Hope He Smirks in Hell': Biden Spox Matt Miller Panned for Finally Acknowledging Israeli War Crimes
Jonathan Cook: Israel’s ‘Food Hubs’ Are Death Traps
Iran Says US Nuclear Proposal Contains ‘Many Ambiguities and Questions’
Larry Wilkerson: “We’re Looking at Nuclear War”
Patrick Lawrence: War in Our Time
The Defeat of The West And Its Dislocation
‘Barbaric’: wildlife advocates criticize Florida bear hunt proposal
‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects
Ukraine BOMBS Crimea Bridge Amid NUCLEAR FEARS
A Little Night Music
Little Mack Simmons - Help Me
Little Mack Simmons - Sun Is Shining
Little Mack Simmons - You 're so fine
Little Mack Simmons - High and Lonesome
Little Mack Simmons - Blue Lights
Little Mack Simmons - Come Back
Little Mack Simmons - Never Leave My Homework Undone
Little Mack Simmons - Mystery Train
Little Mack Simmons - Juke
Little Mack Simmons - Chicken Man
Comments
I guess the only good news
.
which can be filtered out here
is Nutty Yahoo is digging his grave deeper
and is happy to bring Israel down with him.
Thanks for the Little Mack!
Zionism is a social disease
evening qms...
heh, well, that's good. he can't be buried deep enough. hopefully, some thoughtful devil will dig a deeper hole in hell for him and his co-conspirators.
I also don't have much use for Bannon but every a broken
clock can occasionally be correct.
evening humphrey...
heh, best call bannon has made in ages, maybe ever.
He is off to a good start.
heh...
elensky doesn't seem to have a good feel for self-preservation, either.
Here's a few more-
Anti-Ishiba netizens or anti-Korean bigots? The latter think that the proper place for Koreans is subservient to the Japanese. Fortunately, I heard a report the other day, that said a large number of younger Japanese think fondly of South Korean culture, society, food, music etc. I know that many S.Koreans feel the same way about Japanese culture. The key issue is that of treating each other with mutual respect and being honest about history. This message in Korean from Ishiba is on the right track.
The wrong approach-
I would normally disregard Loomer but Tim S. said she has been visiting the white house or something or along those lines, talking to Vance.
語必忠信 行必正直
evening soryang...
i get some amusement when people who have no idea of what a communist is or could recognize communist ideology start talking about how awful it is that communists are taking over something or other.
Hi soryang --
I should begin with a brief apology. I have not paying as much attention to your posts on South Korean politics as I should, and so I can claim no authority upon it.
At any rate, when one of our Americans claims that the "communists" have taken over South Korea, I can think of no greater advertisement for -- and compliment for -- Lee Jae-myung. This epithet "communist" is typically used by people who are visibly wrong about everything.
Your thoughts?
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
I pay close attention when people use the word 'communist'
.
....in any context.
There are only a few ways that a sane and intelligent person would use a neutral word like "communism." The word points to one — of several — economic philosophies that nations in the world today may follow. Capitalism is also a neutral term. These terms do not imply the presence of a dictatorship, or a brutal police state, or the threat of an imperial invasion force.
The way someone in the US uses the word 'communism' lays bare their level of self awareness and indicates how much their brains have been tampered with. People who are emotionally triggered by the word "communism" are almost always folks who have zero personal experience with communism. At street level, communism is indistinguishable from capitalism. You go shopping, you buy stuff, you pay for it, and you go home. (Or back to your homeless tent, in the US.) You meet up for a drink. You bitch about your government and complain about the long lines to renew your ID. You bitch about your job, or maybe your taxes. You complain about all the tourists, or complain about all the immigrants — because they both take up space and cause long lines. Nearly all countries have protests — communist, capitalist, and even the Vatican, unless they are under martial law. Then there are the delusional, paranoid ravings in public places — and big incoherent demands or dubious slogans. These seem to be limited mostly to the UK, France, and the United States, the three countries that are the premier weapons-manufacturing giants of Western Civilization. This is merely a coincidence, it seems.
“Governance begins by enriching the people;
....and it ends by impoverishing them.”
— Chinese aphorism
PR, Cass, and JS
Appreciate all of your comments on this topic. I think you're right Cass.
I'm in my 70s now and spent time in the military, some of that in S. Korea. I'll be frank, it took me years to overcome some of my cold war conditioning, in the spite of the fact that I thought I had more opportunity than most to study international affairs and have an inside view of some things. It wasn't until I began to understand Korean news broadcasts, documentaries, and newspapers that my perspective was fully enabled. Before this, I had worked with people who bombed Vietnam and southeast Asia, and gained valuable insights from them. I lived in South Korea and determined to understand the Korean situation, and not be an "ugly American." I never gave up that goal. I thought the US had gotten over the "anti-communist" claptrap after the unmitigated disaster in Vietnam. I couldn't have been more wrong.
I have concluded that the current obsession with anti-communism and the use of cold war 1.0 rhetoric is partially the result of China's economic resurgence and North Korean nuclearization. The situation with Taiwan and the divided Koreas are in fact conflicts frozen from that era. The movement or tremors in these areas are threatening the US empire of military bases, and political and economic influence in the region. Therefore the old ideological rhetoric returns. What else do they have? However to me, it looks awfully similar to "gunboat diplomacy" favored by western powers, the US and Japan that gave rise to the "century of humiliation."
Hegseth gave his speech at the Shangri-la conference. Bluntly, he doesn't know squat about East Asia, his presentation was the usual ideological cant about how "Communist China" is belligerent, an aggressor etc. None of this makes any sense. It is an ideological substitute provided by think tanks supported by the MIC, Japan, and the South Korean right. I think KJ Noh is right when he says Elbridge Colby probably wrote the speech. This is a kind of "ring knocking" inside the national security echo chamber. Hegseth's view of US power is based upon experiences in the "anti-terrorist" wars against third rate militaries. He has no idea what he is dealing with.
When I was a truck driver more than a decade ago, I started listening to KJ Noh whom I think was on KPFA in California regularly, and Gordon Chang on satellite radio. That is also when I began studying Korean again in earnest, as well, enabled by the internet. It became obvious to me that Gordon Chang and his ilk were demented propagandists, while KJ's views seemed fact based. I had already read IF Stone's books on Korea and Vietnam, biographies of MacArthur, Bruce Cummings' History of the Korean War, and some of the classics on the Vietnam War. People here have referred me to additional sources.
Others have criticized Martin Jacques views on China as a "civilizational state," rather than a Stalinist state like North Korea. They say that he idealizes China, and presents a too one sided view. I think the view that history and culture, and a desire to maximize the quality of life of ordinary Chinese, and return to a traditional focus on enterprise, infrastructure and commerce so as to earn and maintain the "mandate of heaven," is a correct view. Martin Jacques is an advocate I think because it is extremely difficult to overcome the communist v. capitalist, dictatorship v. democracy Manichean stereotypes in the English speaking world. It's ironic I think that Kissinger understood this as well. I had hoped that the obsolete communist v. capitalist worldview went with the three communiques.
When I saw Morse Tan and the "colonels" attempting to interfere in the Korean election for president last week, it became my view, which I cannot prove, that all the social unrest in South Korea, the resistance to Yoon's unsuccessful coup d'etat and subsequent impeachment, jailing, and trial were in part, encouraged and supported by US interests. The alleged Chinese interference in earlier elections, and in this presidential election are carefully constructed false narratives related to the US-Japanese anti-China agenda.
I don't think of China primarily in ideological terms but historical terms, the same for Korea and Japan. I try to corroborate my views from reliable sources. If I'm doing an "estimate," or "brief" which cannot be verified I try to make that clear. I agree with analysts who expect the right wing resistance to the Lee Jae-myung democratic administration continue. As I pointed out earlier, it was only the personal resentment of Lee Jun-seok, the number 3 candidate in the race, a misogynistic right winger betrayed by Yoon Seok-yeol, which guaranteed that Lee Jae-myung would win. In that respect I don't consider Lee's victory a "landslide." The struggle will continue. So I expect to hear more of the anti-communist ideological nonsense which distorts US understanding of East Asia, and an attempt to walk back earlier US policy during the three communiques era.
Despite Japan's interest in eliminating the North Korean nuclear threat, it has a vested interest in keeping Korea divided. Then there is it's vested interest in holding Taiwan as a barrier to Chinese military operations. Japan basically ruled Taiwan and Korea as colonies for fifty years. Japan has a history of anti-communist and anti-socialist roots from its days of military expansionism in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. This is the tie than binds the US and Japan, the ideological "anti-communist" blinders.
語必忠信 行必正直
Good evening Joe, et. al. Thanks for the EBs, Joe. Looks
like a flock of assorted pirates have gathered in the Baltic and the Rus have sailed out to practice intervention drills. Things could get overtly regional tres quickly, but only time will tell.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
evening el...
it's pretty funny that much of europe seems to be spoiling for a fight with russia which they expect the u.s. to pony up blood and treasure to extricate them from. somebody better tell them that if they start something, then we decline to be involved.
It's the new nothing to see here move along.
Ukraine’s Drone Strikes Against Russia Could Become the Global Norm
key passage:
sure, this is a "how stupid do they think we are" comment. The military objects in question were visible as part of the START treaty, which is about to go the way of the woolly mammoth.
I'm expecting the next headline: Nuclear Obliteration of Cities Could Become the New Norm. You know, just like they want genocide to become the new norm. Hope and pray you're not next.
"It's time for a revolution, but probably not in the terms that people imagine it" -- Frank Zappa
Cass, you forgot.
Go Vote!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981