Twitter Bans Paul Craig Roberts

The suspension came without warning and was noted by journalist Caitlin Johnstone and others Thursday evening:

Twitter Bans Former Asst. Treasury Secretary Paul Craig Roberts

Roberts, 79, served in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1982. He was formerly a distinguished fellow at the Cato Institute and a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, and has written for the Wall Street Journal and Businessweek. Roberts maintains an active blog.

He's also vehemently against interventionary wars around the world, and spoke with Russia's state-owned Sputnik news in a Tuesday article - in which Roberts said that President Trump's decision to pull out of the Intermedia-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty was a handout to the military-security complex.

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Roberts also suggested that "The Zionist Neoconservatives are responsible for Washington's unilateral abandonment of the INF treaty, just as they were responsible for Washington's unilateral abandonment of the ABM Treaty [in 2002], the Iran nuclear agreement, and the promise not to move NATO one inch to the East."

Is this what got Roberts suspended?

He goes on to say that the ideology of US neoconservatives is "akin to the German Nazy Party last century" in their ideology of American supremacy and exceptionalism.

"Their over-confidence about their ability to quickly defeat Israel's enemies and open the Middle East to Israeli expansion got the US bogged down in wars in the Middle East for 17 years," said Roberts, adding: "During this time, both Russia and China rose much more quickly than the neoconservatives thought possible."

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snoopydawg's picture

Neocons Pulling Trump's Strings to Axe Reagan's INF Treaty – Ex-US Official

"This is yet another concession to the military-security complex, which is feeding its huge profits with orchestrated fear of Russia, which is then used to secure support from the American people and Congress for more military spending to counter the 'Russian threat'," said Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, commenting on Donald Trump's intention to quit the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The American economist and author served as the US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Ronald Reagan.

The former Reagan administration official clarified that he does not think "that the military-security complex itself wants a war with Russia, but it does want an enemy that can be used to justify more spending." He explained that the withdrawing from the INF Treaty "gives the military-security complex a justification for a larger budget and new money to spend: manufacturing the formerly banned missiles."

"It is important to understand that the military-security complex is actually more powerful than the president of the US," Dr. Roberts pointed out. "As long ago as 1961, in his last public address, President Dwight Eisenhower warned the American people that because of the Cold War with the Soviet Union the military-security complex, instead of being dismantled after World War 2, had continued to grow and was becoming more powerful than the government itself."

~
Reagan Wanted to End the Cold War

In his recent op-ed for The Institute for Political Economy website, the author recalled that, behind the scenes, he had some role in the INF Treaty's development, as President Ronald Reagan appointed him to a secret presidential committee with subpoena power over the CIA at that time.

"President Reagan wanted to end the Cold War, not only because of its expense, but, more importantly, because the Cold War brought the risk of nuclear war," Dr. Roberts told Sputnik. "Reagan referred to nuclear weapons as 'those God-awful weapons,' and he wanted the world rid of them. All of Reagan's tough talk and threat of 'star wars' was designed to encourage the Soviets to end the Cold War."

There is much more in this article and both of the linked articles are worth a read.

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Pluto's Republic's picture

@snoopydawg

...are goosestepping alongside the Neocons.

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____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
gulfgal98's picture

@Pluto's Republic our constitutional rights to private corporations. In other words, these private corporations benefit from the censoring of free speech and there is nothing we can do about it since the Constitution only "protects" speech in regard to government censorship. So now the government is run by the corporations and the corporations can use their corporate platforms to get around free speech protections. It is a great gig in which the corporations rig the system and benefit from that rigging financially.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@snoopydawg he does not think "that the military-security complex itself wants a war with Russia,

Well, that's a relief. I mean, I hope this guy is right. I've been working on the assumption that the MIC was being run by psychopaths who think nuclear winter is a reasonable risk to take.

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"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

snoopydawg's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

I do think that they want a war with Russia eventually, but what's driving this is twofold.

China is not a signatory to the treaty and they are developing weapons covered in it. Trump is parroting Bolton and saying that it's a unipolar treaty when it needs to be multipolar. Ya think Trump can come up with those words?

But what Roberts is saying that by tearing up the treaty it's a bonanza for military defense companies to build more weapons.

I have no doubt that there will be a war with Russia. Obama started putting weapons and troops into countries close to Russia and it's one of the reasons why Ukraine was regime changed. Trump just sent a lot of weapons and military equipment to the neo Nazis that are running Ukraine.

As always follow the money.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@snoopydawg Not so sure about Reagan, though obviously he knew him better than I did. I will never forget Reagan joking, on an open mike, that he'd made the phone call and missiles were flying toward Moscow. That doesn't sound like someone who objects to nuclear weapons to me.

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"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

Raggedy Ann's picture

Alex Jones............

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

@Raggedy Ann

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

gulfgal98's picture

@Raggedy Ann very thing happening when some here were happy that Alex Jones was banned. I stand behind what I posted then.

I am not conflicted at all

I find Alex Jones repulsive and annoying.

BUT...and this is a very big but. But, when we have corporations now censoring our ability to speak freely and express differing political ideas, however repulsive we may find them, then we are locked into a totalitarian state run by the oligarchs.

I may despise Alex Jones, but I will defend his right to speak freely. And then I can freely decide to ignore him too. The fact that our rights have been outsourced to private corporations and deregulated by what little is left of our so called representative government is far more frightening to me than any of Alex Jones' unhinged rants.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98 that was a neat trick, wasn't it? Thank you for repeating this, I think it needs to be talked about much more than it is. This is perfect for our owners and especially their mouthpiece politicians, they can talk about that Constitution and how they work to protect it with the full knowledge that anything they might do doesn't mean squat. Bastards, I hate them more everyday.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

snoopydawg's picture

@gulfgal98

When Jones was first banned from Facebook and Twitter we had a few discussions about where this was headed and it looks like we were right. Caitlin has been suspended from Twitter because of what she said about McCain.

Then there's the 800 websites that Facebook banned recently including a few that discuss police abuses. This is troubling because the PTB are basically saying that things are going to be getting much worse. IMO.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Raggedy Ann @Raggedy Ann That's truer than it was when Niemoller said the original, because now they go after Alex Jones as a pretext for going after the independent left.

EDIT: Well, the independent left and whoever objects to war, torture, or the domestic police state.

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"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

Our “unelected government” operates with impunity and does not answer to the authority of elected officials. Their perpetual war footing is not a negotiable element of our foreign policy.

The goal of world domination, to be accomplished through the projection of military force, extensive foreign and domestic propaganda efforts, the stifling of free speech and the chilling effects of mass surveillance and group-think in suppressing internal dissent is all too familiar to those who have not forgotten WWII. It appears that history is repeating itself, again. This time the Muslim world plays the part of the Jews, and our cloak and dagger warlords the part of the Nazi party. The stage is set.

Sad.

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Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes

recently on Sputnik News:

https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201807071066143172-us-debt-dollar/

… The present US economic problems are difficult to correct, because their roots are in the offshoring of US middle class jobs, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, a prominent American economist, author and former US Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Ronald Reagan, told Sputnik.

What is worse, Trump's plan to bring jobs back "is against the short-term profit interest of the global corporations, as their profits would fall from the higher cost of US wages compared to wages in Asia," he added.

"Essentially, what is happening in the US is that by offshoring middle class jobs, the global corporations have destroyed the purchasing power of the US consumer," the economist stressed. "Essentially, jobs offshoring destroys the domestic consumer market. It can be kept going for a period by an expansion in consumer debt, but the process stops when the consumers cannot carry any more debt. Once they can't make the minimum credit card payment, the process stops."

I like what he says because he's strongly anti-war and calls out the military industrial complex. But even this common sense quote, I think, ignores the fact that we've seen this crash before and the federal government SOMEHOW just bails out the banks. I assume he's critical of the bailouts. But I find him to be a welcome voice from the right, along with Rand and Ron Paul, who are strongly anti-war fiscal conservatives.

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@Linda Wood halfway through a book of his, I think of compiled essays. He's good but when he tried to say that trickle down was "misunderstood" I admit I slammed that book down quick. I really need to try to finish it but any apology for what is in essence our current version of rabid neo liberal economics I cannot tolerate. I'll have to pick the right time to go back and tackle that, maybe it isn't all apologia and it makes sense.

But he's right on most of the time and it does help to be able to reference his writing with friends who lean right to show them it isn't just "hippie, commie, leftists" who see the ugly reality of neo liberal capitalism.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

on Global Research:

https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-triumph-of-evil-armament-profits-take-...

The Triumph of Evil. “Armament Profits take Precedence over Murder and Genocide”
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, October 25, 2018

… It is difficult to understand why in the Western media and among Western politicians there is so much demonization of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, North Korea, China, and Russia. It is not these demonized countries that are murdering people in their embassies, conducting wars of aggression (war crimes under the Nuremburg Standard), and embargoing food and medical supplies to the populations that are being bombed. These crimes are being done by Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States and its NATO vassals.

Obviously, the Yemeni, like the Palestinians, don’t count. Their slaughter doesn’t cause a moral ripple in the West...

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https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-triumph-of-evil-armament-profits-take-...

The Triumph of Evil. “Armament Profits take Precedence over Murder and Genocide”
By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Global Research, October 25, 2018

… The reason President Reagan negotiated the INF Treaty with Gorbachev was to reduce the Soviet perception of the US as a threat. Reagan wanted the end of the Cold War and nuclear disarmament. Reagan hated nuclear weapons. By Reagan’s time in office, no one with any intelligence any longer believed that the Red Army intended to overrun Europe. The problem was different. The problem was to get rid of nuclear weapons that are capable, if used, of winning no war but of destroying life on planet Earth. Reagan understood this completely.

Unfortunately, this understanding has been lost in Washington.

If the INF Treaty is abandoned, it is impossible for Russia to tolerate any missile bases near its borders as these bases could be first-strike nuclear weapons against which Russia has no defense. The European countries sufficiently stupid to host these bases will be on a hair-trigger with the Russian military. Just one false signal, and nuclear war begins.

Trump’s intention to normalize relations with Russia has been defeated by CIA Director John Brennan, FBI Director James Comey, Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, the military/security complex, the Israel Lobby, the Democratic Party, the US liberal/progressive/left, and the presstitute media—CNN, MSNBC, New York Times, Fox News, BBC, Washington Post, etc.

We will all die, because the American Establishment lied through its teeth nonstop.

Strong stuff. This is the anti-war conservative Right. I wish Michael Moore would pay closer attention to foreign policy and to people like Paul Craig Roberts. Maybe he has, and I just haven't seen it. But I wish Moore would begin to understand why his wining and dining with the Democrats undermines his position with leftists like me.

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@Linda Wood To remain a member in good standing of the resistance, one must believe in the Russian Conspiracy Cult. Which then means joining up with neocons on war and foreign policy.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Linda Wood Moore lost me when he fell all over himself praising Zero Dark Thirty because it was made by a woman.

Typical liberal priorities.

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"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

snoopydawg's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

it was made by a woman? Moore is smart enough to know that the CIA was involved with it getting made. Moore is hit and miss and when he misses he does so big time.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@snoopydawg He actually lectured that movie's left-wing critics to "give it a chance" because it was so unusual for a woman to direct a film of that kind.

Seriously flawed priorities.

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"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

May follow the Alex Jones model where censoring was done in stages. I suspect the Atlantic Council may have been involved as they seem to be a go-to central on who to censor.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

That's what lost Helen Thomas her job.

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"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

gulfgal98's picture

This just came across my twitter feed.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

@gulfgal98
very relieved. The position that the private companies like Twitter and Facebook who create and then maintain these means of communication can also eliminate anyone they oppose from using them is worth facing. I mean, I hope we begin to come to grips with it. As a person who doesn't use either of them, if they went out of business tomorrow, I wouldn't care. But if they mean to be vast open sources of communication, then maybe they need to be regulated as such, treated as public utilities, and required to allow freedom of speech. I feel that they want it both ways, to be ubiquitous and at the same time allowed to censor.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Linda Wood

are so they can get more exposure for their sites and articles. Especially after Google changed its algorithms and sites lost up to 90% of their traffic.

I'm mostly concerned about the websites that post things that police do and why they were banned. They don't post anything that has to do with Russia which is why they were supposedly banned. FB Twitter and Google the sycophants of the Atlantic Council which is funded by the government.

The reason given for the bannings was that they posted things that "divided" America. Or so we were told.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@gulfgal98 That's good. In fact, it's great that he understands he shouldn't be on twitter in the first place.

Good news, for the first time in a while.

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"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