Category psychological warfare

Ukraine’s Propaganda War: International PR Firms, DC Lobbyists and CIA Cutouts, by Dan Cohen

Washington DC lobbyists wag the dog: While public relations firms and intelligence-linked propaganda operations target the public, Washington DC lobbyists are agitating in Congress to extend the war in Ukraine.

A Tale of Two Wars: Biden Decries Russian Atrocities in Ukraine While Backing Saudi/UAE War in Yemen

CodePink. “Why is there such a disparity between coverage of the war on Ukraine vs. the war on Yemen? Coverage of Yemen reveals the US and UK’s complicity in creating the humanitarian crisis. Coverage of Ukraine constructs the US, the UK, & their allies as the ‘saviors of democracy.’” [as quoted on Democracy Now!]

It’s Different, They’re White: Media Ignore Conflicts Around the World to Focus on Ukraine

“Who is the perpetrator
Who is the victim

If the perpetrator is our enemy, and there is political capital to be made from highlighting their crime, then the media will deem the victim “worthy”  — especially if the victim is a pro-U.S. figure. If, however, you die at the hands of the U.S. or its allies, you can expect little sympathy or coverage from the media, especially if you are a Communist, Muslim, or any other designation that renders you unworthy of media attention.”

Matt Taibbi: Orwell Was Right

The U.S. is censoring media, which affects our access to information. This outright censorship is a slippery slope could too easily lead directly to state censorship of media in the U.S. and is frightening in relation to freedom of the press/media/speech, the cornerstone of American democracy.

Chris Hedges: Worthy and Unworthy Victims

Worthy victims allow citizens to see themselves as empathetic, compassionate, and just. Worthy victims are an effective tool to demonize the aggressor. They are used to obliterate nuance and ambiguity.

UKRAINE: Articles of Interest

Chris Hedges, Veterans for Peace, Abby Martin with Brian Becker, Robert Parry on Nuland, Ralph Nader, Jeff Cohen, Medea Benjamin

Diana Johnstone: US foreign policy is a cruel sport

What is truly diabolical is that, while constantly accusing the Russian bear of plotting to expand, the whole policy is directed at goading it into expanding!  Because then we can issue punishing sanctions, raise the Pentagon budget a few notches higher and tighten the NATO Protection Racket noose tighter around our precious European “allies.”

The Persecution of Julian Assange

“Whether or not Assange is guilty of sexual violence, we do not believe that is why he is being pursued. Once again women’s fury and frustration at the prevalence of rape and other violence is being used by politicians to advance their own purposes.”

Know This, Trump’s Attempted Coup on Jan. 6 Was Just Practice

“What’s left to trust and rely upon? Unorganized people organizing. What else!”

Chris Hedges, America’s Fate: Oligarchy or Autocracy

“The alliance of Republican and Democratic oligarchs exposes the burlesque that characterized the old two-party system, where the ruling parties fought over what Sigmund Freud called the “narcissism of minor differences” but were united on all the major structural issues including massive defense spending, free trade deals, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, the endless wars, government surveillance, the money-saturated election process, neoliberalism, austerity, deindustrialization, militarized police and the world’s largest prison system.”

DN! Forced Entry: NSO Group Spies Secretly Seized Control of Apple Devices by Exploiting Flaw in Code

“This is … the most important crisis around global civil society right now.” Over 1.65 billion Apple products in use around the globe have been vulnerable to the spyware since at least March.

Rep. Barbara Lee, Who Cast Sole Vote After 9/11 Against “Forever Wars,” on Need for Afghan War Inquiry

“Let us not become the evil we deplore.” And with those words, Oakland Congressmember Barbara Lee rocked the House, the Capitol, this country, the world, the lone voice of more than 400 congressmembers.

What are the Prospects For Peace: an Interview with Noam Chomsky

“According to the Constitution, Article I, Congress has the sole right to declare war. But that provision has long been dispatched to the ashcan, along with other inconvenient provisions of the document that we are taught to revere.”

“Don’t you know there’s a war on?” by Patrick Lawrence

“The sooner we recognize these and many similar events as disparate dimensions of a concerted war waged against us, the better we will understand the air we breathe and the water we drink.”

The military-industrial-media complex renders the American populus ill-informed in matters regarding war

“How real is all this influence? Does the military-industrial-media complex (MIMC) actually affect the information we receive and our perception of war?”

Fascism in the USA: Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works, plus Trump Uprising, Keeping the Left off the Streets, and more…

“Fascism is a patriarchal cult of the leader, who promises national restoration in the face of supposed humiliation by a treacherous and power-hungry global elite, who have encouraged minorities to destabilize the social order as part of their plan to dominate the “true nation,” and fold them into a global world government.”

The Empire: Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Alfred McCoy, Sheldon Richman, Caitlin Johnstone

The decline and fall of the American Empire?

Chris Hedges: The Empire is Not Done with Julian Assange

“WikiLeaks and you personally are facing a battle that is both legal and political,” Weinglass told Assange. “As we learned in the Pentagon Papers case, the U.S. government doesn’t like the truth coming out….”

Glenn Greenwald: Julian Assange’s Imprisonment Exposes U.S. Myths About Freedom

“Censorship, like most repression, is reserved for those who dissent from majoritarian orthodoxies, not for those who express views comfortably within the mainstream.”

Do Americans really care about war crimes? by Jared Keller

“So do war crimes matter to the average American? In the short term, it appears that war crimes and their related pardons are simply new battlegrounds in the ever-expansive culture war between left and right, liberals and conservatives, that seems to have enveloped modern politics rather than becoming matters of human dignity in their own right. And that’s a damn shame.”