1. “Ron Paul’s Victory: How Sweet It Is!
Ron Paul is to neocons what a silver bullet is to vampires, and, for me at least, a great deal of the joy accompanying Ron Paul’s CPAC victory has been anticipating the squeals of outrage, shock, and real pain coming from those circles. This may be my sadistic streak coming out, albeit not for the first time, but after years of hearing Paul and his supporters dismissed as “fringe” irrelevant sectarians with no real political prospects, you’ll forgive me if I indulge myself in a little gratuitous cruelty.
…
In the midst of an economic crisis such as has not been seen since the 1930s, the War Party is at a loss as to how to drum up enthusiasm for yet another bout of Mideast adventurism. That they’ve even lost their most reliable allies in the conservative movement, which is now rallying behind the anti-interventionist champion Ron Paul, shows just how remarkably weak they have become. The Rabinowitz–Frum wing of the Republican party is small, and getting smaller by the minute: how many battalions does Powerline command, anyway?
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, as a supporter of the present admnistration – which is waging an immoral and unsustainable war in Iraq, Afghanistan,
and Pakistan – has every reason to find Ron Paul and his supporters “scary.”So do the neocons, the vultures of the American politics, who hover over every battlefield cheering on the slaughter. I revel in their fear: it gladdens my heart and sustains me. Because it means, not that we’re winning, necessarily, but that we can win. And in a battle of this kind, so hard and unforgiving, that makes all the difference.”
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2010/02/23/ron-pauls-victory/
2. Be serious:
“Gates: European Aversion to War a Danger to Peace
US Defense Secretary Slams ‘Demilitarization of Europe’
Gates warned that Europe’s aversion to war was doing serious harm to assorted US military operations with NATO backing, and was therefore “an impediment” to the lasting peace he envisions those wars eventually creating.
Gates’ comments appeared to be directed in part at the Netherlands, who saw its government collapse this weekend after NATO pressure to continue its commitment to the Afghan War led antiwar members of the government to withdraw.
He said that the “demilitarization of Europe” was a long-term, systemic problem for NATO, and that the European members of NATO needed to increase their military spending to NATO mandated levels.”
http://news.antiwar.com/2010/02/23/gates-european-aversion-to-war-a-danger-to-peace/
3. “US Allies in Europe Begin to Pull Back
Last Friday five NATO governments made it known that they want American nuclear weapons removed from their territory. They include the Benelux three, together with Germany and Norway. The five reportedly will ask that all the European NATO governments endorse their position before a meeting in New York in May.
The Dutch foreign minister described this as an attempt to seize the opportunity provided by President Barack Obama’s recent call for a de-nuclearized world.
The latter is not likely to happen, but redundant or irrelevant (because designed for tactical use in land warfare) – and by some reports incompetently guarded – American nuclear munitions have no place in Europe today. The Cold War was over 20 years ago. The American administration’s attention should at least be caught by the claim that these weapons may not be properly secured. One of Washington’s obsessions is the threat of a stolen nuclear weapon in terrorist hands.”
http://original.antiwar.com/pfaff/2010/02/23/us-allies-in-europe-begin-to-pull-back/
4. “Conquest and Censorship
The jets are fueled, and the drones are in the sky, waiting.
And this is how and why 27 Afghan civilians were summarily murdered on 21 February 2010 while traveling between remote provinces in a caravan of minibuses. The CIA and military special operations forces were alerted that such and such a High Value Target was traveling with his family, and McChrystal seized the opportunity to kill them all.
In a dirty war like the one in Afghanistan, killing High Value Targets almost always involves killing them while they are home or traveling with their families; otherwise they are underground and inaccessible.
Because this psychological warfare tactic of killing important enemy leaders along with their entire families is policy (albeit secret policy), it is called “black propaganda.”
It is psychological warfare because it has a sobering effect on low level Taliban who wish to rise in the ranks. It is propaganda because every Afghan citizen is aware of this policy. And it is black because Americans can’t believe it is true.
They can’t believe it is true for two reasons. First, because General McChrystal looks like an American nobleman and, like William, he expresses remorse.
And they believe because the mainstream media goes along with the Big Lie.
And yet, despite the PR work of correspondents at Newsweek, General McChrystal is no less savage than William the Conqueror. His job is fighting battles, killing enemies, and dismembering their bodies. Every man woman and child.
The only difference is that William did his killing personally, up close, with a battle axe and a sword for everyone to see, while McChrystal stands far away from the carnage, without witnesses, and allows other to do his dirty work for him, with 2000 pound bombs, missiles fired from drones, shotguns, and censorship.
Most of all it works because no one ever knows the names and biographies of the innocent victims.”
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes? 
Leave a comment