Crooke Updates Himself: “Walking the Precipice”

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Alastair Crooke has done something I’ve never seen him do—update his most recent writings and conversations with a new column less than 48 hours later. His two previous writings and chat with Judge Napolitano are here and here. Today he wrote again at Al-Mayadeen, “Walking the Precipice,” which I see Larry Johnson has mirrored at his website, too. It’s not just a reassessment, although it is in part. Rather, it’s a reassessment based on new information that’s just come to light as you’ll discover. IMO, if you were concerned at the end of Crooke’s chat with the Judge, you’ll be even more concerned now. And yes, this discovery has preempted what I had further planned to provide today and will become part of my afternoon work. Will Russia and/or China make any outward reaction to the new information? Here it is:

Diverse European voices are desperately warning that with the Ukraine project spiraling towards débacle, a humiliated West is left with little choice but to escalate drastically, and bring NATO -- in some form, whether limited or not -- into the fight. 

The former British (Conservative) MP Andrew Bridgen states that this strategic shift (whose speed caught the Europeans unawares), is forcing Europe to face war with Russia. 

In fact, Bridgen warns: ‘We (Britain), are ‘already at war’ with Russia. This is the real reason, he explains, why Rishi Sunak has called an early election -- he refuses to be a ‘war time president’.  He is effectively handing over ‘the baton’ to Keir Starmer (probably to fly away to California after 4 July -- voting day). “The Generals” have warned Sunak that the order ‘had come down’ for war with Russia. And Sunak does not wish to be part of it.

Whether Bridgen is right or not on the specifics, there is undoubtedly a chorus out there saying the same thing. Is this cacophony of sudden war warnings merely that which (Matt Taibbi calls) an example of the ‘Elephant Erasure Project’?  By which we are constantly being instructed not to see the elephants in the room.

And there are a lot of them: Open borders; plunging standards of living; high prices; runaway debt and dropping ratings for Biden. Add to that, the White House is continuing to arm the Israelis and green-light the Rafah military operation -- at the very moment that the ICJ has ordered destruction of lives stopped. A plain oxymoron.

Of course, Team Biden is ‘not for turning’ on its “ironclad” support for the Israelis, yet the only thing that is clear is that the war-warning is not necessarily literally true -- except in wanting to truly scare and divert us from the ‘Elephants’.   

“The 'informing class' now no longer even has the decency to tell us who, or what they are”. When one reads ‘news’, we have no idea whether it is an off-grid White House ‘briefing’, or one of those aggressive releases of intelligence, telling us yet again that truly Russia is on the ropes, and about to collapse. 

The NYT  did warn what might be coming in their pages as “America sought to match Putin and 'beat the master' at his own information warfare game”. That formal Times launch of the “full-fledged information battle,” went so far as to have Jake Sullivan explaining that the problem with the [Iraqi] WMD episode was not that spreading an intelligence-concocted lie “from this very podium” was wrong, but that it was done for the wrong reasons, i.e. to start rather than stop a war:

So which is it?  Is the narrative of being on the precipice of real war with Russia ‘deception’ designed to divert us from the herd of elephants grazing quietly for now, though with their presence likely to loom large as the election campaign reaches full-spate?

On the one hand, the very idea that Europe is equipped or capable to fight a real war is absurd. But equally, there are enough idiots around, hyped on delusions of long-past grandeur, to do something stupid.  Interestingly, former British MP Andrew Bridgen implicitly acknowledges this risk, but adds that thank goodness it is Putin who stands on the other bank!

While on the other hand, everything in the West today revolves around the manipulation of narratives and crafting the winning meme. The ‘other’ narrative to ‘coming war’ (according to Reuters) is that President Putin wants a Ukraine ceasefire ASAP -- and on current contact line frontlines -- because he is terrified at the prospect of having to launch a further mobilisation to finish the Special Operation.

This is pure disinformation, yet might it serve as the conjunct narrative to the fear narrative of the West resolving to walk the very edge of the precipice of war with Russia? And might this tight-rope policy be allowing the Biden Campaign to assert it is ‘winning’ in Ukraine; Putin is portrayed as trembling before the threat of warversus the Behemoth of the combined economic and military power of the West. A partial western Ukraine will indeed survive, according to this narrative, to become a future NATO and EU member.

What this war narrative isn’t is news. “The information it imparts, if one bothers to sift through it,” Taibbi quotes Walter Kirn saying, “is information about itself; about the purposes, beliefs, and loyalties of those who produce it: the informing class.”

Two questions arise: First, is Sullivan about stopping WW3, or starting it?

And secondly, returning to the Bridgen interview, he says the order ‘has come down’ to the Generals and was conveyed to Sunak.

So which is it?

Netanyahu invoked in a statement on October 28 at the outset of the Israeli ground invasion in Gaza: “Remember what Amalek did to you”, quoting the biblical verse where Yahweh commanded the Israelites to wipe out the enemy nation of the Amalekites down to their babies and animals. (South Africa submitted Netanyahu’s statement at the ICJ as evidence of the Israeli genocidal intent in Gaza.) 

Well, Netanyahu has done it again (on 20 May). He invoked Amalek in response to the news that the ICC was seeking an arrest warrant against him. “This time”, Mondoweiss reports, “Netanyahu is using the same reference to rally the nation against its enemies — which apparently now includes the ICC and the ICJ — using coded language in the Hebrew version of his rant against the Court”.

“The version of the address that he delivered in English (is here). The Hebrew version was different. It ended with a Hebrew phrase — “Netzah Israel lo yeshaker” — which means “the Eternal One of Israel shall not lie”. This was the phrase he directed at “the lies at The Hague,” as he said in the statement. The significance of this phrase will not be apparent to the general public, as it draws upon loaded codes in both biblical and Zionist history and mythology. 

Mondoweiss continues: 

“The phrase itself comes from Samuel I, 15:29. Context here is everything. King Saul was admonished by the prophet Samuel for not completely eradicating the Amalekites — Saul had spared their king, Agag, and “the best of the sheep and cattle,” which the Israelites “were unwilling to destroy completely.” According to the Bible, this level of annihilation was not enough - and displayed King Saul’s supposed weakness. That is why the Prophet Samuel admonished the biblical king: 

“The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

“Saul seeks to defend his actions, but Samuel delivers an uncompromising message: 

“You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” 

“This was the sentence Netanyahu used at the end of his Hebrew address reacting to the ICC application. He implies the Court order is directed against the entire State of Israel. In other words, he is sending a message that he will not make the same mistake as King Saul - through not completely eradicating Amalek. He will go all the way in Gaza. He will continue into Rafah. He will “wipe off the seed of Amalek,” as Israeli soldiers were recorded chanting back in December.

“‘Netzhah Israel lo yeshaker” forms the acronym, “NILI.” NILI was a Zionist underground spy ring that operated during WWI between 1915 and 1917. It was an intelligence-gathering group that worked for the British against the Ottomans, who still ruled Palestine at the time … Netanyahu’s invocation of “the Eternal One of Israel shall not lie” isn’t just a biblical reference to the dangers of not going all the way in annihilating Amalek (who, in this instance, are the Palestinians that remain in Rafah and the rest of Gaza) — it is also a historical reference to the Zionist movement’s defiance of power when it is unfavourable to the Zionist cause”. 

Just to be clear, what is being hinted at in the above Hebrew quotation about the annihilation of Amalek can only be achieved in a climate of crisis and chaos (Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich said this explicitly some years ago), otherwise the global isolation and attrition of the Israelis will quickly calcify and strangle the Cabinet’s aim to establish the Zionist State across all the Land of Palestine, in a ‘New War of Independence’.

Netanyahu paradoxically possesses more leverage over key institutional power-structures in the US than does the White House to pursue his government’s second “War of Independence”. Is the ‘order going out’ – an order that suggests the Israelis require a wider crisis to pursue its path less noticed within wider mayhem? 

Is spreading the lie that longer-range missiles supplied by the US to Ukraine is a game-changer done to start, rather than stop a war?  Or is it deceptive messaging with an eye on November?  Whichever it is, the consequential harsh response from Russia will upset that election calculus. [Bolded Italics My Emphasis]

Is there one main elephant that cannot be erased because it’s mad and instead must be euthanized? That’s the conclusion I draw. Perhaps there are two Elephants—NATO and the Zionists and both need to be put down once and for all. IMO, the more important Elephant is the mad Zionist Project since Russia has NATO and its Ukraine project under control. However, to eliminate the Zionist Elephant will require the entry of China into the situation to force a solution. IMO, it should use the Genocide Convention as the legal tool to intervene. IMO, it’s China’s duty to act. IMO, the consequences of inaction are far worse than acting. We’re at a point on the road to the Multipolar World where the last vestiges of the Age of Plunder must be defeated, and those vestiges have two components—the Zionist Project and the Outlaw US Empire’s Project, which are close to being one and the same. Those are the Two Elephants in the room their trainers don’t want others to see or feel; all the other smaller ones are inconsequential globally.

One thing is certain. Those of us privy to the information provided by Crooke and others now know critical information not known by the masses. Sure, we’re trying to inform via our media outlets, but they don’t reach as far as BigLie Media. I’m sure we’ll be tarred as alarmists—Chicken Littles—but the overall context we provide is what proves our claims—”Context here is Everything!”

karlof1’s Geopolitical Gymnasium

Memorial Day: Remembrance For Those Millions Killed By The Outlaw US Empire

Karl Sanchez

May 28, 2024

 

 

Yes, I know what the holiday is supposed to stand for, but reality demands that it now stand for something else. As discussed last Friday by Judge Napolitano, Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson, the International Court of Justice’s verdict about the Zionist’s Genocide now goes to the UNSC for enforcement consideration that will likely be vetoed by Biden, meaning the Outlaw US Empire is even more guilty than ever as a co-Genocidalist and that no Chapter 7 enforcement of the ICJ’s ruling will follow. However as that panel of three pointed out, the UNGA which brought the Zionist state of Occupied Palestine into existence can vote to have it expelled—an outcome the Empire cannot block. There are other points the verdict generates that will impact those nations who abide by the Genocide Convention which will mean an end to all commercial interactions with the Genocidalists, which IMO ought to include the Empire as THE clear co-Genocidalist. The German government issued a surprise that if the ICC issues its warrants upon the ICJ’s verdict that it will arrest those people if they set foot in Germany, which is a decision Norway already made.

At the end of his latest, Simplicius noted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson “has now openly declared the U.S. does not follow international law, because no international law supersedes American sovereignty.” My comment at his site notes that Johnson swore an oath to uphold and defend the US Constitution, and that it now contains within it the entire contents of the UN Charter which the Outlaw US Empire’s been continually breaking since 24 October 1945 and is most certainly now given its status as a co-Genocidalist in Palestine. IMO, Johnson has committed Treason and at the least has violated his oath of office and must be evicted from Congress at minimum.

Given the holiday, the Judge is silent today, thus no chat with Mr. Crooke; tomorrow that might occur since he said it will be treated like a Monday. But there’s no such holiday to interfere with Mr. Crooke’s writing schedule and he wrote an excellent essay for SCF, “The brink of dissolution: Neurosis in the West as the levee breaks.” But before we get to that, here’s some crucial words from Lavrov in reply to Pavel Zarubin for the “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” TV program from Tashkent:

Remember the above when watching the trio’s chat linked up top. Also recall the roots of the Anti-Russian and Anti-Communist Crusades, which IMO ought to be lumped together into a whole and includes the ultimate aims behind the two world wars that Medvedev scratched the surface on with his essay and as other have shown in much more depth. All of this is extremely serious but few seem to realize just how serious. Which bring us back to Crooke’s SCF essay:

The paradox is that Team Biden – wholly inadvertently – is midwifing the birth of a ‘new world’. It is doing so by dint of its crude opposition to parturition [giving birth]. The more the western élites push against the birthing – through ‘saving Zionism’; ‘saving European Ukraine’ and by crushing dissent – perversely they accelerate the foundering of Leviathan.

President Xi’s double farewell hug for President Putin following their 16-17 May summit nonetheless sealed the birth – even the New York Times, with customary self-absorption, termed the warm embrace by Xi as ‘defiance of the West’.

The root of the coming dissolution stems precisely from the shortcoming that the NY Times headline encapsulates in its disdainful labelling of the seismic shift as base anti-westernism.

It reflects the myopia of not wanting to see or hear that which stands so plainly in clear sight before one: If it were simply “anti-West” – nothing more than negation of negation – then the criticism would have some justification. Yet, it is not mere antithesis.

Rather, the near 8,000-word joint China-Russia statement evokes the very elemental laws of nature itself in sketching the West’s usurpation of the fundamental principles of humanity, reality, and order – a critique which maddens the collective West.

David Brooks, the U.S. author who coined the term BoBos (Bohemian Bourgeoisie i.e. the metro-élites) to chart the rise of wokeism, now asserts that ‘liberalism’ (whatever that means today) “is ailing” and in retreat. The classic ‘liberal’ zeitgeist lay upon a foundation of commitments and moral obligations that precede choice – our obligations to our families, to our communities and nations, to our ancestors and descendants, to God or some set of transcendent truths.

It tends to the tepid and uninspiring, Brooks says; “It avoids the big questions like: Why are we here? What is the meaning to it all? It nurtures rather, the gentle bourgeois virtues like kindness and decency – but not, as Lefebvre allows some of the loftier virtues, like bravery, loyalty, piety and self-sacrificial love”.

To be clear, Brooks, in a separate piece, argues that by putting so much emphasis on individual choice, pure liberalism attenuates social bonds: In a purely liberal ethos, an invisible question lurks behind every relationship: Is this person good for me? Every social connection becomes temporary and contingent. When societies become liberal all the way down, they neglect (as quoted by Brooks) Victor Frankl’s core truth that “Man’s search for meaning is the primary motivation in his life”. [There’s no longer any introspection, self-examination, and certainly no looking in the mirror.]

The joint Xi-Putin statement therefore is not just a detailed work-plan for a BRICS future (though it is indeed a very comprehensive work plan for the BRICS summit in October). Russia and China rather have put forward a dynamic vision of concrete principles as pillars for a new society in the post-Western future.

By playing straight into the primordial sources of meaning that are deeper than individual preference – faith, family, soil and flag – Russia and China have picked up the pieces and born-up the mantle of the Bandung Non-Aligned Movement through promoting the right of national self-determination and an end to centuries old systems of exploitation.

Yet how and why can the West be said to be accelerating its own dissolution? [Shared Emphasis]

The NY Times gives the clue to the ‘why’: The old ‘Anglo’ obsession with a defiant Russia that the West has never been able to bend to their will. And now, Russia and China have signed a joint statement somewhat similar to the ‘no limits’ friendship declared in February 2022 but reaching further.

It portrays their relationship as “superior to political and military alliances of the Cold War era. Friendship between the two States has no limits, there are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation … ”.

Put starkly, this breaches the long-standing western rule of triangulation: the U.S. must stand with either the one, Russia or China, against the other; but never should China and Russia be permitted to band together versus the U.S.! – a doctrine sanctified in western ‘canon law’ since Mackinder’s time in the 19^th Century.

Yet, that ‘two versus one’ is precisely what Team Biden inadvertently have ‘done’.

What then, constitutes the ‘how’?

The problem with the western solutions to any geo-political problem is that they invariably comprise more of the same. [Shared Emphasis]

The combination of this deep disdain for Russia – subsumed into the undercurrent fear of Russia as a putative geo-strategic competitor – invites a western recourse to repeating the same triangulation approach, without due reflection on whether circumstances have changed, or not. This is the case here and now – making for a ‘clear and present’ risk of unintended and damaging escalation: A prospect that might midwife the very thing that the West most fears – a loss of control, spiralling the system down into freefall.

The Mistake:

Ray McGovern, a former U.S. Presidential briefer, has chronicled how as “Biden took office in 2021, his advisers assured him that he could play on Russia’s fear (sic) of China – and drive a wedge between them. This represents the ‘mother of all errors’ of judgement, because it brings about the circumstances in which the western ‘Order’ may dissolve”.

“This [presumption of Russian weakness] became embarrassingly clear when Biden said to Putin during their Geneva summit … let me ask a rhetorical question: ‘You got a multi-thousand-mile border with China. China is seeking to be the most powerful economy in the world and the largest and the most powerful military in the world’.”

McGovern observes that this meeting gave Putin clear confirmation that Biden and his advisers were stuck in a woefully outdated appraisal of Russia-China relations.

Here is the bizarre way Biden described his approach to Putin on China: At the airport after the summit, Biden’s aides did their best to whisk him onto the plane but failed to stop him from sharing more ‘wisdom’ on China: “Russia is in a very, very difficult spot right now. They are being squeezed by China”.

‘Yes’: More of the same! Biden was trying, on the advice of his experts, to insert the ubiquitous western ‘wedge’ between Russia and an ‘BIG’ China.

After these remarks, Putin and Xi spent the rest of 2021 trying to disabuse Biden of the “China squeeze” meme: This mutual effort culminated in the Xi-Putin ‘no limits’ friendship summit of that year. If the advisers had been paying attention however, they would have threaded a long history of Russo-Chinese rapprochement. But no, they were ideologically frozen in the view that the two were destined to be eternal enemies.

Doubling Down on the Mistake. It gets worse:

Then, in a 30 December 2021 telephone conversation, Biden assured Putin that “Washington had no intention of deploying offensive strike weapons in Ukraine”. However, Foreign Minister Lavrov has revealed that when he met Blinken in Geneva in January 2022, the U.S. Secretary of State pretended he had not heard of Biden’s undertaking to Putin on 30 December 2021. Rather, Blinken insisted that U.S. medium-range missiles could be deployed in Ukraine, and that the U.S. might be willing to consider limiting their number.

Making An Egregious Mistake Worse

In August 2019, when the U.S. withdrew from the treaty banning intermediate-range missiles in Europe, the U.S. had already deployed missiles in Romania and Poland (saying their purpose was ostensibly ‘to defend against Iran’). However, the tubes installed are deliberately configured to accommodate nuclear warhead equipped, cruise and ballistic missiles; but here is the rub: it is not possible to determine which missile is loaded, as the tubes have lids to them. The time for these missiles to reach Moscow would be 9 minutes from Poland, and 10 from Romania.

But if, as Blinken threatened, missiles might be installed in Ukraine, it would drop to only 7 minutes (and were it to be a hypersonic missile, which the U.S. does not yet possess, it would be a mere 2-3 minutes)

Just for clarity, this (i.e. Ukraine) is Russia’s existential war which it will fight, no matter what it takes. Beijing is fully aware of the high stakes involved for Russia (and ultimately for China, too)

The Consequences to relying on the ‘Same Tactics Again, and Again’ Threats and Pressure).

On 18 May in Moscow, in the wake of the latest Xi-Putin summit – as MK Bhadrakumar notes – Lavrov predicted an escalation in western weapon supplies to Ukraine, reflecting not only the Biden’s election need to be seen ‘facing down Russia, but also the reality that “the acute phase of the military-political confrontation with the West” will continue, in “full swing”.

The western thought processes, Lavrov said, are veering round dangerously to “the contours of the formation of a European military alliance – with a nuclear component”. Lavrov lamented that “they have made a choice in favour of a showdown on the battlefield: We are ready for this”. “The agenda to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia militarily and otherwise – is pure fantasy and it will be resolutely countered”.

European military inadequacy explains, presumably, the mooted notion to add a nuclear component.

Put plainly, with the U.S. unable to exit or to moderate its determination to preserve its hegemony, Lavrov sees the prospect for increased western weapons provision for Ukraine. The discourse of military escalation is in fashion in Europe (of that there is no doubt); but both in the Middle East and Ukraine, western policy is in deep trouble. There must be doubts whether the West has either the political will, or the internal unity, to pursue this aggressive course. Dragging wars are not traditionally thought to be ‘voter friendly’ when campaigning reaches its peak. [My Emphasis]

The election angle was also discussed by the trio. The McGovern essay linked to by Crooke is a must read, which is why I linked it again. Also linked is an interview given by Putin to Xinhua News I was completely unaware of since it never appeared on the Kremlin website. Even though the text is in English, I’ll post it as a standalone item. Ever since the 4 February 2022 Joint Declaration was made and published, I’ve cited its great importance which few shared. We’ve since had the 2023 and now the 2024 Joint Declarations that ought to make it clear that neither Russia or China are bluffing, and of course, there’s their actions that provide the ultimate proof to those of us watching. It might have been different if the Outlaw US Empire had delayed its aggression on China via Taiwan until its Ukraine gambit was over, but hubris from Wolfowitz onward has ruled while those holding the doctrine he composed have ruled the Empire ever since—even during Trump as he began the Trade War with China. Add to the mix what the Zionist source said during the trio’s chat and was published at various online sites about their goal now being to spark a World War to allow them to complete and cover for their Genocidal crime. Here’s the scoop from Pepe Escobar’s Telegram:

At minute 11:00, Judge Nap refers to an e-mail he received from a military/intel source. This is what the source told him:

“Today I listened to an extensive interview with an IDF ex-intelligence officer. His position was clear, WE ARE, he said, AIMING TOWARDS A WORLD WAR. Israel therefore, shouldn’t stop itself from implementing some of the most radical measures befits actions will be measured retroactively in the context of the brutal world conflict to come.”

That's THE ultimate explanation for the Hegemon/vassals non-stop frantic escalation in the intertwined Forever Wars front - from Gaza to Novorossiya.

It makes it sooooo clear who's REALLY running the show.

And the whole planet is being held hostage.

Will Russia or China ignore what was said? I remind readers this was last Friday. Team Biden will also know what was said and that the cat’s out of the bag. What sort of damage control happened over the weekend given the number of important events? I was busy taking a break as both my wife and I needed to get away, and one excellent source for such things is quiet at the moment with medical issues—Moon of Alabama. There’s increasing speculation that Raisi’s helicopter crash was caused by sabotage. Will the ICJ’s verdict and this other revelation cause Russia/China to rethink enforcing the existing UNSC resolutions on Palestine as a means of preventing the war wanted by the Zionists since it’s 100% clear the Zionists will not cease and desist? Since most Neocons are also Zionists and Evangelicals all rolled into one crazy mixture and Trump’s really no better than Team Biden when you look at who he hired and his behavior, what’s the outlook if people don’t awaken and vote for Jill Stein? Will there even be an election given the nutjobs at the helm? I’m sure plenty of opinions on those questions and more will be made in comments.

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