Andre Vltchek
Itinerant Philosopher and Journalist
Interview by Alex Anfruns

As an American investigative journalist, documentary filmmaker and novelist, André Vltchek has covered countless armed conflicts around the world. Among his most recent work we find “On Western Terrorism”, a discussion with Noam Chomsky, a renowned expert on propaganda. Together, they explore the legacy of colonialism that lasts to this day and denounce the hypocrisy of the West in regard to terrorism since it is largely responsible for its development. We have interviewed André Vltchek to get his thoughts on the book and much more. /su_box]

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AA: All along your passionate discussion with Noam Chomsky, you expose facts about imperialist interventionism in recent history, in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. What was the purpose of switching the focus from the alleged enemies of the West and onto the West itself?

AV: For several long centuries, the West has been plundering the world militarily and economically. In order to ‘legitimize’ its crimes, it also manufactured extremely complex and effective propaganda system, imposing its ‘logic’ and cultural dogmas on the rest of the world. It was done with such persistence and skill, that basically all other narratives disappeared.

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It is actually a tremendous tragedy, because several conquered cultures were clearly superior and much more humanistic than the West. The result is: natural, logical development of the world has been derailed, even crushed. Only Western dogmas prevailed, bringing imbalance, confusion, anger and frustration to the world.

AA: Like Noam Chomsky, you are also a very prolific author. How would you describe your work and Chomsky’s work? And how was the experience of preparing this book?

AV: Noam and I are using different ‘tactics’ to fight against this despicable situation. Noam is a linguist, great theoretical thinker and an activist. He is analyzing the situation in his non-fiction books, which are actually his great philosophical works. He is also speaking publicly, on virtually all continents.

I go directly to the sources, as I don’t essentially believe anything that I don’t see or touch, anymore. I try to recycle as little as possible. I travel to warzones and to the deadliest slums, speaking to top intellectuals but also to the poorest of the poor.

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The main struggle now should be the struggle against Western imperialism. I know the world, and I am convinced that if Western imperialism were defeated, the rest of the world would find a way to coexist peacefully, and to build a humane, much gentler and compassionate world.

Noam Chomsky & André Vltchek. Caricature by Marina Wiedemann

I count on extremely complex web of sources, in many countries. Then I write my essays, which are later changed into chapters of my non-fiction books. Or I write my novels, which are always at least to some extent political, or mainly political. Or I make documentary films, for TV stations like Telesur or Al-Mayadeen.

My latest book, which actually unmasks Western propaganda worldwide has over 800 pages and is called, tellingly, “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”. My recent novel on Western cultural imperialism is “Aurora”.

Noam and I compliment each other. And we really enjoy each other’s company. When we work together, there is nothing forced. We don’t always agree 100% on everything, but we very rarely strongly disagree about essential political issues.

AA: What do you think about the evolution of the terrorism context and the revival of the “war on terror” speeches by western leaders?

AV: Terrorism is essentially what the Western empires and now the American Empire have been using against the rest of the world. Look at the Muslim world: historically, Islam has been very progressive and socially oriented, even a ‘socialist’ religion. The first public university, the first public hospitals – everything like that was in the Muslim world.

Even after the WWII, Muslim countries were leaning towards socialism. Therefore, they had to be derailed, ruined and ‘radicalized’ by the West!

The West basically wrecked the three most important Muslim socialist states: Iran, Egypt and Indonesia. Then it used Afghanistan and Pakistan as proxies in its war with the Soviet Union, basically shattering these two countries as well.

AA: So you definitely want your readers to look back on colonial past in order to understand the neocolonial present…

AV: Absolutely. I am arguing in several of my essays, as well as in “Exposing Lies Of The Empire”, that the West, for understandable reasons, has been directly manufacturing ‘Muslim terrorism’. Therefore, we shouldn’t even use the term “Muslim terrorism”.

I witnessed the process in Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Indonesia and elsewhere. It is shameful what is happening, but it is logical (given the Machiavellian essence of Western imperialism): the West managed to destroy the Soviet Union, it debased the anti-colonialist struggle/process (by killing or overthrowing people like Lumumba, Mosaddegh, Sukarno or Allende), and then it ran out of ‘big enemies’.

The West cannot exist without ‘big enemies’, as we all know. And so it created one really mighty one out of nothing, and royally screwed all Muslim countries in the process. Recently, in Tehran, two top philosophers there told me, that the West actually created, in many places, a totally new religion, which doesn’t have anything in common with Islam.

AA: Third world views on the north-south relations has been under attack and de-legitimation on a regular basis by neo-conservative thinkers, who consider economic-centered political analysis as “obsolete and old fashioned”. Could we say that the promoters of the so-called “clash of civilizations” have reached their goal? Which real interests are behind their way of thinking?

AV: Yes, it is happening, but the guilty are not only the neo-conservatives, but also so-called liberals. I just left the city of Bandung (in Indonesia), which was hosting, in 1955, that famous “Asia-Africa Conference” (cradle of non-aligned movement). When you see the old photos there, you’d want to cry… Or scream!

The desire of the non-Western world for independence, for true freedom was so strong in those days, but the brutality of the West broke all courage and determination of all, except a handful of the nations. For decades, the spine of the resistance against Western imperialism had been cracked. Only now we see great resurrection of those old ideologies, goals and dreams.

Of course there is and will be huge clash of civilizations, but it will occur under different banners and with different logic than what is being promoted by the Western idéologues.

Truer ‘clash of civilizations’ will be very simple and positive: it will have form of a resistance struggle of the oppressed world, against the Western terror, which has been brutalizing our planet for hundreds of years.

AA: You have frequently visited and lived in Latin American, Arabic and Asian countries for many years. In your opinion, how should progressive forces deal with issues concerning cultural identity and ethnic-entered conflicts in the XXIst century? Is the Eurocentric view a big trap for those who try to understand and change the world?

AV: Yes it is, and it is essential to understand this point!  Progressive forces in the West should, I believe, step back and be more humble. Instead of constantly preaching and showing their hatred against every left wing government in Latin America or Asia, they should learn some respect and the Chinese or South American cultures, and try to understand how things have been done there, historically.

The Western left lost squarely and patently. The hope is now in Latin America and Asia, and some very few countries of Africa. The Western left, I think, should stop being ‘purist’ and support what we still have in this world, instead of defining ‘who is a true Marxist and who is not’, etc.

The main struggle now should be the struggle against Western imperialism. I know the world, and I am convinced that if Western imperialism were defeated, the rest of the world would find a way to coexist peacefully, and to build a humane, much gentler and compassionate world. Then, and only then, we could start paying attention to details. Until then, rescuing our planet from what has been for centuries ruining it should be our sole goal.

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First published at  http://www.investigaction.net/en/on-western-terrorism-interview-with-andre-vltchek/#sthash.M0QWz2sF.dpuf

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Andre Vltchek

Philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative journalist, Andre Vltchek has covered wars and conflicts in dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are revolutionary novel “Aurora” and two bestselling works of political non-fiction: “Exposing Lies Of The Empire” and  “Fighting Against Western Imperialism”. View his other books here. Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. After having lived in Latin America, Africa and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and the Middle East, and continues to work around the world. He can be reached through his website and his Twitter.

NOTE: ALL IMAGE CAPTIONS, PULL QUOTES AND COMMENTARY BY THE EDITORS, NOT THE AUTHORS

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[Photo: US missiles found in ISIS stronghold in Mosul, Iraq.]

=By= Kurt Nimmo

The Iraqis found missiles at an Islamic State base in Mosul stamped with USA and DOD.

The discovery did not warrant a headline on CNN or The New York Times.

“Several US-made missiles were found in al-Shoura region to the South of Mosul,” reports Iran’s al-Alam News Network, citing a local source.

“The ISIL terrorists have sent US-made TOW anti-tank missiles to Tal Afar and it is quite evident that they are preparing for a long-term war,” an Iraqi security official told an Arabic-language media outlet.

In early 2015 Qasim al-Araji, the head of the Badr Organization in Iraq, told parliament he had evidence the US armed the Islamic State, according to a report carried by the Arabic language Almasalah.

Iranian media and other sources claim US military aircraft dropped weapons in areas held by the Islamic State.

“The Iraqi intelligence sources reiterated that the US military planes have airdropped several aid cargoes for ISIL terrorists to help them resist the siege laid by the Iraqi army, security and popular forces,” Iraqi intelligence claimed in December, 2014.

“What is important is that the US sends these weapons to only those that cooperate with the Pentagon and this indicates that the US plays a role in arming the ISIL.”

In January 2015 Iraqi MP Majid al-Ghraoui said American aircraft delivered weapons and equipment to ISIS southeast of Tikrit, located in Salahuddin province.

“The Iraqi Parliament’s National Security and Defense Committee has access to the photos of both planes that are British and have crashed while they were carrying weapons for the ISIL,” the leader of the committee Hakem al-Zameli said, according to the Arabic-language information center of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq.

Last February Iran’s FAR News Agency reported the Iraq Army shot down two British planes delivering weapons to the Islamic State.

Both the Islamic State and al-Nusra are in possession of US-made BGM 71E TOW anti-tank missiles.

The London-based organization Conflict Armament Research (CAR) previously reported that ISIS fighters are using “significant quantities” of arms including M16 assault rifles marked “property of the US government.”

CAR has documented a CIA-Saudi program begun in 2012 that has provided thousands of tons of weaponry to “insurgents” (jihadi mercenaries) in Syria. The weapons are shared with the Islamic State.

“Conflict Armament Research was able to trace the serial numbers of weapons recovered by Kurds battling ISIS in Eastern Syria back directly to the CIA-Saudi weapons airlift program,” notes Brad Hoff for Levant Report.

If Hillary Clinton is elected next week the restocking of the Islamic State’s arsenal and the war in Syria will continue.

“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waived restrictions at the State Department on selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar, all states that had donated to the Clinton Foundation. Saudi Arabia had chipped in at least $10 million, and Boeing added another $900,000 as Secretary Clinton made it her mission to get Saudi Arabia the planes with which it would attack Yemen,” writes David Swanson.

Clinton is well aware the Gulf Emirates arm and provide logistical assistance to the Islamic State.

“While this military/para-military operation is moving forward, we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region,” Clinton wrote in an email to John Podesta.

Clinton did not mention Obama’s secret authorization in 2013 that armed jihadis fighting to overthrow Bashar al-Assad in Syria. The deal allowed the Saudis to arm jihadis with US weapons. It also permitted the CIA to train the mercenaries on how to use the weapons, including anti-tank missiles, The New York Times reported.

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=By= Jimmie Moglia

Cartoon by Vinenzo Apicella

hing, hang, hog…
Hang hog is Latin for bacon, I warrant you.

(Merry Wives of Windsor, act 4, sc.1)

To the articulate speculations of many analysts on the failed coup in Turkey I will not add the vanity of my conjectures – for, clearly, everything and its opposite seem equally possible. I cannot guess the past, nor sound the bottom of the aftertimes (1) – hence just a few serendipitous observations.

Literarily speaking, and considering his massacres, Erdogan could be compared to Macbeth. However, Erdogan lacks Macbeth’s tragic persona, blinded and thrust forward by destiny and ambition – after having completely misunderstood the witches’ predictions.

Furthermore, there is something noble in Macbeth – and in moments of lucidity he even feels the pangs of conscience.

“Is this a dagger which I see before me,
… or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?” (2)

Even without allowing for the influence of Lady Macbeth, ambitious schemer from behind the curtains, who suggests,

“…look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under’t.” (3)

With Erdogan we know nothing of the influence of his wife (or wives?). And while endeavoring to add new strands to the fabric of his ambition, Erdogan remains a kind of Falstaff, somewhat thinner, but deprived of any ability to laugh at himself, at least at times.

“I do begin to perceive that I am made an ass” (4)

Erdogan looks like an ornery corner-store owner, angry because there isn’t enough ice in the refrigerator.

As an aside, that ‘g’ in Erdogan is neither a vowel nor a consonant; it’s a conso-vowel – a true piece of Levantine lexicography. Those in the know have mastered the correct pronunciation, but I side with the German songwriter, who ended up in court for his sacrilegious lyrics. Where the refrain in his sinful song ends with “Erdoui, Erdouo, Erdouan.” Here is the original https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6e-X0PEeMneLR7xWaQ5PNOSzfUsBd9NZ

To return to the coup, out of these global sagas with multiple threads, often spring out characters, previously unknown to the world at large. In the instance, the “fetid mullah with the goulash,” which is my mnemonic trick to remember the very Turkish name of Fehtullah Gulen, with the umlaut on the ‘u’ of Gulen – the Turkish, not the more familiar German umlaut.
But how could anyone follow the million strands that pop in and out from the wool-ball-like-world of global politics? Beyond a certain limit we can’t and, even if we could, “memory, the warder of the brain, shall be a fume.” (5)

In the instance, Fehtullah, by just looking at him, is the embodiment of the quintessential godfather who makes you offers that you cannot refuse. In real life, he is a proven metaphorical milker of US cows – characters often found in the great morass of wild privatizations, undertaken in the exceptional nation. Here the udders are the ‘charter schools’, a proven venue to suck taxes from the taxpayers, in the name of (never proven and actually disproven) efficiency in pedagogy. The millionaires who caught the gale of fortune, thanks to the charter-school racket, make a pretty hefty number.

Apparently, Fehtullah has imported scores of Turkish instructors to teach English to Americans in his charter schools, thanks to the farcical H1B visa scheme (foreigners can be imported when no Americans can be found, able to do the same job).

But all makes sense, when considering the strong ties between the fetid mullah and the Clinton Foundation. Which, as demonstrated in the blog “The Clintons’ War on Women” should be more accurately renamed “The Oral and Anal Sex Foundation.” http://wp.me/p2e0kb-1Xk

Analysts agree that the fetid mullah is a CIA ‘asset’ – an interesting euphemism, suggesting a menacing innocence under a veneer of verbal neutrality. What kind of asset? an informer, schemer, killer, plotter, non-expendable terrorist or expendable patsy?

But the impressions of some find their opposites in others, who see in Fehtullah a harmless old man descended into the vale of years. (6)

Just a little research, however, yields a different picture. Apparently, Fehtullah is a galvanizing figure in the world of Turkish expatriates. Furthermore, maybe like Erdogan, Fehtullah dreams (or plans) a new Ottoman Empire carved out from the lands of neighboring nations and stretching from Instanbul to the remote Turkish province of Uyghur in Northwest China.

Fehtullah’s plan to gain power in Turkey, reads like a chapter extracted from the Pentagon’s manual on Fourth Generation Warfare. Here is an extract from a speech broadcast on Turkish television before Fehtullah fled to the US as a refugee.

You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers … until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria … like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt. The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it … You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey … Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside. The work to be done is [in] confronting the world. Now, I have expressed my feelings and thoughts to you all—in confidence … trusting your loyalty and secrecy. I know that when you leave here—[just] as you discard your empty juice boxes, you must discard the thoughts and the feelings that I expressed here. – Fethullah Gülen Sermon broadcast on Turkish television

Back to the coup. The lightning-speed purge of thousands in Turkey, begun even before the last soldier was captured, suggests that the proscription list had been ready for a while, waiting for implementation. Leading to the concurrent nazification of the Turkish people, inflamed by religious fanaticism, helpless victim of carnage, or witness of carnage inflicted on neighbors.

Meanwhile the EU chancelleries bleat recommendations of caution and moderation, as the Turkish Falstaff giggles and (possibly) asks, “How about two or three more millions of undocumented migrants?” “Should I close your bases and become a Russian ally?” “Do you want me to stop from plotting to have Assad assassinated like Gheddafi or Saddam?” “And I warn you CIA & Associates. If you come after me I have hard evidence of so many skeletons in your cupboard, that if you move a finger against me I will tell the whole world.”

Still, these considerations do not answer the question as to which theory, about the sequence of recent horrible events, is correct. A massacre in Nice, a coup d’etat in Turkey with hundreds of victims, hundreds of civilian victims in Aleppo, thanks to bombing conducted by the US and France. The very France, victim in the same week of an attack, which, whether genuine or otherwise, traces its origins to France’s military aggression in North Africa and the Middle East.

In the circumstances, while seeking for truth, or at least plausibility, I adhere to two principles,

1) It comes directly from Oscar Wilde, “Believe anything, provided it is quite incredible”
2) It applies to America and its colonies, “Do not believe anything until it’s denied.”

Let’s apply a quick test.
Erdogan accuses the US of knowing about the coup, staged by the fetid mullah. The US denies it. (see principle 2).
A proscription list containing over 6000+ names of Turkish teachers, academics, judges, journalists, generals, colonels and others is ready within literally hours after the completion of the unsuccessful coup. That is incredible (see principle 1).
The US deny having any hand in the Turkish coup. (principle 2)

As for the massacre in Nice. Here is a drunkard, erotomaniac, bisexual, with a police record of violence, a thief who did not observed the Ramadan, ignored the Koran, did not attend mosques and ate pork. A perfect picture of the mentally unstable, manipulable, easily prey to illusions. And yet, as Italian journalist Fulvio Grimaldi points out, he is “radicalized” in the short space from one night to the next morning, before the rooster crows three times. Also, he did not shave for a week, prior to the massacre – no doubt, a flawless characterization of a polished and sophisticated planner of massacres. Who says so? French Security.
Applicable principles? Both one and two.

Talking of terrorism, it has evolved. I refer to a theme by the same Italian journalist. In his analysis, the classification begins with the terroristus rooseveltianus, driven to terrorism by provocation, believing to react to an imminent attack, as the Japanese at Pearl Harbor.

Next is the virtual terroristus johnsonianus, existing only in the Pentagon’s report about heavily armed North Vietnamese fishing boats attacking the US Navy in the golf of Tonkin.

I added the terroristus esperimentalis, embodied by Harvey Oswald, used as a test case to measure the acceptance at large of the fictional story (that he was the isolated killer of President Kennedy).

We then have the terroristus bushensis, disguised as a Saudi plane hijacker, a subway bomber, or a marathon watcher. Whose cover, however, is paper thin, and liable to be unmasked with consequences that would be catastrophic, without the iron-clad protection by the doctors of the image and by the industry of deceit, embodied in the domestic mainstream media.

Talking of which, given the noise raised by Turkish coups and French massacres, the corporate media did an excellent job of downplaying the latest revelations about the (until now officially secret) missing pages of the 9/11 official report. Whose conclusions, however, are that the Saudis did it. (apply principle #1).

Who writes here knows Saudi Arabia in person. Clearly, brilliance and intelligence can be found everywhere, but in Saudi Arabia even toothbrushes and toothpaste come from abroad. Assuming the Saudis capable of organizing 9/11 equates to having the King of Saudi Arabia discover the principles and the mathematics of quantum physics.

Even so, the matter did not go down well with Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Newspaper Al Hayat, reputed to reflect the views of the Saudi Monarchy, recently published an article from which I extract the following,

“September 11 is one of winning cards in the American archives, because all the wise people in the world who are experts on American policy and who analyze the images and the videos [of 9/11] agree unanimously that what happened in the [Twin] Towers was a purely American action, planned and carried out within the U.S. Proof of this is the sequence of continuous explosions that dramatically ripped through both buildings… Expert structural engineers demolished them with explosives, while the planes crashing [into them] only gave the green light for the detonation – they were not the reason for the collapse. But the U.S. still spreads blame in all directions. [This policy] can be dubbed ‘victory by means of archives.’

On September 11, the U.S. attained several victories at the same time, that [even] the hawks [who were at that time] in the White House could not have imagined. Some of them can be enumerated as follows:

1.   The U.S. created, in public opinion, an obscure enemy – terrorism – which became what American presidents blamed for all their mistakes, and also became the sole motivation for any dirty operation that American politicians and military figures desire to carry out in any country. [The] terrorism [label] was applied to Muslims, and specifically to Saudi Arabia.
2.   Utilizing this incident [9/11], the U.S. launched a new age of global armament. Everyone wanted to acquire all kinds of weapons to defend themselves and at the same time battle the obscure enemy, terrorism – [even though] up to this very moment we do not know the essence of this terrorism of which the U.S. speaks, except [to say that] that it is Islamic…
3.   The U.S. made the American people choose from two bad options: either live peacefully [but] remain exposed to the danger of death [by terrorism] at any moment, or starve in safety, because [the country’s budget will be spent on sending] the Marines even as far as Mars to defend you.
Lo and behold, today, we see these archives revealed before us….we see a bill in Congress accusing Saudi Arabia of being behind it [sic]. This is after the previous Iraqi regime was accused of being behind it. Al-Qaeda and the Taliban were also blamed for it, and we do not know who [will be blamed] tomorrow! But [whoever it is], we will not be surprised at all, since this is the essence of how the Americans, that are civilized and respect freedoms and democracy, operate.

The nature of the U.S. is that it cannot exist without an enemy… [For example,] after a period during which it did not fight anyone [i.e. following World War II], the U.S. created a new kind of war – the Cold War… Then, when the Soviet era ended, after we Muslims helped the religions and fought Communism on their [the Americans’] behalf, they began to see Muslims as their new enemy! The U.S. saw a need for creating a new enemy – and planned, organized, and carried this out [i.e. blamed Muslims for terrorism]. This will never end until it [the U.S.] accomplishes the goals it has set for itself.”

Interestingly, the article prefers to point the finger at the USA, rather than Israel, acknowledged by many as the mastermind and producer of the event. Which is possibly a sign of the equivalence in thought and action between the Saudi elite and Israel – or that the Saudis are more afraid of Israel than of the US – a credible hypothesis, pregnant with meaning.

In this context, and apart from the puzzling Turkish coup, Erdogan reconciles with Israel, which, however, was already a practical ally in the effective protection of ISIS. ISIS being the ideal Orwellian friend-enemy of the US of A, target and source of enormous profits for the military-industrial-lobbying cabal – its members sunk into the bottomless gulf of insatiability.

The last specimen in the Darwinian evolution of terrorists is the terroristus Hollandiensis, the sacrificial calf, recruited among the disenfranchised, rejected, unstable and manipulable, living in the urban social underground and sent on stage to enact a play directed from behind the scenes. He may live next door and causes his neighbors to be distilled almost to jelly into the act of fear (7) – thus justifying all the chains wrapped around them to ensure their security.

In the US, the NSA (National Security Administration), considering the billions invested, has proven a disappointment, not to say a failure. But that is easily remedied through lexical tactics practiced in the comments by operators of the engines of propaganda – simply using the term “mass murder” rather than “terror”. Forgetting that terror, by any other name, remains diabolical and makes a mockery of the reasons for which the well-protected coprocracy (***) ensnares the ever more helpless and irrelevant citizens, for the latter’s own protection.

Through all this there is a kind of autism in the opinion of the people in the West, which prevents them from understanding what really moves beyond appearances, and therefore from controlling what their own coprocracy is plotting behind their back. Consequently they cannot discern whether the interests brought forth by the rulers are those the citizen takes for granted, or if citizens are considered but intimidatable and expendable pawns, a’ la 9/11.

In the end it is this kind of attitude that feeds a state of fear and impending doom – thus furthering the myth of a war of civilizations. With which Western leaders deprive their own citizens of the civilization that they conquered.

*** For a reading on ‘coprocracy’ refer to the blog, “Spectacle, Ornaments and Marionettes” http://wp.me/p2e0kb-1VA

** 1. King Henry IV, part 2
** 2.3.5. Macbeth
** 4. Merry Wives of Windsor
** 6. Othello
** 7. Hamlet
In the play (starting quote). The Welsh Master Evans (whose accent is reproduced by the misspellings) teaches Latin to William Page, son of Mr. and Mrs. Page. But the Welsh pronunciation prompts Mistress Quickly to deliver a sarcastic remark and to give her own interpretation to Evan’s Latin lesson.

Initial Image. Cartoon by Vinenzo Apicella

Would you like to own a dictionary that gives you a listing of all possible Shakespearean quotes, suggestions on how to use them and a description of the context in which they appear in the original – just like this one? Get the book “Your Daily Shakespeare” or the Kindle Version at $5.99 – go to http://yourdailyshakespeare.com/book-store to see a short animation and/or to purchase.

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Nauseated by the
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=By= Rowan Wolf and Jimmie Moglia

Source : theragblog.blogspot.com

The Bay of Pigs during the Kennedy administration is instructive about the extent to which the US will go to set up justification for taking aggressive action. In the video below, Jimmie Moglia provides an engaging discussion of the Bay of Pigs, as 2016 is the 50th anniversary of this almost event.

Eisenhower, who preceded Kennedy, was vehemently negative towards Cuba and Castro. Plots were hatched and set in motion by the CIA that would take fruition under Kennedy, and without his knowledge. As noted earlier this year by Robert Kennedy Jr.,  in his article published by IPS, “Sabotaging U.S.-Cuba Détente in the Kennedy Era,” :

To the CIA, détente was perfidious sedition.  Adlai Stevenson [at the time U.S. ambassador to the United Nations] had warned President John F. Kennedy that “unfortunately the CIA is still in charge of Cuba.”  The agency, he said, would never allow normalisation of relations.

JFK was involved in secret negotiations with Fidel Castro designed to outflank Foggy Bottom [Washington] and the agents at Langley [CIA], but the CIA knew of JFK’s back-channel contacts with Castro and endeavoured to sabotage the peace efforts with cloak and dagger mischief.

In April 1963, CIA officials secretly sprinkled deadly poison in a wetsuit intended as a gift for Castro from JFK’s emissaries James Donovan and John Nolan, hoping to murder Castro, blame JFK for the murder, and thoroughly discredit him and his peace efforts.

The agency also delivered a poison pen to hit man Rolendo Cubelo in Paris, with instructions that he use it to murder Fidel. William Attwood [a former journalist and U.S. diplomat attached to the United Nations asked by JFK to open up secret negotiations with Castro] later said that the CIA’s attitude was: “To hell with the President it was pledged to serve.”

“There is no doubt in my mind. If there had been no assassination, we probably would have moved into negotiations leading to a normalisation of relations with Cuba” – William Attwood, U.S. diplomat asked by John F. Kennedy to open secret negotiations with Castro, speaking of JFK’s assassination.”

Many exile leaders openly expressed their disgust with the White House “treachery”, accusing JFK of engaging in “co-existence” with Fidel Castro.  Some Cubans remained loyal to my father, but a small number of hard, bitter homicidal Castro haters now directed their fury toward JFK and there is credible evidence that these men and their CIA handlers may have been involved in plots to assassinate him.

The Kennedy guilt – both President John Kennedy and then Attorney General Robert Kennedy -over The Bay of Pigs misadventure lies in the nasty truth that the Bay of Pigs invasion was set up as a CIA plot and was not known at the time to JFK. JFK hesitated at the point of an actual strike and unwittingly foiled the CIA plot. Regardless of that, as noted above, the CIA was furious and continued their effirts to undermine relations between the US and Cuba, and until this spring we have continued operating under this ruse as if it were reality.

The CIA was willing to hoax the US into nuclear war, nuclear war, and two formally powerful men – one a President and the other the US Attorney General – both ended up assassinated. Here is certainly not the place to get into who was “really” behind the Kennedy assassinations, but the synchronicity leaves a sour taste in one’s mouth.

Without further discussion, here is Jimmie Moglia:

Rowan Wolf, PhD

Is Managing Editor of The Greanville Post and Director of The Russian Desk. She is a sociologist, writer and activist with life long engagement in social justice, peace, environmental, and animal rights movements. Her research and writing includes issues of imperialism, oppression, global capitalism, peak resources, global warming, and environmental degradation. Rowan taught sociology for twenty-two years, was a member of the City of Portland’s Peak Oil Task Force, and maintains her own site Uncommon Thought Journal. She may be reached by email at rowanwolf@greanvillepost.com

Also see:

JFK Facts – Memory/Truth/Meanting

Salim Lamrani. .Robert Kennedy Jr.’s 25 Truths on the Secret Negotiations between Fidel Castro and President Kennedy.  CRG – June, 2016.

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Nauseated by the
vile corporate media?
Had enough of their lies, escapism,
omissions and relentless manipulation?

=By= Tony Cartalucci

Entrapment. (Rowan Wolf)

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]fter a torrent of multifaceted politically-motivated assumptions about the Orlando shooting which claimed the lives of 50 and left scores more injured, the extent to which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interacted with the suspect, Omar Mateen, before the attacks was partially revealed.

In a press conference, FBI Director James Comey would admit (emphasis added):

…the FBI’s Miami office opened a preliminary investigation, and over the next 10 months we attempted to determine whether he was possibly a terrorist. Something we do in hundreds and hundreds of cases all across the country. 

Our investigation involved introducing confidential sources to him, recording conversations with him, following him, reviewing transactional records from his communications, and searching all government holdings for any possible connections, any possible derogatory information. We then interviewed him twice. He admitted making the statements that his co-workers reported, but explained that he did it in anger because he thought his co-workers were discriminating against him and teasing him because he was Muslim.

FBI Director Comey never elaborated on just how those informants interacted with Mateen. However, examining publicly available FBI affidavits from other investigations that resulted in arrests and prosecutions, it is almost certain the informants posed as terrorists with ties to Al Qaeda or the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (ISIS).

In two cases that unfolded just last years, FBI informants would be revealed to have helped plan attacks with suspects, suggest to suspects that they credit ISIS for the attacks (as reported by the Intercept), and even helped them in procuring weapons and explosives before finally arresting them.

The results of such investigations are often high-profile counterterrorism news stories portraying the investigations as having stopped real attacks. Headlines like the Washington Post’s “Mass. man accused of plotting to hit Pentagon and Capitol with drone aircraft,” or the FBI’s own press release, “Oregon Resident Convicted in Plot to Bomb Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony,” betray the fact the virtually every aspect of these supposed plots from A-Z were scripted by the FBI’s informants themselves with the suspects often being mentally unstable and technically/financially incapable of carrying out the attacks on their own – as evident in the FBI’s own affidavits.

Protecting America, or Exploiting the Mentally Ill to Fill Quotas and Make Headlines?  

The FBI often opens these cases when suspects with questionable mental health make statements online or to friends, family, or co-workers indicating possible support for terrorist groups or terroristic aspirations. Comments could range from claims of belonging to a terrorist group or expressing a dislike of or a desire to cause harm to certain groups.

Instead of recognizing a potentially dangerous, mentally unstable individual and getting them the help they need, the FBI instead proceeds with a process of entrapping them. They work often for months posing as terrorists, gaining the trust of the suspect, and leading them through elaborate, scripted terror plots.

So elaborate are these undercover investigations, that in at least two cases, FBI informants would actually train suspects how to use real explosives and even practice detonating live explosives in remote areas in the lead up to the final “attack.”

Image: What looks like a terrifying bomb filling the back of a van was actually constructed by the FBI and handed over to suspect Mohamed Osman Mohamud in Portland, Oregon. They also handed him a detonator he attempted to trigger twice before finally being arrested. The FBI – prior to the final staged bombing/arrest – would travel with the suspect to Lincoln County Park where he and FBI informants detonated real explosives.

In one such case in 2010, the FBI investigated naturalized US citizen and Oregon resident Mohamed Osman Mohamud. In their own official statement titled, “Oregon Resident Arrested in Plot to Bomb Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in Portland,” released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on November 26, 2010 it was reported (emphasis added):

According to the affidavit, on November 4, 2010, Mohamud and the undercover FBI operatives traveled to a remote location in Lincoln County, Ore., where they detonated a bomb concealed in a backpack as a trial run for the upcoming attack.

In 2012, amid another FBI undercover investigation, USA Today would report in their article, “FBI foils alleged suicide bomb attack on U.S. Capitol,” that (emphasis added):

According to a counterterrorism official, El Khalifi “expressed interest in killing at least 30 people and considered targeting a building in Alexandria and a restaurant, synagogue and a place where military personnel gather in Washington before he settled on the Capitol after canvassing that area a couple of times,” the Associated Press writes. During the year-long investigation, El Khalifi detonated explosives at a quarry in the capital region with undercover operatives. He is not believed to be affiliated with al-Qaeda, officials said.

One can only speculate what – over the course of 10 months – undercover FBI informants said and did with Orlando shooting suspect Omar Mateen and how that may have contributed to his final act of violence years later.

The Public Must Demand Answers From the FBI 

The FBI’s practice of entrapping terror suspects has long been called into question. Until now, the damage caused by the FBI’s methods has been confined to locking away for years suspects who were otherwise incapable of carrying out actual terror attacks and instead required the attention of mental health professionals.

With revelations that the FBI investigated Omar Mateen twice, including two interviews and the use of undercover informants over the course of at least 10 months, it appears that the FBI’s methods may have backfired – and it would be for the first time.

Image: Another FBI undercover investigation backfired in 1993 when suspects the FBI was helping build a truck bomb for ended up detonating the device in New York City’s World Trade Center, killing 6 and wounding hundreds more. The FBI’s role in the bombing was only revealed when an undercover informant who recorded conversations between himself and FBI agents, provided tapes to the New York Times.

It is possible that contact with undercover informants posing as extremists may have radicalized or at the very least, planted the seeds for the violence Mateen would eventually carry out years later. The public, press, and America’s elected representatives must demand answers from the FBI regarding the nature of their investigation including who the FBI’s informants posed as, and what ideas they attempted to lure Mateen into their practiced methods of entrapment with.

Did they suggest or help plan attacks on bars as they did with Alexander Ciccolo whom the FBI entrapped and arrested in 2015 according to the Intercept’s article, “Another “Terror” Arrest; Another Mentally Ill Man, Armed by the FBI?” Did they encourage or compound a possible internal conflict Mateen was struggling with regarding his apparent homosexuality?

So far, the FBI refuses to make the details of their previous investigations public. They must as it constitutes a potentially essential key in ascertaining Mateen’s motives – and the FBI investigating a crime they themselves may have played a criminally negligent role in motivating constitutes a dangerous conflict of interests unacceptable if an impartial and honest investigation is to move forward.

Instead of attempting to hitch our own various personal political causes to this tragedy, make it a priority instead to pursue and demand the truth. The villains we think we fear may pale in comparison to what may have truly sparked this tragedy – and exposing it may be the key to preventing the next tragedy.

If the FBI played a role in radicalizing and provoking Mateen’s violence, and if the FBI is conducting hundreds of such entrapment cases all across America, how many other pending tragedies await the American public?

Note to Commenters
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We apologize for this inconvenience.

Nauseated by the
vile corporate media?
Had enough of their lies, escapism,
omissions and relentless manipulation?