CULTURE & HISTORY

EDITOR—Israel’s latest airstrike on Iran does not impress Ray McGovern. In this chat he explains his reasons, and why he thinks the power equation in the Middle East has changed or is about to change—for the better. Ray came to Washington from his native Bronx in the early Sixties as an Army infantry/intelligence officer and then served as a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. Ray’s duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the President’s Daily Brief, which he briefed one-on-one to President Ronald Reagan’s five most senior national security advisers from 1981 to 1985. Ray is an expert in Russian history and culture, and a man who chooses to live by honouring moral integrity, which he does not see his compatriots in high places doing now or even when he was young and thought they did.

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—Those who bravely resist the US war machine or make themselves inconvenient for western empire managers don’t get to become popular heroes. You don’t see the westerners who work to stop weapons shipments to Gaza being celebrated for their efforts on CNN and the BBC. You don’t see antiwar activists getting Hollywood movies made about their work — at least not until the wars they were protesting lie safely in the distant past. You don’t see journalists who work to expose the most egregious crimes of the empire being elevated to fame and fortune.

The only figures who get elevated to fame and fortune in this fake plastic dystopia are those who either actively serve the interests of the empire or who passively distract people from its abuses. Donald Trump. Elon Musk. The Kardashians. Taylor Swift. Spider-Man and SpongeBob. [And a huge mob of obscenely paid sports figures and their media chroniclers and sycophants.—Ed)

MAIN EDITORS—Both Col. Wilkerson and (former) weapons inspector Scott Ritter analyse Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, judging them a failure. This evaluation contrasts markedly with the cacophony of celebratory voices on the US and western press in general, proclaiming the mission an absolute triumph for Israeli arms over Iran, its longstanding regional foe. The NYTimes seemed to reflect the more sober evaluation of the event, noting with evident relief, that both sides seemed to be satisfied with the outcome.

MARK TAYLOR—The link above confirms what is now Legally possible in the US as earlier reported in the link below posted January 11, 2012 on the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act giving the US Military legal authority to grab American citizens out of their homes or off the street, and lock them up indefinitely in some Gitmo-Gulag based on bureaucratic determination that someone has some vague association with terrorism.

There is no phone call to a lawyer. The Writ of Habeas Corpus, or a day in court, to contest the government allegation is removed. Anyone arrested becomes one of the Disappeared.

RON. UNZ—Although armies have committed war crimes from time immemorial, never before have these been so thoroughly documented, with much of the evidence drawn from the social media accounts of the Israeli troops who gleefully filmed and uploaded the clips, presumably doing so to impress their friends. I doubt that any other military in the world has ever been so eager to boast of its crimes as that of Israel, probably because decades of near-total political and media impunity have raised the arrogance of its government, military, and citizens to unprecedented heights.