Russia is Washington's main
military rival. Each nation has powerful nuclear arsenals and delivery
systems able to destroy the other.
On December 31, 1999, Russia's lost decade under Boris Yeltsin ended.
Vladimir Putin replaced him.
Yeltsin institutionalized "shock therapy." Economic genocide followed.
GDP plunged 50%. Life expectancy fell. Democratic freedoms died. An
oligarch class accumulated enormous wealth at the expense of millions
of harmed Russians.
Contemptuously ignoring essential needs, human rights and civil liberties,
Yeltsin let corruption and criminality flourish. One scandal followed
another. Money-laundering became sport. Billions in stolen wealth were
hidden in Western banks or offshore tax havens.
Nonetheless, Western governments and media scoundrels loved him. Decades
more may be needed to recover from the human wreckage he caused.
Putin's governing style differs. He rejects US imperialism. He opposes
foreign intervention. In 2007, he condemned Washington's quest for unipolar
global dominance “through a system which has nothing to do with democracy."
He points fingers West. He says we're "witnessing an almost uncontained
hyper-use of military force in international relations."
It's "plunging the world into an abyss of permanent conflicts." Political
settlements become impossible. America won't tolerate them.
Putin accuses Washington of spurning international norms and principles.
It pursues a reckless arms race. It “overstepped its national borders
in almost all spheres."
It spurns "basic principles of international law."
It chooses war, not peace. It violates national sovereignty rights.
It undermines global stability. It considers aggression a divine right.
It threatens humanity.
Its humanitarian wars destroy nations to save them. At issue is global
dominance, not liberation. Putin is fundamentally opposed. As a result,
media scoundrels bash him.
Attacks are frequent. On June 12, a New York Times editorial headlined
"Russia, Soviet Style," saying:
"Vladimir Putin knows no shame." Hillary Clinton "accused Russia
of supplying attack helicopters to the Syrian government."
"Apparently, blocking the United Nations Security Council from punishing
Syria isn’t enough for the Russian president."
"He needs to be actively helping the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad,
kill his own people more efficiently and in even larger quantities."
Fact check
Russia categorically denied Clinton's charges. Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov said:
"We are completing right now the implementation of contracts that were
signed and paid for a long time ago. All these contracts concern exclusively
anti-aircraft defense."
"We are not delivering to Syria, or anywhere else, items that could
be used against peaceful demonstrators."
"In this we differ from the United States, which regularly delivers
riot control equipment to the region, including a recent delivery to
a Persian Gulf country. But for some reason the Americans consider this
to be fine."
In contrast, since early last year, Washington, other NATO partners,
and regional allies lawlessly recruited, armed, funded, trained, and
directed anti-Assad insurgents. Violence rages daily. Syria is wrongfully
blamed for Western-instigated crimes.
Russia and China oppose intervention. As a result, leaders of both countries
are pilloried for trying to end bloodshed, not sustain it.
Time's editors cheerlead US wars. Rule of law principles don't matter.
Unchallenged dominance alone matters. Body counts mount. Who's keeping
count?
Death tolls are small prices to pay to advance America's imperium. Opposition
leaders are assailed for supporting right over wrong.
Putin's "record at home is also shameful." Street protests against him
began months ago.
Fact check
Electoral fraud accusations were spurious. The National Endowment for
Democracy (NED) funds pro-Western elements to claim them.
At issue is subverting, not promoting democracy. In contrast to Russia,
America's electoral process is notoriously flawed. Duopoly power runs
the country. Democrats are interchangeable with Republicans.
American democracy is the best money can buy. Media scoundrels promote
it. Popular interests are excluded. Money power runs everything. Hoped
for change never comes.
Putin maintains "the corrupt status quo. (He) honed his bullying instincts
as a KGB officer....(He) cannot tolerate any challenge or even a robust
political debate."
"There is a lot to protest in Russia. This includes pervasive corruption
and a climate of impunity in which journalists and reform-oriented politicians
can be killed and the perpetrators are never held accountable."
"Kremlin officials complain of 'growing radicalism.' If what they mean
is discontent, Mr. Putin and his policies are why."
Fact check
America wages war on dissent. Whistleblowers are targeted. So are journalists
exposing uncomfortable truths. OWS and other nonviolent protesters are
attacked, beaten, arrested, falsely charged, and prosecuted.
Political prisoners fill America's gulag. War on Islam rages. Praying
to the wrong God is criminalized. Anti-war activists are targeted for
supporting peace. So are others against unchecked corporate power.
The Paper of Record has a long sordid history. It supports powerful
interests against popular ones. Imperial wars are endorsed. Corporate
excesses barely get mentioned.
Neither do unmet human needs and increasing poverty, hunger, homelessness,
and despair. Growing millions suffer. Duopoly power is supported. So
is imperial lawlessness. Sham elections are reported like legitimate
ones.
Government and corporate corruption at best get scant attention in small
print on back pages. America's social decay doesn't matter. Neither
do resources for corporate enrichment and imperial wars unavailable
for vital homeland needs.
Russia uses its Security Council veto responsibly. Times editors want
support for ousting Assad, isolating Iran, and replacing independent
sovereign governments in both countries with pro-Western puppet regimes.
"Mr. Putin has crossed a line with this helicopter sale to Syria."
Washington's agenda embraces unspeakable atrocities against nonbelligerent
states. Permanent wars slaughter millions. Times editors support them.
Doing so constitutes criminal conspiracy.
Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin symbolizes scoundrel media depravity.
She endorses violence, mass murder, and racial hatred.
On June 12, she headlined "Obama outfoxed by Putin," saying:
"....(T)he administration was banking on getting Russia to help oust
Assad. That is how totally out to lunch the Obama foreign policy team
is when it comes to Syria and to its 'reset' relations with Russia."
"At this rate the failure of the US to respond will amount to a huge
strategic victory for Iran and Russia. It is hard to escape the conclusion
that the Obama team is adrift, if not foolish."
Stopping short of saying so, Rubin apparently wants more war than what's
already being waged and lost.
Congressional hawks are no better. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen endorses the worst of imperial lawlessness. She
said Washington's "concession to Moscow must stop (including) preferential
trade benefits."
"We must not give a U.S. blessing to Russia’s policies in Iran and Syria
or we will simply invite Moscow to redouble its efforts to undermine
U.S. interests around the world."
Congress is infested with like-minded representatives. They deplore
peace and stability. They endorse confrontation over diplomacy and solving
world problems through the barrel of a gun. They're trigger happy for
more violence and bloodshed. Media scoundrels support them.
Britain marches in lockstep with America. So do its media. Their agenda
is blatantly transparent. Houla's massacre was maliciously blamed on
Assad. So were others.
On June 13, Media Lens reported on changing Houla massacre versions.
Initial accounts were revised and manipulated. All the while, truth
was suppressed. BBC World News editor, Jon Williams stressed "the complexity
of the situation....in Syria."
Initial certainty became "shades of gray." Knee-jerk blame accused Assad.
"(T)ragic death(s) aside," said Williams, "the facts are few: it's not
clear who ordered the killings - or why."
"Stories are never black and white - often shades of grey....The stakes
are high - all may not always be as it seems."
BBC's Paul Danahar added more "shades of gray." Perhaps Assad doesn't
"control some of the militia groups being blamed for massacring civilians."
Fingers still point the wrong way. Responsible parties are absolved.
Britain's News Sniffer reported 16 versions of Houla/Qubeir massacres.
Initial accounts shifted from one to others. All blamed Assad.
BBC and other UK media ignored the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)
and National Review articles. They said Houla victims were almost exclusively
pro-Assad loyalists.
In contrast, London's Guardian published numerous uncorroborated second
hand accounts. Sources cited were UK-based "opposition activists."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) gets frequent mentions.
It blamed Houla killings on "pro-regime shabiha militiamen armed with
guns and knives....after regular troops had shelled the area."
Guardian writers quote SOHR dozens of times. Its credibility is sorely
lacking. Its organization consists of one person, Rami Abdulraham. He
runs a clothes shop. He's far from Syrian violence. He works from his
"two bedroom terraced home in Coventry."
Some reports claim Assad committed atrocities are blamed on insurgents.
According to London-based Royal United Services Institute's Shashank
Joshi:
"A government that has tortured and slaughtered thousands of its own
citizens would have little compunction about mounting a false-flag operation
to justify its crackdown."
Why wasn't explained. What could he possibly gain? Imperial allies and
Anti-Assad death squads alone benefit.
According to Stratfor Global Intelligence:
"(M)ost of the opposition's more serious claims have turned out to be
grossly exaggerated or simply untrue, thereby revealing more about the
opposition's weaknesses than the level of instability inside the Syrian
regime."
Assad's forces "calibrated its crackdowns to avoid" reckless slaughter.
They've been "careful to avoid high casualty numbers that could lead
to an intervention based on humanitarian grounds."
WikiLeaks revealed Pentagon thinking, saying:
"They don't believe air intervention would happen unless there was enough
media attention on a massacre" like (spurious) allegations against Gaddafi
that stuck.
A London Guardian editorial headlined "Syria: a hasty intervention could
be deadly," saying:
"Outrage is the easiest part of responding to Assad's crimes." However,
world leaders are "more cautious after a decade of problematic, western-led,
military interventions, founded on better and worse premises."
"The results of these interventions have been disappointing at the very
least."
"(F)ull-scale military interventions seem unpalatable." So is "wholesale
training and arming" insurgents...."
Scoundrel media never mention binding rule of law principles. Nations
may not intervene in the internal affairs of others except in self-defense.
Exceptions aren't allowed.
Peaceful alternatives aren't considered. Regime change objectives override
them. Mass deaths and destruction follow. Wars rage endlessly. Media
scoundrels support them. How lawless and futile doesn't matter.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book is titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News
Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time
and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour
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