From activist official challenging the CIA on drug trafficking, to mouthpiece for the neocons seeking global conflict with Russia. Shameful.
Maxine Waters has become a real embarrassment.
And it didn't happen overnight.
It happened, in part, during the last 8 years when Ms. Anti Iraq War couldn't say a damn thing.
What a huge misleader.
Here's a taste of an interview you should stream or read:
DHARNA NOOR: With us to discuss all this is Glen Ford. Glen is joining us from Plainfield, New Jersey. He's the co-founder, and Executive Editor, of the Black Agenda Report. And he's also the author of the book, "The Big Lie: An Analysis of the U.S. Media Coverage of the Grenada Invasion."
He's also a regular contributor to The Real News Network. Thank you so much for joining me, Glen.
GLEN FORD: Thanks for having me.
DHARNA NOOR: Glen, can we get your response to that clip from Adam Schiff?
GLEN FORD: Well, my response is that there's no proof of any of that. And even the statement that came from the U.S. intelligence agencies, basically in intel-speak, amounted to saying that -- well, that's a plausible theory, it hangs together -- but there is no proof.
So this, what Mr. Schiff is spouting off, is propaganda, a fantasy that has no basis in provable fact. And if we're going to have hearings that are based on fantasies, I don't know which committee really ought to be holding these hearings. Do we have a committee on fantasy?
DHARNA NOOR: Let's take another look at what Adam Schiff continues to say.
ADAM SCHIFF: Ours is not the first democracy to be attacked by the Russians in this way. Russian intelligence has been similarly interfering in the internal and political affairs of our European, and other allies, for decades. What is striking here is the degree to which the Russians were willing to undertake such an audacious, and risky, action against the most powerful nation on Earth.
That ought to be a warning to us. That if we thought that the Russians would not dare to so blatantly interfere in our affairs, we were wrong. And if we do not do our very best to understand how the Russians accomplished this unprecedented attack on our democracy, and what we need to do to protect ourselves in the future, we will only have ourselves to blame.
The stakes are nothing less than the future of our democracy, and liberal democracy, because we're engaged in a new war of ideas. Not communism versus capitalism, but authoritarianism versus democracy, and representative government.
DHARNA NOOR: What's your response to this? Are these so-called interferences unprecedented? And what do you make of his accusation that Russia is working against democracy with its support for authoritarianism?
GLEN FORD: Well, they're not just unprecedented, they're non-existent, at least as far as the evidence goes. But there is a great precedent in the world for interfering in other people's governments, and other people's right to order their own internal affairs as they see fit. And the biggest example of that interference -- the great interferer -- is the United States of America.
Nobody holds a candle to the United States, when it comes to interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Nobody even comes close. And we only get a sense of the scope, and sheer size, and the unique character of U.S. interference in the rest of the world, by taking in the totality of history, and the whole wide range of meddling in other people's rights to self-determination that the United States is guilty of.
The U.S. has absolutely no respect for anybody else's right to self-determination, except its own. It overthrows governments. It overthrew most of the governments of Latin America, and still threatens to do so. It has participated in the overthrow of emerging governments in Africa, and now, basically is an occupier of Africa, through its Africom.
It annexes whole countries, and that begins with the beginnings of the United States, the annexing of all the original people, the original nations of the United States into the United States. And goes on to include, oh, about half or more of Mexico, and all of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. And they damned near took Cuba several times, including at the turn of the 20th Century.
Check it out.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, March 30, 2017. Chaos and violence continues, the UN
Secretary-General visits Iraq, a War Hawk flutters and frets that the US
military in Iraq might be drawndown or -- gasp! -- withdrawn, and much
more.
AP reports 15 people are dead and another forty-five injured as a result of a Baghdad suicide truck bombing last night.
As the violence continues, the United Nations Secretary-General arrived in Iraq.
AP reports 15 people are dead and another forty-five injured as a result of a Baghdad suicide truck bombing last night.
As the violence continues, the United Nations Secretary-General arrived in Iraq.
Just arrived in Iraq to focus on the dire humanitarian situation on the ground. Protection of civilians must be the absolute priority.
He arrives as Iraq is in the midst of a major refugee crisis:
UN News Centre: How is UNHCR handling the large displacement resulting from the current crisis in Iraq?
António Guterres: We immediately started by supporting the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), in northern Iraq, providing tents, blankets and other relief items for the first response for the people that were coming. Now, with our other UN colleagues and NGOs, [we are] working with the KRG in a more organised way in reception centres, in the camps that are being established, and supporting families all over the region. We are doing our best so they get the assistance they are entitled to and that the necessary protection mechanisms are put in place. Of course, the situation is more complex in and around Baghdad, where there is an environment of high insecurity. But we have kept a small team in Baghdad in order to be able to do everything we can to support the people that are suffering so much.
UN News Centre: What is the biggest challenge at the moment?
António Guterres: I think the big challenge is the fighting itself. We are facing an enormous risk in Iraq for the stability of the country and obviously there is no humanitarian solution for this problem; the solution is always political. We humanitarians can do no more than to support people in distress. What we need is to stop the dramatic situations that are now proliferating all over the world.
Oh, wait.
That's Guterres speaking in 2014.
Amazing how little has changed.
But that's part of the story as well -- even if it's not being reported on -- don't worry, we'll get to it.
For now, PRESS TV notes, "Guterres is scheduled to meet top Iraqi officials, including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi before heading to Arbil, the capital of the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region." AFP adds, "After his arrival in Baghdad, Guterres met President Fuad Masum, parliament speaker Salim al-Juburi and Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari."
Guterres arrives on day 164 of The Mosul Slog.
For American audiences, AP tries to reset the time clock (it doesn't do the same for foreign audiences). Rather interesting -- apparently, they think American news consumers can't handle the truth and are also so dumb that they won't notice that the clock's being reset.
It's 164 days.
And look at the concerned Paul D. Shinkman of US NEWS & WORLD REPORTS -- and apparently PROPAGANDA as well:
The Trump administration has indicated it plans
to largely abdicate a U.S. role in Iraq's political future, despite the
certainty that driving the Islamic State group from its remaining
stronghold in Mosul – months, if not weeks, away – starts the clock on a
dangerous new era for a country on the verge of fracturing along rival
warring factions.
The prospect of a reduced U.S. role leaves a
vacuum in crafting a long-term political solution to reassemble Iraq.
Chief among the concerns is that the country's religious and ethnic
populations – minority Sunni Muslims who felt victimized by the central
government in Baghdad and now fear retribution, ethnic Kurds certain to
seek independence for their semiautonomous region, and a majority Shiite
population thought to be under the sway of Iran – will turn on each
other without a common enemy to unite their efforts.
According to Shinkman, grab the Greek worry beads, Donald Trump is going to "abdicate" -- oh, no.
Here's the thing, Shinkman's a damn liar.
There have been people concerned about the political situation in Iraq.
I know because -- check the archives -- I'm one of them.
We have laid out the roots for this conflict for years now.
We have talked about the need for diplomacy.
We have gone over and over how delivering F-16s with no demand of political reconciliation within Iraq was stupidity.
We've talked about the diplomatic toolbox.
We've rightly called Barack Obama out for bombing Iraq since August 2014 and sending even more US troops into the country without offering a diplomatic surge because, if ISIS ever is gone, something else will quickly replace it.
For over two years, Barack did nothing.
Secretary of State John Kerry thought he was Secretary of Defense and spent too much time playing general to do his job.
This is all appalling but it's even more appalling when you grasp that June 19, 2014, Barack himself said the only answer was a political solution.
But the US refused to use the diplomatic toolbox to create such a solution.
Now comes Paul Shinkman suddenly concerned.
He's not concerned.
Paul is part of the war think tank Center for a New American Security -- an affiliation that should preclude him from being presented as anything other than biased -- every column he writes should have a disclaimer at the top.
For those who don't know that organization, it was cofounded by Michele Flournoy -- a woman so addicted to war and violence that even Barack wouldn't appoint her Secretary of Defense though everyone thought she had a lock on the job at one point. (She only made it up to Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.)
War boy Paul suddenly raises the political issue and he's doing it because he wants the military angle in Iraq. He's lying to justify further war.
Today, Speaker of Parliament Salim al-Jubouri has declared to the UN Secretary-General that Iraq needs a Marshall Plan to rebuild.
Such a plan would cost millions -- probably billions.
There's your maneuver.
You insist upon meaningful changes as a condition on funding.
I'm assuming this would be done at the UN level.
European countries -- France most visibly -- have long mocked Barack for his no-strings approach to diplomacy with Iraq.
European countries would be on board with this.
This is a tool that can be used.
That Paul Shinkman doesn't note these type of tools is because he doesn't care about a political solution within Iraq.
He's only tossing that out now because he's afraid that the US will 'walk away' militarily from Iraq and human filth like Paul can't stand for any war to end.
XINHUA notes:
The UN chief's visit came as the Iraqi security forces are fighting to dislodge the extremist Islamic State (IS) militants from their last major stronghold in Mosul.
The troops have been fighting street by street and house by house to recapture the Mosul's old city center, but they were slowed by the heavy resistance of IS militants and the presence of some 500,000 people living in the old houses with narrow alleys.
The fierce battles in the western side of Mosul caused heavy casualties among civilians who were either caught by cross-fire or by airstrikes and shelling.
The British newspaper "theguardian":The International coalition has launched "5000"bombs on the neighborhoods in... fb.me/1d6aRR3Pw
RT reports:
The debris of destroyed houses, schools and hospitals have turned Iraq’s second largest city into an urban graveyard after the US-led coalition and Iraqi government forces launched the offensive in October to liberate the city.
With explosions and gunfire heard in the distance, RT's crew saw US-led coalition jets heading to and from Mosul every 5–10 minutes on Tuesday night. They also witnessed an Iraqi helicopter launching missiles at IS targets on Wednesday and heard chilling stories of how Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists continue to use civilians as human shields during airstrikes.
But instead of organizing humanitarian corridors for civilian to leave the city, the Iraqi government, as noted in the Amnesty International report earlier this week, has been urging Mosul residents to stay inside. Unfortunately for many of them, the perceived safety of their homes became their graves, as Iraqi and US forces continue to target their houses.
“When we were in our home, it was hit by a shell. We went to my parent’s house, and it was hit by a rocket. Wherever we went, we’d be bombed. I heard an airstrike destroyed our home,” one woman with a child told RT.
That's the reality of 'liberation' for Mosul.
As it was for Falluja and Ramadi before.
That's The Mosul Slog.
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