Saturday, December 31, 2016

Trump and Revenge of the ‘Realists’

Henry Kissinger’s potential role as an intermediary between President-elect Trump and Russian President Putin suggests a comeback by the old-line “realists” versus the neocons and liberal interventionists, writes Gilbert Doctorow. By Gilbert Doctorow During a holiday getaway to India, I…

Friday, December 30, 2016

Hypocrisy Over Alleged Russian ‘Hacking’

As Official Washington rages over alleged Russian hacking of Democratic emails, a forgotten back story is how the U.S. government pioneered the tactics of cyber-war and attacked unsuspecting countries, recalls Michael Brenner. By Michael Brenner The psychodrama over the alleged…

Thursday, December 29, 2016

American Mainstream Media-Vast Propaganda Outlet?

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Death of the Fourth Estate

Most people paying attention to the news can surely sense that something is amiss with the American media. Trust is at an all time low. Are we systematically being fed lies? Is it possible that the American system of news and information, the fourth estate, has ceased to exist wihtout so much as a decent funeral and a propaganda outlet inserted in its place in some sort of bloodless media coup?

The press was first referred to as the fourth estate by Thomas Carlyle in 1841 who deemed it as more important to a representative democracy than the other three traditional estates, the church, the nobility, and the townsman or commoners. The importance of the press is twofold: it informs the citizenry and also serves as a feedback loop between the government and voters.

Determining if the press can be trusted is an essential task for any true citizen. Highlighted below are two articles from a series by Ron Unz entititled, Our American Pravda featured in the Unz Review: An Alternative Media Selection. In the first piece, Ron chronicles his own journey toward media distrust by highlighting the failure of the media to report on a number of well known, high profile scandals.

The second article is how the term “conspiracy theory” became a pejorative term of ideological combat used to bludgeon a legion of truth seekers.

Our American Pravda

The realization that the world is often quite different from what is presented in our leading newspapers and magazines is not an easy conclusion for most educated Americans to accept, or at least that was true in my own case. For decades, I have closely read the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and one or two other major newspapers every unz.commorning, supplemented by a wide variety of weekly or monthly opinion magazines. Their biases in certain areas had always been apparent to me. But I felt confident that by comparing and contrasting the claims of these different publications and applying some common sense, I could obtain a reasonably accurate version of reality. I was mistaken.

Aside from the evidence of our own senses, almost everything we know about the past or the news of today comes from bits of ink on paper or colored pixels on a screen, and fortunately over the last decade or two the growth of the Internet has vastly widened the range of information available to us in that latter category. Even if the overwhelming majority of the unorthodox claims provided by such non-traditional web-based sources is incorrect, at least there now exists the possibility of extracting vital nuggets of truth from vast mountains of falsehood. Certainly the events of the past dozen years have forced me to completely recalibrate my own reality-detection apparatus. Read more…

American Pravda: How the CIA Invented “Conspiracy Theories

With the sudden, bizarre rise of the “Fake News” accusations throughout the entire Corporate Media megaphone and the equally bizarre and totally unsubstantiated CIA allegations that the Russians had stolen the election for Donald Trump, I’ve decided to republish this somewhat related article of mine from a few months ago while I’m preoccupied with software issues.
unz.com
These factors of media manipulation were very much in my mind a couple of years ago when I stumbled across a short but fascinating book published by the University of Texas academic press. The author of Conspiracy Theory in America was Prof. Lance deHaven-Smith, a former president of the Florida Political Science Association.

Based on an important FOIA disclosure, the book’s headline revelation was that the CIA was very likely responsible for the widespread introduction of “conspiracy theory” as a term of political abuse, having orchestrated that development as a deliberate means of influencing public opinion.

But although the CIA appears to have effectively manipulated public opinion in order to transform the phrase “conspiracy theory” into a powerful weapon of ideological combat, the author also describes how the necessary punz.comhilosophical ground had actually been prepared a couple of decades earlier. Around the time of the Second World War, an important shift in political theory caused a huge decline in the respectability of any “conspiratorial” explanation of historical events.

In fact, I would extend this notion to a general principle. Substantial control of the media is almost always an absolute prerequisite for any successful conspiracy, the greater the degree of control the better. So when weighing the plausibility of any conspiracy, the first matter to investigate is who controls the local media and to what extent. Read more…

 

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Details Still Lacking on Russian ‘Hack’

Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. media is all atwitter about Russia having to pay a price for hacking into Democratic emails and supposedly tilting the U.S. election to Donald Trump, but the evidence still is lacking, reports Robert Parry. By Robert…

Summing Up Russia’s Real Nuclear Fears

Exclusive: The mainstream U.S. media’s relentless Russia-bashing has obscured Moscow’s legitimate fears about Washington’s provocative nuclear-missile strategies, which could lead to Armageddon, explains Jonathan Marshall. By Jonathan Marshall The conflicts between Washington and Moscow keep on growing: Ukraine and Syria,…

Last Call for Consortiumnews’ Fund Drive

From Editor Robert Parry: We are within $5,000 of our end-of-year fundraising goal. So, in the last few days of 2016, please help us get over the top so we will have the capability to keep a close watch on…

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Escalating the Risky Fight with Russia

Exclusive: To box in President-elect Trump, the neocons and liberal hawks are pushing for “crippling sanctions” against Russia that they see as crucial to their dangerous “regime change” agenda in Moscow, reports Robert Parry. By Robert Parry The neocons and…

Christmas and Endless War

There is a profound contradiction for Christians who celebrate the “prince of peace” at Christmas and then return to the business of endless — and expanding — war the rest of the year, as the Rev. Howard Bess observes. By…

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Obama’s Dive into the Syrian Abyss

The bloody Syrian war got bloodier when President Obama allowed U.S. Mideast allies and hawkish U.S. officials to supply weapons to Sunni jihadists including those fighting alongside Al Qaeda’s affiliate, reports Gareth Porter. By Gareth Porter President Barack Obama has…

How Israel Misuses the Bible

By fuming over a U.N. resolution against Israel’s settlements on Palestinian land, Israeli leaders reveal their final solution for the Palestinians – to deny them property rights and displace them, says moral theologian Daniel C. Maguire. By Daniel C. Maguire…

A Sour Holiday Season for Neocons

Exclusive: For the past couple of decades, the neocons have ruled the roost of American foreign policy, but they have now suffered some stunning reversals that have left them fuming, reports Robert Parry. By Robert Parry America’s extended Christmas holiday season,…

Sunday, December 25, 2016

A Seminole Christmas Gift of Freedom

Traditional U.S. history downplays Native people who settled the land and Africans enslaved to cultivate it while glorifying European whites and ignoring when the “other side” won, as on Christmas Day 1837, writes William Loren Katz. By William Loren Katz…

Belatedly, a Defense of a Whistleblower

After vowing to run a transparent government, President Obama oversaw an unprecedented legal assault on whistleblowers, only now offering up a modest concession, as Linda Lewis explains. By Linda Lewis A finding by an Obama administration panel – reached last…

Saturday, December 24, 2016

A Christmas Message of Peace

From the Archive: In today’s “endless war,” there are few moments that inspire hope like the one 102 years ago when soldiers on World War I’s Western Front took a break from killing to exchange Christmas cheer, recalls Gary G.…

Trump’s Disappearing ‘Neutral Guy’

President-elect Trump’s attack on the U.S. abstention to a U.N. vote condemning illegal Israeli settlements raises doubts about his vow to be a “neutral guy” on Palestinian issues, writes ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar. By Paul R. Pillar Presidents-elect of…

Friday, December 23, 2016

The Good That Trump Could Do

Exclusive: Despite fears about the many negatives from a Donald Trump presidency, one positive could be his shattering of the monopoly that neocons and liberal hawks now hold over U.S. foreign policy, says Robert Parry. By Robert Parry Americans and…

German Resistance to Russia Detente

The German political hierarchy and major media remain hostile to any détente with Russia, but the ground may be shifting under the feet of Chancellor Merkel and her allies, reports Gilbert Doctorow. By Gilbert Doctorow As German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s…

Thursday, December 22, 2016

How Trump Kills the ‘Two-State Solution’

President-elect Trump’s choice of a backer of Israeli settlements to be ambassador to Israel may be the final death-blow to the “two-state solution,” which has been on its death bed for years, as Dennis J Bernstein explains. By Dennis J…

Why Consortiumnews Depends on Its Readers

From Editor Robert Parry: When I started Consortiumnews 21 years ago, I had hoped to secure significant financing from a variety of wealthy people in support of truly independent journalism. But what I discovered was that most of these potential…

Danger from Trump’s Distrust of CIA

President-elect Trump’s distrust of the U.S. intelligence community – made worse by unproven CIA claims that Russia secretly tried to aid his election – could limit the value of daily intel briefings, says ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar. By Paul…

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Trump’s Need to Trust Americans

Exclusive: President Obama promised transparency but delivered a deceptive administration hostile to truth-tellers. President-elect Trump’s narrow path to greatness would require the opposite choice, writes Robert Parry. By Robert Parry Barack Obama’s chance for a transformative presidency ended when he…

FIND ALL OF MY NEW MATERIAL OVER AT THEBLAZE

It’s been over two years since I started writing for TheBlaze, so I assume this is old news to most everybody. However, I still run across people who come to this site looking for my new content, and leave confused when they don’t find it.

All of my new content is now (and has been for two years) at TheBlaze. You can follow this link to get to my channel at TheBlaze, where all of my columns and podcasts are posted. I would suggest hitting “follow” at the top of that page so that you’ll be notified when new content is posted.

Thanks.

The post FIND ALL OF MY NEW MATERIAL OVER AT THEBLAZE appeared first on The Matt Walsh Blog.

Terrorism Undermining Merkel

The bloody truck attack on Berlin’s Christmas market is a reminder how the West’s destabilization of the Mideast and North Africa now destabilizes Europe and Chancellor Merkel, as Gilbert Doctorow describes. By Gilbert Doctorow It took German Chancellor Angela Merkel…

A Reconciliation at Pearl Harbor

Fear of “The Enemy” or “The Other” can drive humanity toward its worst instincts – a concern that Michael Winship recalls in light of a planned visit of reconciliation to Pearl Harbor by Japanese Prime Minister Abe and President Obama.…

What the ‘Sore Losers’ Want

Disappointed Democrats are blaming Hillary Clinton’s defeat on Russian hackers, an establishment-promoted conspiracy theory that serves the interests of America’s “war party,” says Diana Johnstone. By Diana Johnstone If the 2016 presidential campaign was a national disgrace, the reaction of…

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The Left’s Risk in Blaming Russia

Despite the lack of verifiable evidence, many progressives have jumped on the blame-Russia-for-Trump’s-victory bandwagon, but it’s a dangerous and dead-end ride for the Left, warns Norman Solomon. By Norman Solomon This week began with a mass email from the head…

Behind the Russia-Hack Allegations

Though no public evidence has yet been provided, it’s now conventional wisdom that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election, a dangerous moment in U.S.-Russia relations, explains ex-CIA official Graham E. Fuller. By Graham E. Fuller I cannot recall a…

Extracting Aleppo from the Propaganda

The mainstream U.S. news has supplied a consistent narrative regarding Syria that treats the “rebels” as the good guys and the “regime forces” as the bad guys, but it has never been that clear-cut, as Dennis J Bernstein reports. By…

Monday, December 19, 2016

Russia-Hack Story, Another Media Failure

The mainstream U.S. media’s gullible acceptance of unproven CIA claims about Russian interference in the U.S. elections is another reason to doubt the media and fear for the future of American democracy, says Joe Lauria. By Joe Lauria President Obama…

Exploiting the Tragedy of Aleppo

Official Washington’s dominant neocons have pushed emotional propaganda about Syria as a way to justify a “regime change” project there and are now furious with its apparent failure, as ex-CIA analyst Paul R. Pillar explains. By Paul R. Pillar Among…

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Demonization of Putin as Propaganda Technique

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Putin= Evil Is as Old As The Hills

Demonization of foreign leaders with no substantial evidence is a clear sign that something is amiss., anonymous CIA claims not withstanding. Juan Cole refutes the baseless claims that Russia and Putin affected the election.

Demonization of Putin as Propaganda Technique

The leaked allegations supposedly from the CIA that Russian President Vladimir Putin “personally” directed how hacked emails from the Clinton campaign should be used should be treated with a good deal of skepticism.

I have already said that the allegations of effective Russian interference in the US election do not make any sense to me. There is no point at which anything Russia is said to have done can be shown to have determined the election outcome.

The things that appear to have hurt Clinton late in the election were her “deplorables” cocommondreams.orgmment about Trump supporters, and the Comey letter about the new emails the FBI had found on Anthony Weiner’s computer. Neither of these incidents had any Russian connection.

I don’t doubt that Russian intelligence was interested in sowing discord in the US around its election. I am saying that there is no evidence that it succeeded.

Moreover, John Podesta’s emails were not hacked. He fell for a phishing scheme in which he received a phony email asking for his login information, which he answered after a technical assistant incorrectly told him the email was legitimate (he meant to say illegitimate). The phishing scheme could easily have failed (never click on a link in your email and then enter sensitive information– open any login page you use manually so as to make sure you aren’t going to a spoofed address; and, first examine the address line from which the email originated; phonies can be easily spotted. People you deal with legitimately aren’t going to ask you for your login information–they already have that).

Then what?

Given that no one can point to any specific incident or incidents in which the Podesta emails had a discernible effect on the election, there is little reason to blame the outcome of the election on Russia.

Whenever the US intelligence agencies collaborate with mass media to throw up on the screen the face of a foreign leader, giving him devil’s horns and making his face red with the flames of hell, we have to take that depiction as a sign that they intend to do something to that country. Read more

 

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A Spy Coup in America?

Exclusive: As the Electoral College assembles, U.S. intelligence agencies are stepping up a campaign to delegitimize Donald Trump as a Russian stooge, raising concerns about a spy coup in America, reports Robert Parry. By Robert Parry As Official Washington’s latest…

Saturday, December 17, 2016

The Pre-emptive Anti-Trump Coup

Washington insiders, trying to use Russia’s alleged hack of Democratic emails to get the Electoral College to reject Donald Trump, are risking making the U.S. look like the world’s largest open-air insane asylum, says John V. Whitbeck. By John V.…

Friday, December 16, 2016

Trump to Inherit Vast Surveillance Powers

Many Democrats trusted President Obama with the vast surveillance powers inherited from President George W. Bush, but now the failure to curtail those powers means they pass on to Donald Trump, notes Nat Parry. By Nat Parry As the Electoral…

Trump and the Pain of Blue-Collar Whites

  Exclusive: The plight of working-class white Americans, as their jobs have disappeared and self-destructive behavior has shortened their lives, helps explain Donald Trump’s success, writes Jonathan Marshall. By Jonathan Marshall The shocking new report that U.S. life expectancy declined…

Politicized Intelligence Kneecapping Trump

The back story behind the CIA’s leaked claim of Russia helping Donald Trump is an attempt to hobble Trump’s less-hawkish foreign policy before he even gets into the White House, says ex-British diplomat Alastair Crooke. By Alastair Crooke It is…

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Making Russia ‘The Enemy’

Exclusive: Despite conflicting accounts about who leaked the Democratic emails, the frenzy over an alleged Russian role is driving the U.S. deeper into a costly and dangerous New Cold War, writes Robert Parry. By Robert Parry The rising hysteria about Russia…

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

What is This Russian Hacking Propaganda All About?

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We are living in fascinating times. The efforts expended to destroy and delegitimize Trump are unprecedented and extraordinary. Paul Criag Roberts identifies the forces aligned against Trump and the tactics being used.  A conspiracy is a group of people working together in a clandestine way to achieve a trecherous or evil goal. Shutting down free speech and slandering those who are speaking truth to power may be the ultimate end game in this new onslaught of russian hacking propaganda beyond simply attacking Trump.

In the following article Roberts destroys the credibility of propornot.org the anonoymous group at the center of the fake news meme going viral.

Whatever you think of Trump, clearly the oligarchs who rule us fear him. The oligarchs are trying to keep Trump out of the presidency, and they are trying to associate truthful reporting with foreign influence.

Who wins this war determines the fate of America.

The Conspiracy to Shut Down Truth, Donald Trump, and The American People

The Conspiracy to Shut Down Truth, Donald Trump, and The American People

There is circumstantial evidence that the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the rest of the presstitute media are part of a conspiracy with the oligarchs, the military/security complex, the Hillary Democrats, and neoconized Republicans to shut down the dissident Internet alternative media and to deny Donald Trump the presidency.

Conspaulcraigroberts.orgider the brand new website PropOrNot and its fake news list of 200 Internet Russian agents. PropOrNot is a website hidden behind multiple screens as would be an offshore tax avoidance scheme. In other words, no known, responsible entity is behind the site, which has libeled 200 other websites, or if it is, it is too ashamed of what it is doing to be associated with it publicly.

Consider the expertise and money required to shield the identity of an organization, whether tax avoidance or website. This is not something that just anyone can do. This type of Klingon cloaking requires real money or the CIA.

As long as it pretends to be a newspaper, the Washington Post is subject to journalistic ethics. But the PropOrNot story by Craig Timberg violated journalistic ethics. Unsupported accusations were leveled against 200 websites, a McCarthyism record.

How did a story, which would have been instantly quashed by editors in my day as a Wall Street Journal editor get past Timberg’s editor?

That is the question.

Here we have the Post committing libel against 200 websites, all of whom can sue for damages. There go Bezos’ billions.

Would a Washington Post editor of any intelligence have published such a libel-inviting story unless the owner, Bezos, gave the OK or the order?

How can the Washington Post feel secure in an act of libel?

Read More

 

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American Martyr to Right-Wing Repression

In 1981, Ronald Reagan signaled Guatemala’s right-wing regime to escalate its death-squad operations, a decision that led to the murder of American priest Stanley Rother, now a candidate for sainthood, writes Nicolas J S Davies. By Nicolas J S Davies…

The Rise of White Racial Nationalism

While there were many reasons for Donald Trump’s surprise victory, a particularly ugly one was his success in touching the raw nerve of white racial animosities, writes Lawrence Davidson. By Lawrence Davidson There is little doubt that white racism played…

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

How to Sniff Out Propaganda: Conjecture Is Not Certainty

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Tentative findings presented as unassailable conclusions are one of the hallmarks of propaganda in the modern age. Be sure to link through and read the entire article and you will get real information on the malware programs that were actually used to hack the DNC and you can draw your own conclusions as to whether there could be definitive evidence of Russian involvment.

Former Intelligence Officer On The Bogus Russian Hack

If there’s one thing that’s certain in the intelligence business, it’s that there’s rarely any certainty.

That’s pretty much the first thing they teach you at spy school.
zerohedge.com
Back in the early days of my intelligence career, I had one instructor who explained it in a way that I’ll never forget.

“If you present your analysis as if it’s fact, instead of conjecture, the person who’s relying on your intelligence could end up making a bad decision that gets people killed.”

Intelligence is not about definitive conclusions. It’s about gathering data and coming up with plausible theories that connect the dots.

Sadly, sometimes those theories are influenced by personal or political agendas.

Back in 2002-2003, the Bush White House had a pretty clear predisposition that Iraq possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs).

Miraculously, the intelligence reports conformed to that narrative.

And America went to war based on an “unassailable conclusion” from the intelligence community that Iraq had WMDs.

The facts were largely bogus, circumstantial at best. But this became the rallying cry behind every politician and media outlet’s patriotic bloodlust.

How quickly they all forget. Read more at zerohedge.com

 

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