WARMONGERING FOOLS

MICHAEL HUDSON—Hardly anyone asks how the U.S. ever got in. Jimmy Carter was suckered by the Polish Russia-hater Brzezinski and created Al Qaeda to act as America’s foreign legion, subsequently expanded to include ISIS and other terrorist armies against countries where U.S. diplomacy seeks regime change. Carter’s alternative to Soviet Communism was Wahabi fanaticism, solidifying America’s alliance with Saudi Arabia. Carter memorably said that at least these Muslims believed in God, just like Christians. But the Wahabi fundamentalism army was sponsored by Saudi Arabia, which paid for arming Al Qaeda to fight against Sunni Moslems and, early on, the Russian-backed Afghan government.

PATRICE GREANVILLE—We know by now that faux rebel satirists like Colbert are really smooth and stealth warmongering disinformers, having perfected the craft of seamlessly injecting imperial messages into their streams of “harmless” jokes. I don’t find that funny at all. Further, strictly on comedic terms, Colbert does not deserve the pantheon because his routine is not based on truth, the essence of which allows comedy to acquire genuine greatness.

MESHED GEARS—The CIS continues to benefit from the fixed price agreements on oil and gas sales to the PRC which Putin negotiated near the peak price in 2015, and is taking payment in industrial goods to build the GDP of the CIS while eliminating most dollar denominated debt (and investments). By building ties with, and working with the PRC, Putin has ensured that the CIS will remain a significant member of the coming multi-polar order. The reality is that, on its current trajectory, the USA will not. That is not because of anything Putin wants or has done, but because the USA has consistently acted against the interests of everyone else, without ever counting the costs to itself.

The leftists who don’t like Putin have missed all of this. The world is in transition. This increases dangers and opportunities. Putin is a competent leader, able to negotiate the Scylla and Charybdis of external and internal forces, while making the CIS as a whole stronger, and gaining it friends who know that, unlike the USA which is only able to inspire fear, but not respect, that the CIS can be trusted to be consist and supportive. This has great value in and of its own right.

RICHARD MEDHURST—Richard debunks the thick fog of lies clouding, as usual, the truth about Iran, and her “democracy with Iranian characteristics.” Iran is actually a socialist and firmly anti-imperialist country. 

ANDREI MARTYANOV—I also love to use Andrei Andreevich Gromyko’s famous dictum that ten years of negotiations is better than one day of war. United States desperately needed a summit with Russia after the events around LDNR in April this year. The United States needed this dialogue for a variety of reasons and Russians, as I state non-stop for many years, will talk to the devil himself if need be, because Russians know what real war is better than anyone in the world, let alone American politicians, and Russians are, obviously, keenly aware of the firepower they have at their disposal. At Geneva both sides agreed to talk about “strategic stability”.