I want to be positive, but I also need to be realistic. When my father tried to explain to me what allowed the government of his country to murder twelve million people, half of them Jewish, he always stressed that the first victim of the holocaust was Truth. This was accomplished by silencing intellectuals, artists, and journalists.
He loved Seymour Hersh for telling the truth in 1968, 30 years after he himself escaped the Nazis.
His own father, an artist and intellectual, was less fortunate and died at Auschwitz.
The Nazis killed far more than just Jews, or Gays, or blacks, (that’s right, sorry Whoopie...) They killed the Truth itself. As I read the attacks on Hersh, Taibbi and others, I remember my early lessons from a man who died forty years ago tomorrow. The Ides of March. All I can say is thank you for the truth.
The official US story, that it was some shadowy "pro-Ukrainian group" that waltzed into The Sixth Fleet's Private Lake (aka "The Baltic Sea"), did their dirty work and sailed out, unnoticed by anyone, is an unfunny joke.
And the timing of this fairy tale is so convenient.
“Like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea,” Nuland said. Not a scintilla of conscience. Or awareness of its consequences for the europeans, especially the poor, having to pay jacked up prices for fuel from - of all places - the USA. Or awareness of the incremental expansion and deepening of anger, resentment, bitterness and probably hatred of the world's people toward the USA. Destroying wherever it goes. Iraq. Kurds. Afghanistan. Syria. Using then destroying or damaging others. Ukraine.Europe. Zero comprehension of and compassion of those it uses and/or destroys/ damages. And steals money from. "Biden Keeping Half of Afghanistan’s $7B in Assets for 9/11 Victims". How is that just? How far is the USA going to fall into amorality in its service to arrest historical evolution? To keep other countries in line.All the torture, secret rendition sites, civilians murdered by drones, blowing up Nordstream 2, plotting Russia's and China's destruction, not to mention the terrible societal sickness domestically. Children doing janitorial work in slaughterhouses. Level of addiction in the population. Corporate dollar over community safety and earth's well being. No wonder greed is one of the 7 deadly sins.
Agree wholeheartedly. We have been a dark presence on the world stage for decades now.
It began in 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act, which established the CIA, among other things. Then things really got rolling with Allen Dulles and his merry band of Ivy League psychopaths in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Dulles gave us regime change in the Congo and Iran (to name only a couple) and war in Vietnam. It was only due to Kennedy’s courage in opposing him that he also did not initiate a nuclear war. For that, and for firing him, Dulles engineered a little operation in Dallas in ‘63.
We have destroyed or degraded country after country ever since. Chile, Nicaragua, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and now Ukraine, where Toria Nuland is sending tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of young Ukrainians to certain death in the killing fields of the Donbass.
We are not the good guys and the world is waking up to that fact. Karma is coming for us very fast, as China’s recent bold diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East attest. That is only the beginning.
US Neoliberal orthodoxy is where truth goes to die and has for decades. Their serial stories of denial speak to how ridiculous they feel their opposition at home has become. What we’re missing is a large scale movement of reform and this won’t happen in earnest until the left and right fake polemic is put down and people of the same class gather in number to take back some form of control. This is spiralling out of control quite quickly.
For a reporter with so many important story breaks behind him........it must be gratifying to be told yet again that he is making it up. It's almost like a seal of authenticity by now, and besides.......
Who else would go to the trouble and the expense to blow up Russia's pipeline? Gremlins?
Churchill said it best about "Truth" concerning Empire, Geo Politics and War. "Ah Truth, is so important it must be locked tightly away and surrounded by Lies". As Chomsky said "Goebbels would blush" at the lies spewed to the American public. Most lies have to have a "kernel" of truth to exploit and twist to misinform and give a distorted "fix" that fits their ends with nefarious means and justification. I would like to personally thank Seymour Hersch, Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges and the late Robert Fisk for attacking the lies guarding the truth and prying the locked doors open. And to all the other truth tellers who are censored, black listed and skewered by the Main Stream media and self serving War Hawk politician's.
"Power corrupts" - our country exemplifies that old adage. The U.S. continues to expand or "modernize" its cache of nuclear weapons even while possessing enough to destroy our planet several times over. Only psychopaths would condone such a situation. History has shown that change comes only from the bottom - We the People - aided and abetted by stalwarts like Chris Hedges and Seymour Hersh!
Hersh referenced (he can't help himself of his habit of name dropping) his neighbor Bill Bradley on Aaron Mate's recent Grey Zone interview. Hardly dwelling "at the bottom" as he is likely ensconced somewhere in a gated neighborhood in a D.C. suburb. In my opinion if Hersh can't identify his sources or facts for his Nordstream piece, then it will remain relegated inn the dustbin of history as gossip. I certainly do not consider it investigative journalism. It should also be realized that any of his reporting on Mai Li massacre or Abu Ghraib torturing did virtually nothing in the form of justice or accountability.
The only news here is Hersh shilling a new book...and Mate and Hedges nakedly oblige almost simultaneous. Shameful.
Sure WW2 the shame is all yours, Chris and Seymour could make a lot more money writing stories of propagandist pap and reading mindless US agitprop from tele-prompters on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC. But you can keep getting your news from those like Thomas Freidman that raw rawd you into the illegal invasion of Iraq and his continued lies about Palestine/Israel. Remember the WMD lie? Not only did Saddam not have any' the invasion itself proves that as no nuclear armed country can be invaded.. But propagandists relabeled the term WMD to a meaningless Orwellian word. Before 911 it meant NUKES nothing else, now home made "Pot bombs" are called WMD's. An odd fact, the US government called the nukes dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as "Devises" until the 1980's when Japanese scientists complained. Same as the term "Ground Zero" that was a term from the explosions created by the first "tests" in the Nevada desert and reserved for nuclear explosions until 911.
The WMD lie was exposed at the UN hearing in which Gen. Powell was asked to fall on his sword for his boss, Dick Cheney. Powell's presentation of aluminum tubings went down in flames for all to see. We didn't need Hersh or Hedges to "investigate" the matter. Real whistle blowers are folks like Snowden, Bradley Manning, and Assange who didn't just go around shilling books for themselves (and their buddies) for a living and pretend to be investigative reporters. Hersh acts like not naming sources is business as usual. What he failed to mention is that he no longer works under the wing of the New York Times that enforces that ridiculous policy; he works for himself. So he knows its not just his job on the line this time around: but rather his life. That's why he believes his coded language is "enough" for anyone to figure out his sources as he safely sits in his armchair in a gated suburb of D.C. and gives "interviews" that are nothing but book selling events. Thus, it is he who is playing the propaganda game. I'm simply call ling him out on it...and you, apparently, don't like it. Tough shit.
The WMD "LIE" was not exposed by Powell, the MS Media took him by his word. Far from going down in flames it led to the Invasion, Like Condi's "Mushroom Cloud" proof! The New York Times purged Seymour and Chris but the lying shills are still their. How many books has Thomas Friedman written? I seem to remember Judith Miller outing a CIA operative and was gung ho in the WMD invasion. All of their "sources" aren't named either, but everyone knows it is mere government agitprop, that is fed to them by the White House. As for Manning, Snowden and Assange both Hersch and Hedges support them and speak out about the injustices they have ben going through! As for tough shit, I think your full of it!
Agreed. Besides, I make a distinction between our two very necessary heroes: the whistle blowers who were part of the action they bravely denounced as eye witnesses of the crime, and the investigative reporters that search through signs of possible misconduct by our government and need to rely on sources they deem credible but have to keep them secret to encourage more information to come. I admire and appreciate both of them and their proven honesty and reputations are our basis for believe them.
You're so caught up in your own propoganda narrative that your reading comprehension (if you ever had any) has been abandoned. As a result, fantasy has taken over your common sense. Powell never triggered the illegal invasion of Iraq. Rather, he tried to make a legal case for the invasion under the pretense of unamious consent within the U.N. security council. He failed. The Bush Administration went ahead anyhow with Bush claiming the U.N. was "irrelevant".
I have no idea how many books Thomas Friedman has written. I don't read him. Why would I? I don't read Herschs books either, because his opinions don't matter to me either. His are the same as any other swinging dick on the street; including yours.
OK WW2 . Why so many guys like you get sexual in your diatribes is hilarious. Freud would have a field day with you. As far as propaganda goes, Who pray tell gives you insight and knowledge to argue anything? Any Philosophers and Truth tellers whether good or bad.? Orwell said in his writings ( he worked in the British Propaganda department in WW2) "we must teach students to "critically analyze" the information they receive". He lamented that propaganda once in is permanent in most people". How about Animal Farm and 1984? As for understanding most think Animal Farm was a knock at communism, but they miss the fact at the end when the animals looked in the farm house they couldn't tell the difference from the pig "communists" and the human capitalists!
When US officials issue categorical denials, it generally indicates some parts, if not all parts, of a report are accurate. The US is fighting a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, but also with an eye to curbing Chinese influence. Geopolitics is dirty business, so this report of sabotage isn't shocking, even though it completely violates international law, not that the law matters much to an empire. Look at how well the Rule of Law is working in our own country...
swimming against the current can be exhausting. I hope you both take care of yourselves. Selfishly I need both of your courageous journalism to get me through these dark days.
Your flattery is misplaced Kiddo! Your willful ignorance is hilarious! "My Country Right or wrong" is what Chomsky compares to "My Mother drunk or Sober" fits you to a "T"! Returning WW2 veterans who saw action hated uber patriots. Remember the scene in the Deer Hunter and the hollowed out vet at the bar who told the truth about Vietnam and the reaction of the blind patriot steel worker grunts, disillusionment causes PTSD that infected them too by the end! Have you got an inkling of disillusionment of war and geo politics? Read Catch 22 or The Naked and the Dead or Fritz Sterns Storm of Steel. How did you get the WW2 handle are you a vet or just a couch general!
"But what I think is the central, most important assertion is that Sy Hersh has a source, that he believes is legitimate and real and has information that is true, who is asserting that the United States carried out this operation or sponsored this operation. And I think that the dismissal of Sy Hersh by so many people is reckless. It also shows a total disregard for the history of American covert operations. And it ultimately seeks to silence people who are questioning what I think is quite clearly the top suspect in this international act of terrorism, and that is the party that would have the greatest motivation to conduct this attack. And that would be United States."
I was hoping to go deeper on the “act of war”accusation. Today, on iPhone newsfeed I was reading about a Russian jet fighter carelessly taking out a US drone. Are we on a clandestine war with Russia?
Im sure Hersh is right about the nord stream, and the general point he’s making, but it’s frustrating he refers to an official in his piece as being a cold warrior since Vietnam, and that official was born in 1959. It’s just a detail, but why give critics anything like that?
You can be a "cold warrior" in your mind, including before you were born. The young Generals, Soldiers and CIA men are indoctrinated in the Red Scare and anti Commie propaganda which started in WW1 (which smashed socialism and unions) and peeked in the 50's and 60's The USA backed the White Russians after WW1, the Red Russian's Won and hundred years later here we are again! How long has the cold warriors been boycotting Cuba? Generation after generation pass the baton!
“ Today, the secretary general of NATO is Jens Stoltenberg, a committed anti-communist, who served as Norway’s prime minister for eight years before moving to his high NATO post, with American backing, in 2014. He was a hardliner on all things Putin and Russia who had cooperated with the American intelligence community since the Vietnam War. “ - stoltenberg was born in 1959
Again- i think Seymour Hersh is reputable and this story overall is correct, but these sorts of errors are frustrating, given the significance of this story.
Could be significant. Right now, it isn't. That's why Hersh needs to back up his opinion with facts. By not doing so, he allows any of his unsubstantiated opinions (based on hearsay and circumstantial evidence) to die on the vine. That's called gossip. Hersh 's occupation has been centered around the court of public opinion. While that is not the forum of a legal courtroom, most folks will apply the same rules of credibility. Apparently you choose not to. That is your choice which I would never deny. However, you would fair miserably if your well being hinged on an actual courtroom case. This is the exact same reason the Biden administration is able to dismiss Hersch's claims (regarding Nordstream II pipeline damage), as that of a gossip columnist. If Hersh wants to be an investigative reporter, then I suggest he start acting like one and build a credible case.
Your interpretation about sexuality says more about you than about me; they're common colloqualisms. Further I do not argue against the use of propaganda in our societies. The practice is as old as any civilization...and well hone as of today. Hersh is as good a practioner as any. As for you, you give no particular insight to it... nor seem to even possess a basic understanding of how it is being used. Ever.
Animal Farm is my favorite book. I stock and hand out free paperback copies regularly. It's not strictly about communism. In my opinion it's more of a dystopian critique of ANY governing system that unreasonably favors some that consider themselves more equal than others. That phenomena is not unique to communism.
Wow your projectionism is funny, reread your posts or were you talking about the dick in "see dick run"? Hersch is undercutting state propaganda, not reinforcing it. Do you actually think that you can be informed without reading books? P.S. I think I have shown my possession of a basic understanding of propaganda and it is you that is having trouble comprehending my posts.
"Hersh is undercutting state propaganda..." J. harper
How? By creating his own? He has named no sources and no facts that aren't already known to the public. All he presents is a laundry list of circumstantial evidence compiled in such a way that could, or could not, lead to a myriad of speculative conclusions. All that "inside source" based speculation was dug up from the luxury of his easy chair...then run through his propaganda meat grinder. Lazy, irrational, and irresponsible, in my opinion. Look up the definition of propaganda in a real book, Harper...like a dictionary. Sounds familiar?
The bottom line is that very few people KNOW how and/or why the pipeline was sabotaged at this time. Probably very few ever will. Sure, we all can speculate. That and $3.45 will get you a cafe latte at Starbucks these days. For those that aren't delusional, they will recognize the Nordstram2 as being an extensive and remote utility of which every foot cannot possibly be monitored for sabotage at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. That fact, coupled with the very plausible scenario whereby an explosive device is remotely and timely detonated in an act of sabotage--seems to make a strong case for a relatively easy cover up and/or obfuscation.
So what is the point of Hersh's propaganda campaign? To get the U.S. to admit to sabotage that could reasonably be considered an act of war that could, in turn, easily lead to nuclear annihilation for most , if not all, Americans? Really? It's not going to happen. Plus, when has the U.S. ever admitted wrongful acts of war and apologized for it? In my opinion, it will never be discovered what really happened-- or definitively why. The reality is that it happened. Those who planned or executed it will very likely never admit to it or be held reasonably accountable for it (interesting that that sounds just like like Mai Lai massacre, Iraq invasion, etc.) It shouldn't have happened. Hopefully those that did it will realize that it was a bad idea (after a few cases of similarly obfuscated sabotage at their own cost) and will not do it again. I don't hold out any real hope for the last sentiment; but as the late, great George Carlin said: "I can dream, can't I?" As I earlier intimated, the real danger to the U.S. is that if the propaganda campaign to circumstantially blame the U.S. continues to be batted about, it could possibly lead to our technologically advanced foreign adversaries feeling that our own energy infrastructure is now fair game for sabotage. This could play out for years, if not decades.
Biden and his administration's talking heads ARE on record for supporting that the pipeline "be stopped" if Putin invaded Ukraine-- and that is a troublesome fact. But its a vague statement and far from proving sabotage. What is also a fact is that the flow of the pipeline was stopped by the operators on Feb. 22nd, 2022, two days before Putin invaded Ukraine, and well before it was sabotaged. So the actual stoppage had absolutely NOTHING to do with sabotage. Again that is a fact; not speculative propaganda of sabotage stoppage as Hersch foments. Hersh's circumstantial evidence (which all could see and hear, first hand, just like Powell's testimony at the U.N. regarding S. Hussain's WMD's) had nothing to do with investigative reporting. Rather, the circumstantial evidence was spun with conjecture to become pure propaganda-- meant to stoke an immediate, irrational, and negative international response toward the U.S. Why anyone would choose to listen to this guy's opinion on this issue is beyond me. He appears to just be acting as the village idiot in this case... or shamefully working to keep his name relevant in order to sell a recently published book about himself from his comfy armchair. Who knows, maybe his publisher pushed him for the propaganda piece. The timing is suspect. Again, the real danger is the American people putting up with Biden and his administration issuing similarly irrational propaganda (which were not "uncovered" by Hersch because it was plain for all to see and hear directly from the source) that could be easily misconstrued. The real story should be: "Why isn't there any Presidential accountability and/or censureship within Congress for unnecessarily putting American lives at risk of nuclear war with these type of press statements? There seems to be no rational reason for a sitting president and his administration to be remotely associated with the possibly of being responsible for sabotaging a major utility in international waters. In my opinion, Biden and Co. statements did that. It seems to me that it could only lead to the possibility of :
1. The type of propaganda Hersch is stoking; which could result in immediate, catastrophic, and irrevocable war actions.
2. Long term, retaliatory actions of sabotage against our own utility infrastructure that results in inconvenient and costly tit for tat retribution contests that are ultimately unaccountable, yet cost everyone in the long run...including our environment.
In my opinion, we will likely see instances of the latter. No doubt, the risk there, too, is that result #2 could easily escalate into possibility #1. Particularly with folks like Hersch around spouting off, half-cocked. That last sentence is for you, Harper. I realize you're working on your own little, infantile fantasy here. Just trying to help you out, kiddo.
Cheers!
P.S: In my opinion, the best possible solution toward resolving the sabotaged pipeline and working toward the restoration of rational international diplomacy is for Russia and all NATO nations (including current NATO applicants) to split the costs equally for repairing the pipeline immediately w/ all parties admitting no responsibility for the damage. Representative Governments to the settlement should also issue statements that we they are glad the pipeline explosion did not cause any human causalities or significant environmental pollution harm. This is how adults would work it out in a civilized court of law...and so it should follow in any court of public opinion.
That's a lot of words of "wisdom" kiddo and all said and done from your lazy boy! Repeat after me "I pledge Allegiance to the Flag" ....... Seymour's track record speaks for itself Mai Lai was fact and just the tip of the iceberg, denials abounded, Abu Graib torture was fact too, So were the "Dark Sites" where they were kidnapped and sent. I remember a few years later the War Hawks were up in arms when it was made public "It will lead to "terrorism" and revenge. But guess what the Muslim/Arabs just yawned they had known all this for years, it was nothing new to them. Your Double Think clear conscience deserves a gold star!
I want to be positive, but I also need to be realistic. When my father tried to explain to me what allowed the government of his country to murder twelve million people, half of them Jewish, he always stressed that the first victim of the holocaust was Truth. This was accomplished by silencing intellectuals, artists, and journalists.
He loved Seymour Hersh for telling the truth in 1968, 30 years after he himself escaped the Nazis.
His own father, an artist and intellectual, was less fortunate and died at Auschwitz.
The Nazis killed far more than just Jews, or Gays, or blacks, (that’s right, sorry Whoopie...) They killed the Truth itself. As I read the attacks on Hersh, Taibbi and others, I remember my early lessons from a man who died forty years ago tomorrow. The Ides of March. All I can say is thank you for the truth.
The official US story, that it was some shadowy "pro-Ukrainian group" that waltzed into The Sixth Fleet's Private Lake (aka "The Baltic Sea"), did their dirty work and sailed out, unnoticed by anyone, is an unfunny joke.
And the timing of this fairy tale is so convenient.
Six folks and a boat. Uh huh.
“Like you, I am, and I think the administration is, very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now, as you like to say, a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea,” Nuland said. Not a scintilla of conscience. Or awareness of its consequences for the europeans, especially the poor, having to pay jacked up prices for fuel from - of all places - the USA. Or awareness of the incremental expansion and deepening of anger, resentment, bitterness and probably hatred of the world's people toward the USA. Destroying wherever it goes. Iraq. Kurds. Afghanistan. Syria. Using then destroying or damaging others. Ukraine.Europe. Zero comprehension of and compassion of those it uses and/or destroys/ damages. And steals money from. "Biden Keeping Half of Afghanistan’s $7B in Assets for 9/11 Victims". How is that just? How far is the USA going to fall into amorality in its service to arrest historical evolution? To keep other countries in line.All the torture, secret rendition sites, civilians murdered by drones, blowing up Nordstream 2, plotting Russia's and China's destruction, not to mention the terrible societal sickness domestically. Children doing janitorial work in slaughterhouses. Level of addiction in the population. Corporate dollar over community safety and earth's well being. No wonder greed is one of the 7 deadly sins.
Agree wholeheartedly. We have been a dark presence on the world stage for decades now.
It began in 1947 with the passage of the National Security Act, which established the CIA, among other things. Then things really got rolling with Allen Dulles and his merry band of Ivy League psychopaths in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Dulles gave us regime change in the Congo and Iran (to name only a couple) and war in Vietnam. It was only due to Kennedy’s courage in opposing him that he also did not initiate a nuclear war. For that, and for firing him, Dulles engineered a little operation in Dallas in ‘63.
We have destroyed or degraded country after country ever since. Chile, Nicaragua, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and now Ukraine, where Toria Nuland is sending tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of young Ukrainians to certain death in the killing fields of the Donbass.
We are not the good guys and the world is waking up to that fact. Karma is coming for us very fast, as China’s recent bold diplomatic initiatives in the Middle East attest. That is only the beginning.
US Neoliberal orthodoxy is where truth goes to die and has for decades. Their serial stories of denial speak to how ridiculous they feel their opposition at home has become. What we’re missing is a large scale movement of reform and this won’t happen in earnest until the left and right fake polemic is put down and people of the same class gather in number to take back some form of control. This is spiralling out of control quite quickly.
For a reporter with so many important story breaks behind him........it must be gratifying to be told yet again that he is making it up. It's almost like a seal of authenticity by now, and besides.......
Who else would go to the trouble and the expense to blow up Russia's pipeline? Gremlins?
Keep up the good fight Christopher Hedges.
Churchill said it best about "Truth" concerning Empire, Geo Politics and War. "Ah Truth, is so important it must be locked tightly away and surrounded by Lies". As Chomsky said "Goebbels would blush" at the lies spewed to the American public. Most lies have to have a "kernel" of truth to exploit and twist to misinform and give a distorted "fix" that fits their ends with nefarious means and justification. I would like to personally thank Seymour Hersch, Noam Chomsky, Chris Hedges and the late Robert Fisk for attacking the lies guarding the truth and prying the locked doors open. And to all the other truth tellers who are censored, black listed and skewered by the Main Stream media and self serving War Hawk politician's.
"Power corrupts" - our country exemplifies that old adage. The U.S. continues to expand or "modernize" its cache of nuclear weapons even while possessing enough to destroy our planet several times over. Only psychopaths would condone such a situation. History has shown that change comes only from the bottom - We the People - aided and abetted by stalwarts like Chris Hedges and Seymour Hersh!
Hersh referenced (he can't help himself of his habit of name dropping) his neighbor Bill Bradley on Aaron Mate's recent Grey Zone interview. Hardly dwelling "at the bottom" as he is likely ensconced somewhere in a gated neighborhood in a D.C. suburb. In my opinion if Hersh can't identify his sources or facts for his Nordstream piece, then it will remain relegated inn the dustbin of history as gossip. I certainly do not consider it investigative journalism. It should also be realized that any of his reporting on Mai Li massacre or Abu Ghraib torturing did virtually nothing in the form of justice or accountability.
The only news here is Hersh shilling a new book...and Mate and Hedges nakedly oblige almost simultaneous. Shameful.
Sure WW2 the shame is all yours, Chris and Seymour could make a lot more money writing stories of propagandist pap and reading mindless US agitprop from tele-prompters on CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and NBC. But you can keep getting your news from those like Thomas Freidman that raw rawd you into the illegal invasion of Iraq and his continued lies about Palestine/Israel. Remember the WMD lie? Not only did Saddam not have any' the invasion itself proves that as no nuclear armed country can be invaded.. But propagandists relabeled the term WMD to a meaningless Orwellian word. Before 911 it meant NUKES nothing else, now home made "Pot bombs" are called WMD's. An odd fact, the US government called the nukes dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as "Devises" until the 1980's when Japanese scientists complained. Same as the term "Ground Zero" that was a term from the explosions created by the first "tests" in the Nevada desert and reserved for nuclear explosions until 911.
The WMD lie was exposed at the UN hearing in which Gen. Powell was asked to fall on his sword for his boss, Dick Cheney. Powell's presentation of aluminum tubings went down in flames for all to see. We didn't need Hersh or Hedges to "investigate" the matter. Real whistle blowers are folks like Snowden, Bradley Manning, and Assange who didn't just go around shilling books for themselves (and their buddies) for a living and pretend to be investigative reporters. Hersh acts like not naming sources is business as usual. What he failed to mention is that he no longer works under the wing of the New York Times that enforces that ridiculous policy; he works for himself. So he knows its not just his job on the line this time around: but rather his life. That's why he believes his coded language is "enough" for anyone to figure out his sources as he safely sits in his armchair in a gated suburb of D.C. and gives "interviews" that are nothing but book selling events. Thus, it is he who is playing the propaganda game. I'm simply call ling him out on it...and you, apparently, don't like it. Tough shit.
The WMD "LIE" was not exposed by Powell, the MS Media took him by his word. Far from going down in flames it led to the Invasion, Like Condi's "Mushroom Cloud" proof! The New York Times purged Seymour and Chris but the lying shills are still their. How many books has Thomas Friedman written? I seem to remember Judith Miller outing a CIA operative and was gung ho in the WMD invasion. All of their "sources" aren't named either, but everyone knows it is mere government agitprop, that is fed to them by the White House. As for Manning, Snowden and Assange both Hersch and Hedges support them and speak out about the injustices they have ben going through! As for tough shit, I think your full of it!
Agreed. Besides, I make a distinction between our two very necessary heroes: the whistle blowers who were part of the action they bravely denounced as eye witnesses of the crime, and the investigative reporters that search through signs of possible misconduct by our government and need to rely on sources they deem credible but have to keep them secret to encourage more information to come. I admire and appreciate both of them and their proven honesty and reputations are our basis for believe them.
You're so caught up in your own propoganda narrative that your reading comprehension (if you ever had any) has been abandoned. As a result, fantasy has taken over your common sense. Powell never triggered the illegal invasion of Iraq. Rather, he tried to make a legal case for the invasion under the pretense of unamious consent within the U.N. security council. He failed. The Bush Administration went ahead anyhow with Bush claiming the U.N. was "irrelevant".
I have no idea how many books Thomas Friedman has written. I don't read him. Why would I? I don't read Herschs books either, because his opinions don't matter to me either. His are the same as any other swinging dick on the street; including yours.
OK WW2 . Why so many guys like you get sexual in your diatribes is hilarious. Freud would have a field day with you. As far as propaganda goes, Who pray tell gives you insight and knowledge to argue anything? Any Philosophers and Truth tellers whether good or bad.? Orwell said in his writings ( he worked in the British Propaganda department in WW2) "we must teach students to "critically analyze" the information they receive". He lamented that propaganda once in is permanent in most people". How about Animal Farm and 1984? As for understanding most think Animal Farm was a knock at communism, but they miss the fact at the end when the animals looked in the farm house they couldn't tell the difference from the pig "communists" and the human capitalists!
That is the perfect description of a closed and narrow mind with no perspective. It reduces the level of believability, the thoughts to mere babble.
When US officials issue categorical denials, it generally indicates some parts, if not all parts, of a report are accurate. The US is fighting a proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, but also with an eye to curbing Chinese influence. Geopolitics is dirty business, so this report of sabotage isn't shocking, even though it completely violates international law, not that the law matters much to an empire. Look at how well the Rule of Law is working in our own country...
swimming against the current can be exhausting. I hope you both take care of yourselves. Selfishly I need both of your courageous journalism to get me through these dark days.
Thank you !!
NATO show is over -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6De_nPqZxXI
Your flattery is misplaced Kiddo! Your willful ignorance is hilarious! "My Country Right or wrong" is what Chomsky compares to "My Mother drunk or Sober" fits you to a "T"! Returning WW2 veterans who saw action hated uber patriots. Remember the scene in the Deer Hunter and the hollowed out vet at the bar who told the truth about Vietnam and the reaction of the blind patriot steel worker grunts, disillusionment causes PTSD that infected them too by the end! Have you got an inkling of disillusionment of war and geo politics? Read Catch 22 or The Naked and the Dead or Fritz Sterns Storm of Steel. How did you get the WW2 handle are you a vet or just a couch general!
Jeremy Scahill on Democracynow.org today's news:
"But what I think is the central, most important assertion is that Sy Hersh has a source, that he believes is legitimate and real and has information that is true, who is asserting that the United States carried out this operation or sponsored this operation. And I think that the dismissal of Sy Hersh by so many people is reckless. It also shows a total disregard for the history of American covert operations. And it ultimately seeks to silence people who are questioning what I think is quite clearly the top suspect in this international act of terrorism, and that is the party that would have the greatest motivation to conduct this attack. And that would be United States."
I was hoping to go deeper on the “act of war”accusation. Today, on iPhone newsfeed I was reading about a Russian jet fighter carelessly taking out a US drone. Are we on a clandestine war with Russia?
Clandestine to the US public and in your face if Russian. Ukraine is a US proxy. Full Stop!
Proxy? Ukraine is a puppet.
I know it’s a proxy
Im sure Hersh is right about the nord stream, and the general point he’s making, but it’s frustrating he refers to an official in his piece as being a cold warrior since Vietnam, and that official was born in 1959. It’s just a detail, but why give critics anything like that?
You can be a "cold warrior" in your mind, including before you were born. The young Generals, Soldiers and CIA men are indoctrinated in the Red Scare and anti Commie propaganda which started in WW1 (which smashed socialism and unions) and peeked in the 50's and 60's The USA backed the White Russians after WW1, the Red Russian's Won and hundred years later here we are again! How long has the cold warriors been boycotting Cuba? Generation after generation pass the baton!
“ Today, the secretary general of NATO is Jens Stoltenberg, a committed anti-communist, who served as Norway’s prime minister for eight years before moving to his high NATO post, with American backing, in 2014. He was a hardliner on all things Putin and Russia who had cooperated with the American intelligence community since the Vietnam War. “ - stoltenberg was born in 1959
Again- i think Seymour Hersh is reputable and this story overall is correct, but these sorts of errors are frustrating, given the significance of this story.
Could be significant. Right now, it isn't. That's why Hersh needs to back up his opinion with facts. By not doing so, he allows any of his unsubstantiated opinions (based on hearsay and circumstantial evidence) to die on the vine. That's called gossip. Hersh 's occupation has been centered around the court of public opinion. While that is not the forum of a legal courtroom, most folks will apply the same rules of credibility. Apparently you choose not to. That is your choice which I would never deny. However, you would fair miserably if your well being hinged on an actual courtroom case. This is the exact same reason the Biden administration is able to dismiss Hersch's claims (regarding Nordstream II pipeline damage), as that of a gossip columnist. If Hersh wants to be an investigative reporter, then I suggest he start acting like one and build a credible case.
Read more
...facts.
Your interpretation about sexuality says more about you than about me; they're common colloqualisms. Further I do not argue against the use of propaganda in our societies. The practice is as old as any civilization...and well hone as of today. Hersh is as good a practioner as any. As for you, you give no particular insight to it... nor seem to even possess a basic understanding of how it is being used. Ever.
Animal Farm is my favorite book. I stock and hand out free paperback copies regularly. It's not strictly about communism. In my opinion it's more of a dystopian critique of ANY governing system that unreasonably favors some that consider themselves more equal than others. That phenomena is not unique to communism.
Wow your projectionism is funny, reread your posts or were you talking about the dick in "see dick run"? Hersch is undercutting state propaganda, not reinforcing it. Do you actually think that you can be informed without reading books? P.S. I think I have shown my possession of a basic understanding of propaganda and it is you that is having trouble comprehending my posts.
"Hersh is undercutting state propaganda..." J. harper
How? By creating his own? He has named no sources and no facts that aren't already known to the public. All he presents is a laundry list of circumstantial evidence compiled in such a way that could, or could not, lead to a myriad of speculative conclusions. All that "inside source" based speculation was dug up from the luxury of his easy chair...then run through his propaganda meat grinder. Lazy, irrational, and irresponsible, in my opinion. Look up the definition of propaganda in a real book, Harper...like a dictionary. Sounds familiar?
The bottom line is that very few people KNOW how and/or why the pipeline was sabotaged at this time. Probably very few ever will. Sure, we all can speculate. That and $3.45 will get you a cafe latte at Starbucks these days. For those that aren't delusional, they will recognize the Nordstram2 as being an extensive and remote utility of which every foot cannot possibly be monitored for sabotage at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. That fact, coupled with the very plausible scenario whereby an explosive device is remotely and timely detonated in an act of sabotage--seems to make a strong case for a relatively easy cover up and/or obfuscation.
So what is the point of Hersh's propaganda campaign? To get the U.S. to admit to sabotage that could reasonably be considered an act of war that could, in turn, easily lead to nuclear annihilation for most , if not all, Americans? Really? It's not going to happen. Plus, when has the U.S. ever admitted wrongful acts of war and apologized for it? In my opinion, it will never be discovered what really happened-- or definitively why. The reality is that it happened. Those who planned or executed it will very likely never admit to it or be held reasonably accountable for it (interesting that that sounds just like like Mai Lai massacre, Iraq invasion, etc.) It shouldn't have happened. Hopefully those that did it will realize that it was a bad idea (after a few cases of similarly obfuscated sabotage at their own cost) and will not do it again. I don't hold out any real hope for the last sentiment; but as the late, great George Carlin said: "I can dream, can't I?" As I earlier intimated, the real danger to the U.S. is that if the propaganda campaign to circumstantially blame the U.S. continues to be batted about, it could possibly lead to our technologically advanced foreign adversaries feeling that our own energy infrastructure is now fair game for sabotage. This could play out for years, if not decades.
Biden and his administration's talking heads ARE on record for supporting that the pipeline "be stopped" if Putin invaded Ukraine-- and that is a troublesome fact. But its a vague statement and far from proving sabotage. What is also a fact is that the flow of the pipeline was stopped by the operators on Feb. 22nd, 2022, two days before Putin invaded Ukraine, and well before it was sabotaged. So the actual stoppage had absolutely NOTHING to do with sabotage. Again that is a fact; not speculative propaganda of sabotage stoppage as Hersch foments. Hersh's circumstantial evidence (which all could see and hear, first hand, just like Powell's testimony at the U.N. regarding S. Hussain's WMD's) had nothing to do with investigative reporting. Rather, the circumstantial evidence was spun with conjecture to become pure propaganda-- meant to stoke an immediate, irrational, and negative international response toward the U.S. Why anyone would choose to listen to this guy's opinion on this issue is beyond me. He appears to just be acting as the village idiot in this case... or shamefully working to keep his name relevant in order to sell a recently published book about himself from his comfy armchair. Who knows, maybe his publisher pushed him for the propaganda piece. The timing is suspect. Again, the real danger is the American people putting up with Biden and his administration issuing similarly irrational propaganda (which were not "uncovered" by Hersch because it was plain for all to see and hear directly from the source) that could be easily misconstrued. The real story should be: "Why isn't there any Presidential accountability and/or censureship within Congress for unnecessarily putting American lives at risk of nuclear war with these type of press statements? There seems to be no rational reason for a sitting president and his administration to be remotely associated with the possibly of being responsible for sabotaging a major utility in international waters. In my opinion, Biden and Co. statements did that. It seems to me that it could only lead to the possibility of :
1. The type of propaganda Hersch is stoking; which could result in immediate, catastrophic, and irrevocable war actions.
2. Long term, retaliatory actions of sabotage against our own utility infrastructure that results in inconvenient and costly tit for tat retribution contests that are ultimately unaccountable, yet cost everyone in the long run...including our environment.
In my opinion, we will likely see instances of the latter. No doubt, the risk there, too, is that result #2 could easily escalate into possibility #1. Particularly with folks like Hersch around spouting off, half-cocked. That last sentence is for you, Harper. I realize you're working on your own little, infantile fantasy here. Just trying to help you out, kiddo.
Cheers!
P.S: In my opinion, the best possible solution toward resolving the sabotaged pipeline and working toward the restoration of rational international diplomacy is for Russia and all NATO nations (including current NATO applicants) to split the costs equally for repairing the pipeline immediately w/ all parties admitting no responsibility for the damage. Representative Governments to the settlement should also issue statements that we they are glad the pipeline explosion did not cause any human causalities or significant environmental pollution harm. This is how adults would work it out in a civilized court of law...and so it should follow in any court of public opinion.
That's a lot of words of "wisdom" kiddo and all said and done from your lazy boy! Repeat after me "I pledge Allegiance to the Flag" ....... Seymour's track record speaks for itself Mai Lai was fact and just the tip of the iceberg, denials abounded, Abu Graib torture was fact too, So were the "Dark Sites" where they were kidnapped and sent. I remember a few years later the War Hawks were up in arms when it was made public "It will lead to "terrorism" and revenge. But guess what the Muslim/Arabs just yawned they had known all this for years, it was nothing new to them. Your Double Think clear conscience deserves a gold star!
Your plagiarism is the finest form of flattery, kiddo.