Thursday, November 28, 2019

Hong Kong ensnared in the West’s color revolution hot box – the latest news and analysis

443 ViewsNovember 28, 2019 No Comments

by Jeff J. Brown for The Saker Blog

Crosslinked with:

https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2019/11/28/hong-kong-ensnared-in-the-wests-color-revolution-hot-box-the-latest-news-and-analysis-china-rising-radio-sinoland-191128/

https://youtu.be/OkRstvdK0JY

https://soundcloud.com/44-days/hong-kong-ensnared-in-the-wests-color-revolution-hot-box-the-latest-news-and-analysis

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I have a file on Hong Kong (HK) as thick as my hand and several concerned people have emailed me, asking me to write something. So, here is an update.

I wrote about the long, sordid history of colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong at great length in The China Trilogy. It makes for fascinating reading, from Britain’s and the US’s global illegal drug and money laundering capital, to a nominal Chinese city, which in reality is still a British colony in all but name.

I have written many HK articles available on China Rising Radio Sinoland, including being guest on TV and radio. I didn’t realize how much work I’ve published on it, until I put this list together. They are all still very valid and up to date with what’s going on, since the West only has one monovision playbook of global capitalism, war, color revolutions and chaos against its enemies. Instead of repeating myself, here they are for your perusal. If you see Hong Kong in the title, that means it’s the main focus. Otherwise, it is part of the comparison and contrast discussion:

In addition to this rich catalogue on Hong Kong, I would like to shout out Wei Ling Chua (http://www.outcastjournalist.com/) for being the best journalist on Planet Earth, in reporting on this subject. He is not posting his ongoing HK updates on his website, but is sending out regular email blasts. If you’d like to be on his list, I’m sure he’d be glad to add you. Email him at: wchua62@gmail.com, with “ADD” in the subject window.

As an up-to-the-minute look at what is going on in Hong Kong, here are a few facts the Big Lie Propaganda Machine (BLPM) intentionally censors behind the Great Western Firewall:

Hong Kong’s GDP and other official data are not included in Mainland China’s statistics, so Baba Beijing doesn’t really give a rat’s ass whether the economy craters or not, which it is. HK has 7.44 million inhabitants, ranking it as a second-tier city on the Mainland, with Chengdu, Dongguan and Wuhan. HK is falling into recession, down 3.2% in third quarter 2019 alone. In August, there were 850,000 fewer tourists than the year before. People are leaving in droves: students, businesspersons and service workers. I have a good friend who is a doctor. He just shut down his clinic in HK and moved his practice to Beijing. Another friend teaching there contacted me about working in Shenzhen, because HK has become such a Western color revolution disaster. There are thousands like them. Billions of dollars are being drained out of people’s lives.
The West’s color revolution chaos in HK is a wonderful poster child for Baba Beijing to show the world why Eurangloland’s fake democracy is a disaster for humanity and Planet Earth, while communist-socialist China just keeps on trucking like a highspeed train into the 22nd century. If you are living behind the Great Western Firewall, you may not be noticing this contrast, but billions of citizens in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Oceania are. Hong Kong’s destruction is one of Baba Beijing’s best public relations coups ever. Thank you, Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi!

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Wow! What a coincidence! Below, US corporate managed opposition Nancy Pelosi, with fake leftist US Representative Jim McGovern, who are proud to support violent, ransacking rioters, while above, paid CIA stooges in Hong Kong are wearing the same t-shirt. The Mandarin says, “Reclaim Hong Kong, Days of Revolution”.

The CIA and FBI have well known offices in Hong Kong. Including the American consulate, there are more than 1,000 US government agents in the territory, and they are not there to just eat dim sum and enjoy a ride on the Star Ferry, as enjoyable as all that is. This does not include thousands of so-called NGOs, many that are CIA-FBI-NED-MI6-Soros-Omidyar color revolution chop shops. Baba Beijing doesn’t mind, as they are vacuuming petaflops of signal and human intelligence on all their sabotage and chaos, providing valuable planning and vaccination to prevent another color revolution in China, like 1989’s Tiananmen demonstration. For every color revolution saboteur and spy, there’s probably 1-2 Mainland agents watching their every move, recording every second of signal communication. It’s like an entomologist having a test tube full of maggot-filled dog shit to study up close. Priceless. Somebody call MasterCard to film a trendy, new ad.
There are more than 800 Christian churches and another 800 Christian schools in HK. There is open evidence that many in both groups are working hand-in-hand with the rioting saboteurs, to provide cover and logistics, with the CIA gangsters providing the millions to pay for all of it. Many of these property wrecking gangsters are members of these Christian outfits, all because of their hatred of communist-socialist China.
Always remember that yes, Hong Kong returned to the Mainland, under the 1997 Basic Law Treaty negotiated between Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping, but under the One Country-Two Systems agreement, to last until 2047. On the left is communist-socialist China, getting richer, more advanced and more powerful by the day. On the right is jungle capitalist, neoliberal Hong Kong, owned lock, stock and barrel by ten multibillionaire families, who exploit it like a metropolitan Honduras. They are merely inconvenienced by the West’s color revolution, but will still be gazillionaires, even if the territory implodes. This, while Hong Kong has some of the most unaffordable housing in the world, with more and more of the ever-poorer middle and lower classes being driven into homelessness, sardine packed shoebox apartments, or wire cages to stay off the streets. Poverty has been increasing for years in HK and now accounts for 20% of the people and growing. One-third of these impoverished are elderly. It’s the capitalist American Dream. Tent cities can’t be far behind in HK’s still grossly underdeveloped and neglected New Territories – this after 180 years of British exploitation. This, while communist-socialist China will have eliminated extreme poverty in the entire country by the end of 2020.

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A more and more common need in Hong Kong, people forced to live in wire cages, since housing is unaffordable for the people. This, while communist socialist China is building millions of low-income housing around the Mainland.

Never forget that under its One Country-Two Systems, Hong Kong is still a British hellhole for the 99%. The governor, Carrie Lam and all her family are well-to-do UK citizens. Much of the high-level government administration is staffed by Brits. The HK court system is full of foreign judges. The vast majority of the banks are foreign owned, without forgetting the territory’s 10-family, oligarchic owners. As you can imagine, most, if not all them have a visceral hatred of communism and socialism, and therefore China as well.
Western media and leaders are gloating over Hong Kong’s district election results last week, where Beijing supporting reps were swept out of power, to be replaced by anti-China ones. This is standard Western “democracy” in action, where bad socioeconomic news results in the voters genuflecting to the opposition, no matter who they are. The district elections are like local neighborhood councils, not the real seats of power, which are in the territory-wide Legislative Council (LegCo). Even if pro-Chinese LegCo reps are replaced by Mainland hating ones, I don’t think Baba Beijing would really care. In fact, China may be hoping that does happen, so the onus of trying to fix Hong Kong’s hopeless, neoliberal nightmare is on the haters. Now, the CIA-FBI-NGO complex is going to have to decide whether or not to stop or slow down the billions of dollars of color revolution losses bleeding the people of Hong Kong. They could do this to demonstrate the “superiority” of Western style elections. As I wrote in an article cited above, Eurangloland has been fruitless in its HK sabotage, going back to 2014. The West is hoping to get Baba Beijing to send People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops to quell the violence and chaos in HK, to gain another Tiananmen-esque Big Lie Propaganda cudgel, with which to demonize and club China for the next 30 years – and that’s clearly not going to happen. With the lower tier elections and nothing else to show for a city they have destroyed, Euranglolanders can declare victory and take a breather until they concoct round three.

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A photo from The China Trilogy. It says, “Oppose Capitalism. Occupy Central”. That’s the real story in Hong Kong, global capitalism’s colonial impoverishment of the 99%, which you never see behind the Great Western Firewall.

You can’t say Baba Beijing doesn’t have a sense of humor. A couple of weeks ago, after a particularly bloody and ransacking color revolution night, the PLA garrison in HK came out of their barracks alright. Not with guns, not even riot gear. They came out with trash bags and garbage cans to clear all the bricks, rocks and rubbish the rioters had thrown onto nearby streets, to keep citizens from going to work, while encouraging the people to stop the violence and chaos. Then, they quietly returned to their garrison. Talk about a class act!
For all friends, fans and followers of China Rising Radio Sinoland, who are concerned that Eurangloland has scored a great victory against Baba Beijing, with the district election losses, not to worry. It’s understandable, if you are thinking like Westerners. But, China knows exactly what it is doing and what it refuses to fall for. I can promise you Baba Beijing knows by heart, line for line, the timeless Chinese classics, The 36 Stratagems of Warand The Art of War. Over the long run, Confucism, Daoism, Buddhism and Mao Zedong’s geopolitical vision will win the Sino-day. It’s thanks to Mao that China is not Ukraine or Bolivia. Letting the world watch in horror, as jungle capitalist, neoliberal, imperial Hong Kong cannibalizes itself, thanks to the continually failing Western color revolution being orchestrated there, since 2014, will be a case study for Chinese universities, think tanks and relevant government entities to discuss for decades to come.
Go Pelosi go! Trump, yoh duh M-A-N! Cackle for us, Hillary! Pompeo, go ahead and create your own reality! Baba Beijing just loves the millennial weakness and folly of your racist hubris! You have been losing this game big time, since 1949…

Jeff J. Brown is the author of The China Trilogy (https://chinarising.puntopress.com/2018/06/30/praise-for-the-china-trilogy-the-votes-are-in-it-r-o-c-k-s-what-are-you-waiting-for/), blogs and podcasts at www.chinarising.puntopress.com. His forthcoming book, Faster than a Speeding Bullet – the Chinese People’s Unstoppable Socialist Dream for Global Leadership into the 22nd Century, will be released in December 2020.

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Monday, November 25, 2019

Tödliche Messer-Attacke auf Professor Dr. Fritz von Weizäcker am 19.11. 2019 (gegen 19Uhr)

Medienkritische Überlegungen von Irene Eckert

Der mediale Umgang mit diesem weiteren gewalttätigen, terroristischen Übergriff, ja Mord an einem unbescholtenen Bürger, einem renommierten Arzt wirft erhebliche Fragen auf. Übrigens

Erst im August kam es in Iserlohn zu einer grausigen Bluttat. Auch in Innsbruck kam es gerade erst zu einer Messer-Attacke: Ein 21-Jähriger starb. Berichtet Dpa

Die Verharmlosung solcher Gewalttaten, die in in aller Öffentlichkeit von statten gehen, ist Legion! Es folgt ein kurzer Pressespiegel, der bereits erkennen lässt, in welche Richtung die Öffentlichkeit 'orientiert' werden soll. Bereits die Pressemitteilung der Generalstaatsanwaltschaft spekuliert - nur einen Tag nach der Tat gerade zu entschuldigend über das Tatmotiv einer „wohl wahnbedingten allgemeinen Abneigung des Beschuldigten gegen die Familie des Getöteten.“.

Die in den folgenden Tagen nachgelieferten Spekulationen über die Verstrickung des Vaters Richard von Weizäcker in angebliche Agent Orange-Partikel Lieferungen seitens des Boehringer Konzern, an dem er mutmaßlich beteiligt war, erscheinen haarsträubend, denn a) sind sie rein hypothetischer Natur und b) lassen sie das Opfer zwielichtig erscheinen und haben die Funktion, den Täter zu entlasten, der folglich sofort in die Psychatrie eingeliefert wurde. Damit steht 'mangelnde Schuldfähigkeit' im Raum. Die Familie Weizäcker mag eine dunkle Vergangenheit haben, jedoch liegt diese Generationen zurück. Der einstige Präsident der BRD, der mit seiner Rede zum 8. Mai 1985 bahnbrechend gewirkt hat, indem er endlich die Befreiung vom Faschismus als solche würdigte, hat sich damit den Haß derjenigen Kreise zugezogen, die solches nicht gerne hörten, weil der Faschismus von ihnen herbeigerufen und gestützt worden war. Seine Rede wird im Netz verharmlosend als 'Rede zum Kriegsende' zitiert , dieser war aber schon 40 Jahre vorbei als diese erfolgte. Im übrigen verdanken wir R. v. Weizäcker das „Museum für Deutschen Widerstand“ im Bendler Block in Berlin, dessen Schirmherrschaft er übernahm. Ein Besuch sei jedem anempfohlen der wieder schnell bei Faschismusvorwürfen gegen heutige Politiken aufwartet und überhaupt.

Völlig abgesehen von möglichen oder tatsächlichen Verstrickungen der Väter in historisches Unrecht, ist es unerhört im Augenblick des Mordes an einem Nachfahren derlei Spekulationen ins Spiel zu bringen, weil dies den Täter entlastet und die Suche nach den wirklichen Hintergründen für die Tat so gut wie verunmöglicht. Diese Vorgehensweise entspricht aber einem zeitgenössischen Muster: Täter von Gewalttaten kommen entweder gleich selbst am Tatort um, werden in die Psychiatrie eingeliefert oder es werden andere Entlastungsfaktoren gesucht. Die Frage nach der krebsgeschwürartigen Ausbreitung von terroristischen Übergriffen, seien sie klein oder groß bleibt unbeantwortet, ja wer sie stellt wird gleich ins Unrecht gesetzt. Die Kennzeichnung „Terror“ wird als unanständig oder begrifflich nicht zutreffend abgetan. Tatsache ist aber, dass genau über diese Begrifflichkeit international disputiert wird, die Frage der richtigen Kennzeichung ist ein Politikum ersten Ranges. Würde man sich ernsthaft damit befassen und erkennen, dass das Ausmaß des Terrors bereits epidemischer Natur ist, so müsste man die Kräfte dagegen vereinigen und eine Anti-Terror Front oder eine wirklich antifaschistische Front aufbauen. Stattdessen wird das mediale Scheinwerferlicht von der echten Bedrohung, die vom US-Imperialismus, seinen Geheimdiensten, seinen von ihm gesponserten weltweiten Terrornetzwerken ausgeht, die auch über Flüchtlingsströme kanalisiert werden weg gelenkt. Das hat Folgen auf lokaler, regionaler und internationaler Ebene und das überschattet auch den privaten Diskurs. Die medialen Scheinwerfer blenden uns dermaßen, dass oft ein rationaler Diskurs kaum noch möglich erscheint.

Ich möchte hier nochmals zu bedenken geben: Der US-geführteVietnamkrieg ist Vergangenheit, der deutsche Faschismus ist Vergangenheit, gleichwohl keinesfalls vergessen. Dass aber ein heute 57 Jähriger, über 10 nach Krieg, nach Auschwitz und Hiroshima geboren, ein Kind zur Zeit des Vietnamkriegs heute wahnhaft verstört ob solcher Ereignisse einen nachgeborenen Arzt umbringt, ist eine völlig abwegige Geschichte, wenig glaubhaft, aber ein wirksames Mittel zur Verstörung und Ablenkung von ganz anderen aktuellen Verbrechen, die da heißen: Schleichender Mord an Julian Assange, Folter in Abu Ghraib , Baghram, Guantanmo, Terrorkrieg in Afghanistan, im Jemen, in Libyen, im Irak, angezettelte gewalttätige Aufstände und Umstürze wie in der Ukraine, in Bolivien, in Venezuela, im Iran, in Hongkong!! Ablenkungsmanöver auch von der Aufrüstung und Erweiterung der NATO, von Kriegsvorbereitungen gegen China und Russland in ganz großem Stil.

Der kleine Terror und die ihn begleitenden Ablenkungsmanöver haben eine hochpolitische, eine hochbrisante Blendfunktion

Messerangriff in Schlossparkklinik Fritz von Weizäcker erstochen

rbb am 20. 11. um 19:30

Der Chefarzt der Berliner Schlossparkklinik wurde gestern Abend erstochen. Dabei handelt es sich um Fritz von Weizäcker, den Sohn des ehemaligen Bundespräsidenten. Der 57-jährige mutmaßliche Täter wurde gefasst. Die Staatsanwaltschaft äußerte sich inzwischen zum Motiv.

Beitrag von Rainer Unruh

PM 10/2019 - „Tötungsdelikt“ bei einer Vortragsveranstaltung in der „Schlosspark-Klinik“ Berlin

Pressemitteilung vom 20.11.2019

Nach dem Tötungsdelikt an Prof. Dr. Fritz von Weizsäcker im Rahmen einer Vortragsveranstaltung in der Schlosspark-Klinik in Berlin konnte ein 57-jähriger Mann aus Rheinland-Pfalz als dringend tatverdächtig vorläufig festgenommen werden.

Der Mann ist noch gestern von einer Mordkommission der Polizei Berlin als Beschuldigter vernommen worden und hat sich zu dem Geschehen geäußert.
Demnach liegt das Tatmotiv nicht im höchstpersönlichen Bereich, sondern in einer wohl wahnbedingten allgemeinen Abneigung des Beschuldigten gegen die Familie des Getöteten.

Seinen Angaben zufolge recherchierte der Beschuldigte im Rahmen seiner Tatplanung im Internet und stieß dabei auf den Vortrag in der Schlosspark-Klinik. Demnach fuhr er gestern mit der Bahn zu der Veranstaltung nach Berlin, nachdem er zuvor noch in Rheinland-Pfalz ein Messer zur Tatbegehung gekauft haben will.

Gegen Ende des Vortrags begab er sich aus der Zuschauermenge zum Podium. Dort soll er den Vortragenden mit dem Messer angegriffen und tödlich verletzt haben. Bei der Tat ist zudem ein 33-jähriger Polizeibeamter, der außer Dienst dem Vortrag beiwohnte und versuchte, den Beschuldigten zu überwältigen, durch das Messer potentiell lebensgefährlich verletzt worden. Der Getötete ist noch am Abend an den Folgen des erlittenen Halsstiches verstorben.

Der Beschuldigte ist unbestraft, über ihn liegen nach derzeitigem Ermittlungsstand auch keine anderweitigen strafrechtlichen Erkenntnisse vor.
Er ist heute psychiatrisch untersucht worden. Aufgrund des Ergebnisses dieser Untersuchung wird die Staatsanwaltschaft Berlin im Hinblick auf eine akute psychische Erkrankung des Beschuldigten wegen Mordes und wegen versuchten Mordes die Unterbringung in einem psychiatrischen Krankenhaus beantragen.

Steltner
Oberstaatsanwalt
Pressesprecher

Berlin. Drei Tage nach dem tödlichen Messer-Angriff auf Fritz von Weizsäcker in der Schlosspark-Klinik in Berlin-Charlottenburg durch einen psychisch Kranken wird weiter über das Motiv des 57-Jährigen diskutiert.

Nach Erkenntnissen der Ermittler hatte der Angreifer eine "wohl wahnbedingte allgemeine Abneigung gegen die Familie des Getöteten". Der Vater des Getöteten war der frühere Bundespräsident Richard von Weizsäcker.

Der Angreifer aus Rheinland-Pfalz kam wegen einer „akuten psychischen Erkrankung“ in eine Psychiatrie - in welche Einrichtung genau, wurde nicht mitgeteilt. Details zu den Wahnvorstellungen nannte die Staatsanwaltschaft nicht. Der 57-jährige Deutsche war zuvor nicht mit Straftaten in Erscheinung getreten.

Laut Nachrichtenmagazin „Spiegel“ hatte der Tatverdächtige Hass auf Richard von Weizsäcker, weil dieser in den 1960er-Jahren Geschäftsführer beim Chemiekonzern Boehringer gewesen sei. Dieses Unternehmen habe damals tödliche Giftstoffe für den Vietnam-Krieg geliefert. Morgenpost

Friday, November 22, 2019

Can Russia (or Iran) survive without China?

[this analysis was written for the Unz Review] https://thesaker.is/can-russia-or-iran-survive-without-china/

In a recent article entitled “China, Bolivia and Venezuela are proof that social democracy cannot thrive in the global capitalist order” my China-based friend and correspondent Jeff J. Brown asked me an exceedingly interesting and important question. He wrote:

Russia is a social democracy, with a large, successful people owned industrial sector and many social services for the 99% from the Soviet era. But, unlike Bolivia and Ukraine, it is avoiding the West’s color revolution poison pill, because since 1999, Russia has gone from strength to strength, under the inspired leadership of patriotic President Vladimir Putin. But like all social democracies, the problem is what happens if another Western whore Boris Yeltsin succeeds Putin, and returns Russia to its dystopian Wall Street rape of the 1990s? Then what? It only took Macri four short years to bring Argentina back onto its groveling knees. Without a 100% nationalized media, Russians had better be demanding that Putin & Russian Patriots Inc. work overtime to censor all the Western overthrow garbage that is put in Cyrillic ink and on the airwaves. I would love to hear what my good friend Andrei Raevsky thinks about this at The Saker(http://thesaker.is/), because let’s be honest: without China’s, Russia’s and Iran’s continued anti-imperial independence and socialist success into the 21st century, humanity can kiss its ass goodbye!

Let’s begin by deconstructing the assumptions and implications of Jeff’s question.
China and Russia *could* be separated
The first assumptions Jeff makes are the following ones:

Russia is a social democracy
The Russian media is not 100% state controlled
A new Eltsin might succeed Putin
The West is saturating the Russian information space with garbage
That western propaganda can still strongly impact Russia
China and Russia *could* be separated (hence the need to prevent that as the central thesis of Jeff)

And, finally, considering the above, Jeff offers the following compelling implication for the China-Russia-Iran triangle:

Considering the above, China’s independence and support for Russia and Iran are vital for the sovereignty and freedom, if not survival, of Russia and Iran

Now let’s begin by looking into Jeff’s assumptions:

Russia is a social democracy:

Yes and no. If we define a social democracy as being a specific polity and system of laws, then Russia is a social democracy. However, if we define social democracy as a specific polity, system of laws and social culture, then I would argue that to the extent that Russia is, indeed, a social democracy, she is a rather weird one. What do I mean by that?

By that I mean that thanks to the nightmare of “democracy” under Eltsin and his US curators, and thanks to the recent explosion of “democracy” in the Ukraine, the Russian people have by and large come to consider the words “liberal” and “democracy” as four letter words. For example, the word “либерал” (liberal) has now given birth to a derived word либераст which takes the first letters of the word “liberal” and adds the last letters of the word педераст (pederast – a rude word for homosexual [yes, in Russian homosexuality and pederasty are not separated!]) which results in the new word “liberast” the closest to which in English would be something like “libfag”, hardly a compliment. In some interpretations, a “liberast” is also somebody who has been “f**ked by democracy“. Not much better… As for the word “демократия” (democracy) for years it has already been called “дерьмократия” (using the first letters of дерьмо (der’mo or shit) and the last letter of democracy to create der’mokratia or “shitocracy”. Finally, there is also the saying that “демократия, это власть демократов” (democracy is the rule of the democrats), which for a country which has undergone the 1990s and seen the Ukraine being comprehensively FUBARed is ominous; not funny at all. All this is simply to show that culturally the Russian society is not at all your typical social democracy. It is a sort of democracy in which the majority of the people do not believe in democracy. This is very important, crucial even, and I will address this issue later.

The Russian media is not 100% state controlled:

That is absolutely true! However, it misses an important point: the real profile of the Russian media which is much more complex than “state controlled” vs “free media”. To make a long story short, the main TV channels, while not really “controlled” by the state at all, are mostly pro-Kremlin. But here we need to get the cause and effect right: these channels are not pro-Kremlin only because they get state funds or because of the political power of the Kremlin, the main reason why they are pro-Kremlin is the terrible rating of those media outlets who took a strong anti-Kremlin position.

To make my point, I want to mention the rabidly anti-Kremlin TV station which is very well known in Russia (Dozhd’ – see here for the (predictably complimentary) entry in Wikipedia for this TV channel). In fact, Dozhd’ is just the best known of a fairly extensive anti-Kremlin media but, in reality, there are many more outlets which hold an anti-Kremlin pro-Empire line. However, as I explained in a 2016 article entitled “Counter-Propaganda, Russian Style” and then, again, in 2017, in the article “Revisiting Russian Counter-Propaganda Methods” the Kremlin has developed a very effective counter-propaganda strategy: instead of suppressing the Empire’s propaganda (like the Soviets did, most unsuccessfully), the Kremlin now directly funds that same propaganda! Not only does the (state-owned) Gazprom finance Dozd’ – the western and Russian liberal guests which ridicule themselves on Russian TV are also generously paid for each of their appearances. Even hardcore Ukronazi nutcases get invited regularly (when they truly overdo it they also get into fights, or get kicked out of the studios, which is all very much fin to watch and is therefore watched by millions). The truth is that at this point the AngloZionist propaganda in Russia has much more of a very healthy “vaccination” effect then the ability to convince anybody beyond the “traditional” 2-4% of folks in Russia who still think that the West is some kind of heaven on earth and Russia an ugly, vicious and freedom crushing “Mordor”.

This being said, there is one channel through which the worst of the western consumer-society propaganda still permeates Russia: commercials. Russian commercials are mostly absolutely disgusting; they basically vehiculate one crude and simple message “Russians must become US Americans”. That propaganda via commercials is, I think the single most toxic and insidious form of de-russification I can think of and it is far more dangerous than any other means of “defacing” Russia.

Finally, and to my great regret, media outlets like RT and Sputnik have decided to “go native” I suppose and they now cater to western tastes much more than to Russian ones. The quasi constant “reporting” about MMA fights, minimally clad ladies, sex in all its shapes and forms and Hollywood gossip – all of this just goes to show that the folks in charge of these media outlets have decided that catering the the lowest possible social common denominator is the way to promote Russia abroad. I am not so sure. What began with “Question More” and “Telling the Untold” now seems more preoccupied with trying to copy the yellow press in the UK than to challenge the Empire. I very much regret that state of affairs.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of 5th columnists and russophobes in these media outlets (especially in their online, Internet-based, websites; the actual radio/TV shows are mostly better).

So all is not rosy in the Russian media scene, but its not all bad either.

A new Eltsin might succeed Putin

Here I can only completely agree, and that is very scary. Due to the lack of space, I will present my arguments in a short, bullet-point, list:

“Russia” is still very much a “one man show” meaning that Putin himself, as a person, is still absolutely vital to the current functioning of Russia. Not only are most Russians still strongly supportive of him personally, but there are no credible candidates to replace him. Yes, there are a few potential candidates out there (in no special order: Ivanov, Shoigu and Rogozin would be the best known, but there are others, of course), but what makes it all worse is that historically, Russia, unlike China, has a very bad record of successions.
The 5th column is still there and while it keeps a very low profile (current events favor the Eurasian Sovereignists), it is still there, literally in all branches of power and very much inside the Moscow elites who hate Putin for putting an end to what they saw as the “Bonanza of the 1990s”.
There *is* a patriotic Russian opposition to Putin, and it is slowly growing, but it is poorly organized, has a lot of clueless nostalgics of the Soviet era and a lot of its criticisms are, frankly, naive or plain silly (along with very valid points too!). I don’t see this opposition capable of producing a strong and credible leader. But that might change in the future.
Thus the cornerstone of “Putinism” is Putin himself. With him gone, for whatever reason, Putinism could very rapidly fade too. This might be a good or a bad thing depending on the specific circumstances, but the chances that this might be a very bad thing are higher than the opposite being true.

“Putin The Man”, urgently needs to be replaced by “Putin The System”, but that is truly a herculean task because that means reforming/purging most of the immense and powerful Russian bureaucracy and find somewhere a new generation of men and women who could be both effective and trusted. The problem is that in most cases when one man goes against a system, the system wins. Putin is the proverbial case of a very good man in a very bad system. True, he has successfully reformed the two branches of government which were most needed to make it possible for both him and Russia to survive the war the Empire was waging on Russia: the armed forces and the intelligence/security forces. Other parts of the Russian state are still in a terrible shape (the entire legal system for starters!).

I think that the risk of an Eltsin-like prostitute coming to power is real, even if the bulk of the population would not necessarily approve of it (or be divided about it). Long-term historical stability of a huge country like Russia cannot come from a man. It can only come from institutions. And just as Peter I destroyed the traditional Russian monarchy, so can one man destroy the current “new Russia” (for lack of a better descriptor), especially if this “new Russia” has only one man as its cornerstone.

Finally, history teaches us that every time that Russia is weak or disunited, the western powers immediately pounce and intervene, including with military means. The Poles are still dreaming about yet another chance to prove Churchill’s diagnosis about Poland true and pounce on both the Ukraine and Russia if given the chance.

The West is saturating the Russian information space with garbage and western propaganda can still strongly impact Russia

As we have seen above, these are both at least partially true, but they are also not that much of a big deal. This is clearly a source of potential concern, a danger, but not a threat (a danger being vague, a threat specific). To the extend that this is a bad thing, this is mostly due to the hyper-materialistic consumer culture which currently competes against a much more traditional, Russian culture. It is hard to say which one will win. The former has much, much bigger financial means, the latter one has a strong ‘home turf advantage”. Only time will show which will prevail. So long as many Russians will think “western propaganda lies” (which most understand) AND are attracted to western-style commercials (which are, in so many ways, an even much more effective and insidious form of propaganda), the jury will remain out on who will prevail should instability return to Russia.

China and Russia *could* be separated

This is probably the most important assumption made by Jeff. First, since this is completely hypothetical, and since we are not future-seeing prophets let’s first agree to never say never and not dismiss this possibility out of hand. This being said, I would like to remind everybody that Russia and China have gradually changed the labels which they applied to the other side. The latest (as far as I know, Chinese speakers please correct me if needed!) expression used by Xi and other Chinese officials is “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era“. There is a lot to unpack here, but let’s just say that this does not sound like the Chinese came up with that concept lightly or that they have many misgivings about the future of the relationship with Russia. As for the Russians, they have now openly used the term “ally” on many occasions, including Putin. In Russian that word “ally” (союзник) is a very strong one and contrasts sharply with the cynical and disgusted way the Russians always speak about their western “partners” (which often shocks those who don’t speak Russian).

And it is not all sweet talk either. The Russians and the Chinese have had many and major joint military maneuvers, they have practiced the Russian equivalent of the US/NATO “Combined Joint Task Force” concept (see here for details). Thus, while not formal allies, Russia and China do all the things which close allies do. I would even argue that the “informal symbiosis” between Russia and China is far stronger than the NATO alliance.

It is my opinion that what Putin and Xi have done is something which has no previous equivalent in history, at least as far as I know. Even though both Russia and China have been empires in the past, I strongly believe that both of these countries have entered a “post-imperial phase” in which the trappings of empire have been replaced by an acute sense that empires are extremely bad not only for the nations which it oppresses, but also for the nation which hosts it. Both Russia and China have paid a horrendous price for their imperial years and both Russia and China completely understand that the people of the USA are also amongst the prime victims of the (transnational) Anglo-Zionist Empire, even if that is all too often forgotten. Not only do they not want to repeat their own mistakes, they see the USA dying in the quicksands of imperialism and the last thing they want is to jump in and join the US.

I believe that the relationship between Russia and China is a symbiosis, which is much stronger than any alliances because while the latter can be broken, the former typically cannot (at least not without extremely severe consequences). I also believe that Putin and Xi both understand that the fact that Russia and China are so completely different is not a problem, but a tremendous asset: they fit perfectly, like Lego or puzzle pieces. What Russia has China does not and vice-versa. And, just to clarify for the logically challenged: both sides also understand that they will never get from the other side by war what they could get by peaceful exchange. Yes, the silly Polish dream of having Russia invaded by China several times (an old Polish joke of sorts) is only a reflection of the ancient Polish inferiority complex, not of geostrategic realities :-)

Of course, in theory, anything could happen. But I personally see no chain of events which could be sufficient to threaten the Sino-Russian symbiotic relationship, not even a collapse of “New Russia Putinism” (not elegant, but functional for our purposes) or the kind of chaos which a Eltsin type of comprador regime could try to reimpose on Russia. At the end of the day, if Russia collapses then China will hold truly immense financial and economic power over Russia and will therefore be able to impose at least a China-friendly regime. In that extremely unlikely case, Russia would, of course, lose her sovereignty, but not to the West, but to China. That is not quite what Jeff had in mind.

Conclusion:

Yes, Russia and China need each other. I would argue that they need each other. Vitally. And yes, the “loss” of one would threaten the other. But that is not just true for Russia, it is also very true of China (which desperately needs Russian energy, high-tech, natural resources, weapons systems but most of all, Russian experience: for most of her existence Russia was threatened, invaded, attacked, sanctioned, boycotted and disparaged by a long succession of western states, and she defeated them all. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but each time Russia prevailed. The determination and ability to resist the West is something which is deeply embedded in the Russian cultural DNA (this in sharp contrast with the rest of the so-called “East European” countries). Finally, and for all their very real recent advances, the Chinese armed forces are still far behind the Russian (or the USA for that matter) and in a one-on-one war against the USA China would definitely lose, especially if the USA goes “all out”. Russia, on the other hand, has the means to turn the US and Europe into a post-industrial nuclear wasteland (using nuclear and, most importantly, non-nuclear munitions!).

I would also add something Jeff did not address: Iran. I believe that both Russia and China also very much need Iran. Okay, that is not a vital need, both Russia and China could survive without an allied Iran, but Iran offers immense advantages to both countries, if only because thanks to the truly phenomenal stupidity of the Neocons the USA’s breathtakingly stupid policies in the Middle-East (here is just the latest example) have turned Iran into a regional super-power eclipsing both Israel and the KSA. Furthermore, if Russia has shown much more political and moral courage than China (which, lets be honest, has been pretty happy to have Russia taking the brunt of the Empire’s attacks), Iran has shown much more political and moral courage than Russia, especially concerning the slow-motion genocide perpetrated by the Zionist Entity in Palestine.

And this brings us full circle to the discussion of what kind of country Russia currently really is. Russia is not the Soviet Union. Neither is she pre-1917 Russia. But what is she really?

Nobody really knows, I think.

It is a moving target, a process. This process might lead to a new and stable “new Russia”, but that is by no means certain. Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of Article 13 of the Russian Constitution say:

In the Russian Federation ideological diversity shall be recognized
No ideology may be established as state or obligatory one.
In the Russian Federation political diversity and multi-party system shall be recognized.

In other words, not only is there no “no official ideology” in Russia, there is an explicit recognition for a multi-party political system (itself an ideological statement, by the way). These are all potentially very dangerous and toxic items in the Russian Constitution which already are hindering a true national, cultural, psychological and spiritual rebirth of Russia. Iran, in contrast, has succeeded in creating an Islamic Republic which is both truly and unapologetically Islamic and truly democratic, at least in the sense that, unlike western democracies which are mostly run by minorities and for minorities (or a coalition of minorities), in Iran the majority supports the system in place.

And since the vast majority of the Russian people do not want a single-party-system or a return to Soviet times yet don’t believe in (western style) democracy, Russian intellectuals would be well advised to take a very close and careful look at what I would call the “Iranian model”, not to simply copy it, but to see what aspects of this model could be adapted to Russian realities. Historical Russia was an Orthodox monarchy. That time is gone and will never return. Soviet Russia was a Marxist atheistic state. That time is also forever gone. Modern Russia can only find references, lessons and implications in her past, but she cannot simply resurrect Czarist or Communist Russia. Of course, neither can she reject her entire history and declare it all “bad” (which is what Russian “liberals” always do, which explains why they are so hated).

I don’t know what the future Russia will look like. I am not even totally sure that this new Russia will ever really happen (though my gut feeling is that it will). I hope that it will, but whether that happens or not will not be decided in China or by China (or any other country). To conclude on a famous quote by Karl Marx “the emancipation of the workers must be the work of the workers themselves” (in Russian: “Освобождение рабочих должно быть делом самих рабочих”) which a famous Russian 1928 book turned into “the salvation of those who are drowning has to be the action of those drowning” (in Russian: “Спасение утопающих — дело рук самих утопающих”). Whatever version you prefer (I prefer the 2nd one), the meaning is clear: you need to solve your problems by yourself or with those who share that problem with you. In other words, Russians are the only ones who can save or destroy the Russian nation (I mean “Russian” in the traditional, Russian, multi-ethnic and multi-religious meaning of the words руссий and российский which in traditional Russian are both interchangeable or different depending on the context).

The Saker

PS: I leave you with a photo which, imho, speaks a thousand words

Monday, November 18, 2019

Who was Paul Robeson by Mathew Ehret

Matthew Ehret

November 16, 2019

“Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice”

Paul Robeson, 1937

America today stands at a crossroads. Where an entrenched oligarchy strives desperately to keep hold of those military, intelligence, financial and federal institutions which it spent decades infesting, while attempting to overthrow a nationalist president who has worked to end the “forever wars” while cooperating with both Russia and China.

This fight within the heart of America has been confusing for many people who accustomed themselves to interpret world history from the distorted lens of the age in which they live.

Such confused people cannot fathom HOW America could possibly be anything but an imperialistic nation infested with self-contradiction: A nation founded on Liberty but relying on exploitation, usury and institutional racism.

This confusion can easily be resolved by taking off the distorted glasses of “the present” and look at history as a process defined by the clash between two opposing views of mankind: a creature born free or enslaved.

Where the oligarchical system defines humanity as simply a mass of enslaved apes controlled by higher ‘alpha’ apes, the humanist system defines humanity as a species made in the image of a creator with inalienable rights. Abstract notions of “law, value, goodness, purpose, beauty, creativity or even potential” flow equally as words from each system, but with definitions that stand in stark opposition to each other.

Paul Robeson lived his remarkable life according to this knowledge and gave everything to awaken what he understood as the real America as a force of opposition to the racist, imperialistic machine that had made its move to take control of the republic on the eve of President Roosevelt’s early death in 1945.

Who was Paul Robeson?

Paul Robeson is a man who defies categorization. Although famous as a great African American baritone and actor born of an escaped slave, Robeson was so much more. While his life’s work should be basic knowledge and pride of every American today, the deep state which ran America for over 70 years has done all but erase him from existence labelling him a “communist crackpot” and Soviet spy. Why is the oligarchy so afraid of his memory?

Robeson is a cultural warrior of the highest caliber who knew over 20 languages including Russian, Chinese, Arabic and several African dialects, he early on became a cultural ambassador expressing the universality of mankind as he sung folk songs around the world and created institutions to enhance the best of each cultures development. He combined the anti-imperialist fight to liberate all former colonies with the combat for racial equality in America. He was the most vocal opponent to the Wall Street takeover of America and was recognized internationally as the leading figure and founder of America’s Civil Rights movement.

Music as a Weapon

Robeson famously called “music his weapon”, and used it masterfully to build spiritual bridges with all cultures by absorbing their languages, stories and folk songs. He wrote: “folk songs are, in fact, an expression of a peoples’ innermost nature, of the distinctive and multifaceted conditions of its life and culture, of the sublime wisdom that reflects that peoples’ great historical journey and experience.

In Russia, Robeson sang numerous patriotic pieces like Song of the Plains in perfect Russian:

In China, he sang popular folk songs and was the first western singer to sing Chi Lai (Arise) in 1940 which later became China’s national anthem:

He even learned Yiddish and sang the anti-fascist Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ballad:

Nothing more powerfully conveys the insight Robeson had into the universality of mankind when one hears his incredible description of the universal harmonies, and patterns underlying world languages and folk music conveyed during his 1958 Carnegie Hall concert featuring international folk music:

Political Freedom as the Highest Art

Counted among his close friends and allies were Albert Einstein, Vice President Henry Wallace (who Robeson campaigned vigorously for in his 1948 bid for the presidency), Jawaharlal Nehru, Jomo Kenyatta, and Kwame Nkrumah. Kenyatta and Nkrumah became leaders of the powerful Pan African movement and were members of an organization called the Council on African Affairs founded and chaired by Robeson in 1937.

Presiding over the 1944 Council on African Affairs conference alongside emerging Pan African leaders and American workers of all colors, Robeson oversaw the resolutions defining the conferences’ objectives:

To Give concrete help to the struggle of the African masses
To disseminate accurate information concerning Africa and its people; in that, to wake up Americans to what is happening in Africa; the one continent where undisguised colonial slavery is still practiced.
To influence the adoption of governmental policies designed to promote their advancement and freedom and preserve international peace.
To smash the iron curtain of secrecy and double talk surrounding the schemes for imperialist exploitation of Africa and its people.
To prevent American loans and guns from being used to crush the freedom struggle of Africans and other subject peoples.
To strengthen the allegiance of progressive Americas, black and white, with the peoples of Africa and other lands in the struggle for world peace and freedom.

Albert Einstein who also suffered under McCarthyism, co-chaired the American Crusade Against Lynching founded and chaired by Robeson in response to Truman’s failure to enforce anti-lynching legislation in 1946. Between 1945 and 1946, well over 100 black war veterans were lynched and many more “disappeared” as the south re-asserted their hegemony through terror.

It is not always appreciated today, but the fascist takeover of America in the wake of FDR’s death saw the resurgence of the southern establishment which Lincoln sought to destroy 80 years earlier. African American servicemen returning from WWII expecting to find equal rights, encountered a newly empowered Ku Klux Clan and racist Jim Crow laws- now protected by Hoover’s FBI and a racist little President who was working hard to undo all of FDR’s accomplishments.

Einstein, Wallace and Robeson in 1948

Reviving the Anti-Colonial America

As the founder of the Civil Rights Congress (CRC), Robeson not only fought for racial equality at home but united this new movement with the international anti-colonial struggle saying at a CRC meeting:

“The guarantee that our day of liberation is not far off is that this is a time of colonial liberation. It is a time when dark men and women in Asia and Africa are pulling off their shackles of exploitation which have kept them bound for centuries… As they succeed in Asia and soon, you may be sure, in Africa- as more than half the world escapes the clutches of the Dulles, Rockefellers and Firestones, they lend a powerful stimulus to our freedom struggle here at home.”

In describing the American corporations moving into controlling positions in Africa, Robeson made sure to differentiate the deep state from the real America when he asked:

“Are these financial big boys America? No! They are the former enemies of Roosevelt. They were the ones who were glad when Roosevelt died. They are the same ones who Roosevelt said were the core of American fascism. They are the allies of the remains of the Hitler entourage- they are the friends of Franco, the living representatives of the Spanish conquistadores who enslaved us and still enslave us in Latin America. They are the ones who hate American democracy as did the enemies of Jefferson and Lincoln before them. They are no part of America. They are the ‘would-be’ preservers of world fascism and the enemies of progressive America!”

It is no wonder then that Robeson became enemy #1 for Hoover’s FBI, Dulles’ State Department and Red hunters like Joe McCarthy who did everything in their power to destroy his life by labelling him a “Black Mussolini” and “Soviet agent”. In truth, they were afraid that he was more of a “Black Solon” who would destroy their usurious power hold over the republic and free the bond slaves at the first opportunity.

Resisting American Fascism

Speaking at a rally at Madison Square Garden, Robeson identified the real evil agenda lurking behind the Anglo-American Cold War:

“The ‘Stop Russia’ cry really means- stop the advance of the colonial peoples of Asia and Africa toward independence; stop the forces of the new democracy developing in Europe; stop the organized workers of America from trying to hold their ground against their profit-greedy employers; stop the Negro people from voting and joining trade unions in the South- ‘Stop Russia’ means- stop progress- maintain the status quo. It means- let the privileged few continue to rule and thrive at the expense of the masses. We must indeed win the peace- but we can do it only by using methods exactly the opposite of those pursued at present by the British Foreign Office and our own State Department. To win total peace there must be total freedom”.

The highest leading official in America who stood up to this agenda was “the man who should have been president” Henry Wallace (Vice President 1940-1944), who was fired from his position as Commerce Secretary by Truman in 1946 for the crime of demanding Russia-US friendship. Speaking to thousands on September 21, 1946 Robeson stated: “We are shocked by the forced resignation of Wallace. We join with the overwhelming majority of Americans who want peace and democracy for this country and the world, in fully supporting Wallace’s criticism. We cannot avoid the painful conclusion that Truman’s action represents a complete capitulation to the reactionary minority in our country who seek world domination”.

When Wallace announced his presidential bid in 1948, Robeson was asked to run as his Vice-presidential running mate, but declined feeling that he could do more good on an international level but dedicated his every waking hour campaigning for Wallace and the Progressive Party in 1948.

In a March 1948 campaign speech for Wallace, Robeson said: “Either we get along with the Communists, jump in the ocean or blow up the whole world. Saying you can’t get along with Communists is like saying you can’t get along with the birds”. In that speech Robeson described himself as “an advanced New Dealer” and said he supported Wallace because “if anybody continues the new deal traditions of Franklin Roosevelt, it is Wallace.” Robeson’s concept of an “advanced New Dealer” and Wallace’s fight against the deep state was elaborated on in Wallace’s Vision for the Post-War World Order. (1)

Wallace and Robeson at the Progressive Party Convention in 1948

Robeson vs the Deep State

Sadly the entire force of the deep state came down on Wallace resulting in his defeat in 1948 bringing Truman in for another 4 years.

Robeson was punished by John F. Dulles who revoked his passport in 1949, preventing him from travelling while the FBI ensured that he was un-hirable, his records unplayable and his words unprintable. The singer’s revenues collapsed and he relied heavily on the kindness of friends during this time. In 1956, Robeson said “there is a deliberate policy of attempting to prevent me from making a living by practicing my profession as an artist.” In a famous 1956 testimony to the House of Un-American Activities, Robeson courageously called out the fascist nature of the proceedings.

International pressure resulted in an end to his “imprisonment” and he began a new world tour where he sang, performed Othello in Shakespeare’s play in Stratford England, wrote his autobiography Here I Stand and campaigned against neo-colonialism. In a 1960 Australian ABC interview Robeson eloquently laid out his thoughts on the freedom struggle:

In 1961, Robeson began another world tour and let it be known that he would go to the Soviet Union, then to Africa and finally to Cuba where he was scheduled to meet with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara putting into jeopardy Dulles’ plans for a Cuban invasion. After this, Robeson intended to return to America to lead the Civil Rights movement that he had, in large measure began. Sadly, Robeson made it no further than Moscow. Dulles’ invasion of Cuba occurred three weeks later.

MK Ultra and the Deconstruction of Robeson

Much has been written on the topic of Robeson’s victimization under MK Ultra. The most pioneering work having been done by his son Paul Robeson Jr. who spent over 30 years investigating the matter. In short, Robeson had found himself at a surprise party in a Moscow hotel hosted by CIA-funded Soviet dissidents. According to reports, Robeson fell into a paranoid hysteria, hallucinating and locking himself in a room where he tried to commit suicide.

He was quickly sent to London’s Priori hospital where he was put through 54 electro shock therapy sessions and huge doses of psycho-active drugs. Robeson’s son proved that three doctors performing these “treatments” were CIA contractors while MI5 operatives oversaw the entire process. Robeson Jr. wrote that his father was“subjected to mind de-patterning under MK Ultra”.

It took two years for Robeson’s family and friends to get him out of Priori and into a German clinic before returning him home in August 1963 where doctors were shocked to discover the scale of drugs and electro shock he suffered in London.

Although he recorded a handful of messages in support of the Civil Rights movement after 1963, which had thankfully found competent leadership under Martin Luther King Jr., Robeson never recovered, living as a recluse and passing away at 77 years of age in 1976.

Today, as America is again forced to decide whether it wishes to go down the road of fascism and self-annihilation or renew its proper heritage as a defender of liberty, it is worth listening to the wise words of Robeson who gave his last recorded speech in January 1961:

“Despite common suffering, an even greater responsibility lies upon us to guarantee our children and all children everywhere that we shall do everything in our collective power to refrain our ‘would-be’ world dominators, our ‘would-be’ new masters of the century. They must understand that while we are uttering these very words, a new day has dawned in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia and this light awaits just beyond the horizon.”https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/11/16/paul-robeson-and-the-battle-for-the-soul-of-america/