Topic: Bush / Cheney
Why Does The Bush Administration Persist On Provoking Russia? The Bush administration continues to lie in an effort to provoke Russia, seemingly without even considering the consequences. Are they out of touch with the whole world?by Mike Freeman
(libertarian)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
With Dick Cheney's latest harsh words, stated after meeting with like-minded Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, (who himself is one of Italy's richest men- worth $4.9 billion, he strikes me as a bit of a mafia don, seeing as one of his businesses is insurance and that he just lost a libel case against The Economist over an article saying he's "unfit to lead Italy", making claims that he has many criminal conflicts of interest) Cheney proved once again that he has no taste for peace, by lying whenever opportunity strikes: he announced that the "World is united against Russia", one has to question whether or not the Vice-President of one of the most unpopular countries on Earth has gone utterly bonkers!
Does Cheney really think that everyone is stupid enough to forget that the Georgians attacked South Ossetia and the Russians first? Not to mention it happened just weeks after the American Armed Forces ran 'training-exercises' there! It's painfully clear that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime-Minister Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops there to protect the people of South Ossetia from further attacks staged by Georgian Forces.
They have called for their independence from Georgia (and Russia), like the majority of Ossetia's people desire and Russias forces are to remain as temporary peacekeepers, until October 1 when they will be replaced by international peacekeepers, including at least 200 EU monitors, as agreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. This goes quite contrary to claims that this is a "war of conquest to reclaim the lands of the Soviet Union era", which I have been hearing implyed on the news lately.
And what about the recent non-congressionally approved $1 billion U.S. "economic aid package" for Georgia that has been laid out? Giving the Georgian aggressors that much taxpayer money without approval of the Congress is scandalous enough, but it gets even worse- the Bush administration is pushing harder than ever for Georgia's ties to NATO/EU to be strengthened. This means the U.S. Armed Forces would be more than capable of putting "rocket defense systems" and radars right on Russia's border. The Pentagon is also planning on rearming the Georgians! In other words the U.S. wants to turn Georgia into a sort of South Korea-styled outpost.
Proceeding in this direction they really appear set out for World War III as a fitting farewell to the Bush Administration; after all, Bush has already threatened WWIII against Iran (even with China, Russia and India supporting Iran). Or could it perhaps be that they want to scare their own citizens into taking Marshall Law and postponing the election that Republicans are bound to lose?
Recent developments demonstrate this in the state of the U.S. RNC and DNC conventions where in all its glory the authorities response displayed the expected symptoms of a police-state in America, where peaceful protesters were herded up and mass arrested and faced violence for exercising the right to free speech, a right which is 'permitted' by governments all around the world in a far more, well, free way.
You would usually expect to be free to protest if you are lucky enough to reside within a modern Democratic Republic...
When you think of governments who clamp down on freedom of speech, one of the first that jumps to mind is the Chinese Communist Party, which displays all the signs of tyranny and oppression and also as a criminal government. This is the territory that the U.S. is heading in to, it is especially sad how America used to be the "Land of the free" and that so many still believe that to this day, when liberty is being eroded day-by-day by the government faster than ever before.
America has two core parties, which are the only players with a real chance of winning the election (due to mass-media coverage of debates, etc). Both John McCain and Barack Obama are members of the think-tank the Counsel on Foreign Relations (founded by David Rockefeller; Dick Cheney is a long time member and used to be its director), which are composed of the most influential of policy makers and strategists, determined for Socialist-styled globalism (world government), and have been influencing presidential administrations for decades.
There are many people in America opposed to this system and what it stands for, yet they are marginalized and silenced, and the debate that remains between the two candidates will be meaningless as they both ultimately stand for the same things: conflict, increased immigration/amnesty and increased government spending on an already broke budget- this was the essence of the protests. Not to mention their lack of will to do anything about the crimes of this present administration.
Russian analysts have speculated that the U.S. would use Georgia as a staging post for the illegal invasion of Iran, the most recent target for U.S. conquest, which the Bush administration and the McCain camp have endlessly pushed for, spouting all sorts of lies and nonsense in an effort to get the ball rolling-
One such lie is that they are enriching nuclear material to make nuclear missiles, when the U.N. weapons inspectors proved that they were enriching uranium at 6% which is the amount used for power stations (missiles need 90+% enrichment), and Iran has an energy crisis, acknowledged by many experts (even by Israeli nuclear experts) as dire- they ration their electricity to just two hours a day, in village and city alike.
Another lie is that the Iranian government is supporting the terrorists in Iraq; the smoking-gun is a recent propaganda video released by Ayman al-Zawahri, deputy group leader of Al Qaeda, to coincide with 9/11, he condemns Iran as being as bad as the U.S., so the Pentagon is going to have a very hard time plausibly linking Iran to 9/11 and the terrorist threat on the seventh anniversary of the attack tomorrow.
But then again, that didn't stop them from attacking Iraq...
One thing is for Certain, Russia isn't taking the American provocation lightly! Being cautions in a smart move the Russian government has continued to develop and strengthen ties with France and China. Emboldened by these strategic moves, the Russian government certainly won't back down in fear against threats of the battle-weary, stretched and demoralized U.S. forces. Don't forget they recently warned they would use nuclear missiles as a response to being attacked.
Russian authorities responded by the consideration of giving advanced anti-aircraft rockets to the Iranian government, and they have also even considered resuming the long halted flying of bomber runs over the Carribean, so reminiscent of the Cuban Missile Crisis during the height of the Cold War, because it's believed that the Russian airforce has the capabilities to refuel at Cuba and send its Bear-like nuclear-armed bombers over mainland America and her major cities. Similar to what was done a few times over Europe and the U.K. this time last year- when a Russian TU-95 bomber was intercepted and directed away from British airspace by scrambled R.A.F. Typhoon F2 fighter jets. RAF Eurofighter Typhoons were also deployed to intercept a Tupolev Bear flying over the North Atlantic.
Left: Photograph shows a
British Typhoon F2 shadowing
a Russian TU-95
nuclear-capable bomber.
Photograph: RAF/PA
(dated August 17, 2007)
Conclusion:
Is the Bush administration criminally insane or just criminal? A little bit of both is the only possible conclusion to come to, most war-mongers are. What good can come of this provocation? Absolutely nothing for nobody! Unless you count the corporate war profiteers such as members of the boards of directors of companies such as Halliburton, who would certainly be in their luxury bomb-shelters when the ship goes down. But what good is money if you aren't able to spend it, like after a nuclear holocaust of a war that would result from too much provoking of Russia?
Bush and Cheney are the biggest weapons of mass-destruction on this planet, and to think, I used to kid:
What would the world have been like if Dubya was president during the Cuban missile crisis..?
***
UPDATE:
***
I very recently viewed an interview of Vladimir Putin online by Matthew Chance of CNN, which I've heard has never seen the light of day on television in any country except Russia! I myself haven't seen or heard about it on TV. That's rather interesting considering what he has to say! This is a serious snipped portion of the interview, dated 28.08.08:
"Vladimir Putin: It is not for us to guarantee that we will not attack someone. We have not attacked anyone. It is we who are demanding guarantees from others, to make sure that no one attacks us anymore and that no one kills our citizens. We are being portrayed as the aggressor.
I have here the chronology of the events that took place on August 7, 8 and 9. On the 7th, at 2:42 p.m., the Georgian officers who were at the headquarters of the joint peacekeeping forces left the headquarters, walked away from the headquarters -- where there were our servicemen, as well as Georgian and Ossetian servicemen -- saying that had been ordered to do so by their commanders. They left their place of service and left our servicemen there alone and never returned during the period preceding the beginning of hostilities. An hour later, heavy artillery shelling started.
At 10:35 p.m., a massive shelling of the city of Tskhinvali began. At 10:50 p.m., ground force units of the Georgian armed forces started to deploy to the combat zone. At the same time, Georgian military hospitals were deployed in the immediate vicinity. And at 11:30 p.m., Mr. Kruashvili, brigadier general and commander of the Georgian peacekeeping forces in the region, announced that Georgia had decided to declare war on South Ossetia. They announced it directly and publicly, looking right into the TV cameras.
At that time, we tried to contact the Georgian leadership, but they all refused to respond. At 0:45 a.m. on August 8, Kruashvili repeated it once again. At 5:20 a.m., tank columns of the Georgian forces launched an attack on Tskhinvali, preceded by massive fire from GRAD systems, and we began to sustain casualties among our personnel.
At that time, as you know, I was in Beijing, and I was able to talk briefly with the president of the United States. I said to him directly that we had not been able to contact the Georgian leadership but that one of the commanders of the Georgian armed forces had declared that they had started a war with South Ossetia.
George replied to me -- and I have already mentioned it publicly -- that no one wanted a war. We were hoping that the U.S. administration would intervene in the conflict and stop the aggressive actions of the Georgian leadership. Nothing of the kind happened.
What is more, already at 12 noon local time, the units of the Georgian armed forces seized the peacekeepers' camp in the south of Tskhinvali -- it is called Yuzhni, or Southern -- and our soldiers had to withdraw to the city center, being outnumbered by the Georgians one to six. Also, our peacekeepers did not have heavy weapons, and what weapons they had had been destroyed by the first artillery strikes. One of those strikes had killed 10 people at once.
Then the attack was launched on the peacekeeping forces' northern camp. Here, let me read you the report of the General Staff: "As of 12:30 p.m., the battalion of the Russian Federation peacekeeping forces deployed in the north of the city had beaten off five attacks and was continuing combat."
At that same time, Georgian aviation bombed the city of Dzhava, which was outside the zone of hostilities, in the central part of South Ossetia.
So who was the attacker, and who was attacked? We have no intention of attacking anyone, and we have no intention of going to war with anyone.
During my eight years as president, I often heard the same question: What place does Russia reserve for itself in the world; how does it see itself; what is its place? We are a peace-loving state and we want to cooperate with all of our neighbors and with all of our partners. But if anyone thinks that they can come and kill us, that our place is at the cemetery, they should think what consequences such a policy will have for them.
Matthew Chance: You've always enjoyed over your period as president of Russia, and still now, a very close personal relationship with the U.S. President George W. Bush. Do you think that his failure to restrain the Georgian forces on this occasion has damaged that relationship?
Vladimir Putin: This has certainly done damage to our relations, above all government-to-government relations.
But it is not just a matter of the U.S. administration being unable to restrain the Georgian leadership from this criminal action; the U.S. side had in effect armed and trained the Georgian army.
Why spend many years in difficult negotiations to find comprehensive compromise solutions to inter-ethnic conflicts? It is easier to arm one of the parties and push it to kill the other and have it done with. What an easy solution, apparently. In fact, however, that is not always the case.
I have some other thoughts, too. What I am going to say is hypothetical, just some suppositions, and will take time to properly sort out. But I think there is food for thought here.
Even during the years of the Cold War, the intense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States, we always avoided any direct clash between our civilians and, most certainly, between our military.
We have serious reasons to believe that there were U.S. citizens right in the combat zone. If that is the case, if that is confirmed, it is very bad. It is very dangerous; it is misguided policy
But, if that is so, these events could also have a U.S. domestic politics dimension.
If my suppositions are confirmed, then there are grounds to suspect that some people in the United States created this conflict deliberately in order to aggravate the situation and create a competitive advantage for one of the candidates for the U.S. presidency. And if that is the case, this is nothing but the use of the called administrative resource in domestic politics, in the worst possible way, one that leads to bloodshed.
Matthew Chance: These are quite astounding claims, but just to be clear, Mr. Prime Minister, are you suggesting that there were U.S. operatives on the ground assisting Georgian forces, perhaps even provoking a conflict in order to give a presidential candidate in the United States some kind of talking point?
Vladimir Putin: Let me explain.
Matthew Chance: And if you are suggesting that, what evidence do you have?
Vladimir Putin: I have said to you that if the presence of U.S. citizens in the zone of hostilities is confirmed, it would mean only one thing: that they could be there only at the direct instruction of their leaders. And if that is so, it means that in the combat zone there are U.S. citizens who are fulfilling their duties there. They can only do that under orders from their superiors, not on their own initiative.
Ordinary specialists, even if they train military personnel, must do it in training centers or on training grounds rather than in a combat zone.
I repeat: This requires further confirmation. I am quoting to you the reports of our military. Of course, I will seek further evidence from them.
Why are you surprised at my hypothesis, after all? There are problems in the Middle East; reconciliation there is elusive. In Afghanistan, things are not getting any better; what is more, the Taliban have launched a fall offensive, and dozens of NATO servicemen are being killed.
In Iraq, after the euphoria of the first victories, there are problems everywhere, and the number of those killed has reached 4,000.
There are problems in the economy, as we know only too well. There are financial problems, the mortgage crisis. Even we are concerned about it, and we want it to end soon, but it is there.
A little victorious war is needed. And if it doesn't work, then one can lay the blame on us, use us to create an enemy image, and against the backdrop of this kind of jingoism once again rally the country around certain political forces.
I am surprised that you are surprised at what I'm saying. It's as clear as day."
The views expressed in this
article are those of Mike Freeman only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Mike Freeman is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
for the same reason the first orfer of business in Iraq was chackmate the Libertarians there, who were leading the overthrow of Hussein.
The GOP hates freedom and represents military and corporate crooks hiding behind religion. The Dems are the same, but less so.
Putin wanted to put Libertarian books including Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in every Russian school but his CIA backed advisers dissuaded him, pretending they were Libertarians. Do some research and talk to the international libertarians sometime.
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Left: Photograph shows a