Dear friends,
I consider Pepe Escobar not only as an absolutely fantastic journalist, but also as a friend. I have the utmost admiration and respect for Sibel Edmonds.
[UPDATE & Sidebar: I was not aware of Sibel Edmonds’ anti-Russian, anti-Putin and anti-RT nonsense – frankly I had not heard of her in a long time – and today I was made aware of this crap. Oh well, this is very disappointing, of course. I still respect Sibel Edmonds for what she did in the past, as for what she says now – let God be her judge. But yes, this does most definitely put a dent in my support for this project. Thank you for bringing this to my attention and please accept my apologies for being unaware of something that important. The Saker].
And, having looked at what they are proposing, I am wholeheartedly endorsing their project and encourage you all to contribute to their kickstarter campaign. The current media is a disgusting joke, a toxic mix of propaganda and bad entertainment designed to make people stupid, ignorant and passive. Real people-power (I cannot even use the disgraced word “democracy” any more) requires a free and vibrant media and NPR & Co don’t qualify. So, please, let’s help our friend fight the righteous struggle! Please contribute.
The Saker
——-
Message from Pepe Escobar to the readers of Russia Insider:
It’s a great pleasure to address all of you, RI readers, about a new, ambitious, independent multimedia project, Newsbud.
I’m involved in Newsbud after spending almost 15 years at the former Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online, whose brand I represented all across the planet.
Newsbud will depend on you, the reader – as you can see in this short video.
Here is our site, which explains more: http://newsbud.com
No ads. No bought-and-paid-for media. No special interests. No hidden agendas.
Please make a pledge. Our Kickstarter campaign is live now. It’s been successful so far – but we’re still a long way away from our goal.
Be assured that I plan to have top RI writers on board to boost our international coverage. I’m also available to answer all your questions at pepeasia@gmail.com
Many thanks to all – and let’s rock.
– Pepe
Pepe Escobar also falls me very well, he always seemed to me like a good guy. The others I do not know them, but at least they have had the detail of speak slowly, vocalizing well, which tells me that their project is ambitious and they want to reach many people, including those non native English readers. If so, goal achieved, I have understood all of them very well.
The truth is that looks really good, but, unfortunately, I no longer trust anyone in face to make any economic transaction destined to the US.
I wish them good luck and for sure I will visit their site.
I agree that TheSaker should assist the setting up of NewsBud and as a jesture of reciprocity asks to have a support link to TheSakker
Pepe is always interesting to read and listen to. Good luck with this venture.
Must say that I used to like Russia Insider but now do not go there… too many anti-Russian news, too slow to load, too many pop ups and then lately my computer froze every time.
I also stopped reading RI. Don´t understand what they are after? Looks like it´s a disinformation site. And I also experienced slow computer performance in their site. Maybe they want to hook readers to pay that 19 dollars/year, for ad-free version? Very business-oriented thinking. You know what´s one of the most depressing things today? Even the truth is marketed, people try to make money with the truth. But I like Pepe, and definitely going to check this new project. Hope it´s a real thing.
Russia Insider, in addition to publishing a number of high-quality, unbiased articles also functions as an aggregator site of pertinent articles published elsewhere (e.g. The Saker). I find your assessment of RI odd, to say the least. Perhaps you’ve spent very little time there?
I am very pleased to have contributed to the Kickstarter campaign for Newsbud. There is a desperate need for a critical, analytical news source free of the influence of special interests. I have read Mr. Excobar’s work for several years, and listened and watched Sibel Edmonds and James Corbett and several of the other journalists who have signed on to the Newsbud project and am very impressed with their approach and their evident integrity.
I am all for Pepe Escobar. He is a great guy. I am not so sure about Sibel Edmonds anymore, and that’s why my enthusiasm for this project is not so huge.
I used to listen to James Corbett, that is, before I came to the (personal) conclusion that a lot of what he says is just blah blah without real substance. He teamed up with S. Edmonds regularly, don’t know if he still does. They made a very interesting series on Gladio B once. I was quite impressed at the time about all the stuff Ms. Edmonds seemed to know. She is half-Turkish, half Iranian, if I remember correctly.
Unfortunately, I always found her a little bit annoying in her way of talking – she goes on babbling and babbling without saying anything. I have become very suspicious of that style of talking because I tend to think these people are hiding something behind all these words, and that they are not telling the truth. Also, she never lets anyone forget for a minute that she worked for the FBI once, and how she is one of the most famous whistle-blowers.
The thing that finally made me turn away was an interview that James Corbett did with her. I was very surprised to hear her talk about Putin and what a despicable gangster he was. I remember she used the word “scumbag”. That he was a thief who had his billions stashed away, that he had yachts in Cyprus, that he was one of the richest persons in the world and all that. She said that she knew all these things “for a fact”. Of course, I pricked up my ears when I heard that. I was waiting for the details. But they never came. She never cared to present some facts for her assertion. Not only that – she didn’t even present a believable narrative. In fact, no narrative at all.
Many, many people were aghast and asked questions in the comment sections of both Corbett’s and Edmond’s websites after that. They never got any answers…
That was it for me. How can you believe such a person? In retrospect, it made all the things she said about Gladio B a little less credible.
I think it’s kind of unfortunate that Pepe Escobar is so intimately involved in her project. I wonder why he is doing it.
Actually, there is a debate going on Russia-Insider about this very item: http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/dear-russia-insiders-time-hit-newsbud-groove/ri13454
GYP: As a result of your post above, here’s my reply as just posted on Russia Insider.
Glad to see this kind of critical discussion taking place here about Siblel and Corbett. While I trust Pep, and like the idea of another completely independent “alternative” media site coming on stream, I’m not so sure about Sibel and Corbett, at least not any more. I once was an ardent supporter of Edmond’s and made a sizable contribution (for me anyway) and bought her book and respect both her and Corbett for all of their work and the often in-depth analysis and wealth of information that they have provided. However I slowly got more and more turned off by what I would term their personal political perspectives. Which I can only describe as some kind of incoherent mishmash of individualism, libertarianism and intellectual anarchism which implies that the only alternative one has of dealing with a corrupt political system, is to try and escape it entirely by moving back into the wilderness somewhere, build a hut, get a goat and plant some vegetables and form some kind of “alternative” community. Which is fine until the state apparatus decides to shut you down or your wiped out when the entire planet is set ablaze in a nuclear holocaust. Anyway I stopped regularly listening to them more out of tediousness than anything else. So I missed hearing what’s described here as their “Putin bashing” which would really have raised my blood pressure and ire, but I can see it coming from them given their skepticism of any kind of political systems and their cynical attitudes towards political leaders of any stripe. I can only hope that the criticisms aired on this site somehow get back to them. Having said that I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water either, and given the dearth of independent alternative media sources and the fact that Pep alone is worth his own weight in gold, he’s worth supporting. Maybe he’ll bring some new life and blood in, such as Saker and Paul Roberts and have some positive impact on Edmond’s and Corbett’s views. Whatever the case I think that if for nothing elst but Pep Escobar alone and all what he’ll have to offer, Newsbud is still well worth our startup financial support and being given a fighting chance, particularly given the dearth of real alternative voices currently available on the internet.
Estimating the wealth of the politically prominent is a frivolous game that amuses the highest (Forbes) to the lowest (. . . hmmmm . . . well, Forbes).
Castro, who owns some track suits and trainers, is ranked as one of the world’s richest on the theory that in communist governments the head of state owns all public property.
I recently read one on Putin that include in his net wealth “*access* to 23 airplanes.” I have access to many more than 23 airplanes. What’s wrong with Putin? Probably estimates for Putin on the high end include an exceptionally high valuation for the Kremlin.
Anyone who plays this silly game with vital subjects is cynical, shameless and to be scratched from reliable sources lists.
Well, yesterday I just saw this post before going to bed, and made my comment only placing my faith in Pepe Escobar.
But, after that, I went to the Kikcstarter page where they are explaining their project, and, without having never heard about this Sibel Edmonds, her story seemed to me enough suspicious.
Perhaps I misunderstood, but I understand that she is Iranian and her family was having problems with the secret police of the Shah ( why? They do not tell ). Then, the Islamic Revolution happened, and they decided to leave the country. Knowing English, Turkish. Farsi and Azeri, she could not think of anything else than to emigrate to US, precisely the country which supported the Shah. Well, let´s go to believe that she liked the American way of life ( at this point, already, accepting ship as aquatic animal ), but knowing 4 languages, some rare, she could have worked in the UN, but not, she goes straight to the FBI!
Another thing I do not understand is what is the information she has leaked that makes her a whistleblower, and not only but, besides, the Champion of Whistleblowers, and not only that, but, presides the National Security Whistleblowers Association. But, can you have an association of whistleblowers in the US with the Patriot Act in force? In any case, they would be in another country….!
I, certainly, if a serious whistleblower, I would not be a member of this association.
I have a question from long ago, that would think of any four year old girl, and do not let me live, and is, why some whistleblowers like Snowden or Assange or in other field Falciani, can not live in their own country and can not lead a normal life almost nowhere in the West to risk of being arrested or eliminated, and others, like this Sibel Edmonds, who worked for the FBI, or the other, Catherine Austin Fits, who worked for the Bush administration, they can lead a normal life and even succesfully doing business in the US.
As I see it, and after reading some reports, some posted here about European Intelligence Services, the biggest concern for them right now is the “organized resistance” in the network, which they believe paid by the Russians. As such, its objective is to identify the largest number of people in this so called “resistance”. What better way to fight this than to get into the new business of alternative media, where in addition to capture subscribers/donors to draw up lists of alleged dissidents, occasionally, as if they do not want the thing, put items of misinformation or that favor their own agenda.
I do not know, but, I would give it a thought.
Can’t stand Gessen, nor her brother.
I have already ranted about them, I am sure, elsewhere on this blog. When the whole Ukraine mess started, they were getting teh whole podium to themselves because they spoke Russian, maybe even Ukrainian, so everything they said was taken as Gospel and no axes being ground. She also wrote a very sly piece in the London Review of Books on Orban making the dodgy syllogisms nationalism > racism > nazism. Which is kind of funny considering that the same pair were hailing the democratic revolution in . . . Ukraine. Ugh. A pox on both of them
So, they are paying her to write for The Intercept?
The idea that something is funded by a billionaire doesn’t ruin it for me ipso facto. I mean, billionaires are where a lot of the money is (cf. “why do you rob banks?”).
I have heard various things bout Omidyar but can’t remember any of them.
Still, I was wondering about the AIMS of the outfits. We already have quite a few alternative news sources, and they all need funds. To waht extent is this kickstarter a plan to get paychecks for a few journalists. Nothing against pay checks for journalists, but . . . isn’t that basically what Omidyar is doing with Greenwald? Paying him so he is free to write what he wants? I don’t think it makes sense to tar Greenwald with Gessen’s brush. Each writer is responsible for his/her own writings.
Still, I’m not sure what The Intercept is as a concept.
I think i would be a good idea for someone to get a Kickstarter project going which would be a group of good translators paid to translate into English the good Russian talk/discussion shows (I am thinking of the guy —is it Solonyev or something like that? he interviewed Putin–with the Sunday EVening show), foreign-language editorials (from Latin America, Cuba, Africa, China, Russia, Europe), analysis, op-eds, etc. so that we ignorant Americans could learn more of what the world is thinking. Not to mention relevant blogs—I assume that a lot of the translating is done by volunteers. Why not generate funds to pay them?
Katherine
I find it very pertinent that Sibel Edmonds was in a fierce shouting match with Glenn Greenwald over his integrity back in 2013:
http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2013/12/11/bfp-breaking-news-omidyars-paypal-corporation-said-to-be-implicated-in-withheld-nsa-documents/
The fight got intensely personal with this video:
Glenn Greenwald, NSA Documents & Checkbook Journalism – BFP Roundtable #02
I certainly sided with Edmonds back then. I’m still highly skeptical towards Snowden leaking the NSA documents considering it ostensibly a psyop.
Greenwald is a classic limousine liberal, like most wealthy -or at least comfortable – Anglo-American gay men.
His causes are cherry-picked and never going to result in socio-economic/political changes that might impact on his lifestyle. I would classify him as a ‘gatekeeper’ for the international plutocracy: he gets a paycheck from one.
So Edmonds gets some kudos for that.
I don’t know a lot about her – only an occasional visitor to Boiling Frog – but its possible she misunderstood Putin and the Russian context due to ignorance. An ignorance she is now too embarrassed to admit to.
Or else she has been stewing in the liberal juices too long to realise it is leading to fascism, not freedom.
She has been spruiking this sort of libellous insulting trash for some time now Eimar. That video that Lee kindly made available for us was filmed on Dec 22nd last year. She was lumping Russia in with what she called generalised vilification of Erdogan after the Turkey shoot down of a Russian Jet on legal business, and the murder of it’s pilot. To then accuse Russia of “vilification” of the man who had to know, had to have given the order for this, is beyond the pale. I cannot accept that she just “misunderstood Putin” as you put it. She can’t be that stupid. Indications are she knows what she is doing, and is doing it with intent.
Her life story of migration, is a well rehearsed storyline in the Iranian diaspora. They don’t want to be associated with the previous not current regime and want to be able to benefit from the materialistic fruits in America. What better way for a little girl to fit in.
I knew of a young lady who thought her father was helping persecuted people escape by providing them with passports. Apparently he was doing this for years and eventually was caught. Knowing how the system worked in Iran, in all likelihood he was selling passports on the black market for the wealthier Iranians to be able to send their draft dodging sons abroad and they caught the guy for fraud. He got only a light prison sentence, which leads me to believe that he had enough financial resources to bribe his way out. The lady feels like having a hero as father not a common criminal at worst or a financial opportunist at best.
Sometime the explanations are more mundane than one thinks.
Regarding the treatment of whistle blowers, President Hopey Changey Obama’s behavior has been steadily escalated. Each new generation is learning the bitter reality of “Sovietization” of US of A and adopting, thus taking more draconian attempts to escape the reach of “1984/Brave New World”.
As a last point, who cares that they want to map the resistance. The whole point is to stand up and be counted.
“As a last point, who cares that they want to map the resistance. The whole point is to stand up and be counted.
Good attempt to clean up the image of Sibel but will not wash with me.
And, surely, you do not give a damn for being located in the map as resistance because being so comprehensive with that story you are telling, you, for sure, are not.
In other parts of the world, where we have never suffered a “sovietization” ( we would have liked for to vary ) but yes a dictatorship, we are concerned enough to be included in the map of resistance because we know how ends people when dissimulation is over and fascism removes its mask.
Have you ever heard of the hundreds of thousands buried in ditches in Spain at dawn and who have not yet been unearthed, have you heard of those young who officially committed suicide by jumping out of a window in a commissary, or of those who were buried in quicklime to leave no delator trace, have you ever heard of Victor Jara or of nearly a generation of left wing people who was wiped out in Latin America, did you know that some were thrown from planes over the ocean to make them disappear and that after that even were robbed their own children?
Tell me if you want one of cowboys and Indians, but do not give me more gibberish.
I, knowing how dangerous this is, and not precisely for Sibel ( she is seen with great looks, not Snowden when I saw him the other day in an interview, he looked like he had aged 10 years, have you noticed his eyes?) I insist, and strongly recommend not sending any bank transference to any alternative media in the network.
*Snowden in his first appearances.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Edward_Snowden-2.jpg
*Snowden today:
http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/151/590x/secondary/Ed-Snowden-355486.jpg
If you believe any one of James Corbett, Pepe Escobar or Sibel Edmonds are legitimate citizen journalists, truthers, or whatever your preferred terminology, please listen to all three interviews I’ve linked below.
Do not bark at me in support of these controlled opposition flunkies until you have listened to the podcasts below. If you are not too busy, or too lazy, I promise you will be shocked and will not be sending money in support of wrecking-ball Sibel Edmonds’ Huffington-Huffpost wet dreams.
You can not fix the world by sending money. Be very, very careful whom you contribute to and insist they provide you with something in return, as Saker blog does by giving voice to oppositionally defiant “submarines in the desert.”
“Submarines in the desert” (as my deepest gratitude to you)
http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.ca/2014/11/submarines-in-desert-as-my-deepest.html
Always remember the primary mandate of the CIA is controlling what you think. Through its many tentacles in media, including 99% of alt media, the CIA and affiliated institutions like Tavistock, manufacture every aspect of our culture.
Sibel, James and Pepe are agents of this process.
Alt media readers, independent thinkers, who have generally rejected old style media to the degree of their awareness, are the most critical demographic for controling the acceptible range of opinion within consensus unreality.
We are a pole.
Others, pure liberal-zionists, will do or think as they are told but Sakerites are a rock of spiritual and emotional truth. We sit on the most important contested ground, in the belly of the Imperial Beast.
Is it acceptable to call Hezbollah a heroic organization struggling for the cause of its people? Such questions are tested here daily amongst a self selected group of smart and critically minded people.
Officially my government considers them terrorists, which I know is a lie. When I denounce their lie I draw a line in the sand, in the information battlespace, concerning what can be claimed as unquestionably true. The most important battle today concerns whether or not Vladimir Putin is “in on the fix” with anglozionists. The answer to this question governs the outcome of the most hotly contested ground of our perceptions. If the answer is ‘Yes,’ Putin and Russia can only be unworthy of our respect and admiration.
If you decide it is true, you must know it is only from the zionist perspective of relative morality. Any ‘logical’ person who admits this can only conclude Russia and Syria can be safely abandoned. This is a perfect example of the zionist mind trick — perfectly identical to the Jedi mind trick — which Pepe, James and Sibel use to such devastating effect.
They will tell you what to think and you will listen because they are ‘credible.’
As to one of our subjects, the #1 pied piper of alt media, Pepe Escobar just wrote an article where he claims Putin has secretly agreed to the creation of a “Sunnistan” in western Syria.
Is There a US-Russia Grand Bargain in Syria?
http://sputniknews.com/columnists/20160317/1036477086/us-russia-syria-bargain.html
Reading it, if you do not yet understand the function and purpose of ‘trusted’ alt media journos like Pepe Escobar, you definitely will after listening to him do everything he can to distract from CIA and Turk MIT destabilization operations in western China, in the podcast linked below. I’ve noticed Pepe consistently makes his carefully calibrated disinfo leaks at moments of crisis or during tense negotiations. Turn up your pattern recognition software and will see it time and again.
The zionists must have you believe Putin is as cynical as are they. This question represents the Stalingrad of today’s information battlespace. If we cede this ground, even if it is 100% true, we will lose the war because this is our only solid ground of spiritual resistance, of Russianess, Rodina and the unrepresented global Third Estate.
As long as Russia is strong, AngloZIonist elites are hampered. All of us have an interest in supporting Russia, the opposite of Zion, if we mean to represent ourselves against parasitic break-away elites.
Without Russia we are toast.
The CIA are culture makers in the Anglosphere and therefore masters of globalist unreality, the zionist culture of the intra-planetary system (no kidding).
Sibel, James and Pepe promise the future. All three will generally reflect our opinions until their masonic and deep state hegelian ‘spirit’ guides decide it’s time to move our pole to another location. This is their primary function.
In the first podcast (1120) Sibel and James do their very best to deepen and exploit Russophobic sentiments within alt media.
In the second podcast (879) Pepe explains the sewing of terorism by the CIA in Xinxiang is …”bullshit.”
Be assured, the CIA plus Turk MIT have been recruitng and training Uighur jihadis for quite some time.
In the third podcast (873), Corbett gives platform to former US army Captain Roman Skaskiw, currently residing in West Ukraine Lviv, without telling you about his military backround. It is a stunning ommision considering US regime change operations then underway. You will never look at Corbett in the same way after you listen to this banderist propaganda freakshow.
It’s too funny how the CIA always wants you to pay for their propaganda. Paying for your daily dose of lies, generously mixed with mountains of good information for well informed people such as ourselves, demonstrates commitment and strengthens the bond between liars and ly-ees.
Interview 1120 – Sibel Edmonds Explains The Erdogan Takedown
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1120-sibel-edmonds-explains-the-erdogan-takedown/
Interview 879 – Pepe Escobar Breaks Down China’s Uyghur Problem
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-879-pepe-escobar-breaks-down-chinas-uyghur-problem/
Interview 873 – Roman Skaskiw Gives the Ukrainian Perspective on the Ukraine Crisis
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-873-roman-skaskiw-gives-the-ukrainian-perspective-on-the-ukraine-crisis/
Thankyou for this and links C I eh?
It’s been my own view – after carful examination free of emotion, and analysis, for many months now. I used to contribute a tiny amount to Corbett. I withdrew and never frequented his site after I realised what he is. He and Edmonds. I never knew about Escobar – I had assumed he was “one of the good guys’.
My concern with this new site, is that it will use his reputation to establish itself as worth listening to When it fact it is a troll site.” mod PS
Wow! Thank you C I eh!
I knew about Corbett and Edmonds but was totaly clueless about Escobar. In the Corbett Report:
https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-879-pepe-escobar-breaks-down-chinas-uyghur-problem/
“Pepe explains the sewing of terorism by the CIA in Xinxiang is …”bullshit.”. This knowledge” appears to be completely based on the “fact” that no CIA agents could be Han?
Wow!
I think the Ughars can come and go across the borders a bit, but from what I could find, an ethnic group further north further north were dabbling in wahhabi.
Escobar is solid.
What other ethnic group would that be?
Thanks. But why Saker doesn´t notice these obvious black-propaganda issues? He says that he has “the utmost admiration and respect for Sibel Edmonds.” There´s the danger that Vineyard of the Saker will gradually change it´s nature and will be a part of the “official” alt-media. A bit like punk-scene was very rapidly swallowed by mainstream music-business in late 70´s. If you don´t know your real enemy you have no chances to survive.
I have noticed a big difference between ex US “intelligence” types and others. This Edmonds is ex FBI, translator apparently, but same as others of her type, will call out the crap that the US is doing but still has the typical US intelligence mindset that other countries are basically bad.
“It’s too funny how the CIA always wants you to pay for their propaganda….
Not funny at all, they want you paying as a mean to catch you, you…. and your economic data…. bank account number and the like.
Never heard about removing one person from life removing access to their funds?
Yes, you may remember this happens in films, but, films are increasingly real and even more.
Did you know that they are planning supressing cash?
And that then they will be able to control/remove you?
It is silly to pay people who have unlimited funds in their war against dissent, i.e against YOU!
Give it a thought.
For you to know that I am not talking about movies, see this interesting report published in Katehon.com some days ago:
“Negative rates: heading towards a global economic collapse”:
http://katehon.com/article/negative-rates-heading-towards-global-economic-collapse
“(….)The emergence of such phenomena as negative interest rates, which, in principle, is not inherent in the capitalist system, is evidence of the crisis. The model of financial and economic domination, which was constructed by banks during the previous several hundred years, is falling. As a result, they will be forced to move to new, more aggressive forms of exploitation, using political and military institutions, including private ones, and brutal force. At the same time, elite groups offer different options for a solution to the coming world crisis: from the complete abolition of cash, which will lead to the full virtualization of the economy and a post-apocalyptic reality like the “Matrix” (where everyone is dependent on the global virtual emission centers, and disobedience to the system would mean certain death) to the introduction of a global gold standard. The author of the “death of money” concept, American economist James Rickards, supports this idea. In particular, he proposes to create a global IMF currency with gold backing. It is significant that the Rothschilds, who control the IMF according to a number of independent analysts, also control most of the world’s gold. It means they are prepared for global collapse.”
I do not know if anyone else see this linked to the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Europe that will result in the application of state of emergency first and state of siege later, for the citizenship, as they take over any euro / dollar in banks and ration it us to their taste, depending on how we behave.
Not only they will prevent you from accessing your money, but, if you do not behave according to established canons, your freedom of movement will be very limited. For now, already, travel is becoming something impossible, at least in Europe, soon, except the most audacious, where I include myself, travel will be a thing “between Orfidal and Waldorf Hysteria”.
“1995 – The Net – “
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46qKHq7REI4
Re C I eh:
Something about this project gives me a funny feeling. Not only the need to use social media such as Facebook (my new term: Facial media) to access, but also the lack of any real explanation (that I could find; maybe my fault, as I am a dinosaur) as to what they are really up to, aside from a list of journalists, most of whom I hadn’t heard of (again, probably my fault for not spending enuff time online reading . . .). Alos, to be petty, I am not very enthusiastic about their name and logo. It doesn’t describe what they are but can mean anything. The flower thing is ridiculous. Sorry. Someone’s wet dream?
Just saw my email feed from Consortium news. Robert Parry and I think his son and Chris Hedges and others at Consortium have been on the beat for years. One may not agree with everything they write or focus on (although I do have a very high degree of trust in Chris Hedges), but I think they have proved themselves. Also, Greg Palast, who I think rarely gets a mention in this blog. He cannot even get published in this country! That is how much the powers that be hate him. Perhaps there are those who can provide damning background on him or something, in which case of course all such perspectives can be aired here.
Actually, I misspoke there regarding “no explanation”: I started to watch the video and found that I could not watch/listen to Sibel Edmonds. But they should not have led with her, going on and on “mansplaining” what has occurred with the media, done by a woman. (Usage heads-up: “I have led,” not “I have LEAD.”) I suppose her explanations are aimed toward a different audience from the one that normally frequents this blog. Still, petty again, the constant head wagging should be fixed if she is to become a prominent commentator.
I kind of agree with those who take the 911 position as a type of lodestone or is that -star regarding willingness to challenge the facade narrative. AT the same time, I don’t discount everything Chomsky says because he has not taken on this 911 Ur-puzzle. Actually, I consider the JFK assassination the Ur-puzzle.
For now I’ll sit out “Newsbud” and send extra shekels to those whom I consider to be loyal, tried, and true.
Katherine
Man are you prolific on that smart phone of yours, CI, eh?!!
I have been 2-3 days behind you since last night’s posting on the http://thesaker.is/week-twenty-two-of-the-russian-military-intervention-in-syria-putin-announces-new-strategy/ lengthy thread between you, Peter AU Katherine and others. ( p, I answer your comment over there……as well as Anonymous comment on my comment, with his or her question: “I do not understand why you have limited this to “Western” individuals?” …………….., but I will sit through the links you have provided of Pepe E, Sybil E and James C. even though I already know each of them, somewhat.
Before those viewings are completed and I fall 48 hours behind, again, please allow me to observe the following, before I again join the party after nearly everyone has moved on to another venue:
In my judgment “the mountain” of global power and influence starts out steep enough for the vast majority of mankind to bow out after a few steps in the upward direction. They quickly resolve out of pure littleness of spirit, expressed as laziness, cowardice, and feigned stupidity (they are not as stupid as they look, IMHO, but they are scared sh*tless, every bit as much of the WORK required, as they are of the danger….) to not “Go There” (As in “I don’t “go there” in baby-boomer post 1960’s drug trauma “bad trip” parlance.)
Once to a certain height, slow steady plodders like myself start to enjoy the view and the rarified, clean air. And we feel a certain pride and self sufficiency in what is for the most part a solitary trek. We feel a natural sort of superiority over those many lowlanders who will not ascend, and perhaps some admiration of some others like the cited Pepe Escobar, Sybil Edmonds and James Corbett who have done far more climbing and reached higher lookout points and plateaus than we steady plodders have. So far, so good.
Soon enough, we notice that this metaphorical mountain I am describing gets continually steeper, the higher you go! Damn! What if it goes vertical on us, or near vertical! What then?? Talk about the proverbial “Slippery Slope”!!! Thinking ahead, How maintain your resolve to ascend, your energy, your spirit, your legs, your lungs, and especially your footing????
Then come the casualties. You pass a few on the ascent that once went higher, but are now dead and frozen in place, to go no higher , or rotten in body or in spirit, from a fall from much higher up than mountain than you have yet reached. Slippery Slope indeed!! Never underestimate its rate of increase of verticalness of slope.
Now, what about the enemy of humanity and Universal Consciousness (God for the religious ones …..though I am not one of you, I try to understand you…….)??? What about the NWO satanic elites that have ascended so high that they style themselves as “born to rule” and “prove” it by their superior Darwinian “fitness to survive” (ie evil lack of True Care, or Love???)
Well, in my metaphorical view of the matter, they have fallen into a crevice short of the summit but high enough where they can see just about 99.9999% of all those attempting the ascent, and they sure as HELL (pun intended) have no intention of allowing any of those “hikers” to pass them up, much less break their control over humanity. Preserving that Power and Control is all they have left, besides the Ancient Hope that some day, someone in their hereditary line will be reincarnated without the spiritual defects they 100% KNOW they have. See my first extensive comment on these NWO psychopaths in the 15th comment to the Feb 26th post http://thesaker.is/is-there-a-crack-in-the-dam-holding-back-the-truth-on-syria/ Sorry, I don’t know how to lead you direct to that comment. Scroll down please. Especially EAGLE, who said “Please!” to my promise to return to more “On the occult controllers, later”.
If I were among these satanic controllers, for sure I would keep an eye out on the mountain, and pay particular attention to the ascent of any particularly energetic, intelligent climbers, profile them as extensively as I possibly could, and try to pry my way into their consciousnesses and take them over or spiritually assassinate or enslave them.
I also like Pepe, but I have detected weaknesses in his his intellectual, cultural, and philosophical armor. Watch your back, Pepe.
Corbett did very good work on MH 17 and his 5 minute short on 911 is great for neophytes beginning to wake up, but I think He needs to wake up and smell the coffee on the elites and how they have burrowed their way into his psyche. Same with Sybil. You think all of the above have not been targetted for occult spiritual warfare by the enemy? Then you are a naive child. You think Saker won’t be, if he hasn’t been targeted already? Ditto. You think you won’t be if you get half as influential as any of the above? Ditto, again,
It’s a Slippery Slope my friends, and all the slipperier the higher you go. If Satan tempted He of reputed Christ Consciousness, what chance do those of us below that level of enlightenment have of avoiding his visits, unless we are too insignificant to merit a personal visit or two???
Thank you Brother Anon for your excellent comments. You understand the metaphysics of my argument better than me!
I’m mostly unfamiliar with numerology but I understand the ritual of 9/11 failed. We can lasso those socio-rat bastards standing over us on the hill.
We need to press our advantage to finally generate the thought wave that breaks our spiritual fever.
And we will.
Well, here it is again, past my bedtime, and I have not been able to complete all of the links you provided, CI, eh?, and Sybil is driving me batty with her blather.
Numbers?? What has really been right up my alley for 35+ years is the classical stuff. Kurt Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem and Georg Cantor’s Transfinite Numbers (basically an infinite, ordered series of distinct Infinities of ever increasing cardinality…. the closest thing to the idea of God that has ever come to me from any intellectual investigation……)
The idea of “numerology” always struck me as nonsensical, until about two months ago. This is a prejudice of the last 200 years or so. Prior to that, numbers held metaphorical and allegorical meaning throughout entire societies, on many levels, from ordinary popular understanding all the way into Christianity, Judaism, freemasonry, Kabalah and the rest of ancient mystery religion expressions into the first and 2nd millenia A.D. then mostly disappearing from ordinary society after 1800, but remaining in the “hidden knowledge” of secret societies, etc.continuously. And the damned numbers have a sort of subliminal effect the unwary are almost completely unconscious of. And the manipulators know that.
By the way, the idea that looking at any of this stuff is dangerous and “negative”, because knowledge of it will just feed it more, is pure “New Age” bullshit that affects most people in current society, even those that claim to despise “New Age” nonsense. Because that nonsense is all around us, it is very hard for most to be unaffected by it.
Your courage is infectious.That is the most precious commodity. To know and not act is not to know. Therefore courage, the ticket to Action, is the rare catalyst without which new knowledge quickly loses its potential energy and goes flat, so to speak, reverting to ignorance. It’s got a short shelf life. Use it or lose it.
Thanks for your reply!
I’ve done a cosmology that is based on transfinite numbers. Take a look at it if you will and contact me if you want to discuss it. I’ve termed it Holotropic homosexuality
Halvor I have no idea from your links what they might have to do with Georg Cantor’s Tranfinite Numbers, but I did spend some time exploring them, primarily to exercise my capacity to not be so left-brain rigidly skeptical as to never grow in increasing awareness of anything other than what I already know or like. This despite the fact that I have zero desire to love men or boys sexually, so that second word in your link only caused the investment of my time despite itself, due to a kind of WTF??? reaction to defend Georg Cantor from whatever you might seem to be cooking up here!!
I went so far as to mostly read the essay “Sex Economy” A Theory of Living Functioning by Dr Carl Arnold, and scanned all that I didn’t slowly read. Your grandfather Ola and his professional (pschotherapy) relationship to William Reich and Sigmund Freud was more interesting than I supposed it would be, but in terms of the Transfinite, and the infinite expressions of such abstract numbers in the physical domain, including the sexual domain, there seem to me to be infinitely more interesting and beautiful possibilities with the female form, mind and spirit than doing anything at all to do with matching my or any other man’s pudendum with any other male’s posterior. In that regard, I am far more aligned with your fellow Scandinavian frequent commenter on this blog, whose pseudonym starts with N, and who resides in Sweden, he says.
Yet, I have two sons who I love very much, and for some reason, until very recently (until the older got too big) I deliberately decided they should experience a lot of skin and muscle sensuality, of a male rough-housing sort, to tide them over til puberty and their first kiss with a girlfriend. The final treat, after considerable wrestling (after catching the rascals attacking me with their little punches, and verbal taunts, as I reclined resting near bedtime, I innovated as the super-sensual (non-sexual, though) near nightly (as it was frequently demanded….) “Silly Enchilada”: I would finally get off the King-sized bed and place the two little pugilists together, squealing with anticipation, on one edge of the down comforter, then roll them up, very roughly, into the silliest enchilada ever, that screamed and squealed louder and louder, as I roughly manhandled it, rolling over it with my 230 lbs, finding soft spots to crush with my forearms or probe with my elbows, and finally roll the whole silly business off the edge of the bed with both of them screaming and yelling with delight, muffled by the comforter “tortilla” and then ending, by falling on top of one another onto the floor, finally, after a few close calls balanced on the edge of the bed, yelling in feigned terror.
This “enchilada” experience seemed to release a lot of tensions and lead to soundly sleeping boys, not long after. At that stage in their lives, I called them “the Cossacks”.
And that’s as sensual as I am ever likely to get with any male of the species!!!!!
Thank you for your reply, especially for your suggestions on how to better accomodate those of us who can’t hang out in the vineyard 24/7!
I’m pleased that you were able to absorb as much of what I shared that you have.
I’ll challenge you still to venture beyond your visceral discomfort at the thought of male homosexual practice, to consider intellectually and philosophically the concept of homosexuality as it relates to the essence of sexuality, and as a pre-requisite for general capacity for both autosexuality and allosexuality. In correspondence with the term suspension of disbelief I suggest the emotional-intellectual analog suspension of disgust inasmuch as this prevents intellectual probing and contemplation of the principles involved.
When you will have absorbed and integrated the true function of the sexual energy upon having studied available texts on Sex Economy, and the correlative function of allosexuality beyond the special, limited function in reproduction, you will have realized how its main purpose is related to bringing the organism to a higher energy level, and by inference modes of living functioning eclipsing those modes that are available to the human being at lower energy amplitudes.
Oops, I am being logged off now. I am preparing an elaborative text that I hope will show you more clearly what I mean: https://www.boywiki.org/en/User:Meco/Cosmology_and_cosmogeny
Wasn’t too sure if the link was to an elaborate skit or a quasi-intellectual manifesto for some vaguely non -Socratic priapic cult.
I think the latter.
So H, what’s your take on NAMBLA?
Would you also like to see maturation removed from social/legal control?
You can find an answer to that at the section My position towards the BL community and its activists in particular at the same wiki site.
Also, if you are unable to distinguish a holistic theology from “some vaguely non -Socratic priapic cult” (I’m completely lost as to where the priapic got into the mix, except if you rightly recognized the analogy to the masculine principle as poetically captured in the term phallogocentrism – but then again, why would you then disparage it by using the ominous cult label)
I think that if you read what is written and don’t project all sorts of associations into it, even the maturation issue should rightly appear as a straw man related to my words.
I find myself very much in the same situation in which Brother Anon describes himself, being constantly 48 hours lagging behind the peak of the discussion. Too bad the comments software doesn’t allow for subscribing to discussions and receiving notifications when someone responds to your comment. That functionality would heighten the quality of discussions considerably (and considering the already very high quality here at The Saker’s blog, this would be just awesome…).
With reference to the third podcast you mention, I would like to point out that it was made in January 2014. Given that Maidan only truly heated up the following month, the due diligence onus bearing on Corbett would seem a lot lighter than had it been made a couple of months later. Besides, I searched the Corbett Report website to see how much he has been covering Ukraine, and from what I can gather James Corbett’s pretty much neglected this subject altogether. His last article with the tag ‘Ukraine’ is more than one year old! Of course it’s egregrious that he should be so neglectful about such an important subject, but that goes to evidence ignorance rather than malevolence.
Only one reason why I don’t like RI is because to write a post you must log in through American social media like Google, Tweeter, FB… This way what we have in The Saker blog is the best in the world and one day all e-news papers and blogs will have to introduce it.
Crazy Natoist: For your information… RI has an option button to skip “log in” altogether which I just used to directly post my comments above.
Yes, there is the option to post as a guest, but, anyway, they ask for your email account to do it.
So, not so anonymous.
I am suspicious of any outfit that asks one to log in via Google or Facebook.
Just now I wanted to ask a question about the Escobar-Edmonds thing, namely: How does it differ from or relate to The Intercept? And in order to ask my question I had to log in via Facebook or Google! Sh—-t. Bummer. Really brought me down. Because I do not trust either one. I guess this is how Kickstarter is managed. I was naive enough to think that my little question would go straight to real people!!!
I do have some kind of Google account because once I wanted to make a complimentary comment to a fellow singing the best version of “Ae Fond Kiss,” (here it is in case you are interested—absolutely lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTYLXIhamEI )
and so I made up something in order to compliment the performer. Next thing I knew the “handle” that I had made up started showing up all over the place (like in teh in-box of an acquaintance to then started to call me by this handle). Even so, on the few times that I have had to try to use to Google to log in to something, it hasn’t worked!! So, the whole Google/Facebook thing is a big drag. One of our local papers, you have to have a FB account in order to leave a comment. The other one, you just make your comment and go on your way. I suspect the quality of the comments in the two papers might reflect this.
Anyhow, it might be worth nvesting in a subscription, just to see how this goes. Although I don’t think alternative media generally can afford a failure. Meanwhile, I an dmillions of others have been relying on ICH for years, and they get embarrassingly little support. I have a “subscription” to ICH in that I make a $10 donation every month via automatic payment from my credit. My gut feeling is: Start supporting the guy who has been there for years (and also The Saker) and then send som $$$ to the new venture. Because whatever the fate of the new venture, I bet relatively low-tech and highly idealistic ICH will still be there as a good source of news and commentary (my only problem with ICH being that none of the links within comments work for me anymore and I cannot make any comments there). If all of the people who rely on them and get their email feed kickein what they should.
Katherine
Katherine, Intercept is financed by a billionaire called Pierre Omidyar. The other sites are financed by readers’ donation.
I used to like reading Intercept but then they started featuring Masha Gessen, a Russian-jewish lesbian with really wierd anti-putin pro-gay rights articles. Put me off the whole site…
Can’t stand Gessen, nor her brother.
I have already ranted about them, I am sure, elsewhere on this blog. When the whole Ukraine mess started, they were getting teh whole podium to themselves because they spoke Russian, maybe even Ukrainian, so everything they said was taken as Gospel and no axes being ground. She also wrote a very sly piece in the London Review of Books on Orban making the dodgy syllogisms nationalism > racism > nazism. Which is kind of funny considering that the same pair were hailing the democratic revolution in . . . Ukraine. Ugh. A pox on both of them
So, they are paying her to write for The Intercept?
The idea that something is funded by a billionaire doesn’t ruin it for me ipso facto. I mean, billionaires are where a lot of the money is (cf. “why do you rob banks?”).
I have heard various things bout Omidyar but can’t remember any of them.
Still, I was wondering about the AIMS of the outfits. We already have quite a few alternative news sources, and they all need funds. To waht extent is this kickstarter a plan to get paychecks for a few journalists. Nothing against pay checks for journalists, but . . . isn’t that basically what Omidyar is doing with Greenwald? Paying him so he is free to write what he wants? I don’t think it makes sense to tar Greenwald with Gessen’s brush. Each writer is responsible for his/her own writings.
Still, I’m not sure what The Intercept is as a concept.
I think i would be a good idea for someone to get a Kickstarter project going which would be a group of good translators paid to translate into English the good Russian talk/discussion shows (I am thinking of the guy —is it Solonyev or something like that? he interviewed Putin–with the Sunday EVening show), foreign-language editorials (from Latin America, Cuba, Africa, China, Russia, Europe), analysis, op-eds, etc. so that we ignorant Americans could learn more of what the world is thinking. Not to mention relevant blogs—I assume that a lot of the translating is done by volunteers. Why not generate funds to pay them?
Katherine
Katherine, please read up on Pierre and family and his “businesses.” In essence he bought the “Snowden files” when he bought Greenwald. Snowden went to Greenwald and Poitras, who went to The Guardian and the NYT for “filtering” help, and then somehow the NYT and Guardian were out and a new “filter,” First Look Media (The Intercept), was quite suddenly founded by Omidyar. His Wiki biography is odd — enjoy.
@GRandma:
Just read this very revealing article by Ken Silverstein about what he experienced while trying to work for First Look/The Intercept and also the project that matt Taibbi was going to head:
“Where Jouralism Goes to Die,”
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/ken-silverstein-the-intercept-115586
The Omidyar project sounds ilke a debacle that entangled Glenn Greenwald. Or perhaps not, but The Intercept doesn’t seem to be much of a presence in the corners of the web that I frequent. Which may mean nothing at all. But Silverstein’s account sounds like a warning to be very careful about milloinaires and billionaires funding journalism. What amazes me is that there doesn’t seem to have been any kind of real business plan. And this seems also to be the case with the Pepe–Sibel deal. Has anyone thought things through?? If Pepe thinks so highly of Sibel, is he publishing articles on her website?
ANyhow, the Silverstein story is worth a read and food for thought.
Katherine
The litmus test for any news source for many truthers is 911. Nevertheless I check headlines at RT and Press TV knowing much is depressed. 311, Fukushima and nuclear state of affairs generally, are important also to me. It used to be that Corbet greatly minimized Japan radiation concerns. Many tru there avoid this deiscouraging topic. So much divisive behavior in all of this. I guess it speaks to a need to find common ground and speak about controversial alternative views with respect and an open mind.
Saker, you have the utmost admiration and respect for Sibel Edmonds??? You should check this: http://nonalignedmedia.com/2015/12/corbett-and-edmonds-call-out-pro-russian-blowhards-in-alt-media/. Are you losing your grip on reality? And what on earth is Pepe Escobar thinking when he sides with people like this? One thing is clear, I´m not going to support this project.
I was not aware of her nonsense about Russia. Oh well, I still admire her for what she did in the USA. As for the rest, I flush my mental toilet. Cheers, The Saker
What she did in USA and for whom? Must be something really valuable if it justifies such a nonsense.
I think that most of us would agree that Pepe Escobar does excellent work but I wouldn’t give Sibel Edmonds the time of day!
A month or two ago Paul Craig Roberts gave a link to a Corbett Report in which Edmonds went into a rant verbally trashing PCR, especially PCR, and RT, yes RT, not a typo. Corbett just said stuff like “uh huh”. He didn’t say anything to question her at all. Considering the times that PCR has boosted Corbett’s ratings by giving him free interviews, Corbett couldn’t find one word to defend PCR.
I can’t find the link right now, either on the PCR or Corbett Report sites but if anyone has it or just remember the incident please confirmthis. I might have been more than 2 months ago.
Thank you.
A few minutes ago I posted here and referred to a link posted By PCR about Sibel Edmonds.
Presstitute Ranks Expand
By: pcr3|23 December, 2015
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/12/
“…the ranks of Washington’s presstitute propagandists include Sybil Edmonds…”
Ms. Edmonds’ rant is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxvPfWkYyUo#t=1447
There is a thread on this at Russia Insider. It seems to be a number of people have grave concerns about Sibel Edmonds and James Corbett. I have written to Pepe Escobar who said that, whilst he couldn’t speak for Edmonds or Corbett, he wouldn’t have signed on unless he had absolute editorial freedom. I will write to both Edmonds and Corbett separately, but on the one occasions I did write to Corbett about it, he never replied.
Should I get a reply from either of them I’ll certainly let people here know.
I should add, I have heard both Edmonds and Corbett speaking of Putin with vitriol, accusing him of having “billions stashed in Cyprus” with Edmonds claiming she has this from her FBI days !!. Corbett just seems nasty-jealous to me. I have said I want nothing to do with either of them.
I think Pepe is OK, but not those two. However, maybe they will wind back the anti-Putin anti-Russia rhetoric on this site.
Interesting comments. I’m a fan of all of the above and plan to give to the kickstarter as soon as I acquire a steady source of income.
I did hear the Edmonds interview with Corbett, where she bashed Putin and criticized PCR for lauding Putin. My take on this is that the different voices in the alt media will never agree on everything, and that we should appreciate what each of them brings to the table. I too am a bit curious about how Edmonds avoids prosecution — but perhaps this is because she can’t “name names” like Assange and Snowden have done.
As far as Putin goes, I respect the man for standing up to the Anglo-Zionists, but that’s as far as I’ll go. He may be better than most Western leaders, but still a statist, far from the libertarian ideal exemplified by Dr. Ron Paul. To mention just one issue, consider the boondoggle of the Sochi Olympics. Certainly this had to be the warmest place the Winter Olympics have ever been held. There had to be a fair bit of corruption involved in that selection. Nowadays Russia probably wishes it hadn’t wasted so much money on that preposterous event.
@ F. Automata
I am very impressed by your post. I have always admired professionalism in any field and I must admit to a fondness for sock puppets.
What makes his post professional? His claim that Putin is statist(whatever he means by saying so)? Or a vague accusation about corruption? Or a bit bitter last sentence? He thinks that Russia had better chances to survive on west waged economical war, without wasting so much money in Sochi? You call this a professional approach? I think it´s a bit trollish approach.
I agree. The poster obviously did no homework at all regarding the snowfields in the mountains above Sochi, the huge % of allocated funds going to provide needed housing for retired military personnel and the construction of permanent tourist and conference facilities to bring in future revenue. Putin insisted from the start that the mony be spend carefully and wisely as “it is taxpayers money”, a thing he never loses sight of.
He’s done a whole heap more than merely stand up to America and Eu vassals.
But it would take some reading and understanding to see that I guess.
Thank you Annonnymy. Your observations are exactly the points that I was trying to draw attention to, troll being the key.
You are welcome. But I don´t think F. Automata is a pro in any sense, not even as a sock puppet. Trolls are ugly and hairy and can´t hide their long nose, my friend.
Well…you are all a wealth of great info. Many thanks – I have pledged a sum to this venture but will now wait with bated breath as to the outcome of who these people are, exactly. Pledges may be withdrawn on grounds of fraud. Long live all Sakerians!!
I have read Pepe for a long time, his honesty is out of question. I dont know the others. Whats going on with Jonh Pilger,? He is like Pepe (in my opinion) very honest journalist.
Saker. You can´t handle everything by yourself. What you need now is a good secretary. Is there any volunteers?
As I have yet to even contribute to our invaluable Saker (though, as soon as circumstances permit I will) I probably don’t have any moral right to comment. ..:-/
Well, stuff that – here’s my two cents worth:;-)
I see absolutely no reason for an international readership seeking informed intelligence on how a global oligarchy operates through its control of the finance – and therefore media and political systems – to support this project.
The truth is that a – still only partially-controlled – internet has made journalism as a profession largely redundant. Nothing any of these journalists have ‘revealed’ is unavailable to any assiduous user of the net: all of their sources can be accessed directly, especially through machine-translate (bad and all as it can be.)
Maybe they have some useful purpose to the American public, but I don’t see much evidence online that they care much about truth, justice and poverty-elimination (the true basis of equality ) across the globe: they don’t even care about income-inequality within their own borders – just as long as the possibility of self -enrichment continues to be dangled tantalizingly before them via the media/entertainment matrix.
The ‘dream’ is slowly turning to nightmare for many, but they still continue drinking the Kool-Aid…
I would prefer to support those with a clear moral centre – and that means telling truths that may even be personally unpalatable. That’s the kind of journalist the Saker is, which makes him such a rara avis :)
I will continue to go to a good range of international sites which have already proved their worth – Voltairnet (particularly Theirry Meyssan) and Global Research, and Common Dreams are tried and trusted. I will continue to to sample and cross-pollinate, looking for patterns, searching for the ulterior motives that underpin so much of what claims to be the pursuit of justice. ( Who would have thought that ‘human rights’ could become so utterly perverted, even to the point of fascism? It is now a racket/tool of imperial enslavement.)
Somehow, I don’t see the members of this project having that essential grasp of First Principles to be really worthwhile: they all cherry-pick their ’causes’, while accepting the most egregious abuse and violations of the global underclass – particularly women and children. Like Amnesty International, I see a project that does not challenge the global status quo of inequality, indeed, even selectively reinforces it.
I agree with Katherine – spend the money on gathering an international translating service from real opposition/whistleblowers/investigative reporters instead.
Well, maybe a bit of a correction is due Edmonds.
It is possible that she is Putinophobic while still having contributed quite a lot to an understanding of how business is done in the U.S. Government. Much of her focus is on Dennis Hastert and his links to and probably blackmail by the Turkish Government.
I believe the broader relevance of her information and evidence is not just that Hastert and others are “owned” by foreign governments but that his ownership and fealty or blackmail affected not only the investigation of 911 but also the planning and execution. So, despite her attitudes to Putin she might have made worthwhile contributions to our understanding of how our “representatives” routinely undermine the true interests of the American people and state. I have no idea where she stands on Israel. I am working under a deadline myself, otherwise would do some research . . . But, it may bear repeating that someone who does intensive investigatory work in a specific area might become tunnel-visioned and also just not have time to focus on myriad details of other situations such as, say, Ukraine. On teh other hand, as a Farsi speaker she would in principle be a good source of insight as to what is going on in Iran.
It is the old elephant/leg/tail problem. Is the elephant (i.e., big picture) a thin thing or a thick thing? Or is it a complicated thing that is both thick and thin and nothing you say about the tail has any value unless you understand what the tail is part of? I do think that someone who can describe exactly how the tail works probably has something to add to the picture of the elephant. Maybe the tail expert is not the best person to expect to provide a picture of the whole elephant. For that we have The Saker!! And other big-picture analysts.
Katherine
Here is an article about her and the general picture:
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/how-a-plea-deal-for-hastert-may-hide-the-truth/
There is a more extensive answer by Pepe Escobar to an email by Moderator Isabella questioning his connections with S. Edmonds at the Russia Insider thread. I hope it’s OK if I copy and paste it here for the convenience of the Saker’s audience, as the post is somehow hard to find in the middle of a long thread.
Thanks for this. I only answer for myself – my work is widely available on the net, and it speaks for itself. I’m horribly busy, and have no time to justify what I do, and specially what others do. I have no idea what Sibel or James wrote/talked about Putin – so your questions should be directed to them. I really liked the Newsbud concept when it was presented to me by Sibel – I was analyzing other projects at the time, after I left Asia Times Online. I will do in-depth reports and more or less coordinate hardcore international coverage; plan to get some top writers for Op-Eds. This is what I was doing at Asia Times Online before we crashed; long, tortuous story, basically because we did not have a business model. My position on Russia’s foreign policy, strategic relationships, BRICS, etc. – and my deep ties to Russia – not to mention that I write for major Russian outlets, are self-evident. I’d never had endorsed the Newsbud project if I did not have total editorial independence.
All the best, Pepe
– Make up your own minds.
My 2 cents worth: On the one hand he does seem to be the kind of person who is so “horribly busy” that he never had the time to investigate his own future business partner.
On the other hand, it’s somehow hard to believe. After all that’s what he does: he investigates.
The best assumption I can make is that he was a little careless and that he got trapped by Sibel’s charms. He is certainly being (ab)used as a front man for a venture which would otherwise hardly be successful – that is, assuming it will be launched successfully which seems by no means certain.
He can’t be unaware of the fact that many people will support this project only because of his name.
Here is something that already exists and is worth your support.
http://monthlyreview.org
Cheers,
RR
This is what needs funding: Indulge me moderator. Half the post on here are more verbose than this article and say nothing.
Marxist Theory
Imperialism and super exploitation
Posted on March 7, 2016
Smith ImperialismImperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis
by John Smith
Monthly Review Press, 2016
reviewed by Michael Roberts
Michael Roberts works in the City of London as an economist. This review was first published in his blog, and is published here with his kind permission.
John Smith’s book is a powerful and searing indictment of the exploitation of billions of people in what used to be called the Third World and is now called the ‘emerging’ or ‘developing’ economies by mainstream economics (and is called ‘the South’ by Smith). But the book is much, much more than that. After years of research including a PhD thesis, John has made an important and original contribution to our understanding of modern imperialism, both theoretically and empirically. In this sense, his Imperialism is a complement to Tony Norfield’s The City, reviewed previously in my blog – or should I say Tony’s is a complement to John Smith’s. While Tony Norfield’s book shows the development of finance capital in the modern imperialist countries and the dominance of the financial powers of ‘the North’ (US and UK etc), John Smith shows how it is the ‘super-exploitation’ of wage workers in the ‘South’ that is the foundation of modern imperialism in the 21st century.
The book starts with some examples of how wage workers in the South are ‘super-exploited’ with wages below the value of labour power (Bangladesh textile workers):“The starvation wages, death-trap factories, and fetid slums in Bangladesh are representative of the conditions endured by hundreds of millions of working people throughout the Global South, the source of surplus value sustaining profits and feeding unsustainable overconsumption in imperialist countries” (p10). and how the surplus-value created by these super-exploited workers is captured by the trans-national corporations and transferred through the ‘value-chain’ to the profits of the imperialist countries of the North (Apple i-phones and Foxconn). “The only part of Apple’s profits that appear to originate in China are those resulting from the sale of its products in that country. As in the case of the T-shirt made in Bangladesh, so with the latest electronic gadget, the flow of wealth from Chinese and other low wage workers sustaining the profits and prosperity of Northern firms and nations is rendered invisible in economic data and in the brains of the economists.” (p22).
Smith points out that “about 80 percent of global trade (in terms of gross exports) is linked to the international production networks of TNCs.” UNCTAD estimates that “about 60 percent of global trade . . . consists of trade in intermediate goods and services that are incorporated at various stages in the production process of goods and services for final consumption.”(p50). Smith argues that outsourcing has been a conscious strategy of capitalists, a powerful weapon against union organization, repressing wages and intensifying exploitation of workers at home, and has led above all to a huge expansion in the employment of workers in low-wage countries… “A striking feature of contemporary globalization is that a very large and growing proportion of the workforce in many global value chains is now located in developing economies. In a phrase, the centre of gravity of much of the world’s industrial production has shifted from the North to the South of the global economy.”, as Smith quotes Gary Gereffi.
It is Smith’s main contention that it is wages forced below the value of labor power that is the key characteristic of the profits of modern imperialist operations. It is not even financial hegemony (Norfield) and certainly not some form of ‘dispossession of capital and wealth’ (Harvey). “The capitalists’ lust for ultra-cheap labor-power is a fundamental determinant of the global shift of production.”
Smith exposes the neoclassical view that wages are low in the South because productivity is low there. This view, Smith points out, has “never been systematically criticized by heterodox and Marxist critics of neoliberalism… (and) contemporary Marxist scholarship,… with few but important exceptions…is astonishingly indifferent to and accepting of bourgeois economists’ argument that international wage differentials merely reflect international differences in labor productivity.” There is a deliberate attempt by neoclassical bourgeois theory to identify wage growth with the productivity of labour and many Marxists go along with this because they confuse use-values (the production of things and services) with their value (the prices of production). Instead, “wage differences are significantly affected by coercive suppression of labor mobility—in other words, by a factor that is, on the face of it, quite independent of productivity.” (p240).
But mainstream economic theory denies this reality. This leads to the idea that workers in China receive their ‘fair share’ in wages given their productivity level. Smith quotes Martin Wolf from his 2005 book, Why globalization works, lauding the benefits of globalization (Wolf now forgets these perceived benefits of globalization in his later works). “It is right to say that transnational companies exploit their Chinese workers in the hope of making profits. It is equally right to say that Chinese workers are exploiting transnationals in the (almost universally fulfilled) hope of obtaining higher pay, better training and more opportunities.” (Wolf).
In contrast to Wolf’s view, the huge low wage proletariat that has emerged in the last 30 years is the key to the profits of imperialism, transferred from the South to the North. Smith provides the evidence for this. In 2010, 79 percent, or 541 million, of the world’s industrial workers lived in “less developed regions,” up from 34 percent in 1950 and 53 percent in 1980, compared to the 145 million industrial workers, or 21 percent of the total, who in 2010 lived in the imperialist countries (p103). For workers in manufacturing industry, this shift is more dramatic still. Now 83 percent of the world’s manufacturing workforce lives and works in the nations of the Global South.
The world’s “economically active population” (EAP) grew from 1.9 billion in 1980 to 3.1 billion in 2006, a 63 percent increase. Almost all of this numerical growth has occurred in the “emerging nations,” now home to 84 percent of the global workforce,1.6 billion of whom worked for wages, the other one billion being small farmers and a multitude of people working in the infinitely variegated “informal economy.” (p113).
global workforce
The global proletariat has never been larger in numbers and in its share of the total workforce. And yet the share of wages in domestic income has fallen, both in the South and North. According to the ILO, since the early 1990s the “share of domestic income that goes to labor … declined in nearly three-quarters of the 69 countries with available information.” The decline is generally more pronounced in emerging and developing countries than in advanced ones. The declines in labor’s share in emerging and developing economies were very steep—falling in Asia by around 20 percent between 1994 and 2010; moreover, “The pace of the decline accelerated in . . . recent years, with the wage share falling more than 11 percentage points between 2002 and 2006.”
As Smith says “The wages paid to workers in the South are affected by factors that have no bearing on or relevance to the productivity of these workers when at work, factors arising from conditions in the labor market and more general social structures and relations affecting the reproduction of labor-power, including the suppression of the free international movement of labor and the emergence of a vast relative surplus population in the Global South. This knocks a large hole in the tottering edifice of mainstream economics”.
This leads to one of Smith’s main theoretical points. Capitalism started with the exploitation of labour through absolute surplus value (a longer working day) and of course bringing more people into the workforce. Then as capitalism developed, as Marx showed for Britain in Capital, it was a rise in relative surplus value that dominated, namely labor-saving technology is introduced to reduce the value of labor power in the same working day. But now in the 21st century, Smith argues, the exploitation of the workers of the South is less through an expansion of absolute and relative surplus value and more through driving wages below the value of labor power (super-exploitation).
In Capital, Marx recognized this as being an important form of exploitation of labor, but argued that, even without it, capitalism could exploit labor power and capture surplus value. Marx considered that of the counteracting factors to the tendency of the rate to fall for capital, there was not just a rising rate of exploitation or falling costs of technology, or even increased foreign trade and fictionalization of capital, but also the reduction in wages below the value of lab our power (super exploitation). Marx ruled this factor out in his abstract analysis of the laws of motion of capital but: “Like many other things that might be brought in, it has nothing to do with the general analysis of capital, but has its place in an account of competition, which is not dealt with in this work. It is nonetheless one of the most important factors in stemming the tendency for the rate of profit to fall.” (p240).
But now, according to Smith, all three modes of exploitation of labor are operating, with the third being the most significant in the South, Smith argues, because the imperialist North finds this the best and easiest way to capture surplus value there. In Smith’s view, this development has been ignored, missed or confused by what he call the “Euro-Marxists” who argue that the workers of the North are more exploited than those in the south because they are more productive.
Smith reckons that this confusion arises because of the use of GDP and ‘value-added’ by mainstream economics and accepted mostly without question by Marxist economists. You see, gross domestic product (GDP) hides the fact that much of the value in, say, US GDP is not value created by American workers but is captured through multinational exploitation and transfer pricing from profits created from the exploitation of the workers of the South. GDP confuses value creating with value capture and so does not expose the exploitation of the South by the imperialist North:“GDP as a measure of the part of the global product that is captured or appropriated by a nation, not a measure of what it has produced domestically. The D in GDP, in other words, is a lie.” (p278).
Thus, according to Smith, Lenin’s famous analysis of imperialism one hundred years ago and now often dismissed as inadequate is still right. There are ‘oppressor nations’ and ‘oppressed nations’ and which is which is not determined by just financial power (Norfield) but also by the super-exploitation of the proletariat of the oppressed South on a systematic basis. Thus “On crucial questions—the exploitative character of relations between core and peripheral nations, the higher rate of exploitation in the latter, and the political centrality of the struggles in the Global South—the Marxist proponents of dependency theory were right and their orthodox critics wrong.” (p223).
But why has imperialism developed in such a way that exploitation now takes the form of super-exploitation? It’s partly that in countries with a fast-growing previously rural peasant workforce, authoritarian regimes in the South and powerful multi-nationals from the North were able to overcome the usual social limits on too low wages, working hours and conditions etc so that wages could be held below the value of labor power (the cost of the necessities of life). Also, Smith stresses the suppression of international mobility of lab our by the North in contributing to this, as we see only too well in the current migration crisis in Europe.
And it is also a response to the changes (fall) in the profitability of capital in the Northern imperialist economies, particularly from the mid-1970s onward. Neo-liberal policies on wages, public services, trade unions in the North went with ‘globalization’ of the South as capital in the major imperialist powers experienced a sharp fall in profitability. As my upcoming book, The Long Depression (out in May), will argue, something similar happened in the last period of imperialist expansion and ‘globalization’ from the 1890s, leading to the export of capital to the South (Latin America, Asia) and growing imperialist rivalry for colonies and colonial profit that culminated in WW1.
It was this that was described by Lenin. But, as Smith quotes Andy Higginbottom, what was inadequate about Lenin’s analysis of the rise of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism at the end of the 19th century, was not that exploitation is actually less in the South than the North or that there are not really oppressor and oppressed nations any more, but that “Lenin does not theorize imperialism with respect to the rising organic composition of capital or the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. . . . This theoretical incompleteness in the study of imperialism is atypical of Lenin, and stands in marked contrast with his own economic analyses of the development of capitalism on Russia, which are firmly based on the categories of Capital.” (p229).
Smith reckons that Marxist economists of the North in debating the role of Marx’s law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall make no allowance for international variations in the rate of exploitation (s/v) as well as in the changes in the organic composition of capital (c/v). Well, it may be true that Marxist economists in this debate, like myself, have “ignore(d) the fact that a substantial part of the surplus-value that is captured by firms in imperialist countries and realized as profit was extracted from workers in low-wage countries”. (p248). But we debaters have not ignored overall movements in s/v. Indeed, one of the features of the post-1945 period is that the rate of surplus value has risen in the major economies while the rate of profit has fallen (on a secular basis). In my own work, I have shown this to be the case in the US (US rate of profit revisited) and also in recent work on a world rate of profit that included the economies of the South in the G20 nations like Brazil, Russia, China and India. Esteban Maito has done similar work with similar results (Maito, Esteban – The historical transience of capital. The downward trend in the rate of profit since XIX century).
We are not ignoring the movement in the overall rate of exploitation. Indeed what this work shows is that, although the level of rates of profit are higher in the South, they too have fallen despite rising and higher s/v, whether caused by absolute surplus value, relative surplus value or super exploitation. Here is my calculation of the rates of profit in G7 and BRIC economies over the last 60 years from my recent paper on the world rate of profit using the Penn World tables (Revisiting a world rate of profit June 2015).
Thus the law shows the limits to the long-term future of capital (and imperialism). Indeed, a new book by G Carchedi and myself (out later this year) collates the work of ‘non-Euro’ Marxist economists from around that shows the law of profitability identified by Marx operates just as much in the South as in the North.
Indeed, I am not sure that Smith has proved that ‘super-exploitation’ is the dominant characteristic of modern imperialism. As Smith shows, imperialism of the 19th century also relied on super-exploitation of the masses in the colonies (to the level of slavery) and that, in the industrialization of imperialist countries like Britain in the late 18th and early 19th century, driving wages below the value of labour power was a powerful factor in the exploitation of labor (see Engels on The condition of the working-class in England).
For that matter, super-exploitation is visible in the imperialist economies too. ‘Zero-hour’ contracts, where workers are at the beck and call of employers at all hours for minimal pay, now affects two million workers in Britain. Across southern Europe, where youth unemployment rates are around 40-50%, young people are forced to live with their parents and earn pitiful amounts in low wage retail and leisure jobs. And the data show that poverty has risen for the bottom 10% of households since the 1980s in the North (including the US).
And the other side of the coin is that, alongside super-exploitation, there is also exploitation of the proletariat of the South through absolute surplus value and through the latest technology to save labor (relative surplus value) just as there was in the development of industrial capitalism in the 19th century onward. Foxconn may super-exploit its workforce, but it also employs the latest technology. This is a feature of what Trotsky liked to call the combined and uneven development of capitalism in the imperialist epoch.
And it is in this debate on the relation between Marx’s law of profitability and the causes of economic crises that are now global under modern imperialism that I am not quite sure where Smith stands. He says, correctly I would say, that “Whether or not the rate of profit is increasing or declining, what matters is whether the total mass of surplus value is sufficient to reward all those with claims on it.” Yes, so the total mass of surplus value regularly gets insufficient due to Marx’s law operating. And when the mass of profit falls, it won’t be long for investment, employment and incomes to fall in a slump.
In his final chapter on the causes of crises, Smith firmly dismisses the idea that is prominent among mainstream and heterodox economics alike that the global financial crisis and the Great Recession were financial in origin. Alternatively, he suggests that the crisis was postponed by the shift to the South by imperialist combines because of ‘overproduction’ in the North. But the concept of ‘overproduction’ covers a multitude of sins. In Marx, overproduction of commodities is the result of over-accumulation of capital, but over-accumulation of capital is the result of falling profitability and profit (absolute over-accumulation).
As Smith so brilliantly shows, capital in the North restored much of the fall in its profitability suffered in the 1970s on the back of the super exploitation of the South: “surplus-value extracted from these new legions of poorly paid workers helped to dig the capitalism system out of its hole in the 1970s”. Increased debt, as Smith notes, added to the final crisis so that it took a financial form. As Smith says, “Exponentially increasing indebtedness succeeded in containing the overproduction crisis, but it has brought the global financial system to the point of collapse.” For this sentence, take the word ‘overproduction’ out and replace with ‘profitability’.
There may well be more room for imperialism to exploit the proletariat globally and so counteract falling profitability again, for a while. There are still reserve armies of labor from the rural areas in many countries to be drawn into globalized commodity production (and yes, often at below-value wages). But there are limits to the ability of imperialism to raise the rate of exploitation indefinitely, not least the struggle of this burgeoning proletariat in the South (and still substantial numbers in the North).
Marx’s law of profitability has not and will not be counteracted indefinitely even with super-exploitation. The law of profitability and the struggle of the global proletariat are imperialism’s Achilles heels.
Just to let you know that I read the piece.
Very interesting, and not too hard for a lay person to follow.
Katherine
I guess I won’t be bothering with newsbud. Perhaps it won’t be bad – something like a halfway house to try and wean people off MSM.
A news site that puts together the likes of Escobar, Pilger, Mercouris, Cartilucci and a few others would be the ultimate.
The official Russian Military video put out last night on more proof of where and how ISIS gets it’s support, the vivid maps of the oil taker routes, the pre-Russian war on ISIS oil income versus the ISIS oil income today, etc, is vital for Brussels to see many times over as the Agreement with Erdogan is the story of Red Riding Hood offering herself for dinner to the starved wolf. That Merkel is in Washington’s pocket is beside the point. For Germany, she has already retired therefor Washington is frozen terrified.
Please help spread the Russia video! I tried to post it from rt.com and after 6 tries, it was removed from rt.com.
Now Hypercomments really does need investigating.
The guy who owns it used to work for Kolomoisky – he was head of Privatbank’s e-commerce.
I think he is currently based in Palo Alto, California.
It is definitely censoring anything that interferes with USG agendas, especially cultural.
I wonder why the contract was awarded to them, and why they still have it?
Why couldn’t RT use Kapersky Lab or another Russian company?
I wrote a long piece about Corbett and Edmonds, my experience of Corbett which led me to withdraw my support for him, and what I had heard from Edmond in video casts with Corbett where she traduced Seymour Hersh and Corbett’s reporting that she had “told us of Putin’s stash of millions of $$ of stolen taxpayer money”. Sadly, [ and I have no idea how], I managed to “disappear” it !! Sob.
Briefly I would like to recap.
I believe that reading the link to what PCR has to say – it is very short – is valuable. But watching as much as you can stomach of the video is an absolute “must see”.
[Thanks to the poster who provided us with them below].
In it you can truly see Edmonds as, not just “silly” as Saker has been kind and generous enough to call her, but, in my opinion, venomous as a snake and with as much moral principle.
She and Corbett refer to all comments made about Erdogan’s behaviour up to the videocast [Dec 22nd last year] as “vilification” of him, saying that he is no worse than previous Turkish rulers, and includes Russia in this “vilification” – knowing of course about the shoot down of the Russian jet.
She goes on to say she refuses to publish PCR because of his “pro-Russia” stance.
They discuss why Putin is so admired. She dismisses it as “people inventing a hero because they need a hero”, accuses him of stealing millions, stashing it in Cyprus banks, links him to oligarchs to whom she says he has given high government positions, is ” a scumbag” who goes to church to try and make people think he is “a man of the people” and so forth. At that point, I couldn’t watch anymore, and had no need to.
Everything is said without benefit of names [of Oligarchs], evidence, support substantiation, nothing. just her vitriol which she claims she got because she worked for the FBI.
I now very much doubt that story of her being a “whistleblower”. Other whistleblowers have been persecuted, hounded, charged, some killed. She is living a comfortable life in America. She says she has been gagged from telling anyone about what she learned there, but now can freely say she knows all this garbage about Putin from her time there!!
Finally, when you hear what – and how – she speaks of Putin, you have to ask “what is the likelihood that the new “newsite” for which they are begging for money before even showing us what they are like, will be any different?. If she wont post PCR because of his support for the actions of Putin, Lavrov, what is the chance that this news site will?
I believe they are disinformation agents put in place to grab the flood of people turning their back on MSM as they begin to wake up to the propaganda it is, but are new to Alt.media. Because they attack the NWO and the status quo in America – not doing anything that heaps of other sites are doing – newbies will think everything they say is the truth, and thus – they hope – will accept their lies about Putin.
Not only do I believe they should not be supported, I believe they are “the enemy” and should be fought every inch of the way.
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/12/23/presstitute-ranks-expand/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxvPfWkYyUo#t=1447
As I have posted on my previous comments, one has to focus on the ultimate antagonist, avoid internecine fights that do not contribute to stopping the “Borg”. Corbett seems somewhat paranoid but people have different personalities and sometimes you take the bad with the good, as long as they are not criminal.
Those two make some good arguments about Putin and the alt media love for Russia and their military campaign. I would never trust an Ex KGB agent with such a dictator like political career and his deep ties to jewish russian elites.
They share the same masters as the Anglo-American folks. Alt media pretended that BRICS and their multinational bank would be a counter weight for the IWF while their personal and team was the same as in the IWF and surely Goldman Sachs approved. Its dialectics, Putin never called their lies about certain things like 9/11 or WW2 revisionism, to make him our glorious leader against the zionists is pure daydreamin on this site and pretty naiv by such a “knowledgeable” audience like this.
I opened your ‘crap’ link Saker, to find one Brandon Martinez denouncing the Kremlin ‘propaganda’ from RT.
The same Mr Martinez however links to RT Belgium to provide news of Erdogan’s claims re the Brussels attacks.
I guess he finds it a useful source now.;)
One has to be open and honost with oneself. Even if RT does some PR for the Russian government, then that is to be expected. What is important is that Russian government is busy taking care of Russian people, not putting it’s nose in everyone else’s business.
Also, I know Belgians who are/were great admirers of US and their pro-democratic approach in Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and by extrapolation Georgia, Ukraine and the rest of the world.
They are the victims of Edward Bernays’ manufacturing of consent. One has to accept this and GRADUALLY try to mold it.
@Halvor Raknes Johannsen
You’ve also put a lot of effort into excising Robert C. Priddy’s exposé of the Saytha Bai cult, which included extensive sexual abuse of boys/young men by the swami himself, as well as allegations of murder of four persons:
http://www.robertpriddy.com/robert_c_priddy.html
That certainly had nothing to do with my editing of the Robert Priddy article. My only interest in that matter was enforcing community guidelines. I would do that whether I agreed with a certain topic or not. I had not studied the Saytha Bai cult thus had no ostensible stance on that controversy. My interest to look into that article was simple. Priddy’s son, Kai Nicolai Priddy, was my best friend in kindergarten. Simple as that…
Thanks for the correction P S.
I didn’t actually watch the video – probably because I don’t care enough what your average journalist thinks about anything (with the exception of the Saker, and few others :)
I guess I was playing ‘nice’ on the grounds that she’s done some useful exposing of US political malfeasance.
Her views on Putin are neither here nor there – not even for Americans. The kind of Americans that really want to be informed are never going to be influenced purely on the basis of some historically useful, entirely unrelated investigations anyway: they are likely to be critical thinkers and seek information from a range of sources.
They do not have a ‘groupie’ mentality and journalists are hardly rock-stars (even if some – like Greenwald, or the denizens of the HuffPo/Buzzfeed et al – fancy themselves that way :)
I’ve already posted that I don’t rate this project.
I would much rather read translations of actual witnessed events/informed analysis – good one s – from on-the-ground primary international sources than Americans alt media anyway.
Hugs and thanks to you and all the other moderators for what you do :)
Dear Saker,
It is a pity that Sibel has succumbed to pressure, that are probably unbearable for her. Consider her blacklisting and loss of (pretty nice upperclass) her privileges and lifeline, in judging her.
I think this project should be looked at as an attempt for an ALTERNATIVE, not necessarily to reach the Holy Grail of the Universal Truth.
Please also check The Intercept and The Real News.
The more facets, the better vision a butterfly’s eye has.
We should not allow “The Borg” to sow discord. They will always be much more dangerous to humanity’s survival than Sibel ever will be.