Windows to Russia

Sarkozy is one of a hundred plus of retired or non office politicians, from the U.S. and or EU and or world, whom are expressing a big distaste for what America is doing to Europe and what Europe is allowing done to her, as a vassal state to America…

This whole Ukraine crisis intensified because the 28 EU marionette leaders could not asseverate themselves to defend their own national interests. They went along with America, as she demanded the head of Putin on a silver platter. What is truly disgusting is how they have sat there and ignored/ignore war crimes by Kiev, being instigated and procreated by the U.S. They can’t even be a tidbit principled, as they suck hind tit…

Now, Sarkozy who has spoken out now about the situation over Ukraine, however remember he acted quickly over the Georgian war, as soon as that escalated, he went to Moscow, so he has behaved with sense before…

L’ancien président français Nicolas Sarkozy, désormais chef de l’opposition de droite à son successeur François Hollande, a estimé samedi qu’on ne pouvait “pas reprocher à la Crimée” d’avoir “choisi la Russie” et a mis en garde contre une nouvelle “guerre froide” avec Moscou.

Translate: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, now head of the rightist opposition to his successor Francois Hollande, said Saturday that he could “not blame the Crimea” of having “chosen Russia” and warned against a new “cold war” with Moscow.

“Nous avons une civilisation en commun avec la Russie. Les intérêts des Américains avec les Russes, ce ne sont pas les intérêts de l’Europe avec la Russie”, a affirmé l’ex-chef de l’Etat lors d’une réunion à Paris des dirigeants du parti de droite UMP qu’il dirige.

Translate: “We have a common civilization with Russia. The interests of the Americans with the Russians, it is not the interests of Europe with Russia,” said the former head of state at a meeting in Paris the leaders of the UMP right-wing party he leads.

“Nous ne voulons pas de la résurgence d’une guerre froide entre l’Europe et la Russie”, a-t-il martelé en évoquant les tensions entre Moscou et les Occidentaux nées du conflit dans l’est de l’Ukraine et de l’annexion de la Crimée par Moscou en mars 2014 après un référendum de la population locale.

Translate: “We do not want the revival of a Cold War between Europe and Russia,” he insisted, referring to the tensions between Moscow and the West born of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the annexation of the Crimea by Moscow in March 2014 after a referendum of the local population.

“La Crimée a choisi la Russie, on ne peut pas le lui reprocher”, a ajouté M. Sarkozy, estimant par ailleurs qu'”il faut trouver les moyens d’une force d’interposition pour protéger les Russophones d’Ukraine”.

Translate: “The Crimea has chosen Russia, we can not blame him,” said Mr Sarkozy, saying also that “we must find ways of a peacekeeping force to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine.”

“L’Ukraine doit garder sa vocation de pont entre l’Europe et la Russie. Elle n’a pas vocation à entrer dans l’Union européenne”, a-t-il ajouté.

Translate: “Ukraine needs to keep its role as a bridge between Europe and Russia. It is not intended to enter the European Union,” he added.

Les propos de M. Sarkozy interviennent alors que son successeur socialiste François Hollande est engagé avec la chancelière allemande Angela Merkel dans d’intenses négociations avec Moscou et Kiev pour tenter d’arracher un accord de paix en Ukraine.

Translate: What Mr Sarkozy came as his successor Socialist Francois Hollande is engaged with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in intense negotiations with Moscow and Kiev to try to wrest a peace agreement in Ukraine.

De retour dans la nuit de Russie, le président Hollande a estimé samedi que ces pourparlers étaient “une des dernières chances” d’éviter la “guerre”.

Translate: Back in the night Russia, President Hollande said Saturday that the talks were “a last chance” to avoid “war”.

http://www.levif.be/actualite/international/sarkozy-la-crimee-a-choisi-la-russie-on-ne-peut-pas-le-lui-reprocher/article-normal-365345.html

Bottom line; Europe has to grow a set of balls or Europe is history, for this time “Nukes” are the main and eventual entrée when war starts…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid: 52.3…

The Whore of Babylon is singing this morning. Her song is one of despair and desperation, intermixed with veiled threats, leveled at all who turn away from her prepossessing beauty of democracy, freedom, candor, and liberty…

Importance of a vast magnitude is the audience that gathered yesterday, to discuss the wrongs implicated by the inner desires of said Whore, to rule the earth. Therefore, a scorned woman is retaliatory at the lessor of the nefarious rantings, that will adorn the ears of all who listen. Why even the Court Jesters, of whom the Whore has many in her service, have already spoke out in distaste, of the measures that became apparent and no one invited the Whore to exclaim her innocence of totality…

We will have to linger in the audience, until the Whore enters the rostrum, to perceive the theatrics that will become prevalent in the next few days or even hours. Thus, the Whore’s masters will decide to unleash the beast or not, to cause effect against the wandering imbeciles whom dare to enter the den of the extremist dictator. Payment will be harsh, for meandering sycophants…

The Whore has misplaced her foundation and subsequently been prancing to a melody that only she heard and danced into the distance, while many watched, waited, and developed alternatives to the pursuing tsunami that, predated from years ago to come…

The Bear, Imperial Eagle, and Golden Eagle be ready for the Bald Eagle to assail on all fronts against crony or adversary. For to the Whore all are interchangeable at a vagary instance of time. For the Imperial Eagle found recently that her escapades away from the fold, resulted in terror attacks, that severed a many relational thread, already tattered by time…

What am I nattering with regard to? You probe, explore, and contemplate about the world and its precarious position, then distinguish for yourself…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

PS: The Germans have arrested Victoria Nuland’s assistant, who is an employee of the Vanguard Corporation, caught with almost a billion dollars worth of high quality fake dollars to fund wars with… Thus Germany’s haste, because he sung like a canary…

Many years ago, people in my small home town tried to get me to run in politics. I thought about it and then as a final decision maker, I went to talk to a man, who played in politics all his life. It was the trigger that made my decision…

I asked him several questions over some beers, as we sat on his front porch. He had a few extra minutes before he was off and knocking on doors to gather votes for a pet project of his…

Question 1.) Do you believe your lies?
Question 2.) Do the lies bother you?
Question 3.) Does the money feel the same when you spend it?

I remember he laughed, he was an old friend of mine, then he looked serious and said, “If you ask such questions, then you are not a politician!”

Then he said, “I have a little spot in my brain that I put the lies and then as I talk to people, I access that spot. I believe what I tell you, for there is no other way to be a politician.”

Then he said, “The answer to your questions are this, yes I believe in my lies, no they do not bother me, and I live high on the hog, on your money, I help tax you with.”

Then as he thought, he said, “To be a politician is the same as to be the undertaker in town that everyone knows, but no one trusts, yet we all smile and agree, that no one else wants the job!”

With that he drained his beer and asked me to lock his house up when I finished my beer. Then he was off down the road and whistling a happy tune, a tune that I am sure he kept in that part of the brain, that he stored all the lies in his life in…

I knew that I could not be a politician and I knew that I just really disliked politicians. I never saw him again as a friend after that. He soon left the small town, as he raised up in the ranks and is in the upper politics within the Missouri political system now. Lives in a huge mansion and is worth millions…

Last time I saw him at a huge banquet for the governor, he said, “I sold my soul and can not find it to even buy it back!”

* * * * * * * * * *

I realize that my soul been wounded, burned, crushed, and torn. It also has bled, weeped, and sang the blues, but with all that, it has sung, soared, and rejoiced over many things also. The main fact is that I still have my soul and even through all that I have done and been, I have hung on to it, “Through Hell and High Water!”

Was not easy at times…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid: 85…

Lasik Surgery in Russia or Old eyes and New World!

By Svetlana

I had a myopia as long as I remember myself. I remember a checking eye in my children garden and how I could see just the first line of pictures on the table and was amazed that another kids could see much more pictures from such distance. I remember myself in school always was sitting at first desk near teacher’s table. I remember my errors in control tests, when I could not write down the tasks from the blackboard correctly. And I remember hitting a tree by my forehead at night when I left a fire where we were sitting with friends in our hiking trips, I was not angry with the tree or myself that was just funny: how I could do such! 😉

And I was not alone in such situation: I had a friend sharing with me the same desk for the same reason, and another friend who had myopia -8 and had glasses just -2. Why we were this way: we truly believed that eyes must work and if you start wear glasses eyes addict to it, relax and become even worse then you have. And we always were very independent, did not want to addict to anything: glasses, cigarettes or make up. It’s better not to have it at all than one day to suffer because you don’t have it, depend on people and companies who will give you their rules if you want to use it.

They started make eye-surgeries in Russia (then it was Soviet Union, of course) I think 29 years ago. It was not laser surgeries then it was “Micro-surgery of the eye” Svyatoslav Fedorov invented this. 

Some years ago I met a method to improve sight-seen by exercises but to make it, I need very high motivation /like in anything what you want to reach! ;)/. And I started motivated myself why I need better eyes than I have and I really pursued myself! And I started working on myself and got (believe you or not) really good resulted! But then I had some circumstances in my life and needed to stop trainings… Some years later I found out about Lasik Surgeries. I still was very motivated in reaching better eyes. I found out that we have Eye Surgery Clinic in Gazprom (Kyle wrote about Gazprom here) and some of my colleagues already done such.

Really, I had a lot of doubts: my eyes were not perfect but they were my eye! I did not know, could not imagine how I could live after the surgery, could I see the world the same… I discussed this with a lot of people really, but the best understanding and support I’ve got from Kyle whom I knew just by sms and e-mail that period.

And decision was taken finally I went to Gazprom Eye-Surgery Center, surgery was done. And my first impression: I still have the same eyes but the World around me changed. World became brighter and lighter! All became like on the picture in glamor magazine! Amazing! All people are so beautiful! And everything is so beautiful! Strange feeling in metro when I could see eyes of people on opposite bench in the car (before I’ve seen just dark shadows on place where people should have eyes), I could read the same book what person read by my side. That was strange, strange, strange and BEAUTIFUL :).

What else I want to tell you in this very long article – what Kyle just told me ;)/. I started to tell this story to my colleagues and friends: a lot of them made it. And everybody came to me to say Thank you and to share with me this incredible experience of New Beautiful World!

Best Wishes!

Svetlana

As an American I would say that most (prevailing) Americans can’t accept (either through fear or demesnes) that their nation is in the grasp of a brought together, controlled purposefully publicity media system, and that the Argus-eyed minority portion, that has suspicions of the facts of the matter are sidelined by being slanted to eschew those suspicions and not offer voice to them. All the significant media players (MSM) reflect the same account of occasions, delusions, and manifestation’s; practically verbatim constant. That is to say, “Verbatim ac literatim.”

Should a columnist ‘miss-talk’ and veer off, they will need to discover a new occupation promptly. Simply a little expressive portion of the populace benefits itself of optional news sources and less yet have any recognition with the remote singular presses, despite the fact that, the outside press is utilized to reinforce the “Washington Consensus!” One may be slanted to think this larger parochialism is the result of America’s impossible to miss history or its violently perfervid transcendental thinking however as we have of seen recently, stunningly better instructed, more cosmopolitan Europeans are not invulnerable to the Pavlov’s Dog’s Project in the European media…

What I might want to ask of the peruses here is to end up mindful of that for the reasons of outlining “American Interests” there are (no less than) two America’s. One spoke by the noticeable expressive government, the administration that is interminably trumpeting great plans, the most honorable attempts, attesting itself as the last, best trust for Democracy and Freedom, and the guard of the abused all over the planet we call Earth. At that point there is profoundness in the under-layers of all that inaccuracy, “The Other America.” Best characterized as a worldwide, neo-rightist corporate theocracy, the nexus of which is the C.I.A., also whose pioneers never show up on a vote and whose names would mean little or nothing to a great many partakes in the running of the abyss…

This is the Deep State (C.I.A.) and this is the convocation that is captivating…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid: 44.9…

Debaltsevo Cauldron has been a huge topic on this side of the world, this is a focal point in Ukraine, that has caused many in the American government to desire to send lots and lots of weapons to the Kiev Junta to help them to kill more Ukrainians. Therefore the Debaltsevo Cauldron is almost choked off and by most reports is closed, except for a narrow passage to let men escape, 10,000 plus men from the Kiev Junta army have been trapped or are going to be trapped and Kiev left them there to die…

This is what you get when you have people fighting for their homes, against people who are trying to take their homes from them. Now you see what really happens in all the American wars that they put boots on the ground, the people that live there fight for their lives and homes, thus we lose…

The reports are that 20,000 plus Ukrainian men are crossing the border per day into Russia. It now stands at 1.5 million Ukrainians have fled to Russia to either stay alive or escape forced draft to kill their fellow country men. This is the difference in men who fight for their lives and men who are forced to fight for the corporations and governments. The men, women, and children in Novorossia, fight to survive against a western backed and armed army for Kiev…

Do not watch this video if you are squeamish; it is real, bad, terrible, and exact. It does not cover up, the horror and if you watch, be ready. The people of Novorossia are rightfully pissed. Reality of war is hell and Ukraine is hell now; thanks to America… Thank you America…

Translation Corrections as the video has hard-coded subs…

Around 4:41, “And if we dropped on Kiev such mines?” should be, “And if we dropped such mortar rounds on Kiev?”
At 5:22, a more accurate translation would be “You’ll rebuild our city.”
Around 8:30 to 8:57, “trucks” should be “armored vehicles (BMPs or BTRs).”
At 12:11, “respected” should be translated as “my good fellow.”
At 19:31, should be more like “…his hands go lame”, not his “…hands dry out.” They are translating too literally.
At the end, the security guy is just joking about hanging him, obviously that’s out of the question. These POWs will be traded for NAF POWs.

After the cauldron is “cleaned up”, how much of the Ukrainian hardware is going to stay? Last time they were kicked out, they lost 60 % of all their hardware, even assuming they could substantially re-arm from the west, how much are they going to lose this time around? Another 40 %, perhaps? Is there anything to stay in the Ukrainian arsenal, I mean worth mentioning? Then this is why America is frantic to rearm Ukraine, it has lost everything to Novorussia. Thus the inner conflict developing in American politics…

Last I heard the Ukraine army is almost completely out of ammunition; about 4-5 weeks worth left, what then? And they have used their reserves up now, so they have no real offensive forces left. Therefore they are trying to force the men to fight, men from 18 to 60 years old, maybe younger and older from the rumors that I hear. The men are running from the west Ukraine in droves, thus the mercs are being brought in and they are now dying in groves…

It may be easier all round if the Kiev Junta just wrote a list of weapons they would like and send it straight to Obama, thus cutting out the middleman!

Listen to what is said in the video above. I suspect there is more war resistance than we know in Ukraine. So many are deserting, whole battalions of them, and they tell the same story…

“We thought we would be fighting Russian military invaders until we got here and saw who we were really fighting.”

Who where they fighting?

Their families, their countrymen, their souls…

Time to wake up and stop this, America admits they did it and America wants to keep arming the Kiev Junta. Why? Because we started it and we hate to lose, yet we always lose…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease: 74.6

By JIM W. DEAN

“Deep within every one of us lies a natural understanding of good and evil. That is why one man can tell the truth convincingly – but it takes the entire apparatus of the state to peddle a lie – and propagate that lie to new generations.” – Gandhi.

There seems no escape from seeing the pretensions of Western Democracy dragged exposed and defeated before the world’s public, like Hector dragged behind Achilles’ triumphant chariot in the Iliad. What has happened to previously free people where they have, step by step, swapped freedom for something that cannot even be called a three-dollar bill, but a buck fifty?

We see citizens like these in the US, where their government treats them in many ways like the slaves of occupiers of a defeated nation. Sure, the people have some semblance of control over their lives, but only on issues for which the occupiers have no concern. Obama is a light version of Bush, with none of the Iranian nuclear bomb fraud and craziness, but who replaced it with Syrian and Ukrainian disasters.

Gitmo and its “Jihadis” are still with us, when the prisons should be instead full of NeoCons and the real perpetrators of 9-11, and followed by all those involved in the cover-up. That might require a lot of new prison construction to house them all. Obama brought us change, but then more of the same.

Today, we found ourselves on Veterans Today radio asking all those who witnessed the 9-11 cover-up to come forward to give us more details, which might force our government to stop hiding the truth. The lies about the justification for the destruction of Syria and Ukraine have been on a lesser scale, but only with regard to the US body count and the multi-trillion dollar defense spending robbery that the Bush gangsters pulled on us.

After all the carefully-orchestrated mega financial scams began to blow up on Bush-43’s watch (like pulling a rabbit out of a hat), our country experienced the trauma of 9-11. At VT, we are no longer laughed at when we call it a coup. Emergency laws appeared out of the magic hat, as did massive defense spending for the new foreign wars that took the country further down the tubes, yet Bush was re-elected.

That America did not get a war going with Iran was a miracle, partially due to one false flag attack that Gwenyth Todd broke up in Bahrain. Gwenyth escaped her targeted-assassination punishment by inadvertently changing plans to go somewhere else, missing her date for being blown up with “Shia extremists” in a rigged bomb plot.

The country became sick of Bush and the NeoCons, and that opened the door for Obama. But part of his riding into office was the horror of having John McCain and his blow-up-doll version of a first female Vice President, who had to be dressed each day and tutored in world geography to be able to talk to the press. Today she is still a laughing stock, but she was chosen to pull the women’s vote, and she did draw female fan worship like the biblical Golden Calf.

Europe and the crash of economy

The banking crash that brought Europe down was also a democracy-changing event. What used to be a pump-and-dump scam used to manipulate the stock market was boosted up to target entire countries. Financial regulator budgets had been paired back to insure their ineffectiveness. You all watched what happened.

Peoples’ lives got changed in a big way. Instead of a group of Warlords having to militarily conquer Europe to exploit it financially, new financial weapons of mass destruction were used.

Indebtedness was used as a smokescreen to convert state parliaments and legislatures into armies of occupation, who began ruling by cracking their austerity whips. The transition from freemen back to surfs began in earnest, but many have still not figured that out.

Little Greece is the current news legacy from that era, with its new anti-austerity promise government. The new Greek prime minister, Alexis Tsipras, is in the real democracy spotlight now, having taken his little 5% party to a victory of 35%, and ending the dominance of the two major parties for the past 40 years. I am waiting for Greece to begin democracy revival conventions in Athens, which should be well attended.

Within the first week, we hear talk of concessions on Greece’s debt load, after creditors took a 50% haircut back in 2012. “It’s okay to talk about Greek debt, to lighten its burden,” said French Finance Minister, Michel Sapin. That was quickly followed by PM Tsipras rejecting having Greece’s name on the EU’s renewal of Russian sanctions, but in his first stumble, that decision was reversed the following day.

The $270-billion bailout monster still hangs over Greece, but what we are watching being birthed is a growing realization that the crime against Greece was loading her with debt that she clearly could never pay. The bankster gangsters that did that now have Ukraine in their sights, with lots of natural wealth they plan foreclosing on, with NATO and the US military serving as their guard dogs.

France was responding to democratic complaints on the stupidity of the Russian sanctions, which boomeranged on them when Moscow countered with the EU food import bans, and with what will most probably be the last military contract that French workers ever see from Russia — the Mistral.

The German opposition has been outspoken on the failure of the sanctions, but Merkel has a tight grip on power, as does the European Council.

The EU was designed to eliminate any real democracy in Europe, with its extra buffer layers of non-accountability between the voters and the political-financial elites. The plan seems to be working. The elites do pretty much what they want, like having no problem with their new puppet government in Kiev ignoring several ceasefires, and for using the lull in the fighting to prepare its next offensive.

When Mariupol gets shelled for its first time with innocent civilian deaths, the EU governments shed their instant tears, but use the event to justify Russian sanctions renewals. For the civilians dying daily in Donetsk from Ukrainian army shelling, not one tear — only more Western offers of military and financial aid to keep Kiev’s offensive going.

The European people, of course, want nothing to do with this; but they are powerless so far to stop it. The same goes for us here in the US. We had our moment in the sun when the spontaneous phone campaign to stop the Syrian bomb attack astonished our political establishment. They had not seen it coming. Obama averted what would have been the disaster of his career if he had gone through with the bombing campaign awaiting his call.

I prayed that the American people had discovered their telephone weapon of political mass destruction and would start using it weekly on one major target after another, but alas, my prayers were not answered. We are going to use our new VT radio network to build a permanent six-figure member army of phone callers to reach out and touch people who need to get banged over their heads to get their attention.

We cannot wait for the next election to have our every two-year moment in the sun. I never would have believed that I would be seeing Greece as the tip of the spear for a hopefully democratic revival.

Am I reaching here? Maybe so… but it happened when no one thought it could. This Greek election is one of the best examples of grassroots leadership coming forward in a long time. At the end of the day, we have to work with what we have… toward a better tomorrow.

JD/HSN

JIM W. DEAN

Glad to have the columnist: Jim W. Dean, is managing editor of Veterans Today wearing many hats from day to day operations, development, writing and editing articles. He also has an active schedule of TV and radio interviews as do the other VT editors, and some guest radio hosting on the Rense network.

I have been shot, stabbed, broken thirty plus (30+) bones in my body, beat senseless more times than I can name, stitched up numerous times, gone through chemo therapy, experienced six heart attacks, had pneumonia six times in my life, and nothing matches what I just went through last night. I had to deal with a kidney stone and I am not sure it is over yet…

It came under control after I used a pain-killer that was prescribed once by a Russian doctor. It is called Nise and pronounced just as you think it is, Nice. Nise is a narcotic, mild but still a narcotic and normally I do not take such pain killers, because they make me sick or nauseated. Sick was a blessing compared to the pain, so I took two…

After an hour, I was able to at least lay in one position and not have to have Sveta help me to the bathroom or any other such actions. Simply getting in and out of bed, was hell itself. I had been driven to use a cane to do simple acts of movement. I am now doing better and it has been sixteen hours since taking the painkiller…

I have dealt with this several times, but this must have been a large one and; well you know, lets hope it is the last one?

I remember many years ago a man told me that kidney stones is the worst thing in the universe. He laid in the hospital and they were having to deal with a serious issue he had. I remember thinking; “Worse than being stabbed and shot?” Na!!!

Oh was I wrong…

Have a nice (nise) day, for after yesterday, I sure will have a great day today…

Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease – 81.3…

First article; is an audio file of James Howard Kunstler about USA, Ukraine and Russia; this article is all over Russia and no where in the west as far as I can see or hear. I will not translate the article, for it is in Russian only, but I did find his MP3 recording in English… (Actually Sveta found the link as she was searching Russian news! :))

Here is the MP3 file to listen to…

or download it… (doc6it4omr9s6a3z9v587g)

This is interesting for right after Kunstler gave this interview, Obama then said in an interview, “And since Mr. Putin made this decision around Crimea and Ukraine — not because of some grand strategy, but essentially because he was caught off-balance by the protests in the Maidan and [Ukraine’s then-President Viktor] Yanukovych then fleeing after we (USA) had brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine.”

We admit point blank that we started this situation in Ukraine, be it for what ever reasons and why, we did it… (The USA!)

Yes, it seems we are starting to wane in our ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now lets see who has the most power; the warmonger or the occasional sanity-monger among the psychosis of the US landscape?

* * * * * * * * * *

Second article: Delusional America by Paul Craig Roberts…

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following. Roberts’ latest books are The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West and How America Was Lost.

Enough said and here is his article…

Delusional America

Paul Craig Roberts

Robert Parry is one of my favorite columnists. He is truthful, has a sense of justice, and delivers a firm punch. He used to be a “mainstream journalist,” like me, but we were too truthful for them. They kicked us out.

I can’t say Parry has always been one of my favorite journalists. During the 1980s he spent a lot of time on Reagan’s case. Having been on corporate boards, I know that CEOs seldom know everything that is going on in the company. There are just too many people and too many programs representing too many agendas. For presidents of countries with governments as large as the US government, there is far more going on than a president has time to learn about even if he could get accurate information.

In my day Assistant Secretaries and chiefs of staff were the most important people, because they controlled the flow of information. Presidents have to focus on fund raising for their reelection and for their party. More time and energy is used up with formalities and meetings with dignitaries and media events. At the most there are two or three issues on which a president can attempt leadership. If an organized clique such as the neoconservatives get into varied positions of authority, they can actually “create the reality” and take the government away from the president.

As I have reported on many occasions, my experience with Reagan left me with the conclusion that he was interested in two big issues. He wanted to stop the stagflation for which only the supply-side economists had a solution, and he wanted to end, not win, the cold war.

Both of these agendas put Reagan at odds with two of the most powerful of the private interest groups: Wall Street and the military/security complex.

Wall Street for the most part opposed Reagan’s economic program. They opposed it because they understood it as Keynesian deficit pump-priming that would cause an already high inflation rate to explode, which would drive down bond and stock prices.

The CIA and the military opposed any ending of the Cold War because of the obvious impact on their power and budget.

Left-wing journalists never picked up on this, and neither did right-wing journalists.

The left could not get beyond Reagan’s rhetoric. For the left, Reagan was trickle-down economics, Iran/Contra, and the fired air traffic controllers.

The right-wing liked Reagan’s rhetoric and blamed him for not delivering on it.

For the left, the Reagan years were a traumatic time. Robert Parry has never recovered from them. He can scarcely write a column about events today, which are horrific in comparison, without dragging Reagan into it. Parry doesn’t realize it, but if it is all Reagan’s fault, little wonder it has been impossible to hold Clinton, Bush 1 and 2, and Obama accountable.

Having written these lines, I already detect the denunciations coming my way for again attempting to “rehabilitate Ronald Ray-Gun.” Reagan does not need rehabilitating. This column is not about Reagan, and it is not a criticism of Parry. It is praise for Parry’s column, “‘Group-thinking’ the World into a New War.” https://consortiumnews.com/2015/01/30/group-thinking-the-world-into-a-new-war/ Read it.

The pattern since Milosevic (and before) has been to demonize a foreign head of state and to take the US to war to get rid of him. That way the secret agenda is achieved under the cover of the necessity of deposing a bad or dangerous ruler.

Parry describes this well. Group-Think plays the important role of preventing any dissent, any suspicion of the case against the demonized person, and any examination of the real agenda that is being pursued.

Now it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who is being demonized. As Parry and I and Stephen F. Cohen, the most knowledgeable of the Russian experts, appreciate, Putin is not Saddam Hussein and Russia is not Iraq, Libya, Syria, Serbia, or Iran. To foment conflict with Russia that could lead to war is worse than irresponsible. Yet, as Parry writes, “from the start of the Ukraine crisis in fall 2013, the New York Times, the Washington Post and virtually every mainstream U.S. news outlet have behaved as dishonestly as they did during the run-up to war with Iraq.”

When Professor Cohen pointed out, correctly, that the lies about Russia, Ukraine, and Putin were hot and heavy, the propagandists had to get rid of the man with the facts. The New Republic, a hang-out for low IQ fools, called America’s leading Russian expert “Putin’s American toady.”

From Parry’s reporting, it appears that Group-Think has spread from the media and foreign policy community into the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies, which has decided that academic careers require adherence to the government’s propaganda line, which means the neoconservatives’ line.

As I have written on a number of occasions, facts no longer play a role in American political life. Fact-based analysis is also disappearing from academic life and no longer plays a role in official economic reporting. A matrix has been created, an artificial reality that channels the energies and resources of the country into secret agendas that serve the interests of the ruling private interest groups and neoconservative ideology.

The United States government and the American people cannot contend with reality, because they do not know what the reality is.

In America’s make-believe world, neoconservative toadies such as New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, set the Group-Think tone, while knowledgeable experts such as Stephen Cohen are tuned out.

In effect, America is both blind and deaf. It lives in delusions. Consequently, it will destroy itself and perhaps the world.

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Posted by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…