Snowden Was Right In Going To Wikileaks

New York Times Whistleblower James Risen demonstrates that the entire political establishment (Democrats and Republicans) were accomplices in covering up domestic espionage. His obvious conclusion: that Edward Snowden was right in publishing his documents in Wikileaks rather than going through established channels. Risen points out that other whistleblowers who first attempted to report to their superiors have paid a heavy price. Risen himself runs the risk of going to jail… as opposed to those who committed the most gross violation of basic constitutional principles. Risen also states that Obama has had the worst track record of any president in blocking the divulgation of information that should be of the public domain because it involves policy decisions which in a democratic society needs to be open to public debate.  Risen discusses all this in his new book “Pay Any Price: Greed, Power, and Endless War.”  http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/14/james_risen_prepared_to_pay_any

 

ESCALATION IN IRAQ AND DECEPTIVE LANGUAGE

Obama says no boots on the ground in Iraq and Syria, but with the introduction of slow-moving Apache Attack Helicopters this week, he’s getting as close as he can to the use of combat troops. They’re just 150 feet above-ground and can be shot down by rocket-propelled grenades or machine gun fire. I’m not opposed to going after ISIS, but it can’t be a U.S. effort, nor one that just involves our undemocratic Mid-East allies (ie. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain  and the like) and NATO. It should involve much broader support channeled through the UN. But that would mean talking to the Iranians and Russians, among others.  

CHAVISTA LEADER ASSASSINATED

THE RIGHWING IS COMMITTING ACTS OF TERRORISM IN VENEZUELA AND THE ONLY THING THAT WASHINGTON AND THE CORPORATE MEDIA TALK ABOUT IS VIOLATION OF “HUMAN RIGHTS.” The charismatic youth leader and national deputy Robert Serra was assassinated yesterday in his home along with his partner María Herrera. Serra may have been the first on the 20-person hit list that Venezuelan student activist Lorent Gómez Saleh (now in jail) referred to in a recorded conversation that Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres revealed about a week ago. In the conversation Gómez Saleh makes reference to sophisticated Remington arms for sharpshooters with a list of twenty targets and indicates that he is in close contact with Alvaro Uribe. The situation resembles the prelude to the overthrow of Salvador Allende. After right wingers assassinated General René Schneider the Chilean opposition led by the Christian Democratic Party, rather than distancing themselves from violent actions, organized protests that gave legitimacy to the fascists. The Venezuelan opposition acts in a similar manner. But what is really outrageous is how the White House and U.S. Congress highlight alleged violation of human rights in Venezuela when they know full well that the type of terrorism carried out in that nation would never be tolerated in the U.S. Anybody remember the FBI-led repression against the Black Panthers in the 60s?

WASHINGTON ASSERTS ITS MONOPOLY ON BOMBING TERRORISTS

According to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, only the U.S. has the right to bomb terrorists in northern Syria. The N. Y. Times reports that Hagel is considering proposing a no-fly zone in order to protect civilians from Syria government bombings. But who is Syria bombing? The same guys that the U.S. is bombing. Does Hagel seriously believe that civilians are immune to U.S. bombing but not that of its adversaries? The same N....Y. Times article indicates that Turkey favors the proposal and quotes Hagel as saying “we will continue to talk about what the Turks believe they will require.” Does Turkey’s sovereignty in Syria trump that of the Syrian government? Hagel’s statement is another example of Washington’s utter contempt for the national sovereignty of non-big power nations.

The same article also quoted Hagel as placing the cost of “the American military campaign in Iraq and Syria at between $7 million and $10 million a day.” You’d never know that social programs in the U.S. are being cut right and left! At second thought, maybe what’s good for the U.S. industrial complex is good for the economy.