Broken Spell

“We…”

I will let this magnificently wrought documentary, inspired by the words of the beautiful Arundhati Roy, speak for itself….

(Part 1 of 7)

Zeitgeist: Addendum 1 of 13

The Zeitgeist film is one I post with mixed feelings.  I think it is beautifully and artfully composed.  It contains what, to me, are some of the heaviest truths one can confront.  Unfortunately, it also can be burdened with the label of “conspiracy theory”, based mainly on the 9/11 portion.  My opinion is that that portion should have been completely left out, as it instantly invites derision and marginalization, all the more unfortunate considering the devastating nature of the sections on religion and the economic system.  This is why I’ve elected to link to the addendums.  This segment introduces us to the Federal Reserve document Modern Money Mechanics.  Full comprehension of the information contained here constitutes graduation to a completely different plane from which to view the world.  From here, the fissures in The Spell begin to gush.

Segments 3 thru 13 can be viewed here.

“Why We Fight”

A wonderful film that begins with, and then elaborates on, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s famous speech warning Americans about the dangers of letting the “military-industrial complex” garner too much influence in our halls of power.  Highlights include former CIA man, Chalmers Johnson, giving a succinct definition of the term “blowback”, a term and concept with which all U.S. citizens should familiarize themselves.

“A lot of what’s going on is simply because people don’t understand the larger architecture of how the Penatgon operates.”  That quote precedes a sequence beginning at about 37:30 that very well explains how the complex works.

“The Defense budget is well over 3/4 of a trillion dollars.  Profits last year went up over 25%.  I guarantee you when war becomes that profitable you’re going to see more of it.”

I believe from about 56:00 – 59:00 is one of the finest documentary segments ever shot and beginning at 59:15 is maybe the best synopsis you’ll ever find on U.S. policy toward Iraq since the 1950s.

“Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land:  Media and the Israel-Palestine Conflict”

This documentary offers what is missing entirely in the mainstream reporting on this subject in America – something called “context”.  It is graphically violent, as it reflects what has been going on there since 1967.

“Weapons Of Mass Deception”

An illuminating documentary about the media campaign that was waged on the American mind in the lead-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom and during the coverage of the invasion.

Introduced herein are “Video Enhancement Elements”, the concepts of “News Immersion” “Information Dominance”, and “Mili-tainment.”  Also introduced, is retired Air-Force Colonel, Sam Gardner.  His exhaustive analysis of Iraq War coverage reveals that “they” are not only trying to influence the way we think, but intend to control what we think about.  Among the revelations his work produced is that somewhere between 50-60 major news “stories” were just that – stories – entirely fictional creations presented to the American public as fact.  Included in these was the alleged link between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden and the now infamous (for having been thoroughly debunked) Jessica Lynch saga, the recounting of which cannot help but remind one of the film Wag The Dog…and let’s not forget the toppling of the statue of Saddam.

A careful viewing of this film may forever change the way you watch the news.

……………………………………….

In contrast to the media coverage presented in the U.S., here is a Dateline-style news special that ran in Canada covering Iraq.  It is not for the feint of heart.  I’ve posted the first 2 segments – the remaining 3 segments are here.

Yeah!  What’s history got to do with anything?

Here’s what I don’t know, and where we get to the part that keeps me up at night.  Assuming my prediction about Iran is correct – that we will be invading – is that just the way it has to be?  I don’t pretend to know.  For all I know, that’s the way things need to be run now.  If you believe what many have said about “peak oil”, the West may actually need to go in there and seize control of the relatively little oil that’s left.  It’s possible, without it, our way of life will end completely in a matter of a few years or decades.  It may be that if we play nice with the 1.3 billion-strong Muslim culture, we’ll lose.

All I know is that the process our “leaders” and media repeatedly put us through to drum up our fear and blood-lust is insulting to the intelligence.

Scott Ritter and others have laid it out pretty succinctly.  Why would a little country like Iran want to pick a fight with us?  They fought a horrific war with Iraq in the 80s – which cost them hundreds of thousands of their people.  They are only just beginning to recover from that.  Their economy is in the tank.  They import $30-billion in gasoline each year because they don’t have the capability to refine the ocean of oil that sits underneath them.

From a purely historical and militarily strategic point of view, it makes no sense whatsoever that they would want to pick a fight with the world’s sole remaining superpower.  Everyone knows what we can do.  We’ve demonstrated it to the world repeatedly.  We can waste that whole country in a matter of minutes – the whole planet – many times over.

The only way it even begins to make a little bit of sense is if you believe their leaders are absolutely insane….cue Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad.

The logical fallacy there, though, is that the entire international community, intelligence communities included, know that he is basically a religious figurehead – on top of that he’s a figurehead the majority of Iran’s people want nothing to do with.  Remember all that rioting and protesting a few weeks back?    He has no actual military power.  He has no police power.  He doesn’t control the security council, Parliament, the media, the courts, or the prisons.  All that power is with the Supreme Leader.  President Ahmadinezhad is subordinate to him. When you hear anyone (Hannity, Newt Gingrich)  refer to Ahmadinezhad as a “dictator”, EVIL or otherwise, you’re either hearing them tell an outright lie or demonstrate a crucial and fundamental ignorance about Iran’s government.

The Supreme Leader, and Parliament, have flatly said that Iran never has nor ever will threaten another country.  They will recognize Isreal.  They want to normalize relations with us.  They will give up their nuclear program.  They have complied and will continue to fully comply with international law.  All he wants in return is everyone else to respect the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran – lift the sanctions – allow them into the fold.  Period.  They stand only to gain everything by doing just that.  They stand only to lose everything by doing anything else.  They know that.  Their population knows that.

Based on all that, I’m left to conclude our intentions for invading them – should we do so – are not what we’re being told they are.

With all my heart I tell you I’m truly afraid for us all.

Forgive me for harping on the Iran situation but I think it’s pretty critical, we’ll find out just how critical tomorrow, after the negotiations.  Also, here is a perfectly relevant, real-time example of what I deem to be American agit/prop.  It may seem subtle to most people but if you’ve paid attention to the way these things tend to be reported here in the lead-up to these conflicts with little countries, it is actually a very familiar pattern.  It also seems to call into question the notion of a liberal bias in the media.    MSNBC, a news channel any good right-winger will tell you is liberally biased, ran a dialogue between Arianna Huffington (also a “liberal”), the well-informed Glenn Greenwald, and some other douchebag.  Douchey and Huffington are touting the the official line out of Washington and Greenwald is taking issue with them behind what appear to be commonly held beliefs in the international intelligence community.  The line-touters are in-studio and Greenwald is via crappy web-feed/telephone.  Okay, fine – apparently he’s in Brazil and that’s the absolute best that can be done.  The entire time Greenwald is explaining the situation, MSNBC is tattooing looped footage of Iranian missile tests into our eyeballs with the caption “Defiant But Dangerous?”  As Greenwald himself says on his blog, “It’s genuinely hard to overstate the effect of visuals like this transmitted over and over and over again to a population.”

He is exactly right.  This is the same process we go through every single time in the build-up to invasion.  If you’re paying attention at all, you may as well get accustomed to seeing that footage and more footage like it because this is only the beginning.  I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict that military action against Iran is a foregone conclusion at this point.  Washington’s been patiently priming us for several years, now.  Now they’re really pouring it on.  Enjoy your fireworks show!

The drums for war against Iran are being pounded.  The western countries are lining up to position themselves for energy resource allocation in the aftermath.  There’s probably no stopping it.  Your media will not inform you.  This video is dated, obviously – and appears to have been posted by someone who is antisemitic, judging by the annotations at the beginning (”mutt”).  Don’t blame Scott Ritter for that.  He was a U.S. marine for 12 years, went to war for his country, was a senior U.N. weapons inspector.  He was the ONLY figure of any significance in the U.S. media who steadfastly denied Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, for which he was vilified by nearly everyone.  He took his lumps and he let time be the judge.  We all know how that worked out.  Here he is a couple of years ago replacing propaganda with facts.  You can just feel the truth emanating from him.  It’s refreshing, no?

“….There comes a time when silence is betrayal….even when pressed by the demands of inner-truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war….Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom….one of the difficulties in speaking out today grows out of the fact that their are those who are seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty….”

“There will be no meaningful solution until some attempt is made to know these people and hear their broken cries.  Who are we supporting today?  It’s a man named General Qi, who fought with the French against his own people, and who said on one occasion that the greatest hero of his life is Hitler….this is who we’re supporting.  Oh our government, and the press, generally, won’t tell us these things, but God told me to tell you this morning….”

“This is the role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful resolutions impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investments….a true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies….”

Those who think Obama is an eloquent and powerful speaker should reacquaint themselves with MLK.  To say this one is still relevant is the feeblest understatement.  His shift from speeches on civil rights to speeches on American foreign policy represented a grave threat to the power structure.  It was one thing to rally his race towards being integrated into the mainstream, and hence, into the economy.  It was another thing altogether to rally all “people of conscience”, working class, and poor to unite against corporations and governments.  It was a year after he began making these speeches that he was gunned down.  The final 5 or so minutes are spellbinding….

Here is a full text of the speech he gave exactly one year to the day before he was shot. It may be the most damning and gutsy speech he ever gave and, of course, the least well-known to the masses.