How AntiWar.com learned to stop worrying and love Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

Such claims are dismissed by the
Pro-Putin "Antiwar" crowd.

I used to read Antiwar.com which was highly critical of the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq and provided a counter-balance for the incessant drumbeat of War! War! War! by the Corporate Media and the War Boner reporting of embedded journalists.

I meandered back to their website recently and was aghast but unsurprised that most of the articles they are linking to are by conservatives and Antiwar's take on Ukraine and Russia is evil NATO made Russia invade, and it's only a matter of time until Russia wins so Ukraine should surrender now, and *ackshullay* Biden is the Warmonger and NATO is the one escalating the violence, and watch out Russia might Nuke everyone because we made them do it.

It's despicably shocking to see Antiwar embrace Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine and adopt the abusers framing of Look what you made me do while catapulting rightwing narratives of Ukraine the fascist backstabber, and embracing Republican threats of cutting off funding for Ukraine.  It's beyond "Tankie" and beyond Only America is Imperialist, it's fundamentally a pro-Russian invasion of Ukraine position.

"Peace Champions" adhere to C3PO's advice,
'Let the Putin Win'

Every article front paged, linked to, and commented upon simply ignores what Putin said were the intentions and goals of his unlawful war and invasion; the so-called "denazification" of Ukraine and the elimination of Ukraine as a sovereign state for the right and proper re-absorption back into Mother Russia.  Instead articles and their comment section are full of people denouncing the rapacious Biden White House, inventing all manner of conspiratorial events which supposedly triggered Russia's invasion, and preposterously pretends that, by pushing and agitating for Ukraine's defeat, they are the true peacekeepers and the defenders of international Law&Order. 

Why is "Antiwar" trumpeting Russian talking points and linking to rightwing writers who've written the same It's Time for Ukraine to Surrender article for all of 2022 while supporting Russian's invasion of Ukraine?  I don't know.  

Iran It's an Imminent Threat

It's a put-on
An Imminent Threat?
It's a put-on, It's a put-on, It's a put-on

As always Trump and his maladministration is lying. The reason Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, Trump himself, or any other fascist drone of this cabal say they can't reveal details of the imminent threat is because it didn't exist. And now they can't manufacture any real data or intel to substantiate the claim.

On Faux News, Pompeo did away with even the semblance of a cover-story, "There is no doubt there were a series of imminent attacks being plotted. We don’t know precisely when and we don't know precisely where. But it was real."

'We don't know when and where...'

But, it doesn't matter. The Magat Horde doesn't need any real Casus Belli. Trump's barnstorming' act is all they really want. So he decided to keep it simple, used his signature style of malaprop insults, and this reckless, unjustified strikeThe Anti-Benghazi!

Ta-dah!

The ground has been well plowed for Trump; 25 years of Faux News, 40 years of toxic rightwing talk radio, 60 years of Birtcher propaganda, and 150 years of revisionist rightwing history, so entire generations of conservatives have been born and died believing naught but lies and rightwing agitprop. Of course, they know Qasem Soleimani was about to blow up the Embassy in Iran or Iraq or Washington DC, whatever. And of course, they know Solemani directly killed hundreds of Marines and Soldiers and millions of people.

Of course, the Soleimani killing which also resulted in 9 other deaths, was just a Weapon of Mass Distraction, from the real battle Republicans wished to wage against their true enemy; the Democratic Party and the ostensible American Left. So after the drone strike, Republicans flooded every channel of the toxic rightwing propaganda machine with Democrats love the Terrorists, a time-honored slander conservatives have been flinging for years.

There's no coming back from the depths conservatives have reached. The entire Republican Party is a criminal conspiracy abetted by a Cult of fanatics who will never abandon their god-emperor.

Trump is slowly transitioning, as I always knew he would, from calling the Media and elected Democratic Congresspersons vicious, horrible and evil, to labelling anyone who votes against him in those terms. He's edged this way before, as when he tasked Police Unions to suss out which Officers voted against him. But, as the election nears, Traitor Tump is getting closer and closer to directly calling on his Cultists to round-up and concentrate his enemies into camps. And understand, conservatives and especially their paramilitary armies (the Oathkeepers and III Percenters) are oiling up their guns just waiting to execute Trump's Order for someone to rid him of these Non-#MAGA.

AfghanStan McChrystal

This potential finding is exacerbated by the unconfirmed but suspected reports that POTUS and the secretary of the Army might include comments about Corporal Tillman's heroism and his approved Silver Star medal in speeches currently being prepared, not knowing the specifics surrounding his death. - then Lt. Gen Stanley McChrystal's P4 memo to General John Abaziad, as discovered years after Bush used Pat Tillman's death to bolster support for the Phony War on Terror.

Pat Tillman was an atheist, anti-war, read dissident authors, and thought Bush started an illegal war in Iraq. He's a true soldier and patriot and I wonder where all the Tea Party Traitors and Oath Keepers were when Bush was using Tillman's death to further his warmongering?

General Stanley McChrystal was in charge of the Pat Tillman cover-up. He's no Hero. It's possible Stan undertook the cover-up at the behest of the Cheney White House in order to deflect growing anti-war sentiment and to blunt the Abu Ghraib Torture revelations, which had been feverishly approved by Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, and which could have unseated President Bush in 2004.

AfghanStan comes off very badly in the Rolling Stone article: The Runaway General by Michael Hastings. President Obama relieved him of his command for his poor judgement and contempt. Now Stan will be remembered (if at all) in the same breath as Gen George McClellan.

Of course, the tenor amongst the deluded punk ass bitch Right Wing Extremists is one of 'Well, as a General he really shouldn't show such contempt for the C-in-C, but we all know McChrystal is merely expressing the hatred for a kenyan born anti-American muslim terrorist lover' and 'the problem isn't McChrystal's lack of discretion but because he allowed inside an anti-war member of the liberal media'.

However, Barack take a clue, it doesn't matter how forcefully you prosecute the Neo-Con Phony War in Terror, the Right doesn't want the war won but continued forever. They want sustained occupation. Because the peace keeping mission provides them with cover for their true war goals; A Two-Fold Giant Transfer of Wealth. It's what the Republican Party exists for, Theft and Murder. And the Neo-Cons cover their criminal actions with the cry of 'National Interests'. There has never been a more pernicious lie than 'National Interests'.

This "recent" revelation that Afghanistan houses trillions in rare minerals has been known for decades and was one of the rationals the Soviets used to stay during their bloody decade.

COIN in Afghanistan is worthless because AQ aren't in the countryside, The new Afghan Commander General David Petraeus has stated that inconvenient fact. And the Mayor of Kabul Hamid Karzai has no political pull outside of his own eyesight.

The question is will international terrorist organizations use the countryside to train for overseas missions? Maybe but, the more overarching question has always been does our continued presence kill and deter more potential terrorists or create more?

Every few months an Al Qaeda #3 is killed to no apparent value. This is not because the American and ISAF operators are worthless, far from it, it's because the AQ structure isn't undone by eliminating HVTs. AQ3 does not have a line and block OOB under him which is disrupted by his removal, he isn't an Alfred Jodl or J.E.B. Stuart. Killing him dosen't disrupt their organization. AQ3 in Waziristan is not planning an envelopment of Jalalabad or two pronged strike towards Kabul and Mazer-i-Sharif. He's not a ninja or 37th Dan Blackbelt training 50 AQ assassins every year in the arts of lethal hand-to-hand combat, he isn't in Zurich channelling a billion here and a billion there in furtherance of an international plot to destabilize currency or fund an attack.

He's a guy living amongst goat herders in the 15,000 foot tall mountains of Pakistan, AQ have isolated themselves.

The Passing of a Generation: Howard Zinn and JD Salinger

Howard Zinn and JD Salinger both passed away recently. They belonged to that near mythical generation of Americans (like my beloved and missed Grandparents) who survived the Great Depression and World War II to witness the birth of American Supremacy.

Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye never had the Holden Caulfield rebellion effect on me because I read it much too late. I was already 25 and firmly ensconced (or so I thought) in my persona. However, reflecting on it today, I recognize in it a kernel of my irritation with authority.

But, I first picked up a copy of A People's History of the United States in 1993 after Clinton's victory and when I was listening to Conservative Talk Radio. It was fascinating. How could the stories by true? My American History classes never touched on these plights or the struggles of the poor and oppressed.

Ludlow? The IWW? I'd never heard Mark Twain wrote against War, and more directly against Organized Religion, Governments and the Elites than just in his heavily cloaked but indisputable polemics starring Huck and Tom. And even though I'd lived in the Chicago land area for 20 years I had never heard of Haymarket Square or the subsequent events of the now widely dissembled Weathermen.

Reading the stories of the workers struggles planted the nascent seed pods of my journey to Liberalism, which flowered along the banks of the Euphrates 10 years later, and away from anti-human conservative pathology.

Of course, the Punk Ass Bitch Conservatives over at She Who Shall not be Named 2's site have only evil things to say about a World War II veteran and staunch defender of the poor and exploited, who fought passionately for Civil Rights and stood courageously against the Vietnam War. They (still) hate Zinn because he stood against warfare and oppression, and Conservatives love to oppress and kill people.

Democracy Now has a fitting Tribute to Howard Zinn and the Real News Network often interviewed Zinn because of his great moral integrity and they way he fundamentally changed the way We the People should view our deference to authority and our acceptance of the Outrage of War.



Related:
NPR's All Things Considered asked David Horowitz to comment on Howard Zinn's passing: Not surprisingly Horowitz as a radical chicken hawk anti-human punk ass bitch conservative who hates the poor and oppressed and loves war insulted and slandered Zinn because Howard Zinn fought for those crushed under the iron heel of anti-human conservatives.

Times of Troubles

"Crime is crime is crime. It is not political." ~ Margaret Thatcher.

I highlight the above quote, not because I agree with the Thatcher, but because she was a stalwart friend and stood shoulder to shoulder with Saint Ronnie. Ronnie was the champion of the plutocrats and laid the rock solid foundation of the Economic Collapse of Tipsy Canoe with his Piss Down Your Back Voodoo Economics and is the reference for all Republicans today.

Thatcher's comments were made so the British government could allow Irish Resisters to starve to death in prison. Prisoners who were captured during The Troubles, a period of open warfare in Ireland.

2 Time Iraqi War Veteran Chuck Norris has announced thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation. But Norris, Tea-bagging protesters and a youtube video by a "Marine" do not make a strong or popular movement. But even though I hope these are just the fringe elements, Frank Schaeffer highlights the comments by Norris may not just be some weird aberrations.

Norris is a champion Car-ate expert, but he and others are given a platform by those who would disavow any call to arms out one side of their mouth while engaging in the most vile and inflammatory rhetoric which hopes to bring about a visceral reaction amongst those whom they hate, control and abuse (the poor) but wish to use in order to keep the other half of the poor in check and divided.

Republicans are working for failure. Obama must fail so they may rule. Of course, the counter by the group has been Well you Democrats wanted Bush to fail, too! Nee Ner Nee Ner Nee Ner! As Dave Neiwert notes about Failure:

It would be one thing if Republicans were simply warning that Obama's stimulus plans were doomed to failure. We'd understand that. It certainly would mirror how we felt about the Iraq war: we believed it was a doomed enterprise that would not only cost far more in human lives than anything that might possibly be gained from it, but would actually worsen the conditions for terrorism it purportedly meant to combat. We recognized that Bush's rosy scenarios might come to pass, but we doubted it deeply -- and said so, and rightly.

And as Mahablog notes in When Failure is an Option: The Right "do not... see a difference between expressing the opinion that X is a bad idea and wanting X to fail."

From 09/12/2001 to 01/19/2009 disagreeing with the President was wrong-headed at best and at worst emboldened our enemies. However, dissent and the threat of civil war are now the highest form of patriotism. Before we had the simple conjectures to browbeat those who were against the destructive policies of Tipsy Canoe;

Supporting the Troops = Supporting the Mission = Supporting the President,
Not Supporting the President = Not Supporting the Troops + Treason.

Now supporting Obama is aiding the descent of America into a Islamo-Marxist Communist Dictatorship. And all sorts of things become acceptable to defeat that threat, especially when Republican Senator David Vitter calls the Obama government a "Dictaorship".

And so the election of Obama has given new vigor to an old enemy. The False Patriots standing up to denounce the excesses of the government. These men came to the forefront during the Clinton presidency and decryed all things government especially the Executive Branch. To them the government was coming for you and the revolution was at hand.

But, when a Republican "won", by a 5-4 vote, the White House, the rhetoric slowed, the furor subsided, the anger abated. The Southern Poverty Law Center noted by the Summer of 2001 there were 194 anti government Patriot groups a drop from the high of 858 in 1996. Why? Why did freedom lovers sit back when Tipsy Canoe and his Aides were crafting powers to curb laws, supressing the consitution, using the government to bilk Trillions, starting wars and keeping US safe, except for the whole 9/11 thing...

Well, the anger is back. Anger which began prior to Obama even taking office and which bubbled over by the Toxic Commentators declaring Obama equals the End of America. Recall how this was exacerbated when Republican VP candidate Sarah Hot and Palin and McCain spokeswoman Nancy Pfoentauer declared some parts of America are Real and "Pro"-America. The "Pro"-tectors of Eric Rudolph, who blew up women and abortion clinics, and found refugee amongst the Patriots in the Appalachians.

And now the Revolution is once again nigh.

But, the history of the English Occupation of Ireland and The Troubles is an apt comparison and should provide a blueprint for Norris, The Birthers and all the False Patriots of the consequences of their toxic rhetoric. Do they really want the bitter fruits which shall arise from planting the seeds of revolution? A militarized police force, captured persons being allowed to starve to death in prison, occupation by the military, outright street warfare, car bombs, indiscriminate shootings, a Kent State or a Waco or an Oklahoma City Bombing every month or worse in American cities?

But, the most terrible and most poisonous result coming from a call for armed resistance and open fighting would be the destruction of the Ideal The Founding Fathers crafted, a peaceful transition of power. Which once lost might never be found again.

Related:
Drinking Liberally in New Milford: Will the GOP upChuck on Norris support?

The Surge has worked so well everyone can come home.

Or Maybe Not...

The surge has been such a blinding success a freeze of the troop reduction is necessary and more troops may be in Iraq by the this time next year after Bush slimes his way into history. Of course, I may be wrong since no Americans or Iraqis are dying in Iraq anymore...

The last year has been a barrage of incessant chirping from Chicken Hawk Warmongers, like Robert Kagan, who declared the Surge worked before it started.

Of course, the latest tactic Bush has unveiled is the somewhat unsubtle claim if we leave Iraq, Iran will think Americans are pussies. Nothing like impugning the manhood of Americans in order to ensure they continue to support an occupation, which has freed a million Iraqis from the drudgery of their daily lives.

I feel like I've written this post before...

It was Worth It...

My conclusion is clear. NO... HELL NO... FUCK NO...

So, I don't quote or reference those running for president with whom I staunchly disagree. I do not like to give them coverage even to point out their complete ignorance (e.g. Huckabee and Evolution).

But, when you can catch Chickenhawk Warmongers who want to be president stating Iraq was worth the cost in Blood and Treasure sometimes you have to let people know the extent of their insanity. From the January 24 MSNBC debate:

First off, each respondent ignores the question was the War is worth the cost of blood and treasure;

John McCain, "The war in Iraq is justified..." Was it worth it? "It was a good idea."

Mike Huckabee, "I supported the president when he led us into this, as did the Democrats, and I think we owe him not a lot of scorn. We owe him our thanks..." So, we owe Bush who never served, whose children never served, whose extended family has never served, whose chief handler Dick Cheney never served, whose rabid on air supporters, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity never served our thanks? So Mike is your son, Mike Dale Huckabee going to join the Corps and serve over in Al Anbar any time soon?

Mitt Romney, "It was the right decision to go into Iraq. I supported it at the time. I support it now." As long as none of the 5 sons of Romney have to go anywhere near the fighting , bloodshed and danger, right? After all they are serving America right now trying to get you elected president! And I'm sure they have hopes and dreams and aspirations and it would be terribly inconvenient to force them to put their lives on hold for something so trivial as the War on Terror.

Only Ron Paul is correct on the War on Iraq, "It was a very bad idea and it wasn't worth it."

Update (01/26):
I'm not even sure what to write about Huckabee's WMDs are Easter Eggs analogy. "Just because we didn't find them, it doesn't mean they weren't there..." Kinda like the 100% complete and accurate fossil record Fanatical creationists demand be produced for every creature on earth? If we don't find them according to you I can claim they are still there, like Easter eggs right, Hucky?

Surprises: Bush & The Surge & Weasel Words

Surprise, The Bush Regime used 935 falsehoods and lies to build up support among the American populace for the Iraq War.

And after the lies brought us into War the Bush Regime bullied everyone who questioned them over the past 5 years with "Give us Just another 6 month". Surprise, Petraeus is asking for... ANOTHER 6 MONTHS!

And now, surprise, the Bush Regime is planning on using weasel words to ensure the US is stuck in Iraq for generations, by sidestepping the word treaty in order to sidestep Congress.

Remember the weasel words concerning the fate of US bases in Iraq? Let's call them Enduring instead of Permanent. Surprise, enduring means permanent.

I don't know if the Surge has actually produced a fundamental paradigm shift in the 4GW battlefield of Iraq, the history of insurgent wars would tend to indicate the guerilla forces are laying low until the extra US troops go home and operations against American forces aren't as dangerous. At which time, the insurgents will step up their attacks once more.

What I do know is obscene amounts of money have been transferred to the Warmongers running this Government. If you're eagerly awaiting your $600 rebate the Warfare State has effectively deluded you into being happy with crumbs while it gobbles down BILLIONS daily.

Is it worth it?

Is Iraq worth what we are paying? No.

Does leaving cheapen the sacrifices of those who have served and those who gave the final full measure? Maybe...

But it's a vulgar gambler's fallacy of irrational escalation used by Chickenhawk Warmongers to tap into the raw emotions of those who have lost loved ones or those who have served and want to, need to believe their government didn't send them into a war for profit.

But, as everyone who's worn the uniform can tell you the goals of the military are:
1) Mission Accomplishment.
2) Troop Welfare.

The US government doesn't "Support the Troops". To politicians sitting in a Corinthian leather chair in DC, you the soldier, are a blip on a power point presentation. If you're ground into hamburger to accomplish the mission, oh well.

Take a look at the graphic above. Notice anything? The last 4 years have all been statistically the same. And that's it. Each of those 3900 killed is nothing but a number to Washington, a statistic.

I hope next year will be different. I hope at the end of 2008, we won't add another 850 and 6000 to the those grim totals. We have purchased a fragile peace by throwing money at the Anbar Sheikhs and right now Moqtada al-Sadr is just bidding his time. Many things could lead an upsurge in violence; the death of Sayyid Ali Husaini al-Sistani, a broader Kurdish-Turkish War, a revival of the Anbar insurgency.

And then there is the money. Only a fool or a madman would continue to throw money into a losing proposition.

We are currently paying 15 Billion a month for Iraq and Afghanistan. That doesn't include the 440 Billion set aside at the beginning of the fiscal year for the War Department.

Unfortunately, what's worse Iraq isn't a losing proposition, to some. Vast amounts of US money have simply been wasted, to the point where, We the People will never know what happened to billions of dollars of hard currency in Iraq.

But, it's been a windfall for Ahmad Chalabi, Blackwater, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and many more tied into the sick and twisted Waltz of Death.

President Ron Paul

Ron Paul is going to win the Presidency. The question is whether the Gatekeepers of Society (Members of the Media, Corporate Interests, The Supreme Court, Controllers of the Voting System) will attempt to steal the election from Ron Paul.

You see it is not in the interests of the Establishment to have someone who would reduce the scope and power of the State by minimizing overseas forays, respecting the rule of law and adhering to the Constitution.

So the only thing, We the People can do is to overwhelm the system so as to not allow them to place another ignorant puppet in power. Support for President Paul by the People is on the verge of being overwhelming even as the ideologically driven dead tree media forces it's views on society.

Vote for Ron Paul. Give America and the World a chance.

A Closer Look at the Ron Paul Revolution.

Update (12/20):
A white supremacist, Don Black gave Ron Paul $500. Paul is not giving the money back. A Paul spokesman stated, "And that's $500 less that this guy has to do whatever it is that he does."

Some of the back and forthers at Wonkette apparently believe this to be the greatest political scandal E-V-A-R. I wonder if they have the morals to decline their tax refunds, paychecks, social security check, or pell grant money. I guess the $500 is worse than waterboarding or "Shock & Awe" and the 2 Trillion Dollar Price Tag for Iraq...