166 results for author: Dave Svetlik


YES BUT

It is well known the United States started the war in Vietnam based on lies the about Gulf of Tonkin. An estimated 3 million Vietnamese and 50 thousand of our own servicemen were murdered by American “leadership.” Vietnam still suffers high levels of birth defects resulting from the U.S. use of chemical weapons. Villagers – children – were burned alive with napalm. Yes but, Putin is evil and China’s Xi Jinping is a dictator. In the 1990’s the Clinton Administration imposed brutal sanctions on Iraq in an attempt to force Iraqi leadership to conform to U.S. dictates. It was devastating for the people of that nation. An estimated 500 ...

ANOTHER LOOK

American Gonzalo Lira died this past January 11th after being held in a Ukrainian prison for 8 months. Lira was a political commentator on social media who was critical of the U.S. and its proxy war in Ukraine. Abducted by Ukrainian authorities, he died for exercising the right of free speech. Lira received almost no coverage in western media. Despite pleas from Lira’s father, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine refused to lift a finger in behalf of an American citizen. President Joe Biden made no speeches about the death of Lira from illegal imprisonment in Ukraine, and surely did not blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for Lira’s passing. ...

THE NATURE OF HISTORY

Beyond human awareness or control, history is the synergetic outcome of thousands upon thousands of seemingly unrelated decisions and developments coming together to form the evolution of societies and nations. It is nature and planet charting the course. We live through an extraordinary moment in that endless history – precarious beyond all past, yet filled with unprecedented hope. Empires have come and gone through the ages. They tend to evolve westwardly around the globe and each has a shorter lifespan than the empire that preceded it. All were to be the power to end all powers – the greatness and glory that would outlast time. Yet all ...

THE MURDER FOR MONEY DEPARTMENT

“Let the workers in these plants get the same wages -- all the workers, all presidents, all executives, all directors, all managers, all bankers -- yes, and all generals and all admirals and all officers and all politicians and all government office holders -- everyone in the nation be restricted to a total monthly income not to exceed that paid to the soldier in the trenches!   Let all these kings and tycoons and masters of business and all those workers in industry and all our senators and governors and majors pay half of their monthly $30 wage to their families and pay war risk insurance and buy Liberty Bonds.   Why shouldn't they?   They ...

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST RACKET

“think of today’s federal government as a multi-division racket controlled by the highest bidders. The Wall Street division is run out of the Treasury. The Health Industry division is run out of the Department of Health and Human Services. The Big Oil and Coal division is run out of the Departments of Energy and Interior. And the Foreign Policy division is run out of the White House, Pentagon and CIA. Each division uses public power for private gain through insider dealing, greased by corporate campaign contributions and lobbying outlays.” – Professor Jeffrey Sachs   Anyone paying attention knows Medicare Advantage plans are ...

QUOTATIONS THAT FIT

“But there is a far deeper problem with the framing of these concerns. The critical problem is not “global inaction” over mass atrocities. It is the opposite: intense western – chiefly US – support for, and complicity in, such atrocities.” “The US is not helpless in the unfolding genocide. It is actively facilitating it. In fact, Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing would be impossible without not just US collusion but active participation.” “It’s intense US and UK support for atrocities so long as they bolster their global power.” Jonathan Cook - The West agonizes over an ‘atrocity upsurge’ while backing ...

THEN GOD CREATED MONEY

In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve. Next God came to Earth and left a giant sack of money so Adam and Eve’s kids and grandkids could conduct business. That’s how we got money. And if you believe this you have as much understanding of money as our legislators in Washington D.C. You know – the ones who spend a trillion dollars a year sending bombs and guns and warplanes and killer ships all around the world murdering women and children to spread peace and democracy and human rights and stuff, but in the next breath tell us we can’t afford Social Security and Medicare and universal healthcare and housing for the homeless and bridges that ...

BUT THE WORLD ASKED WHY?

When the attacks on the World Trade Center towers in New York City occurred on 9/11/2001, no one asked – Why? Surely not the Bush Administration and surely not US establishment print and broadcast media. Of course, President George W. Bush did give us an answer: We’re good – they’re bad. We’re moral – they’re evil. We’re a peace loving, freedom loving people – they hate peace and freedom. Evil people attack good people just for fun. That’s what an evil axis does. Simple. No further inquiry required. The only solution? War. It was well known that of the 19 individuals involved in the attacks, 15 were from Saudi Arabia, 2 were ...

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

It was to be the “American Century.” Ordained by the Universe and God Himself. America, the “exceptional nation,” was destined to rule the world. At long last, Mackinder’s Heartland, Ukraine, would be brought into the American orbit. Russia would fall, be broken into pieces, its resources opened for plunder. China would be next – Taiwan the sacrificial puppet. It was to be the “American Century.” It would also be the greatest moment of imperial hubris in human history. Rather than allowing Ukraine and Western Europe to live peacefully, with mutually beneficial trade relationships with Russia and China, the US had to move NATO east ...

THE LONG MEMORY

In 1958 the musical film “South Pacific” hit the big screen. Elders remember well the beautiful movie based on the work of author James Mitchner that left us with such lovely music as “Some Enchanted Evening.”  The film was set on a South Pacific island and though the major theme was about the World War II conflict between the US and Japan, the film was really about people trying to understand one another. One of the sub-plots in “South Pacific” was about a young American naval officer who had fallen in love with a young Polynesian woman, and how he struggled to overcome his own learned racism and misunderstanding.  The following ...