Don’t Listen To That Person!

The following is a transcript of a podcast I stumbled upon after waking up from a horrible nightmare. Read at your own risk. --C. A. Matthews*

Hi! It’s me, your favorite social media influencer of all time, Ima Queen, here with the news you really shouldn’t know. I mean it—you really should not know any of these details if you want to remain my friend or make friends with my well-connected friends in Tel Aviv. Got it? Good.

First off, we have a quick rundown from a recent lecture given by a first-class traitor of Israel, Miko Peled. You really shouldn’t listen to that man because he says so many stupid things. For instance:

“I grew up in a colony.” While Peled was growing up as the son of a IDF general in Jerusalem he says he learned that the “Arabs” in Israel were an inherently backwards people because they didn’t have electricity and running water and live in a European-styled city like he did. Only much later did he come to realize the reality of why Palestinians lived the way they did. He says it’s because Palestinians are being oppressed. (As if!)

(...) 

Our second example is a young woman you definitely should not listen to if you know what’s good for you. You may remember her as an adorable teenager sitting in front of the Swedish Parliament “Striking for the Climate” or some other such nonsense. Now she’s all grown up and has attempted not one but two illegal invasions of Israeli territorial waters. How criminal can you get!

(...) 

This last item is one that you definitely should not listen to, although actually it’s a book. If you ever find an audio version of it, do not listen to it! If you find a printed or electronic copy, get rid of it at once!

 

*To read more of this satire piece about who you shouldn't listen to (if you know what's good for you), please copy or click on the following link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

There you'll see related article and video links, all the graphics, and be able to leave comments. You can become a free or paid subscriber and receive weekly posts in your email box, along with occasional special articles just for paid subscribers, too.

Subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack today. Power to the people!   

 

This article is the 542nd blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

You can make a donation at https://paypal.me/camatthews or Buy Me a Coffee or Ko-fi. Every little bit helps since this is my only source of income. Thank you.

 

The United States of Hypocrisy

by C. A. Matthews

I went through the same indoctrination program most American children are put through. We heard the same narrative over and over again in school and in the Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H, Junior Achievement, church and civics organizations... I learned more or less what other people in my age group did.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance and at least the first verse of the Star-Spangled Banner. I learned what the Latin phrase e pluribus unum means on our coins. Ask me how many members are in the House of Representatives (435) and how many senators there are (100). I can even recite the Preamble to the Constitution fairly well.

I know the correct way to fold a flag when you take it down from a flag pole. I can name you all fifty states’ capitals (at least I used to be able to). But none of this nonsense means a damn thing in the year 2025, and I’m sorry I wasted so much time learning it.

Why? Because the United States of America is dead.

Maybe it was never alive, but it most definitely is dead and gone today—or at least the picture I had of it in my mind growing up and even into a good portion of my adulthood. What’s left of it is the true image of the current monster that masquerades as a “beacon of democracy.” With “liberty and justice for all” it prances about like a flashy red-white-and-blue Captain America action figure as it doles out bunker busting bombs to genocidal maniacs. 

I call what remains of my birth country “The United States of Hypocrisy.”

Feel free to call it the United States of Hypocrisy (USH) if you feel the same way I do. Tell your friends and family members they can do so as well, unless that gets you into a world of hurt...

 

To learn more about the hypocrisy of the US (and some actions you could take to undo it), please continue reading the rest of this article on Substack. Just copy or click on this link: 

https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

There you'll see related article and video links, all the graphics, and be able to leave comments. You can become a free or paid subscriber and receive weekly posts in your email box, along with occasional special articles just for paid subscribers, too.

Subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack today. Power to the people!

This article is the 522nd blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. 

You can make a donation at https://paypal.me/camatthews or at Buy Me a Coffee or at Ko-fi. Every little bit helps since this is my only source of income. Thank you.

Let’s start the new year off with a leisurely stroll along the beach and a bit of nonsense from a classic poem. Somehow, it just seems very appropriate.

‘The time has come,' the Walrus said,

To talk of many things:

Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —

Of cabbages — and kings —

And why the sea is boiling hot —

And whether pigs have wings.'

—excerpt from The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

Of Psyops and False Flags

by C. A. Matthews

This first of the year’s disturbing news in New Orleans and Las Vegas reminded me that I hadn’t written a “book report” on a fantastic book I finished reading recently. JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass is a book everyone should read thoroughly and keep on their bookshelf for quick reference whenever things in the world start to seem too nonsensical or too coincidental to be quite true. Often you’ll find that there are no such things as “coincidences” and that the truth is out there, and it has nothing to do with aliens or UFOs (UAPs).

Who or what is the Unspeakable? 

To learn about the Unspeakable and to see how the coincidences seem to be part of a larger pattern, please continue reading this article by clicking on this Substack link: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com. There you'll see related article and video links, all the graphics, and be able to leave comments. You also can become a free or paid subscriber and receive weekly posts in your email box, along with occasional special articles just for paid subscribers. 

Subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack today. Power to the people!

This article is the 501th blog posting of The Revolution Continues. We began in June 2015, and we're still going strong. Please keep reading, sharing, and subscribing to help TRC continue for another ten years. Thank you.

Feel free to make a donation to TRC at https://paypal.me/camatthews or at Buy Me a Coffee or at Ko-fi.

 

Behind The Curtain

"Pay no attention to the man behind that curtain!"

In these weird times, sometimes it's good to take a break and look back into our past and see what all we can learn from those who came before us. Sometimes, it's just good to take a look back and see where we went wrong and do our best not to take the same or similar path again.

This week, during the big wind up to the coronation of King Charles III, I had a conversation with our resident historian and British person, Coast Watcher, about who's really the power behind the throne. We both agreed that Charles has no real power outside of his billions in the bank and his ability to boss around (and fire) his household staff. But is the power in the UK really in the hands of the so-called Prime Minister, either?

The same could be argued about who is the power behind the American presidency in the twenty-first century. Who really manipulates and control the president's agenda? Nowadays no matter who is in office, no matter what part of the "uni-party" the president claims to be a member of, it seems that the same ol' things occur.

Wars are started on the flimsiest of excuses in order to take resources (oil, natural gas, lithium, etc.) from other countries. This is particularly true of nations that try to disengage from doing international trade using the petrodollar, such as Libya and Iran. These countries eventually wind up being either bombed and/or economically sanctioned. Millions die. US banks and big corporations are bailed out of debt, but the working classes aren't.

The Princeton Study clearly shows how corporations own everyone and everything in the US, but who exactly pulls the strings on a daily basis? Who are those "men behind the curtains" worldwide? Let's take a peek...

Behind the Curtain
by Coast Watcher

Back in the 1980s there was a hugely popular BBC TV comedy series called Yes, Minister. It portrayed the bumbling antics of Jim Hacker (played by Paul Eddington), Minister for Administrative Affairs, as he negotiated the labyrinthine pathways of British government. Working behind the scenes was the Machiavellian Sir Humphrey Appleby (played by Nigel Hawthorne), the Permanent Secretary attached to the ministry.

Minister Hacker was frequently left in the dark by his supposed civil service underling, Sir Humphrey, who always had an eye for maintaining the hegemony of the British Civil Service while enhancing his own position and prestige wherever possible. As the character of Sir Humphrey says, "Ministers may come and go, but the Civil Service goes on forever."

And so it is with most Western governments. Like that of the UK there’s always a solid core of apparatchiks determined to advance their own cause and feather their nests, often at the expense of government transparency and efficiency. Like Sir Humphrey these people may be permanent fixtures in the civil service, but there are always some who come and go over the course of years, taking advantage of the revolving door between government and industry. 

The elected politicians are not really of any consequence to these non-elected career civil servants. Many politicos don’t last the course, either losing voter support or doing just enough for long enough to earn all those lovely benefits that come with holding public office. Sir Humphrey definitely knew of what he spoke of.

Such an environment is fertile ground for deep conspiracies which are seldom in the best interest of the public. Of course, the elected ones can always proclaim they had no idea what was happening behind the curtain after these heinous deeds are exposed to the world by a whistleblower like Julian Assange, whether or not their professed ignorance is real.

For instance, it was revealed recently that the CIA had recruited and operated two of the 9/11 conspirators. Whatever the reasoning behind this spectacular self-centered goal, there’s no denying it was certainly not in the interests of the American public—nor that of the citizens of Iraq, whose country the Western coalition invaded by using 9/11 as a pretext under the false flag that it held WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction).

It’s no secret, either, that the intelligence services have their hooks deep into the body public. The CIA began as the OSS—Office of Strategic Services. Drawing many valuable lessons from the British Special Operations Executive, the OSS morphed into a powerhouse organization with virtually unlimited budget and almost zero accountability to the public.

The first head of the Central Intelligence Agency was John F. Dulles. A personal friend of President Eisenhower, Dulles’ influence enabled the CIA to set almost all elements of US policy toward the Soviet Union and Communist China. Such influence is still apparent today, with the operations against Russia in the current conflict in Ukraine and the wind up to start a war with China over Taiwan independence. 

There’s no denying the woeful impact the manufactured war in Ukraine has had on the peoples of the European Union. They are paying through the nose for natural gas to heat their homes after US Navy divers sabotaged the NordStream II pipeline. In many ways, it’s turning into a defeat for America, as the supposed stringent sanctions against Russia are backfiring in spectacular fashion following the creation of the BRICS initiative set to sideline the petrodollar. And one can't deny that China's diplomatic initiatives to bring about a peaceful resolution to several disputes--including the one between Ukraine/NATO and Russia--makes the United States look even more hawkish than usual.

Of course, as with any Western government, capitalism can’t be ignored. Capitalists must be served! The UK saw the Industrial Intelligence Bureau created in the early 1920s by British businesses to "acquire intelligence on industrial unrest arising from the activities of Communists, Anarchists, various secret societies in the UK and overseas, the Irish Republican Army and other 'subversive' organizations.'" Its founder, Sir George Makgill, was close friends with Desmond Morton, Head of the Special Intelligence Service.

Another revolving door between government and private industry existed between the Industrial Intelligence Bureau and MI5. Agents from one would work for a time in the other organization. No conflict of interest there! The British Fascist movement had its own followers and fellow-travelers inside the intelligence agencies of state and industry, a state of affairs that lasted well into World War II.

With America and, to some extent, the UK sliding ever closer toward fascism, I’ll end this article with some pertinent words from that granddaddy of all fascists:

Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day.

Democratic regimes may be defined as those in which, every now and then, the people are given the illusion of being sovereign, while the true sovereignty in actual fact resides in other forces which are sometimes irresponsible and secret. ~ Benito Mussolini

BIO: Coast Watcher uses the power of history to see the patterns of what's happening in the present to predict the future. What could possibly go wrong with intelligence agencies dictating foreign policy and domestic surveillance? Nothing to see here... Move along now.

 

Articles of Interest:

Private Spies Hired by the FBI and Corporate Firms Infiltrate Discord, Reddit, WhatsApp https://www.leefang.com/p/private-spies-hired-by-the-fbi-and

Why the Release of Julian Assange Is Crucial for Our Future https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/05/fabian-scheidler-why-the-release-of-julian-assange-is-crucial-for-our-future/

$400 Million Embezzlement Revealed (and more)
https://www.youtube.com/live/NAbkfR3-pvo 

Calling for the Immediate Release of Julian Assange on World Press Freedom Day  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/this-i-talk-i-gave-in-new-york-city

A Kingly Proposal: Letter From Julian Assange to King Charles III
https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/06/a-kingly-proposal-letter-from-julian-assange-to-king-charles-iii/

Bombshell Filing: 9/11 Hijackers Were CIA Recruits
https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/27/bombshell-filing-9-11-hijackers-were-cia-recruits/

Patrick Lawrence: Journalists-on-Journalists Crime
https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/06/patrick-lawrence-journalists-on-journalists-crime/

US makes up c 40% of global military spending, 10x Russia, 3x China  https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/us-military-spending-russia-china

The Twenty-First Century of (Profitable) War https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/04/the-twenty-first-century-of-profitable-war/

Second and Third Largest US Banking Collapses in Past 2 Months https://youtu.be/1hyYlhk978I 

4 US Banks Crash in 2 Months https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/05/05/first-republic-bank-crisis-michael-hudson/

WHO Declares End of COVID Emergency, But Pandemic Inequality Is Still Rampant  https://truthout.org/articles/who-declares-end-of-covid-emergency-but-pandemic-inequality-is-still-rampant/

Who Helped Overturn the "Pentagon Papers Principle"? The Washington Post and New York Times https://www.racket.news/p/who-helped-overturn-the-pentagon

Multiple US Officials Confronted About US Assange Hypocrisy On World Press Freedom Day  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/multiple-us-officials-confronted

Report on the Censorship-Industrial Complex
https://www.racket.news/p/report-on-the-censorship-industrial

The Debt Ceiling Debate Is a Manufactured Crisis. Tax the Wealthy What They Owe.  https://truthout.org/articles/the-debt-ceiling-debate-is-a-manufactured-crisis-tax-the-wealthy-what-they-owe/

Washington Is Obstructing the Path to a Political Settlement in Ukraine  https://truthout.org/articles/washington-is-obstructing-the-path-to-a-political-settlement-in-ukraine/

Workers Who Have Occupied An Italian Factory Are Close to Owning It https://popularresistance.org/workers-who-have-occupied-an-italian-factory-are-close-to-owning-it/

Statement on the Ninth Anniversary of the Odessa Massacre
https://popularresistance.org/statement-on-the-ninth-anniversary-of-the-odessa-massacre/

In another first for the blog, we had an article featured on the Indie Left Media podcast recently.  Check it out:

Weaponizing Free Speech | @HowDidWeMissTha
https://youtu.be/bmIxGjtYVxs

 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Chose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

More details to come. Power to the people!

Critical Thinking Skills For The Masses

 

Few people sincerely want the truth about the world. Most just want politicians and pundits to whisper reassuringly in their ear, "Don't worry. We've got this. Your schoolteachers told you the truth about everything, and so did the news man. You are on the side of righteousness." --Caitlin Johnstone, US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse

Friendly reminder that it's impossible to get a clear understanding of what's going on in the world without accounting for the fact that very powerful people within your own society are actively working very hard to manipulate your understanding in their favor. -- Caitlin Johnstone, US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse

It's time for a lesson in...

Critical Thinking Skills For The Masses 

by Redd Phlagg

Critical thinking is making reasoned judgements that are logical and well thought-out.  --Study.com

Function of the CIA:

1. Run secret wars
2. Disseminate propaganda to influence people’s minds

That’s not hyperbole. That’s from the Former Operations Director of the CIA.

Think about this next time you buy the narratives that are crafted to control you. pic.twitter.com/HysmXBejUV

— Ryan Knight ☭ (@ProudSocialist) April 7, 2022

You meet a person, and they become the love of your life. You trust this person and believe every word that comes from their mouth and trust every action they take or ask you to take on their behalf. One day, you come across irrefutable evidence that your beloved has been lying to you, not just once but many, many times. As time goes on, you discover that this person has been lying to you all throughout the time you've known them and are confident that you will never confront them about their lying. They are free to abuse your trust and even possibly abuse you physically, psychologically, and spiritually because they know you will never leave or speak ill of them.

Do you stay in this relationship? What is your payoff for putting up with the lies and abuse?

If you're able to think critically, you should be able to weigh the evidence and come up with a theory about how this person will act in the future based on their past actions. If they have lied repeatedly to you, you will act skeptically about any information they have given you or will give you. You will eagerly double-check whatever claims they make against other authoritative sources. If you believe these sources and discuss your options with others you trust, you should come to the conclusion that it's not worth your effort to remain with this person. You will make the logical decision to leave them.

But human beings aren't logical and rarely use their critical thinking skills when it comes to the people and groups they have emotionally bonded with. We make excuses for other's lies and tell ourselves that we deserve to be lied to. We convince ourselves that the lies we've been told are actually "truths" even if our higher cognitive processes tell us there's no possible way they can be true.

"I'd never accept a lie as the truth!" I hear you say. Are you so sure? "No way would I continue believing anything out of the mouth of anyone who repeatedly lied to me," you insist.

Okay, then answer me this: Do you believe everything the US government has told you about the whys and wherefores about what's happening in Ukraine? Do you believe everything that mainstream media outlets such as NBC News tell you about what's going on there?

If you answered yes to either or both or those questions, the following is going to blow your mind:

NBC News has a new report out citing multiple anonymous US officials, humorously titled "In a break with the past, U.S. is using intel to fight an info war with Russia, even when the intel isn't rock solid".  

The officials say the Biden administration has been rapidly pushing out "intelligence" about Russia's plans in Ukraine that is "low-confidence" or "based more on analysis than hard evidence", or even just plain false, in order to fight an information war against Putin. (…) 

Just as the smear campaign against Julian Assange trained mainstream liberals to defend the right of their government to keep dark secrets from them, we may now be looking at the stage of narrative control advancement where mainstream liberals are trained to defend the right of their government to lie to them. -- Caitlin Johnstone, US Officials Admit They're Literally Just Lying To The Public About Russia

It's time to use those critical thinking skills... NBC News (a mainstream media outlet) is quoting US government officials who state they're telling outright lies. Do you continue believing these officials who candidly admit to lying?

It wouldn't be the first time US government officials have lied to us about a military action. Do you remember the reason George W. Bush sent our troops into Iraq-- something about "weapons of mass destruction" being found there? Does that ring a bell? It's been verified there were never any WMDs in Iraq. This "false flag" or fictional excuse was concocted to give the US an excuse to invade that country. 

And no, none of the 9/11 terrorists came from Iraq. Most of them came from Saudi Arabia. So, why didn't we invade Saudi Arabia? Good question. Invading a country we don't like just made more sense at the time than invading one we did/still do like.

Hey, stop using those critical thinking skills now! It's embarrassing to the US government to point out that they're liars.

When our government wants the American people to believe something or go along with a military action (no matter how abhorrent it may be), they will expect us to keep our minds turned off and our mouths shut.

This year we're supposed to hate all things Russian with a passion and to think there's no such thing as a Ukrainian Neo-Nazi paramilitary unit such as the Azov Battalion. But here's the Pentagon and another mainstream media outlet--Reuters--reporting about a recent event in Ukraine that you probably have heard about and might have upset you. Warning: I might upset you again by telling you that it's possible that this horrible event might not have even happened or it wasn't quite what you were led to believe:

WASHINGTON, April 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. military is not in a position to independently confirm Ukrainian accounts of atrocities by Russian forces against civilians in the town of Bucha: “The Pentagon can’t independently and single handedly confirm that, but we’re also not in any position to refute those claims.”

If the Pentagon, which includes the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, cannot confirm any of the atrocities that Ukrainian government claimed, then what really happened? Did anything happen? Who can be believed?

Critical thinking skills can help us in this instance. Other sources of information should be consulted and the evidence weighed before jumping to conclusions.
According to this source:

The Ukrainian President caused controversy in Greece by including a video message from members of the neo-Nazi Azov battalion in his speech to the Greek parliament. This caused a walk-out by a number of Greek MPs who protested the move on Thursday. (…) 

The Azov Battalion is based in Mariupol, and had led a terror campaign against civilians there, including the city's 120,000 Greeks. Greek City Times also reported that the Ukrainian nationalist forces have "killed people for trying to leave the city." 

Greece's SKAI news asked Mr. Kiouranas, a Greek who lives in Mariupol, if he was planning on leaving the city, to which he responded:  

“How can I leave? When you try to leave you run the risk of running into a patrol of the Ukrainian fascists, the Azov Battalion," adding “They would kill me and are responsible for everything." --Greek MPs Leave Zelensky Session for Including Message from Neo Nazi Azov
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/greek-mps-leave-zelensky-session-for-including-message-from

Since foreigners living in Ukraine have confirmed the violence of the Azov Battalion, and other sources have stated that multiple atrocities have been committed against ethnic Russians by these fascist groups since the 2014 coup when the eastern republics that make up the Donbas region voted to leave Ukraine, then it's possible the Russian Army isn't committing atrocities at all. It seems highly probable that Ukrainian fascists such as the Azov Battalion are killing ethnic Russians and are trying to shift the blame and focus away from them and the Ukrainian government instead.

Now, more than ever we need to use our critical thinking skills to prevent a proxy war over a liquid natural gas pipeline (and possibly American/Ukrainian biolabs working on military grade pathogens) from turning into World War III. And if you don't believe this conflict could turn into a nuclear apocalypse, just read what one former top NATO commander says about how the use of nuclear weapons is a "proper response" in this article, Former NATO Military Analyst Blows The Whistle on West's Ukraine Invasion Narrative https://www.rsn.org/001/former-nato-commander-says-western-fears-of-nuclear-war-are-preventing-a-proper-response-to-putin.html

Always keep in mind who benefits from a situation--even a horrific situation such as nuclear war or a prolonged conventional conflict:  For Arms Manufacturers the War in Ukraine is a Profits Bonanza https://www.rsn.org/001/for-arms-manufacturers-the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-profits-bonanza.html

Remain skeptical. Read widely. Don't give your love or trust away automatically to any person, group, political party, or government just because they tell you, "You can believe us! We'll never lie to you!"

Because even our co-opted mainstream media has told us that's completely bogus.

Russia supposedly killed civilians in Bucha that they:
-Lived in peace with for a month
-Did not ever previously engage in combat with
-Were distributing food & aid to
-Knew we’re supporters of Russia (white armbands)
-Were peacefully leaving during a withdrawal of the city 🤔

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) April 6, 2022

Articles to make you think for yourself and consider all sides of the story:

UPDATE: More Escalations in Online Censorship https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/more-escalations-in-online-censorship?s=r

Former NATO Military Analyst Blows The Whistle on West's Ukraine Invasion Narrative  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/09/former-nato-military-analyst-blows-the-whistle-on-wests-ukraine-invasion-narrative/

US Officials Admit They're Literally Just Lying to the Public About Russia https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-officials-admit-theyre-literally?s=r

Who Are the Good Guys In the Ukraine War?  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/05/paul-street-who-are-the-good-guys-in-the-ukraine-war/

The Lie of American Innocence (audio article)  https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-the-lie-of?s=r

New Witness Testimony About Mariupol Maternity Hospital Airstrike https://popularresistance.org/new-witness-testimony-about-mariupol-maternity-hospital-airstrike/

Questions Abound About Bucha Massacre  https://scheerpost.com/2022/04/06/questions-abound-about-bucha-massacre/ 

Greek MPs Leave Zelensky Session for Including Message from Neo Nazi Azov https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/greek-mps-leave-zelensky-session-for-including-message-from 

Twitter IS "State-Affiliated Media"  https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/twitter-is-state-affiliated-media?s=r

For Arms Manufacturers the War in Ukraine is a Profits Bonanza https://www.rsn.org/001/for-arms-manufacturers-the-war-in-ukraine-is-a-profits-bonanza.html 

Twitter to Crackdown on Russia-Ukraine Info That Contradicts State Department  https://www.rokfin.com/post/81618 (video)

US Interventionism Always Makes Things Worse https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/us-interventionism-always-makes-things?s=r

The Levers of Power Are Also Triggers (Warning: contains link to graphic video of Russian soldiers being murdered)  https://popularresistance.org/the-levers-of-power-are-also-triggers/ 

If It Feels Like You're Being Manipulated, It's Because You Are https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/if-it-feels-like-youre-being-manipulated?s=r 

Independent journalist Richard Medhurst:  "What EXACTLY Happened in Bucha" featuring UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter (video)  https://youtu.be/klPYYqhqO74

Ukraine: A Conversation with Scott Ritter (video)  https://youtu.be/OdM5Pkyl0_8

They Admit They're Lying to You! (video) https://youtu.be/CvXVBDs_fKw 

The Revolution Continues' ongoing series on the proxy war in Ukraine: https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/p/ukraine-war-series.html

 Seen on Twitter:

Ukraine: Russia committed war crimes

Russia: We did not and are willing to allow a full UN investigation

The West: No investigation or we wont be able to keep saying Russia did it 🙄

— Michael R. Weinstein, Bookseller #EndTheOligarchy (@fToRrEeEsSt) April 6, 2022

If Russia was trying to hide "guilt in mass killing" then why did they TWICE request a Security Council meeting to call for an INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION? And why did Britain block the requests? This will now be a bogus investigation!

— Kinkajou51 #IStandWithDonbas 🇳🇮 (@Kinkajou5123) April 5, 2022

Everyone stopped talking about the fact that Hunter Biden was funding dangerous zoonotic pathogen research in level 3 Ukrainian biolabs as soon as the bogus allegations of Russian war crimes in Bucha & Kramatorsk hit the headlines.

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) April 10, 2022

BREAKING NEWS: US State department officials leak that when asked what benefit we gain from freezing and starving the EU with Russia sanctions Victoria Nuland responded "less Europeans."

— Garland Nixon (@GarlandNixon) April 6, 2022

They suspended Scott Ritter? The UN weapons inspector who was right about Iraq not having WMD??? Well that's how you know he's right again.

For shame, @Twitter.

— My Aunt Fanny (@Dienne_7) April 6, 2022

Twitter has locked out @FiorellaIsabelM for reporting the news

The first casualty in every war is the truth 

— Slow News Day (@SlowNewsDayShow) April 6, 2022

The UK blocking the UN investigation into the Bucha massacre is all you really need to know about how propaganda works.

— Mnar Adley (@MnarMuh) April 5, 2022

That link is no longer available.
Here's the video. pic.twitter.com/JlvEqCDEsm

— RoadNotTaken - PalestineSolidarity 🇵🇸🍉 (@RoadNotTaken19) April 7, 2022

Ukraine can't win this war - Everyone knows this.

The longer the war goes on, the more citizens die.
Sending weapons/money only serves in prolonging the war, resulting in more deaths.

Meanwhile, Americans don't have healthcare.

— Hanx Fingers ⏳🇮🇪 (@HanxFingers) April 7, 2022

 

A Morally Bankrupt Society

A Morally Bankrupt Society...
This is what it looks like in a morally bankrupt society. -- Lee Camp

This week we consider what it means to be a morally bankrupt society.
Our featured writer takes an in-depth look at a morally bankrupt move on the part of the current US administration that threatens world peace. But first, we start out with a few visual examples. 

The above meme shows the world richest man, Jeff Bezos, behaving as he normally does--setting up two cities against each other for one of his coveted Amazon headquarters. Bezos paid no taxes in 2017 and pays his employees slave wages under horrible working conditions. It is said that Bezos could give away half of his $139 billion net worth to end world hunger and homelessness, and he would still be one of the richest men in the world. He could easily give his warehouse workers a raise and provide air conditioning in the summer so they wouldn't faint from heat prostration, too, but he chooses not to be charitable. Instead, he chooses not to pay taxes, and he chooses to forces cities to give his warehouses tax breaks. 

Wouldn't you agree that Jeff Bezos is a prime example of a morally bankrupt individual from a morally bankrupt society?

The following are self-explanatory. 

 

And now our resident historian and military analyst tackles moral bankruptcy on an Armageddon-like scale.

The Trump Bull in the China Shop
by Coast Watcher

International diplomacy is a vital feature of human relations. Treaties are the fixed points that bind nations together for mutual benefit, to prevent wars and to enable commerce to proceed with little hindrance.

So, why in the name of all that’s holy is Trump breaking the treaty with Iran?

Some background: This particular treaty's full title is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. It was signed in 2015 by the US, China, Russia, Germany, France, the UK and Iran. Iran undertook to limit its nuclear activities – particularly the development of nuclear weapons – in return for the easing of sanctions on its economy. 

The treaty is working. Iran’s economy was in a deep recession in the years before it was signed, but the International Monetary Fund reported that the real GDP of Iran grew 12.5% in the first year, mostly through oil exports, following the implementation of the treaty’s provisions. The Iranian economy was expected to grow by 4% this year, which is below the desired target figure but still pretty good for a country battling its way out of recession.

The treaty had the additional effect of weaning ordinary Iranians from the Islamic fundamentalists who took over the country following the fall of the Shah in the revolution of 1978-79. Greater prosperity turned people away from the conservative killjoy religious doctrine of the fundamentalists. 

The fundamentalist hold on the country has diminished, but it remains a potent force which could make a resurgence under the wrong conditions. One of the objectives of the treaty was to curb Iranian influence in the region and its potential to attack neighboring countries through its development of nuclear weaponry and ballistic missiles. Sending it back into the dark ages of fundamentalism will only exacerbate the possibility.

Iran’s trade with the European Union increased significantly thanks to the lifting of sanctions, but China, South Korea and Turkey remain Iran’s top three trading partners. The decision by Iran to drop the petrodollar in favor of the Euro looks set to increase trade with the EU, probably to the detriment of the US.

On May 8, President Trump demanded Boeing not complete a $20 billion contract to supply two Iranian airlines with aircraft. This directly hurt the commercial airplane manufacturer and caused the loss of American jobs – something Trump pledged not to do during his 2016 election campaign. While the cancellation of the contract hurts Boeing, there’s every possibility that the renewal of sanctions will prevent the country’s airlines from beating a path to Airbus of France, which already has a contract to supply 100 aircraft to Iran and would happily expand the order. Airbus and other EU manufacturers are vociferous in their complaints against Trump’s actions, as they would stand to benefit through Iran’s adoption of the Euro.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani kept his promise to maintain the stability of the Iranian currency, the rial, for almost four years. But in late 2017, when President Trump refused to certify the nuclear deal to Congress, the rial started to fall again. It has lost almost half of its value against the dollar since last September. Many Iranians bought gold and foreign currency to hedge against the collapse of the nuclear deal, the return of sanctions and a fresh currency crash. It was reported that some $30 billion of capital left Iran in the first quarter of this year, mostly to neighboring countries and the Caucasus.

The ongoing conflict in Syria is also directly linked to the international position on Iran. The Iran–Iraq–Syria pipeline (called the Friendship Pipeline or the

Islamic Gas Pipeline) is a proposed means by which Iranian oil can be exported to the West. Russia and Syria made a deal for a Russian-backed pipeline, but this was challenged by the US, which wants its own pipeline project to go ahead. It’s one that would benefit the US more than any other nation. The American desire for oil is better understood when one realizes the US consumes about a third of the world’s oil production, a figure that’s not set to decline when President Trump’s antipathy toward renewable energy production is factored into the equation.

Add to this the Zionist (end of days) movement in Israel and among certain Christian evangelical supporters of President Trump, and you can see the current situation in the Middle East is only set to worsen. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the driving force behind Israel’s expansion of influence in the region and his nation’s long-time enmity with Iran, to the extent that Israeli forces recently launched air attacks on Iranian forces in Syria. The Pentagon admitted that Israel does have nuclear weapons. Given the Israeli tendency to attack any and all perceived threats to its existence – including an air strike against a suspected Iranian nuclear facility in Dier-ez-Zor, Iran on September 6, 2007 – it’s not very comforting to learn they have this option – the very option the West is trying to keep Iran from possessing.

On May 6, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visited the US in an attempt to persuade President Trump not to abandon the treaty with Iran. Johnson left empty-handed the following day. His visit was part of a major diplomatic effort underway to save the treaty. France has condemned the re-imposition of sanctions as "unacceptable." French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Europe had to defend its "economic sovereignty." He asked: "Do we want to be vassals deferring with a curtsy and a bow to decisions made by the US?"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stated that the West can no longer look to the United States for leadership. It is in extensive talks with other EU members, Britain and Russia to seek a way to circumvent President Trump’s decision. Foreign Ministers from Germany, France and Britain will meet on May 15 to discuss their countries’ options.

Of course, this isn’t the first occasion when the United States has interfered directly in Iranian affairs. In 1953 the CIA backed a coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, an outspoken advocate of nationalism who almost succeeded in deposing the Shah. The sheer number of American military bases that surrounds Iran gives a clear statement of the United Stares’ attitude toward the country.

In conclusion, President Trump is the latest in a long line of presidents seeking to secure oil resources, guarantee the security of the state of Israel, and combat threats to American interests in the Middle East. However, he has gone about matters in entirely the wrong way. His dangerous, indeed wanton breaking of an international treaty – something that is never done lightly – sends a clear message to the world: America can no longer be trusted.

President Trump is nothing more than a bull in the china shop where international diplomacy is concerned. His erratic behavior, his acting on a whim or at the behest of the more radical and venal of his followers, is a clear and present danger to world peace. He is already profoundly transforming international relations, well beyond promoting unilateralism at the expense of multilateralism. By unilaterally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump has demonstrated his contempt for international law, reversed half a century of American commitments and, in doing so, badly damaged his country’s credibility in the region.

Talks on the situation in the Korean Peninsula are due to begin later this year.

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un has already made considerable peace overtures towards his southern neighbor to the extent he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have declared the Korean War officially over after almost seventy years. Can anyone blame Kim Jong-un if he refuses to talk to the American president if that man shows he cannot be trusted?

It remains to be seen if the renewed onset of sanctions against Iran will lead to a trade war, let alone military conflict. Frantic diplomatic efforts might prevent such things happening, but the sands of time are running out.


Related Articles:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-44018068

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/09/609851278/trump-administration-orders-boeing-to-cancel-deal-with-iran

https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution-of-1978-1979

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/21/595727058/israel-acknowledges-having-bombed-a-suspected-syrian-nuclear-reactor-in-2007

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2012/04/2012417131242767298.html

BIO: Coast Watcher is troubled by current events and the present administration's recent actions. He says we all need to keep awake and stay informed and tell our neighbors who listen to mainstream media what's really happening in the world. They deserve to know the truth before the bombs drop.

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Another example from our morally bankrupt society--attacking our freedom of speech. Retired CIA agent Ray McGovern is brutalized for protesting the CIA use of torture at Gina Haspel's confirmation hearing. https://youtu.be/GTF07picnj8

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Glenn Greenwald, Jill Stein & Abby Martin Event - Global Issues in Context 2.0 in Munich This fantastic video was taped live in Germany by AcTVism. A very informative program, Jill Stein's interview starts about 40 minutes in, but all three guests are worth watching. The Q & A with Jill and Abby in the last part is great, too. Share it widely. It gives insights into the corporate mainstream media that has vilified Jill and other alternative viewpoints such as those held by Abby and Glenn as independent journalists. It will open eyes clouded by the duopolistic silliness of Russiagate and other distractions of a morally bankrupt society. *** The Revolution Continues has set up an easy way to donate to the cause of keeping it ad-free. Three years without obnoxious ads (that many news sites have to cover costs) has been great, but the editor does have to pay for internet, electricity, etc. Any amount you can donate to keep this progressive site going without those awful ads is appreciated. Thank you. You can donate via Paypal at http://paypal.me/camatthews  Power to the people and not the corporations! *** From Movement for a People's Party: Nick Brana has been arrested along with the Rev. William Barber II and 300 other protestors in a launch of the non-violent 40 days of moral action organized by the Poor People’s Campaign.  The arrests occurred on the northeast Capitol lawn in Washington D.C. after the protestors, led by Barber and his PPC co-chair the Rev. Liz Theoharis, shut down Independence Avenue. The street was closed for 90 minutes before police moved in to arrest the peaceful demonstrators for obstructing the main thoroughfare. The PPC organized a mass movement around the country - including simultaneous actions today at state capitols - to protest these horrendous statistics: Some 140 million people live in poverty when basic necessities are taken into account. And half of our nation’s children are poor.  It is time to break the silence about America’s war on the poor! In one of the most prosperous nations on earth, it is time we say that everyone has a right to live! Fifty years ago, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King called for a Poor People’s Campaign to begin a “revolution of values” in America. MPP is an official partner with the PPC in reigniting that campaign by uniting thousands of people across the country to challenge systemic racism, poverty, militarism, ecological devastation and our nation’s distorted morality. “We have to cry loud until hearts are changed...It’s time to cry loud with every bit of love. Somebody’s hurting our people, and we won’t be silent anymore.” ~ Rev. William Barber, May 13, Washington D.C.  Watch here for live updates: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/live/