Once again the state-corporate Sunday morning propaganda shows featured more war-mongering as the joint efforts to undermine talks to roll back economic sanctions on Iran in order to induce nuclear compliance pick up steam. It does the United States no good to exist in a state of perpetual war, mired in a Middle East quagmire where ancient hatreds still burn with incandescence, there are far too many problems at home and the nation has now been at war in the region for over twelve years. To remain in a state of perpetual war only ensures that more money is squandered abroad when there are serious problems that need to be addressed here such a a crumbling and obsolete infrastructure. With the massive failures in leadership, the systemic government corruption and the sheer incompetence of the Obama administration coming generations face a very bleak future indeed and while ending the state of war will not resolve all problems it could mitigate the suffering. The problem is that a craven, bought and paid for and otherwise lunatic fringe in Congress are chafing at the bit to escalate tensions with Iran and a vile disinformation machine that is the state-corporate media is providing cover for foreign powers that are fiercely pushing this country into yet another war for their own interests.
The foreign "allies" who are leading the relentless charge are of course Saudia Arabia and the right-wing Israeli regime of Benjamin Netanyahu. Both are furious that the bombs did not fall on Syria a couple of months ago and have taken their anger and influence to another level to thwart any normalizing of relations with Iran since the departure of the fanatical anti-Semitic leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Netanyahu in particular has been pushing for a U.S. attack on Iran for well over a decade now, he practically danced a jig in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks which he proclaimed were good for Israel. Now after a regime change in Tehran and more moderate leadership there is a willingness to engage in GASP diplomacy to ratchet down tensions but Bibi and Bandar can't have that, it threatens the regional supremacy of both and for some reason it is incumbent on this country to fight the wars that they do not have the stones to enter into on their own. God forbid that the U.S. mends fences with Iran who in the new globalized world could be a trading partner especially with their abundance of oil, this alone is what steams Prince Bandar and the reprobate Saudi regime. There is never any context provided on why there have been hostilities with Iran either, never does the crooked American media reference the 1953 CIA backed overthrow of elected leader Mohammad Mossadegh leading to the installation of the puppet Shah's torture state. This in turn lead to the storming of the U.S. embassy and the Ayatollah Khomeini led Islamic revolution. Perhaps given the dimness of the average American news consumer it would be useless to reference history, pearls cast before swine but considering that the media has been completely contaminated it pays to engage in the omission of crucial facts.
This brings me to the question of why is it that American media programs, in this case CNN's State of the Union are always willing to provide a forum for dishonest foreigners seeking to manipulate American opinion into backing their wars. Netanyahu was trotted out yesterday morning to spew his lies, pander to the poor dupes whose worldview is shaped by end times eschatology as promulgated by pulp pimps the likes of Timothy LaHaye and his multi-million dollar Left Behind industry and agitate for war on Iran. The rapture ready zealots are overly represented in congress and the cunning Bibi is calling for their activism in not only sinking the negotiations with Iran but in applying more crushing economic sanctions. On CNN the Israeli hardliner delivered the dog whistle line that "We've been around for about 4,000 years, the Jewish people, and we are not about to let ayatollahs armed with nuclear weapons threaten that" it is arguable that he actually believes this rather than just uses it to further a geopolitical agenda, perhaps a combination. But this is a big problem in that once again we find ourselves being held hostage in the Middle East due to a primitive religious squabble. As long as religion is involved there will never be an opportunity for reasonable solutions. Whether it be Netanyahu’s invocations of the destiny of the Jewish people or of militant Islam it is all based on the superstitions and the generationally passed down stories of primitive societies before the age of science and enlightenment.
The world is rapidly changing for better and for worse with the advent of the technological age and religion is both a millstone that impedes progress as well as a serious existential threat to human life on earth. In the days of which Netanyahu frames his relentless push to destroy Iran the primary forms of weaponry were sticks, rocks and slings, arrows, spears and swords. In the Twenty First century there are thermonuclear weapons and while this may play well with a certain Armageddonist mentality that is entrenched here in America and exploited by the Israeli far-right there will be no return of Christ come the nuclear cataclysm. In short the skies will not be filled with the chosen flying dirty nasty naked to sit at the foot of God’s throne while the rest of us are left suffer miserably for their entertainment. One thing that Bibi never mentions to the American Jews to whom he seeks to influence is that the Christian Zionist shocktroops believe that come that day of judgment that all Jews will be forced to convert to Christianity or be killed. You won’t hear any of that in AIPAC planning committees although the Anti Defamation League’s Abe Foxman came out and criticized former president George W. Bush for appearing at a rally promoting the conversion of Jews to Christians just last week.
Note that Netanyahu always chooses to invoke a biblical perspective when talking about Iran, this is largely directed towards the American Religious Right where much of the Israeli strongman’s domestic support is concentrated. Much like the PNAC Neocons with their Leo Strauss inspired philosophy of using religion to manipulate the masses casting the narrative into the great, centuries old ongoing war of civilizations it is always necessary to demonize the Muslims to mobilize support for military action. It works very well for them and it also works well for the House of Saud whose funding of militant Islamist groups hostile to Israel and America keep them away from the real Great Satan of the ruling monarchy. In order to drag America into eternal hostility in that particular region it is imperative that something larger than the national interest be at stake, and that would be God or at least God as defined by the charlatans, false prophets, the kings, priests and world leaders who have always benefited from wrapping their wars, murder and exploitation in proclamations of a divine mandate.
While I am a libertarian I generally shun Ayn Rand and the holy gospel of Atlas Shrugged that has become so influential to so many. In my opinion it is a particularly cruel belief system that has as its basis amorality and a callously cruel vision of the poor. While not to belabor my comments on Ms. Rand I do have to say that her most redeeming quality is that she was an unapologetic atheist. While this does not mesh with the true compassion of Christ for the poor and downtrodden neither toes the Armageddonist bastardization of Christianity to advocate war and intolerance and were Rand’s atheism embraced it would eliminate one of the particularly nasty rationales for war, the other being of course the profits of the military industrial complex. In a true libertarian sense one can never be “free” when reason is easily surrendered to an ancient belief system that can never be proven and that has for centuries suited the needs of power very, very nicely. In addition to the invocation of religion Bibi very slyly works to include all of the world’s Jews in his pronouncements while nothing could be a bigger fib, there is much opposition to the blowhard in Israel but given the always one-sided coverage afforded to what is a complex geopolitical issue it doesn’t get reported in The Homeland. I would recommend that any who may find this statement astounding subscribe to the mailing list for Haaretz.
I really don’t see why these shows are given a free pass when they provide a national forum to a foreign leader to push for Americans to sacrifice blood and treasure for no good reason. It only serves to further reinforce their irrelevance when it comes to anything other than hustling the political agendas of dueling establishment factions. In the aftermath of the 60 Minutes Benghazi hoax being blown up any sort of reasonable expectation that the state-corporate media would be a bit more judicious in pushing their war propaganda goes right out the window when Netanyahu is allowed to agitate for a war that will only benefit his country and selective regional allies like the insipidly debauched House of Saud.
As the pride of the Palmetto State Senator Lindsey Graham promulgated the Iran sanctions push last Sunday morning by squealing “thank God for France” on the same program, CNN’s State of the Union with the bovine Candy Crowley. It is notable that after sinking the P5+1 talks thanks to being bribed by a Saudi weapons deal that the former “cheese eating surrender monkeys” are taking full advantage of the Saudi-Bibi war with Obama. The socialist French leader Francois Hollande made a pilgrimage to Tel Aviv this week, one wonders what sort of goodies were offered to induce support for escalating hostilities with Iran. The Neocons, warmonger Republicans and Bibi Netanyahu all revel in conjuring up the mythology of WW II aka “the good war” in justifying the push for what could escalate into World War III. I just find it a bit difficult to reconcile the reverence and worship for Sir Winston Churchill with the Vichy French, politics indeed make for strange bedfellows.
The day when the state-corporate media must be held accountable for their actions in shilling for war needs to come and preferably before they succeed in instigating one that may rapidly escalate out of control. China is a key trading partner of the Iranians and unlikely to stand by while yet another ill-conceived and likely catastrophic war is unleashed. Perhaps when media shills for aggression are called out as the traitors that they are rather than serving as mouthpieces to demonize and threaten truth tellers it could start a trend. They should be held as guilty as the leaders for the death and destruction, the suffering and the loathing that they have been so very helpful in promoting. It is notable that Julius Streicher was convicted of crimes against humanity Nuremberg back when there was adherence to international law and while he did not personally murder anyone his propaganda was instrumental in producing the climate that tolerated if not encouraged the slaughter of millions including six million Jews. When will Americans finally get it that the real enemies lie within rather than outside of our borders, a suckup careerist fifth column of disinformation artists with no loyalty to the country.
Finally Netanyahu is a huge bully as well. Considering the amount of state-corporate media attention bestowed upon the evils of “bullying” in reference to a couple of overpaid, immature asshole jocks on the Miami Dolphins NFL football team it is an illustration of the level of corruption and hypocrisy that is endemic that a global bully isn’t called out as such. Just another contradiction in a land that has been overrun by such things.
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