Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric

[Ethereal]

The Increasingly Unhinged Russia Rhetoric Comes From a Long-Standing U.S. Playbook (https://theintercept.com/2017/02/23/the-increasingly-unhinged-russia-rhetoric-comes-from-a-long-standing-u-s-playbook/)

Glenn Greenwald

February 23 2017, 10:52 a.m.

FOR ASPIRING JOURNALISTS, historians or politically-engaged citizens, there are few more productive uses of one’s time than randomly reading through the newsletters of I.F. Stone, the intrepid and independent journalist of the Cold War era who became, in my view, the nation’s first “blogger” even though he died before the advent of the internet. Frustrated by big media’s oppressive corporatized environment and its pro-government propaganda model, and then ultimately blacklisted from mainstream media outlets for his objections to anti-Russia narratives, Stone created his own bi-monthly newsletter, sustained exclusively by subscriptions, and spent 18 years relentlessly debunking propaganda spewing from the U.S. Government and its media partners.

What makes Stone’s body of work so valuable is not its illumination of history but rather its illumination of the present. What’s most striking about his newsletters is how little changes when it comes to U.S. Government propaganda and militarism, and the role the U.S. media plays in sustaining it all. Indeed, reading through his reporting, one gets the impression that U.S. politics just endlessly replays the same debates, conflicts, and tactics.

Much of Stone’s writings, particularly throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, focused on the techniques for keeping Americans in a high state of fear over the Kremlin. One passage, from August of 1954, particularly resonates; Stone explained why it’s impossible to stop McCarthyism at home when – for purposes of sustaining U.S. war and militarism – Kremlin leaders are constantly being depicted as gravely threatening and even omnipotent. Other than the change in Moscow’s ideology – a change many of today’s most toxic McCarthyites explicitly deny – Stone’s observations could be written with equal accuracy today.

...Once one takes root, it’s very difficult to stop the other. And you can only propagate demonization rhetoric about a foreign adversary for so long before triggering, wittingly or otherwise, very dangerous confrontations between the two.

The military-industrial complex and the war profiteers at its heart have always sought to portray foreign adversaries and enemies as ever-present and all-powerful. During the Cold War, Soviet Russia was everywhere, or so Americans were told. After a certain point, the propaganda narrative became so ingrained in the collective psyche of Americans, that few dared to question it out of fear of being labeled disloyal. This is the same tactic that is being used today with regards to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin. As we speak, the establishment has at least three or four such narratives. Russia is clearly the main boogeyman, but Iran, Syria, and China are all being depicted in similar fashion for much the same reason. I do not include AQ/ISIS on my list because I believe they are actual threats, albeit grossly exaggerated by some. Ultimately, the point of all this propaganda is to instill fear into the American populace. That is always how imperial powers operated, through fear and a good dose of nationalist mythology. Depending on what political faction a person belongs to, they are likely to subscribe to at least one of these paranoid narratives about foreign boogeymen. Democrats, obviously, see a Putin conspiracy in everything, and they're also quick to hop on the Syrian "regime change" bandwagon since that ties into their hatred of Russia. Conversely, Republicans are obsessed with demonizing Iran and, to a lesser extent, China. Mostly Iran, though. They say things like "Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world", completely ignoring the outsize role that Saudi Arabia plays in exporting terrorism to every corner of the globe. The common thread running through this propaganda is a bloated empire that is always hungry for funding. And as long as people keep kowtowing to this insidious special interest group, we'll never have the money or the focus to deal with problems right here at home.

[MMC]

Its more than just the Media and the Military Industrial complex. The Demos are complicit too.



The tactics of the Democrats and their fellow travelers in the national press are to invent and amplify false stories, “fake news” such as the golden-shower fraud (the allegation that Trump organized a group of prostitutes to urinate in a bed in a Moscow hotel because the Obamas had once slept in it) and the fabrication that Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office.


It is understandable but inexcusable. Their primary duty and only raison d’être as reporters of news is to be responsible and professional. They hyped the golden shower and the nonsense of improper Trump relations with Russia. There has never been any evidence of that; it is impossible that Russia could have influenced the election result, but President Obama, whose Russian policy was a total failure, and whose investigators couldn’t find any evidence of impropriety in the two months following the election, imposed sanctions against Russia anyway to keep the myth going.


Tom Friedman, the ne plus ultra of New York Times Democratic partisans and Obama groupies, solemnly gabbled out the assertion that the Trump-Russia connection and Russia’s completely unsubstantiated intervention in the U.S. election were an assault on the country on the scale of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Mr. Friedman has tested the patience of serious readers for years by being the pub bore about Israeli settlements and the need for every newborn child in the world to have a laptop, but this sally incited the inference that he has gone stark, raving mad.


http://www.nysun.com/national/a-purblind-press-unable-to-admit-error-boycotts/89909/

[Peter1469]

I think the Soviets were a concern in the Cold War. I understand Western intelligence did not catch their floundering in the latter years prior to the collapse.

I do think it is silly to claim that Iran is the biggest supporter of terrorism. Shia terror is largely focused on Israel. That is Israel's problem, not ours. Sunni terrorism is much more on an international threat.

China is not a great threat. Even as it modernizes its military, its global focus is more on economic ties. They do not need more land.

[MMC]

I think the Soviets were a concern in the Cold War. I understand Western intelligence did not catch their floundering in the latter years prior to the collapse.

I do think it is silly to claim that Iran is the biggest supporter of terrorism. Shia terror is largely focused on Israel. That is Israel's problem, not ours. Sunni terrorism is much more on an international threat.

China is not a great threat. Even as it modernizes its military, its global focus is more on economic ties. They do not need more land.

Lets not forget that Demos pointed the fingers all in effort to get the focus off of them. Like Podesta and his brother helping the Russians to get around BO peeps sanctions. Then to get the focus off Hillary and her people being the ones that gave the Russians their in, clicking on Bait links and then compromising whoever they came in Contact with. From the State Dept to the WH. To the DCCC and Hillary's campaign.

[Green Arrow]

Its more than just the Media and the Military Industrial complex. The Demos are complicit too.



The tactics of the Democrats and their fellow travelers in the national press are to invent and amplify false stories, “fake news” such as the golden-shower fraud (the allegation that Trump organized a group of prostitutes to urinate in a bed in a Moscow hotel because the Obamas had once slept in it) and the fabrication that Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the Oval Office.


It is understandable but inexcusable. Their primary duty and only raison d’être as reporters of news is to be responsible and professional. They hyped the golden shower and the nonsense of improper Trump relations with Russia. There has never been any evidence of that; it is impossible that Russia could have influenced the election result, but President Obama, whose Russian policy was a total failure, and whose investigators couldn’t find any evidence of impropriety in the two months following the election, imposed sanctions against Russia anyway to keep the myth going.


Tom Friedman, the ne plus ultra of New York Times Democratic partisans and Obama groupies, solemnly gabbled out the assertion that the Trump-Russia connection and Russia’s completely unsubstantiated intervention in the U.S. election were an assault on the country on the scale of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Mr. Friedman has tested the patience of serious readers for years by being the pub bore about Israeli settlements and the need for every newborn child in the world to have a laptop, but this sally incited the inference that he has gone stark, raving mad.


http://www.nysun.com/national/a-purblind-press-unable-to-admit-error-boycotts/89909/

The Republicans and Democrats both are part of the problem.

[MMC]

The Republicans and Democrats both are part of the problem.

Not this time, and not with the issue of playing the Russian Card. Falls on the Demos.....who don't want focus on themselves.

[Mark III]

Glenn Greenwald's greatest enemy has always been the US government. It is not a coincidence that Greenwald, Assange and Snowden all sought a rapport with Russia.

The truth and the fact is that it doesn't matter how bad , or less bad, Russia is. They tried to effect the outcome of the US presidential election, and probably did. They helped give us the most unqualified president in our history. Russia is not our friend.

[Ethereal]

Glenn Greenwald's greatest enemy has always been the US government.

The US government commits many evil acts against many innocent people, so most people of conscience rightfully view the US government with suspicion and disdain.


It is not a coincidence that Greenwald, Assange and Snowden all sought a rapport with Russia.

Most reasonable people want to see peaceful relations between the USA and Russia.


The truth and the fact is that it doesn't matter how bad , or less bad, Russia is. They tried to effect the outcome of the US presidential election, and probably did. They helped give us the most unqualified president in our history. Russia is not our friend.

There is no proof of that. And you do not get to decide who is "our" friend.

[MisterVeritis]

Glenn Greenwald's greatest enemy has always been the US government. It is not a coincidence that Greenwald, Assange and Snowden all sought a rapport with Russia.

The truth and the fact is that it doesn't matter how bad , or less bad, Russia is. They tried to effect the outcome of the US presidential election, and probably did. They helped give us the most unqualified president in our history. Russia is not our friend.
If Russia helped us elect Trump we owe Russia a debt of gratitude.

[Mister D]

I think the Soviets were a concern in the Cold War. I understand Western intelligence did not catch their floundering in the latter years prior to the collapse.

I do think it is silly to claim that Iran is the biggest supporter of terrorism. Shia terror is largely focused on Israel. That is Israel's problem, not ours. Sunni terrorism is much more on an international threat.

China is not a great threat. Even as it modernizes its military, its global focus is more on economic ties. They do not need more land.
Agreed on the Cold War. I do not subscribe to any Cold War "hoax" theory but I think the OP's point is that the psychological methods of manipulation are the same. I think that's reprehensible given that Russia simply does not present a serious strategic or ideological threat to the US at the present time or at least nothing like the threat it represented in the decades following the Second World War. One can't help but notice the similarities and ask...what gives?

[hotair]

The Republicans and Democrats both are part of the problem.

So very true.

However historically speaking . . . I believe that everyone can agree that this leans a whole lot heavier towards the Republicans.

Tail Gunner Joe, Citizen Cohn (Trumps old lawyer, mentor, and surrogate father) , and the “Red Scare” - Republican. (The midwife of all of this.)
The Republicans favorite budget item - Defense Spending! Very hard to justify sending billions of dollars to the AMIC when there is no enemy.

[Green Arrow]

Not this time, and not with the issue of playing the Russian Card. Falls on the Demos.....who don't want focus on themselves.

Probably 90% of GOP members of Congress support sanctions on Russia and the saber-rattling of the Democrats. Even Trump GOP allies in Congress have said they'd vote no on removing sanctions from Russia if Trump tried to end them.

They are just as much a part of the problem as the Democrats.

[Green Arrow]

Glenn Greenwald's greatest enemy has always been the US government. It is not a coincidence that Greenwald, Assange and Snowden all sought a rapport with Russia.

The truth and the fact is that it doesn't matter how bad , or less bad, Russia is. They tried to effect the outcome of the US presidential election, and probably did. They helped give us the most unqualified president in our history. Russia is not our friend.

Even if we follow the ridiculous narrative that Russia impacted the election, they did so because YOUR candidate forced them to by being so blatantly anti-Russia, going so far as to compare them to Nazi Germany and Putin to Hitler (remember how that turned out?). No world leader in their right mind would sit back and allow someone that was as openly hostile toward them as Clinton was to take over a country as powerful as the US.

[hotair]

Agreed on the Cold War. I do not subscribe to any Cold War "hoax" theory but I think the OP's point is that the psychological methods of manipulation are the same. I think that's reprehensible given that Russia simply does not present a serious strategic or ideological threat to the US at the present time or at least nothing like the threat it represented in the decades following the Second World War. One can't help but notice the similarities and ask...what gives?




I think the Soviets were a concern in the Cold War.

The Red Scare does come to mind!



I understand Western intelligence did not catch their floundering in the latter years prior to the collapse.

Not entirely accurate. Western intelligence was very heavily dependent on communications monitoring. Most of which coming out of the Soviet Union through our electronic listing stations located in Norther Iran.
As the KGB operator in command of the operation, Putin was the principal architect of the Iranian Revolution that deposed the Shah forcing us to close all of our operations in Iran. Closing the American Embassy in Iran (at Putins directive) ended all most all intelligence gathering in the region.




I do think it is silly to claim that Iran is the biggest supporter of terrorism. Shia terror is largely focused on Israel. That is Israel's problem, not ours. Sunni terrorism is much more on an international threat.

The exact line of thinking that created ISIS in the first place. Terrorism is Terrorism! Allowing it to flourish anywhere, for any reason, allows it to spread. Terrorism is everyone’s problem.



China is not a great threat. Even as it modernizes its military, its global focus is more on economic ties. They do not need more land.

With a little more then one quarter of the worlds population, China most certainly does need much more land. Least we forget where food originates from.




psychological methods of manipulation

Have not changed since Hitler first propagated them in his book Mein Kampf.
Hitler, Stalin, Madison Avenue . . .
(The very heart of modern political science.)
They have not changed because they work. As long as they continue to work they are not going to change.




..what gives?

Things are a whole lot more serious then you seem to realize.

[Peter1469]

Shia terrorism is not related to Sunni terrorism.


The Red Scare does come to mind!


Not entirely accurate. Western intelligence was very heavily dependent on communications monitoring. Most of which coming out of the Soviet Union through our electronic listing stations located in Norther Iran.
As the KGB operator in command of the operation, Putin was the principal architect of the Iranian Revolution that deposed the Shah forcing us to close all of our operations in Iran. Closing the American Embassy in Iran (at Putins directive) ended all most all intelligence gathering in the region.



The exact line of thinking that created ISIS in the first place. Terrorism is Terrorism! Allowing it to flourish anywhere, for any reason, allows it to spread. Terrorism is everyone’s problem.


With a little more then one quarter of the worlds population, China most certainly does need much more land. Least we forget where food originates from.



Have not changed since Hitler first propagated them in his book Mein Kampf.
Hitler, Stalin, Madison Avenue . . .
(The very heart of modern political science.)
They have not changed because they work. As long as they continue to work they are not going to change.



Things are a whole lot more serious then you seem to realize.

[ripmeister]

Even if we follow the ridiculous narrative that Russia impacted the election, they did so because YOUR candidate forced them to by being so blatantly anti-Russia, going so far as to compare them to Nazi Germany and Putin to Hitler (remember how that turned out?). No world leader in their right mind would sit back and allow someone that was as openly hostile toward them as Clinton was to take over a country as powerful as the US.
Seriously? You are justifying Putins meddling and possible collusion by some in Trumps camp in the campaign?

[MMC]

Probably 90% of GOP members of Congress support sanctions on Russia and the saber-rattling of the Democrats. Even Trump GOP allies in Congress have said they'd vote no on removing sanctions from Russia if Trump tried to end them.

They are just as much a part of the problem as the Democrats.

Well I would have to agree there with the Repubs backing sanctions against Russia. They would do that even knowing the Demos were the ones singing like Paul McCartney and Let em in.

They certainly know Podesta and his brother were helping Putin get around the Peeps sanctions.

[Adelaide]

I do not think anyone actually fears Russia in an "I am going to die" kind of way like many did during the Cold War - I think that much of the bluster is purposely disproportionate to the actual threat. Yes, Russia is a threat to some degree but there are much bigger fish to fry and the United States is not innocent when it comes to escalating issues with Russia. Both the US and Russia are taking little steps to make a point, but at the end of the day they aren't going to go to war or start a new cold war. The Middle East and Africa present the biggest problems, currently, and really there is not much threat to Americans since North America is isolated by oceans.

[Green Arrow]

Seriously? You are justifying Putins meddling and possible collusion by some in Trumps camp in the campaign?

Feel free to offer a counter argument.

[ripmeister]

Feel free to offer a counter argument.

Counter argument to what? I simply asked if what you seem to be saying is what you mean. If you don't want to answer the question then so be it.

[Mister D]

I do not think anyone actually fears Russia in an "I am going to die" kind of way like many did during the Cold War - I think that much of the bluster is purposely disproportionate to the actual threat. Yes, Russia is a threat to some degree but there are much bigger fish to fry and the United States is not innocent when it comes to escalating issues with Russia. Both the US and Russia are taking little steps to make a point, but at the end of the day they aren't going to go to war or start a new cold war. The Middle East and Africa present the biggest problems, currently, and really there is not much threat to Americans since North America is isolated by oceans.
But what exactly is Russia a threat to?

[Green Arrow]

Counter argument to what? I simply asked if what you seem to be saying is what you mean. If you don't want to answer the question then so be it.

I was very clear. Russia's "meddling" consisted of allegedly hacking real, factual emails that actually existed and releasing them to the public. They allegedly did that because Hillary Clinton was batshit crazy on foreign policy and was advocating actions that would inevitably throw us into a war with Russia. Putin would have been stupid not to prefer her soft-on-Russia opponent and do what he could to see that candidate elected.

[Mark III]

I was very clear. Russia's "meddling" consisted of allegedly hacking real, factual emails that actually existed and releasing them to the public. They allegedly did that because Hillary Clinton was bat$#@! crazy on foreign policy and was advocating actions that would inevitably throw us into a war with Russia. Putin would have been stupid not to prefer her soft-on-Russia opponent and do what he could to see that candidate elected.

The more knowledgeable people think that Russia wanted to help Trump so he would remove the sanctions that are delaying a 500 billion dollar oil and gas deal that will line Putin's personal pockets. (Trump's too.)

[Peter1469]

The more knowledgeable people think that Russia wanted to help Trump so he would remove the sanctions that are delaying a 500 billion dollar oil and gas deal that will line Putin's personal pockets. (Trump's too.)

These more knowledgeable people have evidence, or is this just a feeling?

[Green Arrow]

The more knowledgeable people think that Russia wanted to help Trump so he would remove the sanctions that are delaying a 500 billion dollar oil and gas deal that will line Putin's personal pockets. (Trump's too.)

The sanctions never should have been applied in the first place.

[Peter1469]

The sanctions never should have been applied in the first place.

I disagree with that, although I would not keep them in place forever.

[The Xl]

The Russians are coming narrative is being completely propped up by the deep state and their financiers.