Friends, I hear you that you need information, and that it needs to be more concise. Articles these days are lengthy. The intent is to plug mainstream media’s disinformation with the truthful information which of course requires examples, rationales and history. I’ll ask authors for permission to sum up their pieces as a prelude to their articles and see if some permit. As for the article below, the Exclusive and the first six short paragraphs give the essence of the lengthier write-up that follows. If you have no time, just digest and ponder the facts in italics! If you are intrigued read further.

Sharon

Consortium News

How Arms Sales Distort US Foreign Policy

October 1, 2016

Exclusive: Money may not be the root of all evil but it surely contributes to horrible war crimes when lucrative arms sales distort U.S. foreign policy and cause selective outrage over human rights atrocities, writes Jonathan Marshall.

By Jonathan Marshall

Forget oil. In the Middle East, the profits and jobs reaped from tens of billions of dollars in arms sales are becoming the key drivers of U.S. and British policy. Oil still matters, of course. So do geopolitical interests, including military bases, and powerful political lobbies funded by Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the other Gulf states.

But you can’t explain Washington’s deference to Saudi Arabia, despite its criminal war in Yemen and its admitted support for Islamist extremism, without acknowledging the political pull generated by more than $115 billion in U.S. military deals with Saudi Arabia authorized since President Obama took office.

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Friends, this article by Thomas Graham (who I think it safe to say, is the voice of Henry Kissinger today), is a much needed statement regarding Russia. He makes points of moderation herein that sound like the recent shifts in consciousness of the other elder spokesperson in US politics, Zbig Brzezinski. Hopefully Hillary will heed both of their recent statements in her coming dealings with Russia and Putin.

I had opportunity to meet with Tom in his offices on a number of occasions in the past. He was always deeply thoughtful in his perspective on Russia even when U.S. policy makers were strident. He is steeped in Russian history and culture, speaks Russian language impeccably and always welcomed opportunities to meet with CCI’s Russian entrepreneurs when they traveled to Washington for meetings.

I don’t agree with every line, but if you have time to read this lengthy piece you will glean historic insights not found in today’s light-weight journalists who tout the party line. You’ll also pick up subtle and sensible shifts Tom (and likely Kissinger) are pushing behind closed doors. For those of us who have been so thoroughly disgusted with mainstream media recently, this piece will be well worth your time. I have taken the liberty of underlining points where he is breaking with current Washington norms.

Sharon

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Consortium News

As pressure again builds on President Obama to attack Syria and press a new Cold War with Russia, the extraordinary events of three years ago after a sarin attack near Damascus are worth revisiting, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern.

By Ray McGovern

Three years ago, when a reluctant President Barack Obama was about to launch an attack on Syria, supposedly in retaliation for President Bashar al-Assad crossing a “red line” against using chemical weapons, Obama smelled a rat – or rather he sensed a mousetrap.

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Friends, this article is nine days old, but it should give us pause to consider how a situation like this one could ignite the unthinkable, WWIII.

Keep in mind what Einstein prophetically remarked:  I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones. 

Sharon

Consortium News
August 21, 2016

US Hawks Advance a War Agenda in Syria

By Daniel Lazare

Exclusive: The U.S. government, having illegally sent American troops into Syria, is now threatening to attack the Syrian military if it endangers those troops, an Orwellian twist that marks a dangerous escalation, explains Daniel Lazare.

By Daniel Lazare

War, like politics, is filled with surprises. While the focus in Syria has been on a U.S.-backed rebel offensive in Aleppo that has succeeded in turning tables on Bashar al-Assad’s government, a new and unexpected flashpoint has developed 200-plus miles to the east where U.S. jets are engaged in a dangerous showdown with Syrian warplanes near the city of Hasakah.

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CounterPunch
August 25, 2016

by Mike Whitney

The main architect of Washington’s plan to rule the world has abandoned the scheme and called for the forging of ties with Russia and China. While Zbigniew Brzezinski’s article in The American Interest titled “Towards a Global Realignment” has largely been ignored by the media, it shows that powerful members of the policymaking establishment no longer believe that Washington will prevail in its quest to extent US hegemony across the Middle East and Asia. Brzezinski, who was the main proponent of this idea and who drew up the blueprint for imperial expansion in his 1997 book The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives, has done an about-face and called for a dramatic revising of the strategy. Here’s an excerpt from the article in the AI:

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