The ‘New Cold War’ – A Rehash of Old Rivalries What will the  new cold war  look like? (Illustration by Brad Holland)William Blum ICHThe anti-Russian/anti-Soviet bias in the American media appears to have no limit. You would think that they would have enough self-awareness and enough journalistic integrity -  just enough -  to be concerned about their image. But it keeps on coming, piled higher and deeper.One of the latest cases in point is a review of a new biography of Mikhail Gorbachev in the New York Times Book Review (September 10). The review says that Gorbachev  was no hero to his own people  because he was  the destroyer of their empire . This is how the New York Times avoids having to say anything positive about life in the Soviet Union or about socialism. They would have readers believe that it was the loss of the likes of Czechoslovakia or Hungary et al. that upset the Russian people, not the loss, under Gorbachev s perestroika, of a decent standard of living for all, a loss affecting people s rent, employment, vacations, medical care, education, and many other aspects of the Soviet welfare state.Accompanying this review is a quote from a 1996 Times review of Gorbachev s own memoir, which said:  It mystifies Westerners that Mikhail Gorbachev is loathed and ridiculed in his own country. This is the man who pulled the world several steps back from the nuclear brink and lifted a crushing fear from his countrymen, who ended bloody foreign adventures [and] liberated Eastern Europe.   Yet his repudiation at home could hardly be more complete. His political comeback attempt in June attracted less than 1 percent of the vote. Thus is Gorbachev s unpopularity with his own people further relegated to the category of  mystery , and not due to the profound social changes.It should be noted that in 1999, USA Today reported:  When the Berlin Wall crumbled [1989], East Germans imagined a life of freedom where consumer goods were abundant and hardships would fade. Ten years later, a remarkable 51% say they were happier with communism.  Earlier polls would likely have shown even more than 51% expressing such a sentiment, for in the ten years many of those who remembered life in East Germany with some fondness had passed away; although even 10 years later, in 2009, the Washington Post could report:  Westerners [West Berliners] say they are fed up with the tendency of their eastern counterparts to wax nostalgic about communist times. It was in the post-unification period that a new Russian and eastern Europe proverb was born: Everything the Communists said about Communism was a lie, but everything they said about capitalism turned out to be the truth. The current New York Times review twice refers to Vladimir Putin as  authoritarian , as does, routinely, much of the Western media. None of the many such references I have come across in recent years has given an example of such authoritarian policies, although such examples of course exist, as they do under a man named Trump and a woman named May and every other government in the world. But clearly if a strong case could be made of Putin being authoritarian, the Western media would routinely document such in their attacks upon the Russian president. Why do they not?The review further refers to Putin to as  the cold-eye former K.G.B. lieutenant colonel . One has to wonder if the New York Times has ever referred to President George H.W. Bush as  the cold-eye former CIA Director .Just as in the first Cold War, one of the basic problems is that Americans have great difficulty in believing that Russians mean well. Apropos this, I d like to recall the following written about George Kennan, one of the most prominent American diplomats ever:Crossing Poland with the first US diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1933, a young American diplomat named George Kennan was somewhat astonished to hear the Soviet escort, Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov, reminisce about growing up in a village nearby, about the books he had read and his dreams as a small boy of being a librarian. We suddenly realized, or at least I did, that these people we were dealing with were human beings like ourselves,  Kennan wrote,  that they had been born somewhere, that they had their childhood ambitions as we had. It seemed for a brief moment we could break through and embrace these people. It hasn t happened yet.Kennan s sudden realization brings George Orwell to mind: We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. The plague of nationalismThe world has enough countries. Too goddamn many if you ask me. Is there room for any more delegations at the United Nations? Any more parking spots in New York? Have the people of Catalonia, who are seeking independence from Spain in an October 1 vote, considered that their new nation will have to open hundreds of new embassies and consulates around the world, furnish them all, fill them all with paid employees, houses and apartments and furniture for many of them, several new cars for each diplomatic post.  How many billions of dollars in taxes will be taken from the Catalan people to pay for all this?And what about the military? Any self-respecting country needs an army and a navy. Will the new Catalonia be able to afford even halfway decent armed forces? The new country will of course have to join NATO with its obligatory minimum defense capability. There goes a billion or two more.Plus what it will have to pay the European Union, which will simply be replacing Madrid in imposing many legal restrictions upon the Catalan people.And for what noble purpose are they rising up? Freedom, democracy, civil liberties, human rights? No. It s all for money. Madrid is taking in more in taxes from Catalonia than it returns in services, something which can be said about many city-state relationships in the United States. (Presumably there are also some individual Catalans who have their odd personal reasons.)Catalan nationalists insist that  self-determination  is an inalienable right and cannot be curbed by the Spanish Constitution. Well, then, why stop with an  autonomous community  as Catalonia is designated? Why don t provinces everywhere have the right to declare their independence? How about cities? Or neighborhoods? Why not my block? I could be the president.And there are many other restive independence movements in the world, like the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey; in Scotland, Belgium and Italy; and California. Lord help us. Many countries are very reluctant to even recognize a new state for fear that it might encourage their own people to break away.If love is blind, nationalism has lost all five senses. If nature were a bank, they would have already rescued it.    Eduardo GaleanoU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a New York investor conference that Hurricane Irma would ultimately boost the economy by sparking rebuilding. There clearly is going to be an impact on GDP in the short run, we will make it up in the long run. As we rebuild, that will help GDP. It won t have a bad impact on the economy. Hmmm   very interesting   Can we therefore assume that if the damage had been twice as bad it would have boosted the economy even more?Meanwhile, in the non-Trump, non-fantasy world, there is a thing called climate change; i.e. the quality of our lives, the survival of the planet. What keeps corporations from modifying their behavior so as to be kinder to our environment? It is of course the good old  bottom line  again. What can we do to convince the corporations to consistently behave like good citizens? Nothing that hasn t already been tried and failed. Except one thing.   unmentionable in polite company.   unmentionable in a capitalist society.   Nationalization. There, I said it. Now I ll be getting letters addressed to  The Old Stalinist .But nationalization is not a panacea either, at least for the environment. There s the greatest single source of man-made environmental damage in the world   The United States military. And it s already been nationalized. But doing away with private corporations will reduce the drive toward imperialism sufficiently that before long the need for a military will fade away and we can live like Costa Rica. If you think that would put the United States in danger of attack, please tell me who would attack, and why.The argument I like to use when speaking to those who don t accept the idea that extreme weather phenomena are man-made is this:Well, we can proceed in one of two ways:1: We can do our best to limit the greenhouse effect by curtailing greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) into the atmosphere, and if it turns out that these emissions were not in fact the cause of all the extreme weather phenomena, then we ve wasted a lot of time, effort and money (although other benefits to the ecosystem would still accrue).2: We can do nothing at all to curtail the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and if it turns out that these emissions were in fact the leading cause of all the extreme weather phenomena (not simply extreme, but getting downright freaky), then we ve lost the earth and life as we know it.So, are you a gambler?The new Vietnam documentaryAt the beginning of Ken Burns  new documentary on the American war in Vietnam the narrator says the war  was begun in good faith by decent people out of fateful misunderstandings, American overconfidence and Cold War misunderstandings. The early American involvement in Vietnam can be marked by two things in particular: (1) helping the French imperialists in their fight against the forces led by Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam and (2) the cancellation of the elections that would have united North and South Vietnam as one nation because the US and its South Vietnam allies knew that Ho Chi Minh would win. It was that simple.Nothing of good faith or decency in that scenario. No misunderstandings. Ho Chi Minh was a great admirer of America and its Declaration of Independence. His own actual declaration of 1945 begins with the familiar  All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  But Ho Chi Minh was what was called a  communist . It was that simple. (See the Vietnam chapter in my book Killing Hope for the details.)Daniel Ellsberg s conclusion about the US in Vietnam: It wasn t that we were on the wrong side; we were the wrong side. Ms. HillaryShe has a new book out and lots of interviews, all giving her the opportunity to complain about the many forces that joined together to deny her her rightful place as queen. I might feel a bit, just a bit, of sympathy for the woman if not for her greatest crime.There was a country called Libya. It had the highest standard of living in all of Africa; its people had not only free education and health care but all kinds of other benefits that other Africans could only dream about. It was also a secular state, a quality to be cherished in Africa and the Middle East. But Moammar Gaddafi of Libya was never a properly obedient client of Washington. Amongst other shortcomings, the man threatened to replace the US dollar with gold for payment of oil transactions, create a common African currency, and was a strong supporter of the Palestinians and foe of Israel.In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the prime moving force behind the United States and NATO turning Libya into a failed state, where it remains today.The attack against Libya was one that the New York Times said Clinton had  championed , convincing President Obama in  what was arguably her moment of greatest influence as Secretary of State.  The people of Libya were bombed almost daily for more than six months. The main excuse given was that Gaddafi was about to invade Benghazi, the Libyan center of his opponents, and so the United States and NATO were thus saving the people of that city from a massacre. The American people and the American media of course swallowed this story, though no convincing evidence of the alleged impending massacre has ever been presented. The nearest thing to an official US government account of the matter   a Congressional Research Service report on events in Libya for the period   makes no mention at all of the threatened massacre.The US/NATO heavy bombing sent Libya crashing in utter chaos, leading to the widespread dispersal throughout North African and Middle East hotspots of the gigantic arsenal of weaponry that Gaddafi had accumulated. Libya is now a haven for terrorists, from al Qaeda to ISIS, whereas Gaddafi had been a leading foe of terrorists. He had declared Libya as a barrier to terrorists, as well as African refugees, going to Europe. The bombing has contributed greatly to the area s mammoth refugee crisis.And when Hillary was shown a video about the horrific murder of Gaddafi by his opponents she loudly cackled (yes, that s the word):  We came, we saw, he died!  You can see it on Youtube.There s also her support of placing regime change in Syria ahead of supporting the Syrian government in its struggle against ISIS and other terrorist groups. Even more disastrous was the 2003 US invasion of Iraq which she as a senator supported.If all this is not sufficient to capture the utter charm of the woman, another foreign-policy adventure, one which her swooning followers totally ignore, the few that even know about it, is the coup ousting the moderately progressive Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in June, 2009. A tale told many times in Latin America: The downtrodden masses finally put into power a leader committed to reversing the status quo, determined to try to put an end to two centuries of oppression   and before long the military overthrows the democratically-elected government, while the United States   if not the mastermind behind the coup   does nothing to prevent it or to punish the coup regime, as only the United States can punish; meanwhile Washington officials pretend to be very upset over this  affront to democracy .District of ColumbiaHow many people around the world know that in Washington, DC (District of Columbia, where I live), the capital city of the United States  - the country that is always lecturing the world about this thing called  democracy   - the citizens do not have the final say over making the laws that determine life in their city? Many Americans as well are not aware of this.According to the US Constitution (Section 8) Congress has the final say, and in recent years has blocked the city from using local tax dollars to subsidize abortion for low-income women, blocked the implementation of legal marijuana use, blocked needle exchanges, blocked certain taxes, blocked a law that says employers cannot discriminate against workers based on their reproductive decisions, imposed private schools into the public-school system, and will soon probably block the District s new assisted-suicide law (already blocked in the House of Representatives). On top of all this, since DC is not a state, its citizens do not have any representatives in the Senate and their sole representative in the House has only the barest non-voting, token rights. DC residents did not even have the right to vote for the president until 1964.In 2015 in Brussels, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization formally voted to accept the District of Columbia as a new member. UNPO is an international democratic organization whose members are indigenous peoples, minorities and unrecognized or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.NOTES1: USA Today, October 11, 1999, p.1 2: Washington Post, May 12, 2009; see a similar story November 5, 2009 3: Walter Isaacson & Evan Thomas, The Wise Men (1986), p.158 4: Associated Press, September 21, 2017 5: New York Times, February 28, 2016 6:  Libya: Transition and U.S. Policy , updated March 4, 2016. 7: RT (Russia Today) television station, January 8, 2016 8: See Mark Weisbrot s  Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Which Side The United States Government is On With Regard to the Military Coup in Honduras ***TO READ MORE ON THE NEW COLD WAR: THE 21WIRE COLD WAR FILESSUPPORT 21WIRE  SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TVUS_News
the new cold war a rehash old rivalries what new cold war look like illustration brad holland william blue ichthe bias american media appears limit you would think would enough enough journalistic integrity enough concerned image but keeps coming piled higher latest cases point review new biography michael gorbachev new york times book review september the review says gorbachev hero people destroyer empire this new york times avoids say anything positive life soviet union socialism they would readers believe loss likes czechoslovakia hungary et al upset russian people loss gorbachev perestroika decent standard living loss affecting people rent employment vacations medical care education many aspects soviet welfare review quote times review gorbachev memoir said it mysteries westerns michael gorbachev located ridiculed country this man pulled world several steps back nuclear brink lifted crushing fear countrymen ended bloody foreign adventures liberated eastern europe yet reputation home could hardly complete his political comeback attempt june attracted less percent vote thus gorbachev popularity people relegated category mystery due profound social noted usa today reported when berlin wall stumbled east germany imagined life freedom consumer goods abundant hardships would fade ten years later remarkable say happier communism earlier polls would likely shown even expressing sentiment ten years many remembered life east germany fondness passed away although even years later washington post could report westerns west berliner say fed tendency eastern counterparts wax nostalgic communist times it period new russian eastern europe proverb born everything communists said communism lie everything said capitalism turned truth the current new york times review twice refers vladimir putin authoritarian routinely much western media none many references i come across recent years given example authoritarian policies although examples course exist man named trump woman named may every government world but clearly strong case could made putin authoritarian western media would routinely document attacks upon russian president why the review refers putin former lieutenant colonel one wonder new york times ever referred president george bush former cia director first cold war one basic problems americans great difficulty believing russian mean well propos i like recall following written george kenya one prominent american diplomats ever crossing poland first us diplomatic mission soviet union winter young american diplomat named george kenya somewhat astonished hear soviet escort foreign minister maxim litvinov reminiscent growing village nearby books read dreams small boy librarian we suddenly realized least i people dealing human beings like kenya wrote born somewhere childhood ambitions it seemed brief moment could break embrace people it happened sudden realization brings george orwell mind we sunk depth statement obvious first duty intelligent men the plague nationalismthe world enough countries too goldman many ask is room delegations united nations any parking spots new york have people catalunya seeking independence spain october vote considered new nation open hundreds new embassies consulates around world furnish fill paid employees houses apartments furniture many several new cars diplomatic post how many billions dollars taxes taken catalan people pay and military any country needs army navy will new catalunya able afford even halfway decent armed forces the new country course join nato obligatory minimum defense capability there goes billion two pay european union simply replacing madrid imposing many legal restrictions upon catalan noble purpose rising freedom democracy civil liberties human rights no it money madrid taking taxes catalunya returns services something said many relationships united states presumably also individual catalan odd personal reasons catalan nationalists insist inalienable right curved spanish constitution well stop autonomous community catalunya designated why provinces everywhere right declare independence how cities or neighborhoods why block i could many festive independence movements world like kurds iraq turkey scotland belgium italy california lord help us many countries reluctant even recognize new state fear might encourage people break love blind nationalism lost five senses if nature bank would already rescued eduardo treasury secretary steven mnuchin told new york investor conference hurricane irma would ultimately boost economy sparking rebuilding there clearly going impact gdp short run make long run as rebuild help gdp it bad impact economy mmm interesting can therefore assume damage twice bad would boosted economy even meanwhile world thing called climate change quality lives survival planet what keeps corporations modifying behavior kinder environment it course good old bottom line what convince corporations consistently behave like good citizens nothing already tried failed except one thing unmentionable polite company unmentionable capitalist society nationalization there i said now i getting letters addressed the old stalinist nationalization palace either least environment there greatest single source environmental damage world the united states military and already nationalized but away private corporations reduce drive toward imperialism sufficiently long need military fade away live like costa rica if think would put united states danger attack please tell would attack argument i like use speaking accept idea extreme weather phenomena well proceed one two we best limit greenhouse effect curtailing greenhouse gas emissions carbon dioxide methane citrus oxide atmosphere turns emissions fact cause extreme weather phenomena wasted lot time effort money although benefits ecosystem would still accrued we nothing curtail emission greenhouse gases atmosphere turns emissions fact leading cause extreme weather phenomena simply extreme getting downright freak lost earth life know gambler the new vietnam documentary beginning ken burns new documentary american war vietnam narrator says war begun good faith decent people fateful misunderstandings american overconfidence cold war misunderstandings the early american involvement vietnam marked two things particular helping french imperialist fight forces led ho chi min north vietnam cancellation elections would united north south vietnam one nation us south vietnam allies knew ho chi min would win it good faith decency scenario no misunderstandings ho chi min great admirer america declaration independence his actual declaration begins familiar all men created equal they endowed creator certain inalienable rights among life liberty pursuit happiness but ho chi min called communist it simple see vietnam chapter book killing hope details daniel ellsberg conclusion us vietnam it wrong side wrong side hillaryshe new book lots interviews giving opportunity complain many forces joined together deny rightful place queen i might feel bit bit sympathy woman greatest country called libya it highest standard living africa people free education health care kinds benefits african could dream it also secular state quality cherished africa middle east but grammar gaddafi libya never properly obedient client washington amongst shortcomings man threatened replace us dollar gold payment oil transactions create common african currency strong supporter palestinians foe secretary state hillary clinton prime moving force behind united states nato turning libya failed state remains attack libya one new york times said clinton championed convincing president obama arguably moment greatest influence secretary state the people libya bombed almost daily six months the main excuse given gaddafi invade bengali libyan center opponents united states nato thus saving people city massacre the american people american media course swallowed story though convincing evidence alleged impending massacre ever presented the nearest thing official us government account matter congressional research service report events libya period makes mention threatened heavy bombing sent libya crashing utter chaos leading widespread dispersal throughout north african middle east hotspots gigantic arsenal weaponry gaddafi accumulated libya terrorists al qaeda isis whereas gaddafi leading foe terrorists he declared libya barrier terrorists well african refugees going europe the bombing contributed greatly area mammoth refugee hillary shown video horrific murder gaddafi opponents loudly tackled yes word we came saw died you see also support placing regime change syria ahead supporting syrian government struggle isis terrorist groups even disastrous us invasion iraq senator sufficient capture utter charm woman another adventure one shooting followers totally ignore even know coup ousting moderately progressive manuel relay honduras june a tale told many times latin america the downtrodden masses finally put power leader committed reversing status quo determined try put end two centuries oppression long military overthrow government united states mastermind behind coup nothing prevent punish coup regime united states punish meanwhile washington officials pretend upset front democracy columbiahow many people around world know washington dc district columbia i live capital city united states country always lecturing world thing called democracy citizens final say making laws determine life city many americans well aware us constitution section congress final say recent years blocked city using local tax dollars subsidized abortion women blocked implementation legal marijuana use blocked needle exchanges blocked certain taxes blocked law says employers discriminate workers based reproductive decisions imposed private schools system soon probably block district new law already blocked house representatives on top since dc state citizens representatives senate sole representative house rarest token rights dc residents even right vote president brussels represented nations peoples organization formally voted accept district columbia new member undo international democratic organization whose members indigenous peoples minorities unrecognized occupied territories joined together protect promote human cultural rights preserve environments find nonviolent solutions conflicts affect usa today october washington post may see similar story november walter isaacson evan thomas the wise men associated press september new york times february libya transition policy updated march rt russia today television station january see mark weisbrot top ten ways you can tell which side the united states government on with regard military coup honduras to read more on the new cold war the cold war filessupport subscribe become a member
Your task is to classify the provided input as real or fake news. Label 0 is meant for fake news, Label 1 is for real news. TEXT: The ‘New Cold War’ – A Rehash of Old Rivalries What will the  new cold war  look like? (Illustration by Brad Holland)William Blum ICHThe anti-Russian/anti-Soviet bias in the American media appears to have no limit. You would think that they would have enough self-awareness and enough journalistic integrity -  just enough -  to be concerned about their image. But it keeps on coming, piled higher and deeper.One of the latest cases in point is a review of a new biography of Mikhail Gorbachev in the New York Times Book Review (September 10). The review says that Gorbachev  was no hero to his own people  because he was  the destroyer of their empire . This is how the New York Times avoids having to say anything positive about life in the Soviet Union or about socialism. They would have readers believe that it was the loss of the likes of Czechoslovakia or Hungary et al. that upset the Russian people, not the loss, under Gorbachev s perestroika, of a decent standard of living for all, a loss affecting people s rent, employment, vacations, medical care, education, and many other aspects of the Soviet welfare state.Accompanying this review is a quote from a 1996 Times review of Gorbachev s own memoir, which said:  It mystifies Westerners that Mikhail Gorbachev is loathed and ridiculed in his own country. This is the man who pulled the world several steps back from the nuclear brink and lifted a crushing fear from his countrymen, who ended bloody foreign adventures [and] liberated Eastern Europe.   Yet his repudiation at home could hardly be more complete. His political comeback attempt in June attracted less than 1 percent of the vote. Thus is Gorbachev s unpopularity with his own people further relegated to the category of  mystery , and not due to the profound social changes.It should be noted that in 1999, USA Today reported:  When the Berlin Wall crumbled [1989], East Germans imagined a life of freedom where consumer goods were abundant and hardships would fade. Ten years later, a remarkable 51% say they were happier with communism.  Earlier polls would likely have shown even more than 51% expressing such a sentiment, for in the ten years many of those who remembered life in East Germany with some fondness had passed away; although even 10 years later, in 2009, the Washington Post could report:  Westerners [West Berliners] say they are fed up with the tendency of their eastern counterparts to wax nostalgic about communist times. It was in the post-unification period that a new Russian and eastern Europe proverb was born: Everything the Communists said about Communism was a lie, but everything they said about capitalism turned out to be the truth. The current New York Times review twice refers to Vladimir Putin as  authoritarian , as does, routinely, much of the Western media. None of the many such references I have come across in recent years has given an example of such authoritarian policies, although such examples of course exist, as they do under a man named Trump and a woman named May and every other government in the world. But clearly if a strong case could be made of Putin being authoritarian, the Western media would routinely document such in their attacks upon the Russian president. Why do they not?The review further refers to Putin to as  the cold-eye former K.G.B. lieutenant colonel . One has to wonder if the New York Times has ever referred to President George H.W. Bush as  the cold-eye former CIA Director .Just as in the first Cold War, one of the basic problems is that Americans have great difficulty in believing that Russians mean well. Apropos this, I d like to recall the following written about George Kennan, one of the most prominent American diplomats ever:Crossing Poland with the first US diplomatic mission to the Soviet Union in the winter of 1933, a young American diplomat named George Kennan was somewhat astonished to hear the Soviet escort, Foreign Minister Maxim Litvinov, reminisce about growing up in a village nearby, about the books he had read and his dreams as a small boy of being a librarian. We suddenly realized, or at least I did, that these people we were dealing with were human beings like ourselves,  Kennan wrote,  that they had been born somewhere, that they had their childhood ambitions as we had. It seemed for a brief moment we could break through and embrace these people. It hasn t happened yet.Kennan s sudden realization brings George Orwell to mind: We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men. The plague of nationalismThe world has enough countries. Too goddamn many if you ask me. Is there room for any more delegations at the United Nations? Any more parking spots in New York? Have the people of Catalonia, who are seeking independence from Spain in an October 1 vote, considered that their new nation will have to open hundreds of new embassies and consulates around the world, furnish them all, fill them all with paid employees, houses and apartments and furniture for many of them, several new cars for each diplomatic post.  How many billions of dollars in taxes will be taken from the Catalan people to pay for all this?And what about the military? Any self-respecting country needs an army and a navy. Will the new Catalonia be able to afford even halfway decent armed forces? The new country will of course have to join NATO with its obligatory minimum defense capability. There goes a billion or two more.Plus what it will have to pay the European Union, which will simply be replacing Madrid in imposing many legal restrictions upon the Catalan people.And for what noble purpose are they rising up? Freedom, democracy, civil liberties, human rights? No. It s all for money. Madrid is taking in more in taxes from Catalonia than it returns in services, something which can be said about many city-state relationships in the United States. (Presumably there are also some individual Catalans who have their odd personal reasons.)Catalan nationalists insist that  self-determination  is an inalienable right and cannot be curbed by the Spanish Constitution. Well, then, why stop with an  autonomous community  as Catalonia is designated? Why don t provinces everywhere have the right to declare their independence? How about cities? Or neighborhoods? Why not my block? I could be the president.And there are many other restive independence movements in the world, like the Kurds in Iraq and Turkey; in Scotland, Belgium and Italy; and California. Lord help us. Many countries are very reluctant to even recognize a new state for fear that it might encourage their own people to break away.If love is blind, nationalism has lost all five senses. If nature were a bank, they would have already rescued it.    Eduardo GaleanoU.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told a New York investor conference that Hurricane Irma would ultimately boost the economy by sparking rebuilding. There clearly is going to be an impact on GDP in the short run, we will make it up in the long run. As we rebuild, that will help GDP. It won t have a bad impact on the economy. Hmmm   very interesting   Can we therefore assume that if the damage had been twice as bad it would have boosted the economy even more?Meanwhile, in the non-Trump, non-fantasy world, there is a thing called climate change; i.e. the quality of our lives, the survival of the planet. What keeps corporations from modifying their behavior so as to be kinder to our environment? It is of course the good old  bottom line  again. What can we do to convince the corporations to consistently behave like good citizens? Nothing that hasn t already been tried and failed. Except one thing.   unmentionable in polite company.   unmentionable in a capitalist society.   Nationalization. There, I said it. Now I ll be getting letters addressed to  The Old Stalinist .But nationalization is not a panacea either, at least for the environment. There s the greatest single source of man-made environmental damage in the world   The United States military. And it s already been nationalized. But doing away with private corporations will reduce the drive toward imperialism sufficiently that before long the need for a military will fade away and we can live like Costa Rica. If you think that would put the United States in danger of attack, please tell me who would attack, and why.The argument I like to use when speaking to those who don t accept the idea that extreme weather phenomena are man-made is this:Well, we can proceed in one of two ways:1: We can do our best to limit the greenhouse effect by curtailing greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) into the atmosphere, and if it turns out that these emissions were not in fact the cause of all the extreme weather phenomena, then we ve wasted a lot of time, effort and money (although other benefits to the ecosystem would still accrue).2: We can do nothing at all to curtail the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and if it turns out that these emissions were in fact the leading cause of all the extreme weather phenomena (not simply extreme, but getting downright freaky), then we ve lost the earth and life as we know it.So, are you a gambler?The new Vietnam documentaryAt the beginning of Ken Burns  new documentary on the American war in Vietnam the narrator says the war  was begun in good faith by decent people out of fateful misunderstandings, American overconfidence and Cold War misunderstandings. The early American involvement in Vietnam can be marked by two things in particular: (1) helping the French imperialists in their fight against the forces led by Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam and (2) the cancellation of the elections that would have united North and South Vietnam as one nation because the US and its South Vietnam allies knew that Ho Chi Minh would win. It was that simple.Nothing of good faith or decency in that scenario. No misunderstandings. Ho Chi Minh was a great admirer of America and its Declaration of Independence. His own actual declaration of 1945 begins with the familiar  All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  But Ho Chi Minh was what was called a  communist . It was that simple. (See the Vietnam chapter in my book Killing Hope for the details.)Daniel Ellsberg s conclusion about the US in Vietnam: It wasn t that we were on the wrong side; we were the wrong side. Ms. HillaryShe has a new book out and lots of interviews, all giving her the opportunity to complain about the many forces that joined together to deny her her rightful place as queen. I might feel a bit, just a bit, of sympathy for the woman if not for her greatest crime.There was a country called Libya. It had the highest standard of living in all of Africa; its people had not only free education and health care but all kinds of other benefits that other Africans could only dream about. It was also a secular state, a quality to be cherished in Africa and the Middle East. But Moammar Gaddafi of Libya was never a properly obedient client of Washington. Amongst other shortcomings, the man threatened to replace the US dollar with gold for payment of oil transactions, create a common African currency, and was a strong supporter of the Palestinians and foe of Israel.In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was the prime moving force behind the United States and NATO turning Libya into a failed state, where it remains today.The attack against Libya was one that the New York Times said Clinton had  championed , convincing President Obama in  what was arguably her moment of greatest influence as Secretary of State.  The people of Libya were bombed almost daily for more than six months. The main excuse given was that Gaddafi was about to invade Benghazi, the Libyan center of his opponents, and so the United States and NATO were thus saving the people of that city from a massacre. The American people and the American media of course swallowed this story, though no convincing evidence of the alleged impending massacre has ever been presented. The nearest thing to an official US government account of the matter   a Congressional Research Service report on events in Libya for the period   makes no mention at all of the threatened massacre.The US/NATO heavy bombing sent Libya crashing in utter chaos, leading to the widespread dispersal throughout North African and Middle East hotspots of the gigantic arsenal of weaponry that Gaddafi had accumulated. Libya is now a haven for terrorists, from al Qaeda to ISIS, whereas Gaddafi had been a leading foe of terrorists. He had declared Libya as a barrier to terrorists, as well as African refugees, going to Europe. The bombing has contributed greatly to the area s mammoth refugee crisis.And when Hillary was shown a video about the horrific murder of Gaddafi by his opponents she loudly cackled (yes, that s the word):  We came, we saw, he died!  You can see it on Youtube.There s also her support of placing regime change in Syria ahead of supporting the Syrian government in its struggle against ISIS and other terrorist groups. Even more disastrous was the 2003 US invasion of Iraq which she as a senator supported.If all this is not sufficient to capture the utter charm of the woman, another foreign-policy adventure, one which her swooning followers totally ignore, the few that even know about it, is the coup ousting the moderately progressive Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in June, 2009. A tale told many times in Latin America: The downtrodden masses finally put into power a leader committed to reversing the status quo, determined to try to put an end to two centuries of oppression   and before long the military overthrows the democratically-elected government, while the United States   if not the mastermind behind the coup   does nothing to prevent it or to punish the coup regime, as only the United States can punish; meanwhile Washington officials pretend to be very upset over this  affront to democracy .District of ColumbiaHow many people around the world know that in Washington, DC (District of Columbia, where I live), the capital city of the United States  - the country that is always lecturing the world about this thing called  democracy   - the citizens do not have the final say over making the laws that determine life in their city? Many Americans as well are not aware of this.According to the US Constitution (Section 8) Congress has the final say, and in recent years has blocked the city from using local tax dollars to subsidize abortion for low-income women, blocked the implementation of legal marijuana use, blocked needle exchanges, blocked certain taxes, blocked a law that says employers cannot discriminate against workers based on their reproductive decisions, imposed private schools into the public-school system, and will soon probably block the District s new assisted-suicide law (already blocked in the House of Representatives). On top of all this, since DC is not a state, its citizens do not have any representatives in the Senate and their sole representative in the House has only the barest non-voting, token rights. DC residents did not even have the right to vote for the president until 1964.In 2015 in Brussels, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization formally voted to accept the District of Columbia as a new member. UNPO is an international democratic organization whose members are indigenous peoples, minorities and unrecognized or occupied territories who have joined together to protect and promote their human and cultural rights, to preserve their environments and to find nonviolent solutions to conflicts which affect them.NOTES1: USA Today, October 11, 1999, p.1 2: Washington Post, May 12, 2009; see a similar story November 5, 2009 3: Walter Isaacson & Evan Thomas, The Wise Men (1986), p.158 4: Associated Press, September 21, 2017 5: New York Times, February 28, 2016 6:  Libya: Transition and U.S. Policy , updated March 4, 2016. 7: RT (Russia Today) television station, January 8, 2016 8: See Mark Weisbrot s  Top Ten Ways You Can Tell Which Side The United States Government is On With Regard to the Military Coup in Honduras ***TO READ MORE ON THE NEW COLD WAR: THE 21WIRE COLD WAR FILESSUPPORT 21WIRE  SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TVUS_News
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TEXT: the new cold war a rehash old rivalries what new cold war look like illustration brad holland william blue ichthe bias american media appears limit you would think would enough enough journalistic integrity enough concerned image but keeps coming piled higher latest cases point review new biography michael gorbachev new york times book review september the review says gorbachev hero people destroyer empire this new york times avoids say anything positive life soviet union socialism they would readers believe loss likes czechoslovakia hungary et al upset russian people loss gorbachev perestroika decent standard living loss affecting people rent employment vacations medical care education many aspects soviet welfare review quote times review gorbachev memoir said it mysteries westerns michael gorbachev located ridiculed country this man pulled world several steps back nuclear brink lifted crushing fear countrymen ended bloody foreign adventures liberated eastern europe yet reputation home could hardly complete his political comeback attempt june attracted less percent vote thus gorbachev popularity people relegated category mystery due profound social noted usa today reported when berlin wall stumbled east germany imagined life freedom consumer goods abundant hardships would fade ten years later remarkable say happier communism earlier polls would likely shown even expressing sentiment ten years many remembered life east germany fondness passed away although even years later washington post could report westerns west berliner say fed tendency eastern counterparts wax nostalgic communist times it period new russian eastern europe proverb born everything communists said communism lie everything said capitalism turned truth the current new york times review twice refers vladimir putin authoritarian routinely much western media none many references i come across recent years given example authoritarian policies although examples course exist man named trump woman named may every government world but clearly strong case could made putin authoritarian western media would routinely document attacks upon russian president why the review refers putin former lieutenant colonel one wonder new york times ever referred president george bush former cia director first cold war one basic problems americans great difficulty believing russian mean well propos i like recall following written george kenya one prominent american diplomats ever crossing poland first us diplomatic mission soviet union winter young american diplomat named george kenya somewhat astonished hear soviet escort foreign minister maxim litvinov reminiscent growing village nearby books read dreams small boy librarian we suddenly realized least i people dealing human beings like kenya wrote born somewhere childhood ambitions it seemed brief moment could break embrace people it happened sudden realization brings george orwell mind we sunk depth statement obvious first duty intelligent men the plague nationalismthe world enough countries too goldman many ask is room delegations united nations any parking spots new york have people catalunya seeking independence spain october vote considered new nation open hundreds new embassies consulates around world furnish fill paid employees houses apartments furniture many several new cars diplomatic post how many billions dollars taxes taken catalan people pay and military any country needs army navy will new catalunya able afford even halfway decent armed forces the new country course join nato obligatory minimum defense capability there goes billion two pay european union simply replacing madrid imposing many legal restrictions upon catalan noble purpose rising freedom democracy civil liberties human rights no it money madrid taking taxes catalunya returns services something said many relationships united states presumably also individual catalan odd personal reasons catalan nationalists insist inalienable right curved spanish constitution well stop autonomous community catalunya designated why provinces everywhere right declare independence how cities or neighborhoods why block i could many festive independence movements world like kurds iraq turkey scotland belgium italy california lord help us many countries reluctant even recognize new state fear might encourage people break love blind nationalism lost five senses if nature bank would already rescued eduardo treasury secretary steven mnuchin told new york investor conference hurricane irma would ultimately boost economy sparking rebuilding there clearly going impact gdp short run make long run as rebuild help gdp it bad impact economy mmm interesting can therefore assume damage twice bad would boosted economy even meanwhile world thing called climate change quality lives survival planet what keeps corporations modifying behavior kinder environment it course good old bottom line what convince corporations consistently behave like good citizens nothing already tried failed except one thing unmentionable polite company unmentionable capitalist society nationalization there i said now i getting letters addressed the old stalinist nationalization palace either least environment there greatest single source environmental damage world the united states military and already nationalized but away private corporations reduce drive toward imperialism sufficiently long need military fade away live like costa rica if think would put united states danger attack please tell would attack argument i like use speaking accept idea extreme weather phenomena well proceed one two we best limit greenhouse effect curtailing greenhouse gas emissions carbon dioxide methane citrus oxide atmosphere turns emissions fact cause extreme weather phenomena wasted lot time effort money although benefits ecosystem would still accrued we nothing curtail emission greenhouse gases atmosphere turns emissions fact leading cause extreme weather phenomena simply extreme getting downright freak lost earth life know gambler the new vietnam documentary beginning ken burns new documentary american war vietnam narrator says war begun good faith decent people fateful misunderstandings american overconfidence cold war misunderstandings the early american involvement vietnam marked two things particular helping french imperialist fight forces led ho chi min north vietnam cancellation elections would united north south vietnam one nation us south vietnam allies knew ho chi min would win it good faith decency scenario no misunderstandings ho chi min great admirer america declaration independence his actual declaration begins familiar all men created equal they endowed creator certain inalienable rights among life liberty pursuit happiness but ho chi min called communist it simple see vietnam chapter book killing hope details daniel ellsberg conclusion us vietnam it wrong side wrong side hillaryshe new book lots interviews giving opportunity complain many forces joined together deny rightful place queen i might feel bit bit sympathy woman greatest country called libya it highest standard living africa people free education health care kinds benefits african could dream it also secular state quality cherished africa middle east but grammar gaddafi libya never properly obedient client washington amongst shortcomings man threatened replace us dollar gold payment oil transactions create common african currency strong supporter palestinians foe secretary state hillary clinton prime moving force behind united states nato turning libya failed state remains attack libya one new york times said clinton championed convincing president obama arguably moment greatest influence secretary state the people libya bombed almost daily six months the main excuse given gaddafi invade bengali libyan center opponents united states nato thus saving people city massacre the american people american media course swallowed story though convincing evidence alleged impending massacre ever presented the nearest thing official us government account matter congressional research service report events libya period makes mention threatened heavy bombing sent libya crashing utter chaos leading widespread dispersal throughout north african middle east hotspots gigantic arsenal weaponry gaddafi accumulated libya terrorists al qaeda isis whereas gaddafi leading foe terrorists he declared libya barrier terrorists well african refugees going europe the bombing contributed greatly area mammoth refugee hillary shown video horrific murder gaddafi opponents loudly tackled yes word we came saw died you see also support placing regime change syria ahead supporting syrian government struggle isis terrorist groups even disastrous us invasion iraq senator sufficient capture utter charm woman another adventure one shooting followers totally ignore even know coup ousting moderately progressive manuel relay honduras june a tale told many times latin america the downtrodden masses finally put power leader committed reversing status quo determined try put end two centuries oppression long military overthrow government united states mastermind behind coup nothing prevent punish coup regime united states punish meanwhile washington officials pretend upset front democracy columbiahow many people around world know washington dc district columbia i live capital city united states country always lecturing world thing called democracy citizens final say making laws determine life city many americans well aware us constitution section congress final say recent years blocked city using local tax dollars subsidized abortion women blocked implementation legal marijuana use blocked needle exchanges blocked certain taxes blocked law says employers discriminate workers based reproductive decisions imposed private schools system soon probably block district new law already blocked house representatives on top since dc state citizens representatives senate sole representative house rarest token rights dc residents even right vote president brussels represented nations peoples organization formally voted accept district columbia new member undo international democratic organization whose members indigenous peoples minorities unrecognized occupied territories joined together protect promote human cultural rights preserve environments find nonviolent solutions conflicts affect usa today october washington post may see similar story november walter isaacson evan thomas the wise men associated press september new york times february libya transition policy updated march rt russia today television station january see mark weisbrot top ten ways you can tell which side the united states government on with regard military coup honduras to read more on the new cold war the cold war filessupport subscribe become a member