Capitalist Destruction of Europe Continues

G E R M A N HEART OF EUROPE Gott Mit Uns Kaiser Wilhelm II Kingdom of Prussia Last German Emperor W W I W W I W W I W W I Reading about 'colonial' troops deployed by CAPITALISTS of France and of Britain on European soil during WWI, and their occupation of German territory in the post-WWI period. North Korea, please nuke both France and Britain at once. These are the same CAPITALIST DESTROYERS of Europe and of Europeans. Capitalist Destruction of Europe Continues ❌

History in Brief: Intelligence, Government, Banking, Commerce

British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, Bubbles, Speculators, Wars, Deregulation, Financial Conglomerates, Rome, Gods, Imperial Cult, Angels Mansfield Smith-Cumming adopted 'Cumming' on marriage to:  Leslie Marian Valiant-Cumming heiress of Logie first director of Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) aka M16 SIS headquarters at 2 Whitehall Court great-grandson of John Smith   director of: 1.  South Sea Company     South Sea Bubble - speculation induced     South Sea Company to assume national debt of UK in exchange for lucrative bonds     would reap profit in international trade in:  cloth, agricultural goods, slaves     but by 1720 company began to collapse & shares plunged     Robert Walpole nicknamed 'The Screen' or 'Screenmaster-General'     1721 investigation into corruption scandal of UK govt cabinet     implicated:     John Aislabie, Chancellor of the Exchequer - impeached, imprisoned     James Craggs, the Elder (Postmaster General) - disgraced     James Craggs the Younger (Southern Secretary) - disgraced     Lord Stanhope, head Ministry - impeached - got off b/c Wapol influence     Lord Southerland, head Ministry - impeached - got off b/c Wapol influence     1721 left Walpole as the most important figure in the admin     was appointed     - First Lord of the Treasury     - Chancellor of the Exchequer     - Leader of the House of Commons 2.  East India Company son of Abel Smith, Notthingham banker served Royal Navy: ops against Malay pirates (1875–6) in Egypt 1883 unfit for service, seasickness liked to lie about how he lost his leg enjoyed shocking by stabbing his artificial limb Smith-Cumming came to rely heavily on Sidney Reilly (ie. Shlomo Rosenblum), the 'Ace of Spies' British agent based in St Petersburg WWI - outbreak involved in Special Branch arrest of 22 German spies in England 11 German accused executed Sir Roger Casement found guilty of treason 1916 During WWI Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) offices renamed: -- MI5  (Security Service) = domestic division -- M16 - Foreign Division = Secret Intelligence Service WWI agents for M16 Augustus Agar Paul Dukes John Buchanan Compton Mackenzie W. Somerset Maugham M16 motto: 'Every man his own stylo" refers to use of semen as invisible ink 1919 - Home Office Civil Intelligence Directorate assumes control of MI5  successful WWI MI5/Special Branch partnership disturbed meanwhile, Sinn Fein and Irish Republican Army launching independence campaigns 1920 - IRA Intel ('the Squad') IRA Intelligence Chief General Michael Collins conducts successful ops to assassinate x14 Smith-Cumming SIS case officers hasty British withdrawal of most of remaining SIS agents from Ireland single greatest catastrophe in history of British Secret Service -------/\/\/ South Sea Company (officially: The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain trading to the South Seas and other parts of America for the encouragement of fishing British joint-stock company f. 1711 public-private partnership *to consolidate & reduce cost of national debt granted a monopoly to trade with South America Spain controlled South America Britain involved in War of Spanish Succession company never realised significant profit expanded its operations dealing in government debt peaked expansion 1720 company stock rose enormously in value upon expansion but company collapsed, just over its original flotation price known as:  South Sea Bubble aka 'speculative bubble', 'speculative mania', 'balloon' (trade where prices based on implausible view of future trading / returns) term 'bubble' originated from this 1711-1720 British South Sea Bubble Bubble Act 1720 forbade creation of joint-stock companies without royal charter (promoted by South Sea Company prior its collapse) Due to share collapse: national economy greatly reduced people were ruined founders engaged in insider trading using advance knowledge of when national debt was to be consolidated to make large profits from PURCHASING DEBT IN ADVANCE huge bribes given to politicians to support legislation in parliament favourable to the government debt dealing scheme of South Sea Company *company money was used to deal in its own shares select individuals buying shares were given loans backed by those shares to spend on buying more shares public share purchasing encouraged by expectation of vast wealth from South American trade only significant trade done was in slaves & even this wasn't managed profitably politicians disgraced individuals found to have profited unlawfully from company had assets confiscated but most were already wealthy & remained wealthy South Sea Company restructured continued to operate for over a century after the Bubble HQ Threadneedle Street, London 1711-1850s Threadneedle Street location of Bank of England 'the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street' (reserve of UK treasury & others) 5,000 tonnes of gold bars held Threadneedle Street to 2004 was location of London Stock Exchange now:  10 Paternoster Square, London formerly the 'Royal Exchange' founded by English financier Thomas Gresham  (father silk merchant) modelled on Antwerp Bourse (stock exchange) 1571 - opened by Elizabeth I stockbrokers not permitted in Royal Exchange (rude manners) operated from nearby establishments (eg Jonathan's Coffee House) Royal Exchange building later destroyed in Great Fire of London 1669 - rebuilt & re-established, as modern model of stock exchange housed brokers, merchants & merchandise BIRTH OF THE REGULATED STOCK MARKET govt levied heavy penalties on those brokering without licence (1697) fixed number of brokers at 100 (later increased) led to street trading by disaffected or ejected brokers 'Exchange Alley', or 'Change Alley' Seven Years' War (1756–1763) trade at Jonathan's coffee house boomed 1773, Jonathan, together with 150 other brokers, formed a club opened  more formal 'Stock Exchange' in Sweeting's Alley had a set entrance fee, through which traders could enter stock room and trade securities trading also occurred in the Rotunda of the Bank of England fraud was also rife solution:  annual fees and turning the Exchange into a Subscription room 1801 - first regulated exchange in London government used the Exchange's organised market & may not have managed without it to RAISE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR WARS AGAINST NAPOLEON Following war, booming world economy growing market in foreign trade to:  Brazil, Peru, Chile London benefited from international trade Liverpool and Manchester sites of business development 1836 both Liverpool and Manchester Stock Exchanges opened stocks known to rise up to 30% in a week stockbroking began to be  considered a real profession but busts followed the booms eg. 1835 'Spanish panic' Technology - late 1880s - revolution in work of Exchange: telephone ticker tape - digital electronic communication medium         transmitted stock price info over telegraph lines 1870 to 1970 telegraph - long-distance transmission of textual or symbolic messages         like a semaphore / signalling WWI - London financial centre of the world city & Stock Exchange closed the stock exchange July to New Year to prevent bank runs causing re-introduction of street business (challenge system) 1914 and 1918 limitations on business (eg. cash-only transactions) many quit Stock Exchange 1923 - London Stock Exchange - own coat of arms: Dictum Meum Pactum [my word] my covenant My Word is My Bond pre WWII - 1937 London finance men readied for war London Stock Exchange officials drew up plans, based on WWI experience 1939 - opening of war, London Stock Exchange closed doors for a week 1940 incendiary bombing struck LSE floor (extinguished) trading then done mainly on phone, to reduce bodily risks LSE traded and remained open through WWII (trading in basement) 1990 IRA bombing considerate IRA bombers give Reuters warning 30 mins before blast 1986 - 'Big Bang' SUDDEN DEREGULATION OF FINANCIAL MARKETS IN UK 'Big Bang' describes measures, incl: -- abolition of fixed commission charges -- abolition re distinction b/w stockjobbers & stockbrokers -- change from 'open outcry' to electronic, screen-based trading 1995 -  Alternative Investment Market (AIM) launched to let growing companies expand into international markets 1997 - Electronic Trading Service (SETS) launched CREST settlement service launched 2000 - London Stock Exchange's shareholders vote to become public limited company:  LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE PLC Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry between 2001 - 2013 2007—2009 credit crisis FSA was held by some observers to be weak and inactive permitting irresponsible banking & 'credit crunch' led to: shrinking of housing market increased unemployment esp. financial & building sectors) public bail-outs EDX London derivatives exchange (managed by London Stock Exchange) absorbed into Turquoise trading platform (2011) Trading took place on the three Scandinavian linked exchanges: Stockholm Stock Exchange (Sweden) Copenhagen Stock Exchange (Denmark) Oslo Børs (Norway) *some Russian stocks 2009 - Nasdaq takes over OMX cooperation between EDX London & OMX terminated contracts moved to Nasdaq OMX *only Norwegian derivatives with EDX London Turquoise (trading platform) equities trading platform multi-lateral trading facility (MTF) dealing services at 50% discount to traditional exchanges hybrid system:  trading both on and off traditional exchanges advertised as:  pan-European platform based on London set up by consortium of banks: BNP Paribas Citi Credit Suisse Deutsche Bank Goldman Sachs Merrill Lynch Morgan Stanley Société Générale UBS EuroCCP - provide clearing & settlement services Sweden's Cinnober = its trading platform real-time market surveillance system to capture breaches of trading rules etc 2009, London Stock Exchange Group agrees to take a 60% stake in trading platform Turquoise Turquoise had 7% share market subsequent merger with Baikal Global 2014, Turquoise migrated to MillenniumIT platform expansion:  to option & future derivatives, futures contracts DARK POOL 2016, Turquoise plans to extend dark pool to Czech, Poland, Hungary 'dark pools' are trading venues that allow investors to buy and sell shares anonymously prices displayed only after a transaction finalised ***do not provide trading information, such as trade sizes and prices, to the public prior to trades taking place attractive to fund managers who need to conceal trading intentions on large orders trading across major European dark pools totalled 79.2 billion euros ($90.33 billion) ONE MONTH http://www.reuters.com/article/europe-markets-darkpools-idUSL3N18950E Occupy London London Stock Exchange, Paternoster Square initial target of protests 2011 protester attempts to occupy square defeated by police & the courts entrance to square sealed off by police as 'private property' High Court injunction granted ahead of time, prohibiting public access   protestersmoved to St Paul's Cathedral 'Paternoster' L. 'Our Father' 3. A sequence of words spoken as a prayer or a magic formula. 1. often Paternoster The Lord's Prayer. 2. One of the large beads on a rosary on which the Lord's Prayer is said. [from Late Latin : Latin pater, father; see pater + Latin noster, our] http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Paternoster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDX_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turquoise_%28trading_platform%29 NASDAQ Stock Market aka NASDAQ USA stock exchange second-largest exchange in world by market capitalisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASDAQ LSE Group CEO:  Xavier Rolet b. Aix-les-Bains, France military parents raised in Algeria & France French Air Force Academy MBA from Columbia Business School MSc in Management Science and Finance (KEDGE Business School, bus. school France) post-graduate degree from IHEDN (Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defence) in Paris 1984-1994, Rolet worked at Goldman Sachs in New York & London 1994-1996, Credit Suisse First Boston 1997-2000, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson 2000–2008, Lehman Brothers, various + Banque Lehman Brothers CEO 2009, London Stock Exchange board - later CEO     under his leadership, LSE acquired:         MillenniumIT    2009         Turquoise 2010         FTSE Group 2011         TRS 20111         Gatelab Srl 2012         EuroTLX Srl 2013         LCH.Clearnet 2013         Bonds.com 2014         Exactpro 2015         XTF 2015         Frank Russell Company 2014         Northwestern Mutual (sold asset management arm 2015) Xavier Rolet member PM David Cameron's 'Business Advisory Group' various other, see link member Governor of the Bank of England's Financial Services Forum member Bank of England's Open Forum in Oct 2015, he was (KBE) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (2015) appointed Echansonnier of Echansonnerie de Châteauneuf-du-Pape (2015) Knight of the National Order   of the Legion of Honour of the French Republic by Presidential decree (2016)     Legion of Honour     highest French order for military and civil merits     established 1802 by Napoléon Bonaparte     hilarious:          order's motto "Honneur et Patrie"  ("Honour and Fatherland")     French Revolution, all French orders of chivalry were abolished     French Revolution replaced orders of chivalry with Weapons of Honour     Chivalric order - equestrian order, society of knights     Catholic military order of Crusades (circa 1099-1291) founding or inspiration     paired with medieval concepts of chivalry     fall of Acre in 1291 = end of crusades     however, many crusades against Ottoman Empire planed & executed     well into 14th century & 15th century     ongoing military effort against Islam     fall of Constantinople 1450s     rise of Ottoman Empire     15th century orders of chivalric dynastic orders of knighthood     became courtly fashion, some purely honorific     institutions gave rise to modern 'orders of merit' of states     https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chivalric_order SWEDEN Royal Order of the Seraphim 1748, founded by Frederick I of Sweden Hebrew, pl. 'seraphim' = the burning ones, celestial or heavenly being in Christianity & Judaism highest rank in Christian angelic hierarchy fifth rank in Jewish angelic hierarchy of ten triple invocation of holiness (formula known as Trisagion) influenced theology, literature & art  *trisagion = ancient hymn seen in works depicting angels, heaven & apotheosis (to deify, glorification of subject to divine level) word seraph/seraphim appears three times in the Torah used to describe a type of celestial being or angel other five uses of the word refer to serpents heavenly creatures standing nearest to throne of god also called the Ikisat:  serpents, dragons, alternate term for Hell under the rule of Gabriel flying elements of the sun multiple wings and burst into song at sunrise Kabbalah: Maimonides placed the seraphs in the fifth of ten ranks of angels Seraphim = part of angelarchy of modern Orthodox Judaism Medieval Christian theology, seraphim =  caretakers of god's throne https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Order_of_the_Seraphim Great Chain of Being Medieval and Renaissance thinkers humans unique position on 'chain of being' straddling spiritual & physical thought ot possess divine powers:  reason, love, imagination like angels, spiritual beings unlike angels, human souls bound to physical body subject to passions & physical sensations, just like animals lower on chain of being angel is only capable of intellectual sin such as pride (see Lucifer fall from heaven) humans, however, capable of both intellectual sin & physical sin (eg. gluttony) humans, sensory:  sight, touch, taste, sound, smell - limited by organs highest ranking human being:  king great chain was seen as a God-given ordering ranking of world's organisms goes back to Aristotle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_chain_of_being Rome - apotheosis process where deceased ruler was recognised as having been divine by his successor by decree of Senate & popular consent (usually) grovelling to popular former rulers by new rulers done to legitimise their subsequent rule upper class did not always take part in imperial cult (subject of satire) at height of imperial cult, emperor's family, lovers etc deified as well sometimes temples and columns erected as places of worship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotheosis LSE launched CURVE GLOBAL new Futures Exchange co-owned with:     - Barclays Bank     - Bank of America     - Citi     - Goldman Sachs     - Societe Generale     - Chicago Board Options Exchange 2016 -  Deutsche Boerse AG to merger with LSE         companies to be bought under new holding co:  UK TopCo         HQ in both London & Frankfurt         will create one of the largest exchange companies in the world         combined value:  £21bn     terms:         45.6% -  LSE shareholders         54.4% -  Deutsche Boerse shareholders Xavier Rolet said LSE & Deutsche Boerse merger:     "creating an industry-defining combination"     merger anticipates savings on combined operation costs:  @ about 20%     30% of new group's revenue = from UK     30% of new groups revenue = from Europe     19% of new groups revenue = from USA     06% of new groups revenue = from other     LSE group     owns Milan-based Borsa Italiana     Result:  combination of London, Frankfurt and Milan     group better positioned to compete against large US peers     boosting position in China and Asia generally     Donald Brydon (LSE chairman)     will be chair:  UK TopCo     Carsten Kengeter (Deutsch Boerse chief exec)     will be chief executive:  UK TopCo     Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)     (owns New York Stock Exchange)     considering making offer for LSE     http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35818997 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xavier_Rolet Open house at palace of ill-gotten gains By Clive Aslet PUBLISHED: 00:01, Mon, Jun 3, 2013 EXTRACTS (not in order) ... Amazingly it’s not only still in private hands (indeed, the Marquess of Cholmondeley actually owns two stately piles, the other being Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire) but like Goodwood, Arundel Castle, Chatsworth and Alnwick Castle, it is firing on all cylinders. To this day Walpole remains our longest serving prime minister. After the uncertainty and wars that followed James II’s expulsion in 1688, his 20 years in the job – serving from 1721 until 1742 without a break – brought stability and peace. Walpole also steered the country through the Jacobite rebellion and all the anti-Hanoverian plots. His job of political management was made easier by George I, newly arrived from Hanover and bored by the House of Commons. He delegated to Walpole. Critics accused Walpole of corruption and the evidence of Houghton suggests they had a point. The charitably disposed might say it was not only showcase of great art but a tool of statecraft. It could supposedly accommodate 100 guests at an hour’s notice. http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/404501/Open-house-at-palace-of-ill-gotten-gains Marquess of Cholmondeley "... descendent of both the Rothschild family and the Sassoon family through his paternal grandmother, Sybil Sassoon." [wikipedia] Audio | Veni Sancte Spiritus Audio | Veni Sancte Spiritus Audio | Veni Sancte Spiritus Think I like the last one best.

WWI Hell March, Capitalist Propaganda, Thought Control, Censorship, Noam Chomsky & WikiLeaks

WWI Hell March,  Capitalist Propaganda, Thought Control, Censorship, Noam Chomsky & WikiLeaks German Army Hell March WWI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6rPoCoSkG4 Noam Chomsky American academic BBC interview 2003 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqznqIpkZz0 [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] PARTIAL EXTRACTS Narrator: ... His comments post 9/11, when he described the US as a leading terrorist state drew hostile fire even from allies on the left. He has the gloves back on, denouncing Western greed & hypocrisy. Noam Chomsky: We need not rehearse the reasons why Britain, and later the United States, have been determined to control the Gulf region. It's enough to recall the observation of the State Department in 1945 that the resources of the region are a stupendous source of strategic power and one of the greatest material prizes in world history  <<  Chomsky most recent work:  "Pirates & Emperors"  >> Insert: Book: The City of God (410 CE) Sait Augustine (354-430) Latin Church Father b. North Africa Bishop of city of Hippo The City of God written by him following sack of Rome by Alaric & the Vandals Pagans blamed conversion of Roman empire to Christianity for sack of Vandals http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aug-city2.asp [In respect of Chomsky book title]   Noam Chomsky:   That's plagiarised from Saint Augustine, who in The City of God has a story about Alexander.  His forces capture a pirate, and there's an audience between the pirate and the emperor, and he asks the pirate, "How dare you molest the seas?" And the pirate tells him, "I am a small man with a tiny boat, so they call me a pirate.  You're an emperor with a vast navy and you molest the world, but they call you an emperor." And that's a good allegory for the world and, in particular, for the contemporary world. The pirates are the ones who were contemned and not the emperors. Of course, the general population is attacked by both the emperors and the pirates. Saint Augustine is not saying that the pirate is a nice fellow; he's just saying he's a small criminal as compared with a major criminal. Interviewer: So, who does control the world?  Who are the emperors? Noam Chomsky: Overwhelmingly the United States since the Second World War, Britain before that, and concentrations of private power, which are enormous and tyrannical corporations closely linked to the powerful states. It's a network of concentrated power with international institutions, like IMF and so on, which sometimes call themselves the 'Masters of the World'.   It's a phrase that was in the Financial Times, a little ironically, but not wrong. Actually, they call themselves the 'Masters of the Universe'.  Adam Smith called them the 'Masters of the World'.  Now they're called the 'Masters of the Universe'. They didn't have space age in Smith's time. Interviewer: But don't you sometimes need big government to deal with big business, since there is a kind of balance between these large forces? Noam Chomsky:   It's like saying that there's a balance between the members of the Board of Directors of General Motors. Yes, there's some kind of a balance.  But they're so closely interlinked and they're connected, that to first approximation they're the same thing. Interviewer: Now, did September 11th, do you think, mark a change in world politics? Noam Chomsky:   It was a historic event.  It was the first time in hundreds of years that the West, Europe, and its offshoots, have suffered the criminal atrocity that they constantly carry out against others, which is quite a change.   That's why there's such shock in the West.  This kind of thing we do to you, you don't do it to us. It's like the reaction in England in the so-called Indian mutiny rebellion, in India.  Tremendous shock. [tape distortion] ... would use it as an opportunity to intensify repressive and somewhat violent actions, and that's just what's happened. [skip] Interviewer: You make quite a lot in the book on the fact that there is freedom of expression in America.  But what you do point to is something more insidious, because you suggest that there is actually -- although there may be freedom of expression -- there's a control of freedom of thought. Now, how does that happen? Noam Chomsky:   It was understood, back in the time of the First World War that it's becoming much more difficult to control people by force. The popular struggles have led to the development of unions, the parliamentary Labour party, franchise extended and so on, and coercion is just not going to work by force.  So, therefore, you have to control thought. It's very striking that the contemporary systems of thought control, which are highly developed, very self-conscious, you know, leaders talk all about it.  They come from England and the United States. So the British Ministry of Information, which the reader of any Orwell knows what it was, that's from the First World War. It was aimed primarily to convert a pacifist population into raving anti-German fanatics, and it worked.  And it impressed people. It impressed the business world.  That's the origins of the modern public relations industry. It impressed American intellectuals who developed the conception of what they call the 'manufacture of consent', control of thought. It impressed Hitler, who blamed the German defeat on superior Anglo-American propaganda and vowed that next time Germany would be prepared. And it has led in the United States primarily, and in England secondarily, to huge industries devoted to control of attitudes, because you cannot control people by force. Interviewer: But dissent has been growing since the 1960s in the Western world.  I mean, people are far more sophisticated now.  Even popular culture reflects the fact that anything from the X-Files to the film, The Insider, that the idea of people discussing things of trying to manipulate public opinion; I mean, that's highly developed now. Noam Chomsky:   Sure.  But when people were under the lash they knew about it, too. People are so aware of it, that it has led to tremendous cynicism about almost anything. I mean, nobody believes what government officials say, nobody believes what they read in the press, people don't believe professions.  It's led to enormous cynicism and tremendous opposition.  In fact, in my view, the more crucial things than the things you mentioned, are opposition to aggression. Just take a look at the current war in Iraq and compare it with, say, the Vietnam War. It's a comparison which is often made about the protest, but the comparison is completely false. The opposition to the war in Iraq is far greater than it ever was to the war in Vietnam at any remotely comparable stage, and this is the first war, I think in European history, Europe and the United States -- the first one I can think of -- where there was massive protests before the war.  It's never happened. I mean, in the case of Vietnam War, there was no protest until years after the war. Just in the last 30 or 40 years, in say the united States, the level of civilisation among the general public -- not intellectuals, that's a separate category, but among the general public -- it's advanced enormously. Interviewer: So, do you think that intellectuals are not sufficiently engaged?  Do you think that they have become cynical? Noam Chomsky Intellectuals are a separate category. Intellectuals are mostly servants of power. I'm talking about the general public, not the intellectual world. They remain pretty constant, I don't think they are subject to these changes -- except marginally, of course, to some extent. But they are quite different and quite generally -- it goes right through history -- intellectuals have been servants of power. Take, say, the First World War. On all sides  --  Germany, England, United States, France -- intellectuals were extremely enthusiastic about the war. There were a few dissenters and the best known of them ended up in gaol, like Bertrand Russell, for example -- or, Eugene Debs, in the United States, or Rosa Luxemburg, in Germany. Very small group of critics.  Some of them best known in prison. But most intellectuals were enthusiasts for their own country, and that's common and it remains common. Intellectuals write history, so you have to be a little cautious about what they say about themselves.  And it looks prettier when it's written in books. [CONTINUES] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqznqIpkZz0 [for quotation purposes, confirm audio] NOAM CHOMSKY ON: JULIAN ASSANGE |  WIKILEAKS https://youtu.be/5MzPbRlxvfI Article Noam Chomsky Defends WikiLeaks & Declassifying Information "The threat is that the public will know what the government is up to." By Alexandra Rosenmann / AlterNet April 18, 2016 http://www.alternet.org/media/noam-chomsky-defends-wikileaks-and-declassifying-information  CAPITALISM WANTS YOU! WWI Propaganda

American Oligarchy Hybrid War on the World

American Oligarchy Hybrid War on the World SOURCE http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putins-aide-americas-business-new-world-war/ri13692 Putin Aide Details Russia's Gameplan Against the Empire The Empire's debt casino is unsustainable and the ruling oligarchy sees war as the only way to salvage their hegemony Sergey Glaziev Subscribe to Sergey Glaziev Thu, Mar 31, 2016 Originally appeared at Lenta.ru. Translated by Julia Rakhmetova and Rhod Mackenzie The author is a prominent economist, advisor to the Russian President on regional economic integration, and the mind behind the Eurasian Economic Union Is there any reason to expect the lifting of American sanctions? The sanctions are an element of the hybrid war that the US is waging against us. They are doing this not because they do not like Russia’s ‘annexation’ of the Crimea, but because of the objective and subjective interests of the American  establishment. The US is losing its hegemony: it is already producing fewer products and exporting fewer technologies than China. China is also catching up with America in the number of scientists and engineers, and many innovative Chinese technologies are capturing world markets. China’s development rate is five times that of the US. The international system of economic entities recently set up in China exemplify the new world economic order. The economic entities that dominate in the US, serving a financial oligarchy, have destabilized the American monetary and financial system, which defaults about twice a year. The causes of the global financial crisis of 2008 have not disappeared and the American debt bubble — financial pyramids composed of derivatives and the national debt —are still growing. According to systems theory, this process cannot continue indefinitely. The American oligarchy is desperate to get rid of its debt burden, which is why it is conducting a hybrid war, not only against Russia, but against Europe and the Middle East. As always happens in a changing world economic order, the country that is losing its leadership tries to unleash a world war for control over the periphery. Since Americans consider the former Soviet space to be their financial and economic periphery, they are trying to gain control over it.   The American political establishment has been brought up on the chimeras of nineteenth century geopoliticians. American students study basic English and German geopolitical ideas of that time in political science classes.  The main question back then was how to ruin the Russian Empire, and they still look at the world through the eyes of  the XIX century ‘hawks’, when Great Britain tried to save its hegemony by starting the First World War, then lost their colonial empire after the Second World War. This is what American geopoliticians study in the State Department and the White House, continuing to look at the world through the prism of both the Cold War and British confrontations with Russia and Germany in the nineteenth century, and now the US is unleashing another world war. The combination of the objective problems of the American financial oligarchy, and the strange mindset of American geopoliticians threatens a world conflict. This has nothing to do with the Crimea. Any reason will do.   We need to act in terms of the contradictions leading the US to an aggressive stance fraught with the risk of a hybrid war with the whole world. They have chosen Russia as their main objective, and the Ukraine, occupied by them, as their main means of destruction. To survive under these conditions, maintain our sovereignty and develop our economy, we need to build a broad anti-military coalition, pursue our priority development strategy, recover our financial and economic sovereignty and pursue Eurasian integration. To prevent war, we need to realize the president’s goal of a common development area from Lisbon to Vladivostok. It is very important to convince our European partners as well as our partners in the Far East and in the South that we need to cooperate, not by blackmailing or threatening them, but through mutually beneficial projects, joining our economic potential while respecting the sovereignty of each state. Can we mend relations with the EU and how To mend cooperation with the European Union, we need to restore its sovereignty. The sight of European politicians among the crowd of Nazis at Euromaidan showed how much  European political culture has degraded. The EU leaders are not independent; they are US puppets. American media dominates Europe’s political space, embedding anti-Russian chimeras into people’ consciousness, intimidating them with a so-called Russian threat. Their politicians are forced to go with the media line provided by Washington in order to win votes. This has lead to the catastrophe we are watching today in Brussels and other European cities, which are gripped with fear as governments fail to provide security. Unfortunately, the sovereignty of Europe cannot be restored just  by booting up social consciousness. The problems did not appear out of the blue; they are the result of the European political class abandoning its national interest. Europe is facing a very difficult period of transition, during which it is not yet a partner, but Washington’s shadow. Europeans have lost their sense of direction.  They live in a mosaic, a fragmentary world that has no shared relationships. But life will force them back to reality, and I believe that eventually European democratic traditions and humanism will prevail. http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putins-aide-americas-business-new-world-war/ri13692 ---------------------- ---------------------- COMMENT Just as I thought:  we're all going to  be nuked. Don't know what's going on with the money thing in the US, but it's really weird. Egypt gets an annual US$1.4-billion American 'aid package', as well as 'cash flow financing' (ie extra funding, in addition to the Congress funding -- a line of credit  for buying weapons on contract from private US arms manufacturers) - NYT article 2014 here. The US government puts ordinary American taxpayers into debt so that private arms manufacturers can have contracts to fill for years to come. Where there is reason to halt financing (eg the political instability in Egypt), the US government cannot do so without causing the private American arms manufacturing businesses broken contracts, as I understand. That makes no sense to me:  the US taxpayer is subsidising private, American arms manufacturers. And the government would also be subsidising whoever the actual lender of this money is?  I'm not sure where this money's coming from when the US is in debt.  US debt clock:  here. That looks like $19-trillion?  I'm not much good with massive numbers ... but I think that's what it says. It's the poor being indebted to the rich, so that the rich can continue to get rich ... but this is a country in which the minimum wage, health care etc, are begrudged the poor. That doesn't seem right to me. Meanwhile, Europe is totally f%$#ed.  It's insane. The other day I found myself wondering if maybe Sweden was broke or something.  There's no other possible explanation for the voluntary self-destruction they're enacting. War would be crap.  Rations and censorship.

Military - Suppressive Fire

ꕤ Article SOURCE as marked Military - Suppressive Fire Military psychology sub-branch of different psychology disciplines research design application of psychological theories understanding, predicting, and countering behaviours in friendly or enemy forces (or civilian) which may potentially be undesirable to military ops provides tools -  survive stresses of war military confront specific combination (of otherwise generic) stressors military psychology studies unique blend of stresses applicable to military psychological trauma flashbacks PTSD sleep disturbance relationship problems Tactical psychology contact with enemy / front-line soldier combines psychology & historical analysis devise tactics to make enemy: freeze flee panic  instead of fight  eg. 'suppressive fire' suppressive fire aka covering fire one of (3) three TYPES of fire support only effective for duration of fire fire + is coordinated with manoeuvre of forces  (destroy, neutralise or suppress) formerly known as 'neutralisation' neutralisation =  now NATO-defined as fire to render target temporarily f*cked ie pinned down, unable to respond due to the intensity of fire suppressive fire -- is force which threatens casualties to those exposed   -- willingness to expose depends on:     - morale     - motivation     - leadership -- suppressive fire used as covering fire Suppressive fire can be used against: -- protection of troops w/in range of enemy small arms     (ie covering fire) -- indirect firers [the following, I think?]:     - mortars     - artillery     - ships     - aircraft -- enemy air defences -- other activities: eg construction, logistics -- for temporary area denial *unsuitable for prolonged area denial b/c ammo supply constraints Non-lethal suppression: -- smoke to blind enemy -- night:  illumination to deny enemy cover Suppressive weaponry: -- any capable of intensity of fire for required period suppression -- but bullet has less suppressive power than artillery shell -- bullet has 1 metre w/in trajectory -- artillery shell covers wider range when exploding -- small arms fire sustained suppression - limit:  few minutes -- air delivered suppression likewise limited by payload limits *ARTILLERY can suppress area for extended period Purpose: stop enemy observing, shooting, moving or carrying out military tasks Features: -- suppressive fire only effective while it lasts -- & if it has sufficient intensity -- enables covered (vulnerable, on the move) forces to advance to new positions etc, while enemy / target is rendered unable to act b/c of the suppressive fire Entry says:  Marines Tactic  (but I think this is likely common military tactic) communication + suppressive fire enables movement on battlefield Used to extract troops from battle zone: 1.  helicopter 2.  boat  (hot extraction) Suppressive fire -- psychological tactic -- targets keep heads down -- (depending on variables) can result in target casualties & damage -- used in close combat zone as covering fire Suppressive fire - indirect fire systems:     - mortars     - artillery     - ships     - aircraft -- important consideration is safety of troops -- 'fragmenting munitions' indiscriminate & lethal in all directions Suppressive Fire Tactics -- first used in the Boer War -- developed 1915 British WWI -- unable to smash German trenches or destroy enemy artillery -- employed artillery suppression fire techniques -- suppressed enemy artillery to protect attacking infantry -- allowed infantry to advance -- thereafter, suppression defining British artillery tactic -- ammunition used by British:  shrapnel -- target was enemy artillery Suppression by infantry direct fire weapons -- usually only used v. targets without: -- mutual support from adjacent positions -- ammunition stocks only for several mins. of sustained firing Suppressive fire: -- used WWII amphibious assaults (to enable troop landing) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suppressive_fire ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT That was good. It sounds really exciting. So anyone who knows anything about the military would know that suppressive fire will last only a few minutes usually and that the other side is either advancing troops, pulling troops, or moving troops, and that it is largely a psychological tactic that can be countered (I think  ...  I haven't stumbled on the counter-offensive yet). ꕤ

VIDEO Series - Berlin 1900 - 1945

Berlin 1900 (final scenes 1914) SOURCE >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=C1IGNLg-RSU ........................................ Berlin 1900 / 1910 Video [12:10] Part 2  SOURCE >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-dF1IjU0Njc ........................................ Berlin 1935-6 in Farbe / Colour  Video [8:25]  German narration SOURCE >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ywiHc6PCfWg ........................................ BERLIN - May 14, 1945 (HD) Video [4:57] SOURCE >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wP_PRwiRkmw ........................................ Mixed WWII footage, incl. Japanese surrender VIDEO [5:37] SOURCE >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BPF7LkC_kkc Amazing watching these videos, particularly the turn of the century (1900) video, which is first in the set. History, heritage, the labour of generation upon generation, life -- what was ordinary life -- is captured. It's captured not only on film, but also in the splendour of the streets; in beautiful parks; in cafes; by the seaside; in the shop signs; in shop windows; in architecture; in clothing; in hair arrangements; in rituals; and in a host of artefacts of progress and civilisation.  The film footage captures ordinary life on cusp of great and devastating change, in the heart of Europe. Watching this amazing and moving footage is also like watching a nightmare or a horror movie unfold, unable to call out in warning. The footage is also mesmerising to watch because life 70-100 years ago seems surprisingly modern and much closer to our time than one would expect.  If you can see past the horses and the vintage vehicles, those streets seem so much like our streets today.  I can imagine myself there. Another thing I find really mind-blowing is knowing all those people on film and in that era, as well as all those generations before them that built that amazing city (on the verge of being destroyed), have also lived there before us and have all died and disappeared for all time.  Even though I know that life is finite, I am still amazed by how short life is, how eternal death is, and how small and unimportant we are.  Overall existence is just one long stream of indifferent life and indifferent death, or that's how it seems to me.