Phony Pretext

The whole situation in Ukraine does have its moments of amusement. John “you just don’t invade a country under a phony pretext” Kerry being one of them. It is not clear if the US was lying about its thoughts on supposed weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The US might just have been criminally stupid. John "I voted for the war in Iraq before I voted against it" Kerry is an example of hubris. To say that one cannot invade a country on a phony pretext, what was he thinking? The US spent 5 billion to destabilize Ukraine, as was admitted by a US diplomat, and then expects Russia to do nothing. Russia will not allow Crimea to be within NATO.

Does this mean all is well in the Russian Federation? While I thought that Putin in the below embedded press conference made a lot sense, there is a roaring elephant that was not mentioned in the press conference. If the principle is to be self-determination, then what about Chechnya and the other small Islamic areas in the Caucasus mountains? When will their elections take place?

I am sure Chechnya occurred to at least one of these court reporters. But of course it cannot be mentioned. They know who ultimately pays for their vodka. Peter Arnett was CNN's premier reporter. Yet he was immediately fired when he opposed the Iraq war. Phil Donahue was fired as well. Wonder why you cannot trust the media? As the old saying goes, "He who pays the piper calls the tune." Six corporations control 90% of US media. Unfortunately what you get outside the mainstream is Alex "what about Building Seven" Jones. If you are a regular reader you know I will immediately throw out another cliché. Let's see ... ah, if you leave the mainstream for Jones you are, "jumping out of the frying pan and leaping into the fire."

I do have concerns about the conflict. I doubt the crisis will cascade out of control, but this is always possible. More likely is that the crisis might be the tipping point for the larger economic crisis I have been writing about. I still think this will be avoided for some time, but as Yogi Berra said, "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future." On a personal level I worry about my family's planned trip to Russia. There is talk about closing Russian embassies. That would make visas difficult.

My main point is not about the details of the conflict. It is instead to avoid being played by "the powers that be" to arrive at the opinion they want from us sheep. Sure I want to be a sheep when the shepherd is the Good Shepherd, but Obama or Putin, not so much. The ultimate solution is to read widely and think for yourself.

Since this Putin press conference was not well publicized, I put it here.