What about "Whataboutism"?

When it comes to Putin, even liberal cyber-journals have published an incredible number of propaganda pieces. But one such article -- "The Long History of Russian Whataboutism," in Slate -- actually makes a good point.

Writer Joshua Keating defines "Whataboutism" as a common (and hoary) Russian defense mechanism: When asked to justify an offensive political move, Russians tend to ask "what about" a worse offense committed by the West. They've been asking that question for a long time. From an 1853 memo to Tsar Nicholas I, on the eve of the Crimean War:

France takes Algeria from Turkey, and almost every year England annexes another Indian principality: none of this disturbs the balance of power; but when Russia occupies Moldavia and Wallachia, albeit only temporarily, that disturbs the balance of power. France occupies Rome and stays there several years during peacetime: that is nothing; but Russia only thinks of occupying Constantinople, and the peace of Europe is threatened. The English declare war on the Chinese, who have, it seems, offended them: no one has the right to intervene; but Russia is obliged to ask Europe for permission if it quarrels with its neighbor. England threatens Greece to support the false claims of a miserable Jew and burns its fleet: that is a lawful action; but Russia demands a treaty to protect millions of Christians, and that is deemed to strengthen its position in the East at the expense of the balance of power. We can expect nothing from the West but blind hatred and malice, which does not understand and does not want to under stand.

The "miserable Jew" remark obviously wouldn't fly in today's world (the reference goes to this little-remembered case), but otherwise this analysis possesses the great virtue of being inarguable.

I'm not saying that western sins justify Russian sins. I'm not saying that two wrongs make a right. I'm saying that we would be better able to speak from the moral high ground if we acted in ways that were, in fact, moral.

After the Iraq war, and after the made-in-New-York global economic catastrophe of 2008, does the United States have any right to criticize what others do?

Should Russians ever forgive us for the catastrophe of neoliberalism, which resulted in the wholesale plunder of their national resources?

In 1992, U.S. News and World Report published a feature on the fall of the USSR. (I don't have the piece to hand, but my memory of it is crystal clear.) The article referenced a poll in which the Russian people overwhelmingly expressed a preference for a mixed economy on the Scandinavian model. Even though democracy is supposed to give the citizenry what it wants, U.S. News and World Report insisted that the Russian people must not be allowed to go Swede. Instead -- and I will never forget the prophetic chill I felt as I read this -- those people would have to be "educated."

Boy, were they ever.

We still haven't apologized for the neoliberal rape of Russia. And we still haven't apologized for the many, many unjustifiable interventions and plunders cataloged in William Blum's Killing Hope. Until we clean up our act, Whataboutism is legitimate and inevitable.

Albatross fight!

Looks like there's a good chance that Jeb Bush will be the 2016 Republican nominee. He's the Romney of this go-round: The moneybags candidate who looks moderate and electable when compared to the Tea Party whackadoodles. 2016 may resemble 1992: A Clinton vs. a Bush.

Throughout 2007 and the first part of 2008, I expressed my annoyance with both the Clinton and Bush dynasties -- or, more accurately, with the very concept of a dynasty at play in American politics. But if we must go that route, then let's have a face-off between Hillary and Jeb. Since many libertarian-leaning conservatives have spent the past few years dissing the warmongering legacy of GWB, it'll be interesting to see them rationalize Jeb's effort.

So here's how it plays: Jeb has an albatross around his neck -- an albatross named George. Hillary has an albatross and her neck -- an albatross named Barack. May the best albatross win!

Ukraine's "Night of Long Knives"

Dojo Rat, a friend to this humble blog, has done some important research into the infighting that has marked the new fascist regime in Ukraine. Remember: Even though these guys have a rather unsavory background, they are backed by us.

Ukrainian special forces have gunned down ultranationalist Olexander Muzychko, member of Right Sector an active participant in earlier opposition riots in Kiev, who assaulted staff at a state prosecutor’s office in Rovno last month.

Muzychko, also known as Sashko Bilyi, has also been sought by Russia on suspicion of torturing and murdering at least 20 Russian servicemen in Chechnya in the early 2000s.

Looks as though the Ukrainians are now quite embarrassed by the bad press their newly-empowered right-wing thugs have received. Despite all the anti-Russian propaganda pummeling us every time we fire up the internet (or walk into a drug store, as documented in the post below), people around the world understand that the Ukrainian far right represents something worse than Putin.

Solution: A purge. It's a little like Fox News firing Glenn Beck -- except this scenario is being played out at gunpoint.

Although Hitler's original Night of Long Knives was frighteningly rapid (you might say that Roehm was un-built in a day), a purge of this sort usually takes time. In this case, it's quite unclear as to which side will win.

Ukraine is at the initial stage of standoff between «formal» structures and the formations of self-confident stormtroopers. Perhaps Yarosh will succeed in staging a coup, something Röhm failed to do. In its turn, the junta will take advantage of contradictions within the Nazi ranks to cement its positions and bring a new «Führer» to power.

Now we have the newly installed fascist government in Ukraine going to war with it’s own Stormtroopers. If the author is correct, Nationalist Yulia Timoshenko is ready to step in as the new “Fuhrer”.

Yulia Timoshenko is the anti-Russian (and, although I probably shouldn't say this, rather attractive) former Prime Minister of Ukraine who lost to Viktor Yanukovych in 2010. She was soon thereafter convicted of embezzlement. Now that Yanukovich has been tossed out by a coup, Timoshenko is free and plans to run for her old job.

I don't think that it is fair to predict that she will function as any kind of "fuhrer." But if the corruption charges had a basis in reality (a reasonable bet), I'm sure that the west will have nothing but good to say about her.

She has announced plans to retake Crimea, an idea that won't go over very well with the vast majority of Crimeans, who voted to restore their historical status as part of Russia.

(A lot of this has to do with language. Most Crimeans speak Russian; Ukrainian nationalists want them to speak Ukrainian. Yes, I've drastically over-simplified the situation, but that's the gist of it.)

Any move on Crimea might result in a massive war -- perhaps even genocide. Timoshenko is fine with that.

According to the Moscow Times, the recording, apparently made March 8, details a conversation between Tymoshenko and Nestor Shufrych from Ukraine's National Security Council, and has Tymoshenko suggesting that Ukrainians should kill Russians, and, in particular, Russian President Vladimir Putin. The recording, which may have been altered, also apparently features Tymoshenko suggesting that the 8 million Russians living in Ukraine should be killed with "nuclear weapons."

She first denied that the recording was real, and then sent out a tweet more or less admitting that it was real.

Did "Evil Putin" kill Di?

You gotta love it when the tabloids slam your eyeballs with thuddingly obvious propaganda. I snapped this at the local drugstore:

There's brainwashing and then there's brainwashing. The mainstream media will wash your brain gently, using a mild detergent carrying just a hint of lilac. But the tabs will scrub your cerebral cortex raw using steel wool and acid.

Of Kings and (Fire)foxes...

The problem, nutshell-wise. Obama, having met with King Abdullah, has announced that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia are "very much aligned."

A senior administration official denied published reports that the United States is considering supplying the opposition to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad with surface-to-air missiles, also known as MANPADS.

Obama and Abdullah steered clear of international complaints of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia...

Right. Because that let's-give-missiles-to-the-jihadis thing worked out so freakin' well in Afghanistan.

And what, exactly, makes Abdullah better than Assad? When it comes to religious freedom (an issue that many Americans claim to care about), Assad has treated the Christian community in Syria rather well, while Saudi Arabia persecutes anyone attracted to any non-Muslim beliefs, including both Christianity and atheism.

Mozilla.  The people who make Firefox are making a messy transition to the mobile age, and the company is now in upheaval. My suggestion: Instead of worrying so much about the iWorld, Mozilla should concentrate on fixing the way its browser works on traditional PCs. Remember desktops? Lots of folks still use 'em, including me.

Firefox, to which I had been very loyal, has developed an infinitude of technical glitches that the company simply refuses to fix. For example, if you have two browser windows loaded up, the window you don't want to look at will often scoot in front of the one you do want to look at -- for no reason. Worst of all are the high-CPU flare-ups, which have become intractable and frequent. Forget multitasking, even on a reasonably powerful system.

So I switched to Pale Moon, a version of Firefox with better code. All of my favorite Mozilla add-ons work just fine, and the CPU stays nice and frosty.

Was it...gold?

Why did the west destabilize Ukraine? Here's a possibility...

At 2 a.m. this morning [March 7] an unmarked transport plane was on the runway at Borispol Airport (right) [east of Kiev]. According to airport staff, before the plane came to the airport, four trucks and two Volkswagen minibuses arrived, all the truck license plates missing.

Сегодня ночью из Fifteen people in black uniforms, masks, and body armor stepped out, some armed with machine guns. They loaded the plane with more than 40 heavy boxes.

After that a mysterious man arrived and entered the plane.

All loading was done in a hurry.

The plane took off on an emergency basis.

Those who saw this mysterious special operation immediately notified the airport officials, who told the callers not to meddle in other people’s affairs.

Later a returned call from a senior official of the former Ministry of Revenue reported that tonight, on the orders of one of the new leaders of Ukraine, the United States had taken custody of all the gold reserves in Ukraine.”

A spokesman for the New York Fed said simply: “Any inquiry regarding gold accounts should be directed to the account holder. You may want to contact the National Bank of Ukraine to discuss this report.”

Is this true? As near as I can tell, the ultimate source for this story is a pro-Russian news journal called Iskra. A lot of people will tell you not to trust that source, and a lot of people may be right to feel that way. On the other hand, Iskra may have uncovered something genuinely intriguing; further investigation is warranted.

The only other place with some independent news about the alleged gold heist is called King World News. This site seems to be a clubhouse for gold bugs and Celente admirers. Caveat lector, and all that...but check it out.

The following is an excerpt from an interview with one William Kaye, a former hedge fund manager at Goldman Sachs:

Eric King: “Whether the United States is taking down Saddam Hussein in Iraq, or Muammar Gaddafi in Libya, there always seems to be gold at the end of the rainbow, which the U.S. then appropriates.”

Kaye: “That’s a good point, Eric. The United States installed a former banker in Ukraine who is very friendly to the West. He is also a guy with central bank experience. This would have been his first major decision to transport that gold out of Ukraine to the United States.

I think anybody with any active brain cells knows that just like Germany, Ukraine will have to wait a very long time, and very likely will never see that gold again. Meaning, that gold is gone.”

Let's be careful here. I've always thought that gold and silver bugs were kind of loony. They are forever telling us to buy precious metals because soon, very soon, absolutely everything will be totally worthless except gold and silver. You know when I first heard that rap? Before disco.

So color me skeptical. But also somewhat intrigued.

We can't afford to listen to Condi Rice

Condaleeza Rice wants war -- Syria, Ukraine, Asgard, wherever -- and she's ticked off by America's unmanly turn to peacenik-ism.

“I fully understand the sense of weariness," she told a GOP fundraiser Wednesday, according to reports. "I fully understand that we must think: ‘Us, again?’ I know that we’ve been through two wars. I know that we’ve been vigilant against terrorism. I know that it’s hard. But leaders can’t afford to get tired. Leaders can’t afford to be weary.”

And our taxpayers can't afford this kind of "leadership." Ultimate costs of the misadventures in Afghan and Iraq: Between four and six trillion dollars. Current federal budget: $3.8 trillion. Current year's federal debt: $514 billion.

I think Rice should be forbidden from ever again uttering the words "can't afford."

Damn RIGHT it still matters!

A friend to this blog, Joe Williams -- a.k.a. Trojan Joe, a.k.a. the film critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- has written the best introductory text outlining all the major aspects of the JFK assassination. Only 6 bucks! Cheap! If you're still not convinced that the subject is worth your time, check out Joe's interviews on the Black Op Radio podcast.

The first interview is here.

And the second interview is here. Turns out Joe is a marvelous interview subject -- fast and funny and full of facts. He also mentions this humble blog at one point.

(For my part, I have resolved not to do radio ever again. I uh I uh I uh uh um ah, you know, I uh...tend to say "uh" too much.)

Ruins

The Syrian town of Yabrud was recently retaken by pro-Assad forces. But before their ouster, the Muslim extremist rebels -- the ones backed by Uncle Sam -- decided to "redecorate" St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church...

Here's some background:

Syria has, for the past four decades, been ruled by the authoritarian Ba’ath party. The Ba’ath came to power after a series of destabilizing coups in the post-French mandate period.

Syria as a Ba’ath ruled country represents the last secular state in the Middle East. The Syrian government promotes and enforces secularism in society. The government, represented in the authoritarian rule of Bashar Al-Assad (and his father Hafez before him), sees itself as the solution to the problem of Syria’s multi-religious and multi-ethnic make-up: it provides stability and order in a country that might otherwise go the way of post-Saddam Iraq.

Religious minorities such as the Christians and Alawites tend to be the biggest supporters of the Syrian government. The government keeps radical Islam at bay, and has historically actively persecuted it. The political “alternative” for Syria has always been represented in the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. The Ba’athists and Muslim Brotherhood have fought each other since the 1970’s, and the current civil war that has overtaken Syria can be seen as the endgame to a decades-long struggle for the identity of Syria. The Muslim Brotherhood and associated groups desire an Islamic government under the authority of Sharia Law (Law of God or rule by the Koran).

See also here, which details the role of Saudi Arabia:

The armed opposition in Syria and Iraq is today dominated by Salafi jihadists, fundamentalist Islamic fighters committed to holy war.

The pretence that the Western-backed and supposedly secular Free Syrian Army was leading the fight to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad finally evaporated last December as jihadists overran their supply depots and killed their commanders.

In the past six months there have been signs of real anger in Washington at actions by Saudi Arabia and the Sunni monarchies of the Gulf in supplying and financing jihadi warlords in Syria who are now so powerful. US Secretary of State John Kerry privately criticised Prince Bandar bin Sultan, head of Saudi intelligence since 2012 and former Saudi ambassador in Washington, who had been masterminding the campaign to overthrow the Assad government.

Saudi Arabia took over from Qatar as the main funder of the Syrian rebels last summer. But Saudi involvement is much deeper and more long term than this, with more fighters coming from Saudi Arabia than from any other country.

Saudi preachers call vehemently for armed intervention against Assad, either by individual volunteers or by states. The beliefs of Wahhabism, the puritanical literalist Saudi version of Islam, are not much different from those of al-Qa’ida or other Salafi jihadist groups in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt and Libya.

In Syria, the Saudis believed that the Syrian government would be swiftly overwhelmed like that of Muammar Gaddafi. They underestimated its staying power and the support it was getting from Russia, Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Everyone knows that Al Qaida received massive backing from the Saudis. How could we end up siding with the people who attacked us? The Ba'ath regime in Iraq was indeed evil, as is the Ba'ath regime in Syria. But compared to Salafist/Al Qaida/Muslim Brotherhood forces, perhaps the Ba'ath dictators should be seen as the lesser evils.

Israel's perspective in all of this is perfectly rational and comprehensible. Why wouldn't they want to see enemy states reduced to warring factions? Why wouldn't they want to see enemy states exiled from the modern era and returned to the Middle Ages?

Similarly, the Sunnis of Saudi Arabia are simply continuing the old, old battle against the Shi'ites.

I can understand why Israel and the Saudis function in what we may consider an uneasy, unspoken, and very temporary alliance. But why must we be involved?

On another topic... Take a look at the fourth photo down. Just what is that icon? It looks like a winged Jesus (wearing a tunic of blue fire) carrying the head of John the Baptist in the Holy Grail. And the two mountains also seem to have symbolic significance.

I am not as wise as I ought to be in the ways of Greek Christianity. Can anyone explain this image to me?

Added note: Okay, I did a little more research. Both the head and the winged figure are John the Baptist. He has wings in Greek iconography.

Enlightened Orgasms

If you want a good, cynical snicker, try this piece about Orgasmic Meditation, the new fad that's sweeping the nation:

OM, as it’s called among its followers, is a holistic practice between two people where a woman has her clitoris gently stroked for 15 minutes in a non-sexual way by a partner with a goal to building connections and prolonging therapeutic orgasms.

The stroking is said to activate the limbic system in the body ie. the emotional nervous system, releasing a flood of oxytocin—“the cuddle hormone”—which cultivates an orgasm. However, the practice is not about the destination, or reaching orgasm, but rather experiencing the journey and whatever sensation may arise. Thus, according to its founding company OneTaste, OM expands the most pleasurable part of the climax as part of a “goal-listed” practice.

“You wouldn’t expect accessing your clitoris could change your life, but it does,” OneTaste New York office director Kim Howerton told AlterNet. “OM involves a sexual practice that includes pleasure at times, but it’s not a practice that is designed simply about pleasure. It’s designed for enjoyment, living a better life and having a better experience. It’s the opposite of hedonistic—more of a personal growth path, than a pleasure-seeking path,” Howerton explained.

Of course. Stroking the clitoris is not just about getting off. When someone manipulates your genitalia, you are not just being self-indulgent and hedonistic. You are attaining a state of deep spiritual awareness. It's, like, cosmic. And spiritual. And spiritually cosmic. Oh wow.

I am reminded of Carlos Castaneda, who was researching his hoax books in the UCLA library system around the time I (more or less) took up residence within those same buildings. Wish I could say that I ran into him at the time, but I didn't. He definitely made more profitable use of those resources than I did.

In case you don't know, Castaneda's big "discovery" was that certain recreational drugs were the pathway to enlightened states of Being. Therefore, if you got high, you just weren't getting high. You weren't just being self-indulgent; you weren't just being hedonistic. You were accomplishing something really fucking important.

I suppose that the works of Ayn Rand may be considered part of this literary genre. In Ayn's view, if you're a thoroughly sociopathic narcissist -- if your only concern is your own pleasure -- you aren't just being self-indulgent and hedonistic. You are, in fact, becoming your highest possible self. You are becoming a God on Earth.

Obviously, a writer can earn a lot of money if he or she tells people what they want to hear. And what they want to hear is this: Self-indulgence equals Enlightenment.

So how can you clamber aboard this gravy train? Two possibilities:

1. Write a book describing how to attain Enlightenment Through Gluttony. A person who eats lots of delicious, fattening food is no mere hedonist. No, that person may attain samsara and become a hyper-aware soul who has advanced far beyond the normal exemplars of the species homo sapiens sapiens. So go ahead and chomp down on all the caramel sundaes you want, because calories create cosmic consciousness. Yes, that fat-drenched sugar-filled dessert will transform you into a spiritually-purified and ultra-cosmic GOD ON EARTH.

2. Write a book describing how to attain Enlightenment Through Drinking. Someone who downs a case of Budweiser isn't just being self-indulgent and hedonistic. No, that person is actually...

I think you can fill in the rest by this point. Right?

Here are a few other possibilities:

Enlightenment Through Spending All Your Money On Expensive Shoes
Enlightenment Through Not Returning Books to the Library
Enlightenment Through Beating Your Children Into Unconsciousness Every Time They Annoy You
Enlightenment Through Cheating On Your Spouse
Enlightenment Through Lying About Your Political Opponent
Enlightenment Through Being a Really Obnoxious Internet Troll
Enlightenment Through Letting All Your Fish Die Because You're Too Damned Lazy To Feed Them
Enlightenment Through Squealing On Your Partner to the IRS
...and, of course, Enlightenment Through Sitting Around All Day Watching Comic Book Movies.

If you can think of any further roads to Enlightenment, please share! After all, if you are a genuine solipsist, you really have become God. Right?

What "Big Gummint" may and may not do

Just a note to direct your attention to this piece at Zero Hedge. The headline tells the story...

US Prepares To Provide A Billion To Ukraine As Detroit Plans Mass Water Shutoffs Over $260 Million

Excerpts:

Either way, one thing is certain: in order to enforce the fading Pax Americana in the Ukraine, and to keep the funding to the otherwise insolvent Ukraine flowing, which as everyone knows will be first and foremost used to pay Russia's Gazprom, the US is about to send lots of money abroad. As in, not in the US.

Gazprom is the Russian natural gas company, created whole out of its Soviet predecessor. Despite the conflict, the company still supplies Ukraine with much-needed natural gas -- as long as Ukraine can pay. Gazprom also transits gas through Ukraine to western Europe, although they say they are making contingency plans if those lines are interrupted. Ukraine still owes Gazprom a lot -- something like $1.8 billion -- so (money being fungible) any aid we give Ukraine will end up going to Russia.

So when it comes to priorities, whom does Putin have to thank for the billions in Western funds he is about to receive? Maybe he can start in Detroit, where the local utility is planning mass water shutoffs over $260M in delinquent bills.

In other words, while the US is enforcing some odd international law, according to which a democratic vote is not credible but a violent coup is, US citizens are about to have no drinking water over a paltry $260 million.

A reader of the above-referenced piece linked to this earlier one...

Within the last month, the Defense Department announced that it would be purchasing over $700 million dollars worth of aircraft for the Afghan armed forces. In theory, members of the Afghan Special Mission Wing (SMW), the airborne component of the Afghan special forces, would be the ones flying these 48 aircraft. Of that total, 18 are fixed-wing PC-12 cargo planes coming from the Sierra Nevada Corporation, while the other thirty Mi-17 helicopters are being purchased through Russian state arms-dealer Rosoboronexport.

The Russian helicopters were ordered despite a specific ban from the Congress on buying from Rosoboronexport so long as the Russian company continues arming the Syrian government. However, the Pentagon determined that there was a vital need for the helicopters, justifying the purchase through using funds allocated to the 2012 fiscal year, rather than the 2013 funding pool to which the ban applied.

It used to be the case -- and not so long ago -- that when we strong-armed third-world nations into buying military equipment they didn't really need, we at least forced them to buy American. Now we want them to buy Russian -- even though we're all supposed to be very angry with the Russians right now.

The larger lesson, of course, is that we can no longer afford to play our silly games of empire. At least when the British Empire reached its limit, the people running the UK had the decency to admit that closing time had come. They also had the decency to give their own citizens nationalized health care.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine...

In an interview with American broadcaster PBS, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said Ukraine is struggling to maintain a fighting capability after it was "deliberately dismantled" under Yanukovych.

"What we need is support from the international community. We need technology and military support to overhaul the Ukrainian military and modernize -- to be ready not just to fight, but to be ready to win," Yatsenyuk said.

I don't think Putin will go into Ukraine. Our Man Yats simply has a big damned gas bill, which (in the eyes of our neocons) takes precedence over Detroit's water bill. Why? Because "We're an empire now," and empire has a price.

On the other hand, Putin did manage to capture Ukraine's exploding dolphin commandos.

Final thought. Anthony Burgess once said: "Death comes along like a gas bill one cannot pay, and that's all there is to say about it." Perhaps the death of an independent Ukraine (and of our own misbegotten experiment in empire?) will literally come down to a gas bill one cannot pay.

The Todashev shooting

A short while ago, we noted that the FBI agent who shot Ibragim Todashev (acquainted with one of the accused Boston bombers) has been cleared of wrongdoing. Well...not so fast:

Florida state prosecutors on Friday denied that they had cleared an FBI agent who shot dead a friend of the Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev while interrogating him.

The FBI is understood to have concluded that the officer who shot Ibragim Todashev, 27, was left with no alternative but to fire in self defence after being struck on the neck with a metal pole.

But the state attorney in Florida, Jeff Ashton, denied that he had come to the same conclusion. Ashton's spokesman said he had completed his investigation but would make a final decision on how to proceed over the weekend. A review, by the civil rights division of the Department of Justice, is also understood to be complete.

Okay. So what was the deal with that first story?

Then again, the Todashev mystery has been one of conflicting stories from the beginning...

The unnamed agent was one of several who went to Todashev’s apartment in Orlando on 22 May 2013, to question the Chechen over his friendship with Tsarnaev and about the murder in Massachusetts of another of the bomber’s friends. In the hours and days after the death, officials gave various accounts of what happened.

Supporters of Todashev, a mixed martial arts fighter who was struck by six bullets in the torso and another in the back of the head, expressed their “concern” on Friday but said they wanted to study the reports in detail before reacting further.

The guy was not armed. He confronted not just an FBI agent but an unknown number of state troopers (accounts differ) plus a local police detective who did not fire. The manner of attack differs from telling to telling -- and sometimes within the same telling!

Here's the way the attack was described in The New York Times. Everyone seems to agree that after several hours of interrogation, Todashev was prepared to confess to an unsolved murder that he and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were connected to. Then things get a lot less clear:

At that moment, Mr. Todashev picked up the table and threw it at the agent, knocking him to the ground. While trying to stand up, the agent, who suffered a wound to his face from the table that required stitches, drew his gun and saw Mr. Todashev running at him with a metal pole, according to the official, adding that it might have been a broomstick.

So not only has the story changed again, it has now changed twice in the same sentence. The weapon has now gone from nothing to a knife, back to nothing to a table to a metal pole to a broomstick. Todashev was also apparently shot more than once, after an initial volley of "several shots" somehow failed to bring him down.

Oh, and there's a pretty big difference between a metal pole and a broomstick, and the fact that the Times source can't decide which one it is suggests they don't really know happened either.

People close to Todashev have been deported -- on rather flimsy excuses, some say.

From the Washington Post:

"With the eyes of the world once again on the United States' response to an act of terrorism and its treatment of foreign nationals, the last thing the U.S. government needs to do is fuel wild conspiracy theories by releasing too little information or investigating too slowly."

You know when the WP published those words? In May of last year!

It sure looks like someone is hiding something.

Rush

Y'know, this shit offends even me. And I've gotten more than a few feminists angry at me during this blog's life.

(Not sure what I did to offend them. Must have been a time-of-month thing.)

Look at what's going down: Mystery snipers, the FBI, Russia and China, GOP control of the Senate...

Clearing the FBI. Although I am quite tardy in putting the fact on the Cannonfire record, we should note that the Department of Justice has cleared the FBI of any wrongdoing in the killing of Ibragim Todashev, who was being questioned in his apartment about his links to the accused Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

The unnamed FBI agent was injured during the dispute. Additional information on the investigations of the incident are expected next week, though it isn't clear exactly how many details would be provided.

I suspect that details will be few and non-reassuring. The ACLU has called for an independent investigation. Don't hold your breath.

The future is with BRICS. I think this speaks for itself...

While Europe is furiously scrambling to find alternative sources of energy should Gazprom pull the plug on natgas exports to Germany and Europe (the imminent surge in Ukraine gas prices by 40% is probably the best indication of what the outcome would be), Russia is preparing the announcement of the "Holy Grail" energy deal with none other than China, a move which would send geopolitical shockwaves around the world and bind the two nations in a commodity-backed axis. One which, as some especially on these pages, have suggested would lay the groundwork for a new joint, commodity-backed reserve currency that bypasses the dollar, something which Russia implied moments ago when its finance minister Siluanov said that Russia may refrain from foreign borrowing this year. Translated: bypass western purchases of Russian debt, funded by Chinese purchases of US Treasurys, and go straight to the source.

From Reuters:

The underlying message from the head of Russia's biggest oil company, Rosneft, was clear: If Europe and the United States isolate Russia, Moscow will look East for new business, energy deals, military contracts and political alliances.

The Holy Grail for Moscow is a natural gas supply deal with China that is apparently now close after years of negotiations. If it can be signed when Putin visits China in May, he will be able to hold it up to show that global power has shifted eastwards and he does not need the West.

"The worse Russia's relations are with the West, the closer Russia will want to be to China. If China supports you, no one can say you're isolated," said Vasily Kashin, a China expert at the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST) think thank.

Right now, the unrepentant Angletonians in the Tea Party (a breed of fanatic which is surprisingly non-rare) are no doubt gleefully shouting: "I knew the Sino-Soviet split was a fake all along! I knew it I knew it IknewitIknewitIknewitIKNEWIT!"

The real lesson is this: If America wants a new Cold War -- if we want to play the kind of destabilization games we played in Ukraine -- then there will be consequences. We no longer have the strong hand we had decades ago. We simply cannot afford our previous arrogance.

Speaking of Ukraine: Like it or not, Israel Shamir has one of the most accurate renditions of what went down...

Nobody expected events to move on with such a breath-taking speed. The Russians took their time; they sat on the fence and watched while the Brown storm-troopers conquered Kiev, and they watched while Mrs Victoria Nuland of the State Department and her pal Yatsenyuk (“Yats”) slapped each other’s backs and congratulated themselves on their quick victory. They watched when President Yanukovych escaped to Russia to save his skin. They watched when the Brown bands moved eastwards to threaten the Russian-speaking South East. They patiently listened while Mme Timoshenko, fresh out of gaol, swore to void treaties with Russia and to expel the Russian Black Sea Fleet from its main harbour in Sevastopol. They paid no heed when the new government appointed oligarchs to rule Eastern provinces. Nor did they react when children in Ukrainian schools were ordered to sing “Hang a Russian on a thick branch” and the oligarch-governor’s deputy promised to hang dissatisfied Russians of the East as soon as Crimea is pacified. While these fateful events unravelled, Putin kept silence.

But Putin justified the Russian proverb: the Russians take time to saddle their horses, but they ride awfully fast.

Check out this next bit...

The US Neocons’ role in the Kiev coup was clarified by two independent exposures. Wonderful Max Blumenthal and Rania Khalek showed that the anti-Russian campaign of recent months (gay protests, Wahl affair, etc.) was organised by the Zionist Neocon PNAC (now renamed FPI) led by Mr Robert Kagan, husband of Victoria “Fuck EC” Nuland. It seems that the Neocons are hell-bent to undermine Russia by all means, while the Europeans are much more flexible.

Wahl collapse. Let's look at that important Blumenthal/Khalek piece, which is primarily about the resignation of Liz Wahl, on the air on Russia Today. As readers will recall, I thought the story had a rather fishy reek -- especially since Wahl (if you examine her background) seems the kind of person who would never have gone near a place like Russia Today -- unless she had an agenda, or unless she secretly worked for someone with an agenda.

And now we learn further details...

Behind the coverage of Wahl’s dramatic protest, a cadre of neoconservatives was celebrating a public relations coup. Desperate to revive the Cold War, head off further cuts to the defense budget and restore the legitimacy they lost in the ruins of Iraq, the tightknit group of neoconservative writers and stewards had opened up a new PR front through Wahl’s resignation. And they succeeded with no shortage of help from an ossified media establishment struggling to maintain credibility in an increasingly anarchic online news environment. With isolated skeptics branded as useful idiots for Putin, the scene has been kept clean of neoconservative fingerprints, obscuring their interest in Wahl’s resignation and the broader push to deepen tensions with Russia.

Through interviews with six current RT employees—all Americans with no particular affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin or his policies—and an investigation into the political forces managing the spectacle, a story has emerged that stands in stark contrast to the one advanced by Wahl, her supporters and the mainstream American press.

It is the story, according to former colleagues, of an apolitical, deeply disgruntled employee seeking an exit strategy from a job where, sources say, she was disciplined for unprofessional behavior and had been demoted. Wahl did not return several voice and text messages sent to her cellphone.

At the center of the intrigue is a young neoconservative writer and activist who helped craft Wahl’s strategy and exploit her resignation to propel the agenda of a powerful pro-war lobby in Washington.

There's a lot more. I suggest you hie thee hither and read the rest.

Snipers! Israel Shamir also directs us to this piece about the Ukrainian Mystery Snipers. It's an interview in Russian. Here's Shamir's summary:

The second exposé was an interview with Alexander Yakimenko, the head of Ukrainian Secret Services (SBU) who had escaped to Russia like his president. Yakimenko accused Andriy Parubiy, the present security czar, of making a deal with the Americans. On American instructions, he delivered weapons and brought snipers who killed some 70 persons within few hours. They killed the riot police and the protesters as well.

The US Neocon-led conspiracy in Kiev was aimed against the European attempt to reach a compromise with President Yanukovych, said the SBU chief. They almost agreed on all points, but Ms Nuland wanted to derail the agreement, and so she did – with the help of a few snipers.

These snipers were used again in Crimea: a sniper shot and killed a Ukrainian soldier. When the Crimean self-defence forces began their pursuit, the sniper shot at them, killed one and wounded one. It is the same pattern: snipers are used to provoke response and hopefully to jump-start a shootout.

Consider the source, of course; caution is warranted. Nevertheless, I would not dismiss this suggestion.

I wanted to give you a few chunks of this interview in English, via the miracle of Google Translate. But Google Translate, for some unfathomable reason, does not want to deal with this page.

Elections:  Nate Silver says that the Republicans have the edge when it comes to control of the Senate. Horrifying news. Liberal writers like Paul Krugman are saying that Silver has lost the magic touch. In this case, I think Silver is right -- and that a lot of people have been scribbling some very premature obits for the GOP. The main problem, of course, is Obama. He has discredited liberal solutions, even though liberal solutions have never really been tried.

Weird and wacky

A short while ago, I directed your attention to a site called "Great Game India" which outlined a bizarre theory about the MH370 mystery -- a theory based on a supposed "GRU report" that nobody has ever seen. Actually, more than one fringe site has made reference to this GRU report. (Example.) For an invisible document, it seems pretty influential.

Great Game India is at it again. They've gotten hold of a new and improved GRU report, and they're using it as the basis for a new and improved conspiracy theory:

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU) is reporting today that the “highly suspicious” cargo retrieved by the US from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that had been “disappeared” to one of the United States most secretive bases in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia, was flown this past week to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico where it was then destroyed in a “massive fireball.”

The piece goes on and on like that, getting weirder and weirder and weirder. What this site offers isn't really David Lynchian weirdness, all slow and moody and beautifully disturbing. It's more like Alejandro Jodorowskian weirdness: Madcap, gleeful, brazen, entertaining, and kind of disgusting. In short: Brain-rape.

Needless to say, this new GRU report is just as invisible as the last one.

What I want to know is why. What motivates people to concoct these things? In many cases, the answer has much to do with ideology. In other cases, one intelligence service may be using disinformation to confuse or humiliate a perceived enemy. But in this case, I think we're dealing with someone who views conspiracy theory as a form of surrealist art.

Now, I'm as tolerant as the next fellow when it comes to dealing with a serial brain-rapist. Still, one could argue that it's in bad taste to engage in this kind of tomfoolery while relatives are still grieving.

I have not yet verified the recent GRU report which reveals that the main writer for the "Great Game India" site is none other than Barbara Bush. Have any notable GRU reports popped into your inbox this morning? If so, please summarize!

The conservative book racket

A piece outlining the recent woes of the conservative book racket offers details proving what we've long suspected -- that the whole thing has, in fact, always been a racket.

Recent conservative books -- written by such right-wing superstars as Rand Paul and and Rick Santorum -- have had sales in the range of 7,000-to-20,000 copies.

For most non-fiction works, those figures would not be too unusual. A lot of people seem to be under the impression that the average book sells more than copies than is actually the case. Most authors get royalties in the range of one, two, three dollars a copy -- and a truly good book, juicy with footnotes and stuffed with original research, might take years to write.

Keep these numbers in mind next time you accuse a writer of being in it for the money.

But in the world of conservative books, the economics are somewhat different. In the first place, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that guys like Rand Paul and Rick Santorum (or Jeb Bush or Bobby Jindal) don't do the actual work of writing. They have people. That's what the help is for.

Not only that...

But today, as numerous conservative imprints, Christian publishers, and mainstream houses compete to sign a finite number of aspiring Republican presidents, publishers are being forced to pay much larger advances than they’re used to.

For example, Tim Pawlenty, a short-lived presidential candidate in 2012, received an advance of around $340,000 for his 2010 book Courage to Stand. But the book went on to sell only 11,689 copies, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks most, but not all, bookstore sales. What’s more, Pawlenty’s political action committee bought at least 5,000 of those copies itself in a failed attempt to get it on the New York Times best-seller list, according to one person with knowledge of the strategy.

We don't know what kind of advance Jeb Bush received for his recent offering, but we can be pretty sure that he has people. Staff must needs be paid. Nevertheless, Bush's masterwork fetched sales of only 4,500 copies.

So how do publishers afford to publish such books? Here's one explanation:

“The publishing business is more like a casino than a real business,” Bellow said. “We’re gambling...and editors are inveterate optimists..."

Another explanation: The publishers stay afloat because they know that the money is coming from Somewhere Else.

Let me lay some covert history on you, starting here...

Rewriting the end of "Animal Farm" is just one example of the often absurd lengths to which the C.I.A. went, as recounted in a new book, "The Cultural Cold War: The C.I.A. and the World of Arts and Letters" (The New Press) by Frances Stonor Saunders, a British journalist. Published in Britain last summer, the book will appear here next month.

Much of what Ms. Stonor Saunders writes about, including the C.I.A.'s covert sponsorship of the Paris-based Congress for Cultural Freedom and the British opinion magazine Encounter, was exposed in the late 1960's, generating a wave of indignation. But by combing through archives and unpublished manuscripts and interviewing several of the principal actors, Ms. Stonor Saunders has uncovered many new details and gives the most comprehensive account yet of the agency's activities between 1947 and 1967.

This picture of the C.I.A.'s secret war of ideas has cameo appearances by scores of intellectual celebrities like the critics Dwight Macdonald and Lionel Trilling, the poets Ted Hughes and Derek Walcott and the novelists James Michener and Mary McCarthy, all of whom directly or indirectly benefited from the C.I.A.'s largesse. There are also bundles of cash that were funneled through C.I.A. fronts and several hilarious schemes that resemble a "Spy vs. Spy" cartoon more than a serious defense against Communism.

Ms. Stonor Saunders describes how the C.I.A. cleverly skimmed hundreds of millions of dollars from the Marshall Plan to finance its activities, funneling the money through fake philanthropies it created or real ones like the Ford Foundation.

"We couldn't spend it all," Gilbert Greenway, a former C.I.A. agent, recalled. "There were no limits, and nobody had to account for it. It was amazing."

Now here...

The Agency was also establishing close links with both book publishing houses and media organizations in the U.S. at this time. It felt that in the world of covert operations, book publishing had a special place. The head of its covert action staff said, "Books differ from all other propaganda media, primarily because one single book can significantly change the reader's attitude and action to an extent unmatched by the impact of any other single medium . . . this of course, not true of all books at all times and with all readers-but it is true significantly often enough to make books the most important weapon of strategic (long-range) propaganda.

Altogether from 1947 until the end of 1967, the CIA produced, subsidized, or sponsored well over 1,000 books. Approximately 20 percent of them were written in English. Many of them were published by cultural organizations backed by the CIA.

I could go on, but there is no need -- you may, with a little Googling, uncover dozens of similar examples.

Yes, I know that the above quotes refer to events which many would label "ancient history."

No, I'm not saying that the CIA as an institution funded the conservative book trade. I don't believe that -- not for a second.

But: No one can deny that there has always been a massive overlap between Spookworld and movement conservatism. The cars in the parking lot at CIA headquarters usually bear right-wing bumper stickers, or so I have been reliably told.

I posit the following scenario: Spooks learned a long time ago that they could make deals with publishers around the world, who needed a little "outside help" to survive. Even when Agency-funded books lost money, they got into libraries and shaped various debates.

I believe that a handful of covert operators learned "how to do it" during the Cold War...and then moved into private life.

They went to work for conservative foundations and think tanks. And they told their new bosses that they knew how to manipulate the thinking of entire populations. Why restrict such tactics to foreign lands? Why not do it here?

America was, and is, the grand prize. Properly propagandized, Americans might loosen the fetters of Social Security and Medicare, thereby transforming the USA into either Libertarian Paradise...or something closer in spirit to The Handmaid's Tale.

Is that scenario really so off the wall? Consider what we recently learned from the Snowden documents.

Propaganda and truth

When it comes to the Ukraine controversy, even our liberal-leaning media organs overflow with neocon propaganda. For example, the allegedly liberal-ish Slate has published this piece of claptrap from Fred Kaplan of the Council on Foreign Relations:

Either way, two things should be understood. First, Putin’s actions have been driven less by a belief that the West is weak than his knowledge that Russia is. Second, he dreams of restoring Russia’s empire—his March 18 Kremlin speech is, at heart, a cry of resentment against the West for its humiliation of his country during the early years after the Soviet Union’s collapse. A bitter autocrat with a head full of grandiose daydreams can be a dangerous creature.

Kaplan can make such a silly statement because he knows that most of his readers won't actually bother to read Putin's words. Much of his speech strikes me as both sensible and candid. No, I'm not saying that Putin is a saint. But in politics (as Reagan adviser Martin Anderson liked to say), the question is always: "Compared to what?"

Compare these words to what we're hearing from our own politicians and pundits, and come to your own decisions. Putin:

More than 82 percent of the electorate took part in the vote. Over 96 percent of them spoke out in favour of reuniting with Russia. These numbers speak for themselves.

Incidentally, the total population of the Crimean Peninsula today is 2.2 million people, of whom almost 1.5 million are Russians, 350,000 are Ukrainians who predominantly consider Russian their native language, and about 290,000-300,000 are Crimean Tatars, who, as the referendum has shown, also lean towards Russia.

Notice that Putin is talking about something that our own commentators (such as Kaplan) rarely address: The actual history of the region. In a robustly ethnocentric fashion, Kaplan pretends that Putin's speech was all about the U.S., a conclusion one can reach only by ignoring the text. 

In people’s hearts and minds, Crimea has always been an inseparable part of Russia. This firm conviction is based on truth and justice and was passed from generation to generation, over time, under any circumstances, despite all the dramatic changes our country went through during the entire 20th century.

After the revolution, the Bolsheviks, for a number of reasons – may God judge them – added large sections of the historical South of Russia to the Republic of Ukraine. This was done with no consideration for the ethnic make-up of the population, and today these areas form the southeast of Ukraine. Then, in 1954, a decision was made to transfer Crimean Region to Ukraine, along with Sevastopol, despite the fact that it was a federal city. This was the personal initiative of the Communist Party head Nikita Khrushchev. What stood behind this decision of his – a desire to win the support of the Ukrainian political establishment or to atone for the mass repressions of the 1930’s in Ukraine – is for historians to figure out.

What matters now is that this decision was made in clear violation of the constitutional norms that were in place even then.

Here is what the man actually said about the break-up of the Soviet Union:

It was only when Crimea ended up as part of a different country that Russia realised that it was not simply robbed, it was plundered.

At the same time, we have to admit that by launching the sovereignty parade Russia itself aided in the collapse of the Soviet Union. And as this collapse was legalised, everyone forgot about Crimea and Sevastopol ­– the main base of the Black Sea Fleet. Millions of people went to bed in one country and awoke in different ones, overnight becoming ethnic minorities in former Union republics, while the Russian nation became one of the biggest, if not the biggest ethnic group in the world to be divided by borders.

Now, many years later, I heard residents of Crimea say that back in 1991 they were handed over like a sack of potatoes. This is hard to disagree with.

When Putin does speak of American intervention, the focus is on more recent events.

I would like to reiterate that I understand those who came out on Maidan with peaceful slogans against corruption, inefficient state management and poverty. The right to peaceful protest, democratic procedures and elections exist for the sole purpose of replacing the authorities that do not satisfy the people. However, those who stood behind the latest events in Ukraine had a different agenda: they were preparing yet another government takeover; they wanted to seize power and would stop short of nothing. They resorted to terror, murder and riots. Nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobes and anti-Semites executed this coup. They continue to set the tone in Ukraine to this day.

It is also obvious that there is no legitimate executive authority in Ukraine now, nobody to talk to. Many government agencies have been taken over by the impostors, but they do not have any control in the country, while they themselves – and I would like to stress this – are often controlled by radicals. In some cases, you need a special permit from the militants on Maidan to meet with certain ministers of the current government. This is not a joke – this is reality.

Does Putin have an angle? Of course. Is he telling the full story? Of course not. All politicians have agendas, and Putin -- let us repeat -- is no saint.

But does his narrative really bear so little resemblance to what actually happened? Is the neocon narrative really closer to the truth? All I ask is for you to do some research and come to your own conclusions.

However, what do we hear from our colleagues in Western Europe and North America? They say we are violating norms of international law. Firstly, it’s a good thing that they at least remember that there exists such a thing as international law – better late than never.

Our pundits recognize the existence of international law only when doing so conveniences their agenda. At all other times, our propagandists speak of American "exceptionalism," a phrase that the neocons like to use because they've found that it plays better than "We're an empire now." Remember when the war-hawks felt bold enough to make that declaration openly? Remember when they sneered at the very idea of international law?

Putin isn't afraid to make that very point:

Key international institutions are not getting any stronger; on the contrary, in many cases, they are sadly degrading. Our western partners, led by the United States of America, prefer not to be guided by international law in their practical policies, but by the rule of the gun. They have come to believe in their exclusivity and exceptionalism, that they can decide the destinies of the world, that only they can ever be right. They act as they please: here and there, they use force against sovereign states, building coalitions based on the principle “If you are not with us, you are against us.” To make this aggression look legitimate, they force the necessary resolutions from international organisations, and if for some reason this does not work, they simply ignore the UN Security Council and the UN overall.

Any neocon reading these words will huff and puff and sputter in mock (or perhaps real) outrage. But can any honest person argue that Putin has misrepresented what happened during the Bush years?

Now let's come to more recent events:

There was a whole series of controlled “colour” revolutions. Clearly, the people in those nations, where these events took place, were sick of tyranny and poverty, of their lack of prospects; but these feelings were taken advantage of cynically. Standards were imposed on these nations that did not in any way correspond to their way of life, traditions, or these peoples’ cultures. As a result, instead of democracy and freedom, there was chaos, outbreaks in violence and a series of upheavals. The Arab Spring turned into the Arab Winter.

This blog -- along with many other blogs, and not just those on the left side of the political aisle -- reached a similar conclusion some time ago. To be candid, I didn't want to face the reality of what was going on. The first Egyptian revolution seemed pretty damned groovy at the time. No-one wanted to admit that the spirit of grooviness might soon provide a cover for covert ops and cynical manipulation.

Today, I would like to address the people of the United States of America, the people who, since the foundation of their nation and adoption of the Declaration of Independence, have been proud to hold freedom above all else. Isn’t the desire of Crimea’s residents to freely choose their fate such a value?

The massive voter turnout speaks to the fairness of that election. I'll say it again: Nobody voted because he or she had a gun to his head. And certainly no-one was forced to celebrate that election, as the Crimeans did. The Russian "invasion" was met not with bullets but with waving flags.

Again, I must emphasize that Putin does not wear a suit tailored to accommodate the wings of an angel. This man is guilty of many sins. Everyone knows this.

But the question is always: "Compared to what?"

In your heart of hearts, can you truthfully say that this speech contains the kind of deceptive and inflammatory rhetoric we encounter in this toxic piece of neocon agit-prop, published in the Wall Street Journal?

Sometime in the first Obama term, opinion polls began to report that the American people were experiencing what media shorthand came to call "fatigue" with the affairs of the world. The U.S. should "mind its own business." The America-is-fatigued polling fit with Mr. Obama's stated goal to lead from behind. A close observer of American politics also could notice that Republican politicians, the presumptive heirs of Reagan, began to recalibrate their worldview inward to accommodate the "fatigue" in the opinion polls.

"Stated goal"? When did Obama make such a statement?

"Fatigue" is the new "Vietnam syndrome." Many members of my generation will tell you that "Vietnam syndrome" was a good thing. If not for that "syndrome," Reagan might have put American boots on the ground in Central America.

During the reign of Dubya, the right-wingers finally got their chance to put a whole lot of boots on the ground -- and look at what happened. Neocons ruined our economy by spending trillions of dollars in pursuit of their vile delusions of empire. Damned right we're fatigued. We're tired of being bullshitted into committing atrocities despised by the entire world. We need a respite from jingoism and mass violence.

We also need a little more truth in our political discourse. Try to count the lies in this next paragraph from the WSJ:

Last September, every foreign chancery in the world concluded that the United States would bomb Bashar Assad's airfields with Tomahawk missiles in reprisal for killing nearly 1,500 Syrians with chemical weapons, including sarin gas. Vladimir Putin placed a bet. He suggested to the American president that in lieu of the U.S. bombing Assad's airfields, their two nations, in concert, could remove all of Syria's chemical weapons. Mr. Obama accepted and stood down from bombing Assad. Six months later Vladimir Putin invaded and annexed Crimea.

It takes a kind of genius to shove so many deceits into so small a space.

First: We have the fallacy of post hoc ergo propter hoc: Crimea happened after; therefore Crimea happened because.

Second: Putin did not invade and annex Crimea. The people of the region overwhelmingly voted for a return to a historical norm.

Third: Obama stood down in Syria because the people of the United States demanded a stand down. Wisely -- and Constitutionally -- the President left the "war or peace" decision up to Congress. The citizenry shouted "No more war!" in a voice so loud that even the politicians could not ignore it.

Fourth: As we have seen in many previous posts, persuasive evidence indicates that Assad (who, let us stress for the umpteenth time, is a thug) did not use chemical weaponry on his own people. The attack gave him zero military advantage -- but it did give a political advantage to his opponents, who wanted America to intervene on their side.

Let's hear one last time from the WSJ. As you read, try to visualize the writer -- his eyes bloodshot, his cheeks flushed, and small spittle-flecks of white bile dribbling down his chin: 

This moment is not about Barack Obama. By now we know about him. This is about Vladimir Putin and the self-delusions of Western nations and their famous "fatigue." Vladimir Putin is teaching the West and especially the United States that fatigue is not an option.

It is difficult for men embedded in a world of rational affairs to come to grips with Mr. Putin's point of view: He doesn't care what they think.

The solitary but thrilling world of Vladimir Putin's mind is the one inhabited by the Assads, Saddams, bin Ladens, Kims, Gadhafis and Khomeinis of the world, and when it really runs out of control, or is allowed to, by a Stalin, Hitler, or Mao. Whether one man's grandiosity will burst across borders is not about normal logic. It is about personal power and forcing the obeisance of other nations.

All I'm asking is for you to read both sides. Read Kaplan, read the Wall Street Journal -- and then read Putin's speech. Decide for yourself: Who is spewing the kind of propaganda that appeals to our lowest, most venal instincts? And who is speaking reasonably?

More mystery snipers

Were they recorded? Somehow, this video has escaped my attention until now. Supposedly, the audio records "action reports" from the snipers themselved as they fired on the protestors. Unfortunately, we have no English translation! I have no idea as to who is saying what -- and obviously, I can't speak to the recording's authenticity.

More "mystery snipers" in Crimea. From The Independent:

The Ukrainian Prime Minister warned that “the conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage” and claimed that “Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian servicemen and that is a war crime”. His government, he added, has now authorised the use of firearms for its forces surrounded in their bases in Crimea.

However, there were indications that it was the separatist Crimean government’s recently created “Self Defence Forces” who had actually carried out the fatal attack. Local officials, meanwhile, claimed that “fascist snipers” had fired the first shot from a residential building and one of the injured was one of the defence force members.

The Ukrainian and Russian governments had agreed to a ceasefire until 21 March, aimed at preventing hostilities breaking out at the blockaded bases. But there was apprehension that the assault and the resultant death and injuries may break the delicate accord, with highly dangerous consequences.

Obviously, someone didn't want that ceasefire to hold. Also see here.

Reports from both the Independent and BBC suggest that the culprits who both initiated the violence and were responsible for the death of one Ukrainian soldier and one pro-Russian militia member were actually unidentified snipers who fired from residential buildings.

Local officials have referred to these shooters as “fascist snipers” suggesting that Crimean authorities suspect them of having loyalty to the Western-backed regime in Kiev. These snipers allegedly fired at both Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian self-defense forces, creating casualties on both sides and triggering a string of violent events that led to the assault of the Ukrainian soldiers and the death of these two men.

The money. Here's an allegation I had not run into earlier...

Israel Shamir, in CounterPunch, 2-24, claims that Kiev is awash in new $100 bills, of a type not yet seen in Moscow. I’m sure these funds aren’t showing up on the Fed balance sheets yet and may, like other black budget monies, never show up.

I don't disbelieve this claim...but neither will I believe it until I see more and better sourcing. Can any reader point out confirmation?

Zbig news: Mike Whitney see the hand of Zbigniew Brzezinski (an old Obama mentor) behind the Ukrainian destabilization...

Brzezinski’s magnum opus–”The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and it’s Geostrategic Imperatives” has become the Mein Kampf for aspiring western imperialists. It provides the basic blueprint for establishing US military-political-economic hegemony in the century’s most promising and prosperous region, Asia. In an article in Foreign Affairs Brzezinski laid out his ideas about neutralizing Russia by splitting the country into smaller parts, thus, allowing the US to maintain its dominant role in the region without threat of challenge or interference.

In order to topple Yanukovych, the US had to tacitly support fanatical groups of neo-Nazi thugs and anti-Semites. And, even though “Interim Ukrainian President Oleksander Tuchynov has pledged to do everything in his power to protect the country’s Jewish community”; reports on the ground are not so encouraging. Here’s an excerpt from a statement by Natalia Vitrenko, of The Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine that suggests the situation is much worse than what is being reported in the news:

“Across the country… People are being beaten and stoned, while undesirable members of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine are subject to mass intimidation and local officials see their families and children targeted by death threats if they do not support the installation of this new political power. The new Ukrainian authorities are massively burning the offices of political parties they do not like, and have publicly announced the threat of criminal prosecution and prohibition of political parties and public organizations that do not share the ideology and goals of the new regime.” (“USA and EU Are Erecting a Nazi Regime on Ukrainian Territory”, Natalia Vitrenko)

This may explain why we've been seeing rather better coverage of Ukrainian events in the Israeli press than in the news organs serving Freedom's Land.

Steve Lendman has offered some excellent insights...

Obama elevated neo-Nazi putschists to power in Kiev. He backs lawless governance. He spurns democratic legitimacy.

He bears full responsibility for crisis conditions. At issue is what he intends going forward. He risks potential global war. Don't expect Times editors and/or contributors to explain. They support what demands condemnation.

They repeat the Big Lie. "Putin invaded Crimea," they said. A former unnamed Obama senior national security aid was quoted saying: "We're seeing the 'light footprint" run out of gas."

I quite agree with these words on the propaganda barrage:

Neocon Washington Post editors headlined "Western sanctions deliver only a slap on the wrist to Mr. Putin."

They want much tougher measures imposed. They lied claiming "Russian forces extended their invasion from Crimea to an adjacent area of Ukraine."

Their assertion doesn't rise to the level of bad fiction. It doesn't wash. It doesn't pass the smell test. It doesn't stop WaPo editors from repeating one Big Lie after another.

Russia committed "aggression," they hyperventilated. Unless stopped, "the result will likely be more," they claimed.

"…Putin's brazenness continues to escalate." US officials lied. Not according to WaPo editors.

They repeated the Big Lie about "ballots for (Crimea's referendum) arriv(ing) pre-marked and that the supposedly overwhelming vote for separating from Ukraine was grossly manipulated."

What rubbish! You can't make this stuff up. Monitors observing Sunday's referendum pronounced it scrupulously open, free and fair.

Not a single irregularity was reported. Sunday's vote was a model democratic exercise. It shamed America's sham process.

Don't expect WaPo editors explain. They're preoccupied concocting new Big Lies.

It's standard scoundrel media practice. Truth is systematically buried. Lies, damn lies and misinformation substitute.

Emphasis added. Finally, I'd like to direct your attention to this superb piece -- okay, it's kind of a rant, but it's a superb rant:

Secretary of State John Kerry got into the act likening Crimea joining Russia as somehow reminiscent of "the build-up to World War II", apparently likening it to Hitler absorbing the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia in 1937-this area being the German speaking part of that country and later annexing Austria.

Ah, sorry John, those assertions ring hollow. The Crimean people voted in a referendum to join Russia. Putin acknowledged their right to self determination and accepted them into the Russian Federation. This is not Putin acting like Hitler and the hypocrisy of any Obama administration flak alluding to any country conducting a "land grab" obviously ignores our own US history. Throw in our recent illegal invasions and occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, proxy wars supporting autocrats in Central and South America, the Shah of Iran from 1953 to 1979, our ignoring the sovereignty of other countries with drone attacks and missile strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia as just some inconvenient impediment we ignore with impunity to say nothing of the thousand plus military bases and naval carrier task forces strewn over the seven seas as "a force for good". Please. Ask the people on the delivery end of our attacks whether we're "a force for good".

And when our "lead" diplomat alludes to Hitler's Nazi's grabbing part of Czechoslovakia and annexing Austria with Putin's role in Crimea, how about our not acknowledging the role played by Ukraine's neo-Nazi "Right Sector" group as the violent actors leading the coup to overthrow elected President Viktor Yanukovych in Kiev last month.

The omissions, distortions, outright lies and exaggerations by our corporate media is an absolute disgrace and nothing more than putrid propaganda stirring up the resurrection of some new cold war with Russia.

There is no fifth column movement in Russia with grandiose designs of empire.

If anything, that's an Obama administration effort envisioned by the neo-conservatives within, or those with close ties to the administration. They're the real danger to the world, not Putin and Russia.

I disagree only in this: I am not at all persuaded that Obama was cognizant of this plan before it went into effect. I think he is, in this instance, a re-actor, not an actor.

But I could be wrong.

Ukraine: Behind the scenes

Previous posts about "regime change" in Ukraine have evinced some very thought-provoking reader reaction -- none moreso than the analysis published below. For reasons which shall soon become obvious, the writer prefers to remain anonymous. Call him Mr. A. (Please don't assume that this is his real initial. I'm now assigning 'nyms in alphabetical order.)

Everything below the asterisks was written by A, and printed here by permission. If you're a newcomer to the story, I should explain that "Engdahl" (mentioned below) is William Engdahl, the writer of an important piece claiming that the "mystery snipers" who fired on those Ukrainian protestors were actually neo-Nazis linked to our own neocons. The sniper attacks were blamed on Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich, who was driven from office.

Now take it away, Mr. A...

* * *

Firstly, I should explain why I'm not putting this in the comments, and under my own name. Basically it comes down to personal and professional interests - I'm a postgrad student of political violence, hopefully looking to pursue a doctorate soon. I'm also a part time analyst for a number of...well, whether you would call them "strategic forecasting" firms or "private intelligence agencies" strongly depends on the day of the week and who is paying them. I'll just say while I don't work for Stratfor, its in much the same field.

Because of recent events in the Ukraine, the people who pay my wages wanted me to brainstorm the potential fallout and future development of the conflict. And as such, I came across information pertinent to your most recent post, and Engdahl's allegations.

UNA-UNSO are certainly a nasty piece of work. Originally ex-Afghan war veterans (Red Army of course) and with a fascist worldview to boot, they are certainly high contenders on any possible list for the shooters in Maidan. Their links with German far-right movements are also troubling, given the revelations about the National Socialist Underground, and the possibility that German intelligence looked the other way while they carried out their murder spree.

However, the UNA-UNSO aren't only linked to Western states and Western-backed politicians. They've also had considerable dealings with Viktor Medvedchuk, often described in somewhat breatheless tones, but not entirely inaccurately, as the leader of "Russia's 5th column" in Ukraine.

During the 2004 "Orange Revolution", Medvedchuk, according to Andriy Shkil, gave the UNA orders to put protests on in favour of Yuschenko, in order to discredit him in the eyes of the western media.

You can read about these allegations more here: http://anton-shekhovtsov.blogspot.se/2014/02/pro-russian-network-behind-anti.html

I will admit, Mr Shekhovtsov is not exactly what I'd describe as an entirely reliable source. He seems rather blind to the very real and credible fascist component to the Ukrainian opposition. Nevetheless, as someone who has dealt with Mr Medvedchuk in a personal capacity before now...well, let's just say I would not be surprised to find such allegations were credible.

His allegations of a "pro-Russian network" are also somewhat overblown, though there is certainly a kernel of truth to the allegation. Despite Ukraine's desperate financial straits, someone was throwing money at US libertarian and paeleoconservative writers to produce soft pieces on the Ukrainian regime before it fell, and I've seen some suspiciously relaxed pieces on the former Ukrainian government from otherwise trustworthy news sources, like Asia Times Online (though the "Saker" is at least entirely clear about where his alleigance lies, I'll give him that).

My feeling is that both pro-US/NATO and pro-Russian networks are pumping out disinformation at an extraordinary rate right now, and finding the truth among the lies is going to be a hard job.

I still think that its probable the snipers in Maidan had links to someone among the opposition, now government. However, the situation in Ukraine has at least as much to do with elite oligarchical competition as street protestors. The financial crisis there means Yanukoych wasn't able to pay off his political backers with no-bid government contracts, turning the financial crisis into a political one.

That said, Medvedchuk has familial links to Putin, and I strongly doubt he would turn on Yanukoych without Putin's approval. Putin has since thrown Yanukoych under a bus, but at the time he was still backing him.

I'm not entirely sure Andriy Shkil can be trusted either. When someone turns up on both sides of a political dispute and then tells you he's really working for one side...well, that could just be another layer of disinformation. Was supporting Yuschenko the false-flag operation, or was smearing Medvedchuk? Unfortunately, I don't know enough about him to say one way or another.

And of course, it's possible Engdahl is being fed bullshit by his sources, purposefully putting a group with such...unclear affiliations into the limelight. Even if we accept UNA-UNSO is on one side or another, whether or not they were the snipers is still an allegation at this stage.

So yes, it's a confusing situation. I thought you might appreciate knowing a bit more in depth about just how confusing it is, since I've always gotten the impression from your blog that you're interested in the truth, rather than contorting the facts to fit a particular agenda. And to be honest, if you were to find something which could clarify the situation - in either direction - I'd be glad to know the truth too.

Apologies for a long email there.

Well, it's official...

Hillary Clinton has her own PAC.

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And so on. I believe I am the first to embed the HillaryPAC video...

Weird theories about that missing Malaysian airliner

The maddening thing about the MH370 mystery is that yesterday's "too wacky to take seriously" story may turn into tomorrow's "Maybe that idea wasn't so wacky after all" story. So let's dive into a big, bubbling vat of conspiracy theory, and see if we can discover something of value amid the slime and the ooze.

A reader has turned me onto the wildest theory yet. In this scenario, the MH370 saga links up with the events chronicled in Captain Phillips.

(If the preceding sentence didn't make you mouth the words "What the fuck?" you must have a saintly aversion to profanity. I wouldn't be surprised if you also fart Chanel.)

Let's try to unpack this mondo-weirdo theory. Our first stop is this article from last month, in which we learn of the mysterious deaths of two Navy SEALs.

Police on the island nation of Seychelles say that two former U.S. Navy SEALs found dead aboard the ship Maersk Alabama died of respiratory failure and were suspected to have had heart attacks, possibly from drug use.

The police said Monday that a syringe and traces of heroin were found in their cabin. Police said samples are being sent to Mauritius for analysis to establish if the men had consumed "a substance" that could have caused the health failures.

The ship the men worked on, the Maersk Alabama, was the focus of a 2009 hijacking dramatized in the movie "Captain Phillips."

Officials named the two men as Mark Daniel Kennedy, 43, and Jeffrey Keith Reynolds, 44. They worked for the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based maritime security firm The Trident Group.

Trident Security was founded by former U.S. Navy SEALs in 2000 and employs former special warfare operators to provide security.

You'd think that Trident would screen its employees better. Neither heart attacks nor heroin use seem likely in two men of that age and background.

File that story away in your memory. Now turn to this Reuters article. Many of you will already know these details.

Military radar data suggests a Malaysia Airlines jetliner missing for nearly a week was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course, heightening suspicions of foul play among investigators, sources told Reuters on Friday.

Analysis of the Malaysia data suggests the plane, with 239 people on board, diverted from its intended northeast route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west instead, using airline flight corridors normally employed for routes to the Middle East and Europe, said sources familiar with investigations into the Boeing 777's disappearance.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints when it was last plotted on military radar off the country's northwest coast.

The last plot on the military radar's tracking suggested the plane was flying toward India's Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, they said.

And now we come to a very bizarre blog called Great Game India. The proprietor of that site has mixed together all of the above, and the result is...

...well, judge for yourself:

A new report circulating the Kremlin prepared by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (GRU) states that Aerospace Defence Forces (VKO) experts remain “puzzled” as to why the United States Navy “captured and then diverted” a Malaysia Airlines civilian aircraft from its intended flight-path to their vast and highly-secretive Indian Ocean base located on the Diego Garcia atoll.

The writer of this piece, Shelley Kasli, includes a link to the Reuters article excerpted above. But that article says nothing about the U.S. capturing or diverting MH370. The GRU report is referenced in a couple of other sites (neither of which is considered very credible): Here and here. The ultimate source would appear to be someone called Sorcha Faal, a mystic who claims to have attained "True knowledge of the three minds." We've run into this oddball before.

Let's get back to that Great Game India analysis...

The military base in the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) of Diego Garcia in the middle of the Indian Ocean is of great importance to the British. Diego Garcia has a long history of hosting B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers and their supporting tanker aircraft, for operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The author then natters on for a bit about that base. He also goes on and on about the parapolitical importance of India. We may safely skip all of that.

So how does this alleged GRU report link up MH370 with those two Navy SEALs? Like so...

Now coming back to our report, it is interesting to note that it says that Flight 370 was already under GRU “surveillance” after it received a “highly suspicious” cargo load that had been traced to the Indian Ocean nation Republic of Seychelles, and where it had previously been aboard the US-flagged container ship MV Maersk Alabama.

The blog then prints a photo of one of the dead SEALs, Mark Daniel Kennedy. He looks like one really tough dude.

Both Kennedy and Reynolds, this report says, were employed by the Virginia Beach, Virginia-based maritime security firm The Trident Group which was founded by US Navy Special Operations Personnel (SEAL’s) and Senior US Naval Surface Warfare Officers and has long been known by the GRU to protect vital transfers of both atomic and biological materials throughout the world.

I hope you will forgive me for inflicting a long quotation on you, but I'm not sure how to pare down this material.

On October 12, 2013 an American vessel MV Seaman Guard Ohio, belonging to the US firm AdvanFort, was apprehended by the Indian Coast Guard for unauthorized presence in India’s territorial waters. The vessel was being replenished with 1600 liters of high speed diesel by an Indian fishing trawler. The vessel with 35 members (10 crew and 25 security guards) in contravention of law, carried 35 assault rifles and 5680 rounds of ammunition. The crew and the guards were of various nationalities, i.e. Estonians, British, Ukrainian and Indian. All the 35 members were arrested for illegally carrying arms in India’s water and lodged at Palayamkottai Central Jail in Tamil Nadu. Even though there was no US citizen on the vessel, three officials from the US Consulate General at Chennai visited them the very next day. The US authorities maintained that the vessel was engaged in anti-piracy operations for protection of American merchant vessels, and were well beyond the Indian maritime territorial limit of 12 nm.

The ship caught was run by AdvanFort that officially is a private maritime security company but actually is a front for Naval Intelligence. All caught on board were ex-Naval Intelligence Officers. AdvanFort is already complicit in it's dubious activities in Nigeria and other ports. At least one on the advisory board Charles Dragonette is a retired analyst for the Office of Naval Intelligence.

There is a major multi-billion dollar Crude Oil, Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene racket on the high seas, where entire massive vessels are involved, from which smaller vessels offload the material and deliver the material to Bombay for further distribution. This was the same protected route that was followed by the terrorists who hit Bombay on 26/11. The journalist J Dey was exposing this very smuggling racket when he was shot dead by gunmen. ]

Much of the above supposedly derives from that aforementioned GRU report, the veracity of which is beyond my ability to establish.

What follows was written, it would seem, by Shelley Kasli, not the GRU:

Upon GRU “assests” confirming that this “highly suspicious” cargo was aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on 8 March, this report notes, Moscow notified China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) of their concerns and received “assurances” that “all measures” would be taken as to ascertain what was being kept so hidden when this aircraft entered into their airspace.

However, this report says, and as yet for still unknown reasons, the MSS was preparing to divert Flight 370 from its scheduled destination of Beijing to Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) located in Hainan Province (aka Hainan Island).

Prior to entering the People Liberation Army (PLA) protected zones of the South China Sea known as the Spratly Islands, this report continues, Flight 370 “significantly deviated” from its flight course and was tracked by VKO satellites and radar flying into the Indian Ocean region and completing its nearly 3,447 kilometer (2,142 miles) flight to Diego Garcia.

Critical to note about Flight 370’s flight deviation, GRU experts in this report say, was that it occurred during the same time period that all of the Spratly Island mobile phone communications operated by China Mobile were being jammed.

China Mobile, it should be noted, extended phone coverage in the Spratly Islands in 2011 so that PLA soldiers stationed on the islands, fishermen, and merchant vessels within the area would be able to use mobile services, and can also provide assistance during storms and sea rescues.

As to how the US Navy was able to divert Flight 370 to its Diego Garcia base, this report says, appears to have been accomplished remotely as this Boeing 777-200ER aircraft is equipped with a fly-by-wire (FBW) system that replaces the conventional manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface allowing it to be controlled like any drone-type aircraft.

However, this report notes, though this aircraft can be controlled remotely, the same cannot be said of its communication systems which can only be shut down manually; and in the case of Flight 370, its data reporting system was shut down at 1:07 a.m., followed by its transponder (which transmits location and altitude) which was shut down at 1:21 a.m.

This is starting to sound like the "no-planes" theory of 9/11, isn't it? Sure enough, the author soon hits us with standard-issue conspira-crap about that most unpleasant date in 2001.

Since I despise the 9/11 conspiracy freakazoids, let's make one thing clear right now: I will not publish any comments which make any reference of any sort to the destruction of the World Trade Center or the attack on the Pentagon. Even if you're a long-time friend to this blog, you won't get a foot in the door. Sorry to be so hard-nosed on this point, but experience is the great nose-hardener.

(That previous paragraph seems clear enough, dunnit? Yet I can predict with confidence that several people out there are going to send such commentary anyways.)

Frankly, this Great Game India blog seems very, very iffy. It's sort of an Indian version of an Alex Jones website. Other stories published by these people have titles like "The Rothschild Illuminati Colonization of India" and "THE MASONIC THEORY OF THE ORIGINS OF LIFE – The hidden link between Darwin, Marx, Neitzche & Hitler."

Ew. Yuck. It smells. It burns. Get this conspira-shit away from me!

Why, then, have I quoted so unreliable a source at such great length?

First and foremost, I'm intrigued by this alleged GRU document. Obviously, I doubt its authenticity -- but even a fake can reward study. As longtime readers know, elaborate frauds have always fascinated me. If the report is bogus, then someone went to a lot of trouble to write this thing and circulate it among the international brotherhood of paranoia aficionados. People do not usually make that kind of effort unless they have an agenda.

Or maybe, just maybe, the document really reflects the thinking of Russian intelligence. I highly doubt it. But if so...wow!

Here comes Stratfor. A previous Great Game India story derives from an analysis provided by -- egads! -- Stratfor. We've dealt with these guys before.

It has become traditional for mainstream writers to dismiss Stratfor as a bunch of clowns. I do not. Although I don't always find the reports written by that group to be credible, I doubt that George Friedman and his cronies are mere fools. They definitely have an agenda.

In the current case, the following excerpt (allegedly from a Stratfor analysis) seems quite intriguing...

A U.S. intelligence assessment, described to The Daily Beast by current and former U.S. intelligence officials, concluded that any Israeli attack on hardened nuclear sites in Iran would go far beyond airstrikes from F-15 and F-16 fighter planes and likely include electronic warfare against Iran’s electric grid, Internet, cellphone network, and emergency frequencies for firemen and police officers.

For example, Israel has developed a weapon capable of mimicking a maintenance cellphone signal that commands a cell network to “sleep,” effectively stopping transmissions, officials confirmed. The Israelis also have jammers capable of creating interference within Iran’s emergency frequencies for first responders.

In a 2007 attack on a suspected nuclear site at al-Kibar, the Syrian military got a taste of this warfare when Israeli planes “spoofed” the country’s air-defense radars, at first making it appear that no jets were in the sky and then in an instant making the radar believe the sky was filled with hundreds of planes.

Compared to that alleged GRU report, this Stratfor material is easier to accept. The technology of radar spoofing is actually quite old, almost as old as radar itself. (That link goes to a pdf; for a summary, try here.)

Here's an angle I didn't know about...

On 11th March eight villagers from Marang lodged police reports claiming that they had heard a loud noise last Saturday coming from the direction of Pulau Kapas and believed it was linked to the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight on that day.

All of them, from Kampung Pantai Seberang Marang, made the reports at the Marang district police headquarters at about 10.30am. One of them, Alias Salleh, 36, said he and seven fellow villagers were seated on a bench about 400 metres from the Marang beach at 1.20am when they heard the noise, which sounded like the fan of a jet engine.

“The loud and frightening noise came from the north-east of Pulau Kapas and we ran in that direction to find out the cause. We looked around the Rhu Muda beach, but did not see anything unusual,” said the lorry driver.

Replying to a question, Alias said they lodged the police report so that it would be of help to the authorities who were trying to locate the missing MAS aircraft.

Another villager, Mohd Yusri Mohd Yusof, 34, said when he heard the strange noise, he thought a tsunami was about to strike.

“My friends and I heard the ringing noise for about two minutes. I decided to lodge the police report after seeing the media reports on the lost flight,” he said. – Bernama

Mainstream news pieces have backed up these "strange noises" reports: See here and here. I can't prove that the mystery booms are connected to MH370, but a linkage certainly seems possible.

Alas, this Great Game India post also devolves into 9/11 conspira-crap. Ew. Yuck. It smells. It burns.

In the end, what are we to make of all of these wild and largely irreconcilable claims? Obviously, I am disinclined to accept at face value most of the statements made on the Great Game India site. The alleged GRU report seems like one of those damnable disinfo documents that we have to deal with once or twice every year. Stratfor is...well, it's Stratfor.

And yet...and yet...