A couple of weeks ago, this column guardedly suggested that John Kerry’s day-long talks in Sochi with Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, looked like a break in the clouds on numerous questions, primarily the Ukraine crisis. I saw no evidence that President Obama’s secretary of state had suddenly developed a sensible, post-imperium foreign strategy consonant with a new era. It was force of circumstance. It was the 21st century doing its work.

This work will get done, cleanly and peaceably or otherwise.

Sochi, an unexpected development, suggested the prospect of cleanliness and peace. But events since suggest that otherwise is more likely to prove the case. It is hard to say because it is hard to see, but our policy cliques may be gradually wading into very deep water in Ukraine.

Ever since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, reality itself has come to seem up for grabs. Karl Rove, a diabolically competent political infighter but of no discernible intellectual weight, may have been prescient when he told us to forget our pedestrian notions of reality—real live reality. Empires create their own, he said, and we’re an empire now.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/03/we_are_the_propagandists_the_real_story_about_how_the_new_york_times_and_the_white_house_has_turned_truth_in_the_ukraine_on_its_head/

A couple of weeks ago, this column guardedly suggested that John Kerry’s day-long talks in Sochi with Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, looked like a break in the clouds on numerous questions, primarily the Ukraine crisis. I saw no evidence that President Obama’s secretary of state had suddenly developed a sensible, post-imperium foreign strategy consonant with a new era. It was force of circumstance. It was the 21st century doing its work.

This work will get done, cleanly and peaceably or otherwise.

Sochi, an unexpected development, suggested the prospect of cleanliness and peace. But events since suggest that otherwise is more likely to prove the case. It is hard to say because it is hard to see, but our policy cliques may be gradually wading into very deep water in Ukraine.

Ever since the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, reality itself has come to seem up for grabs. Karl Rove, a diabolically competent political infighter but of no discernible intellectual weight, may have been prescient when he told us to forget our pedestrian notions of reality—real live reality. Empires create their own, he said, and we’re an empire now.

http://agonist.org/we-are-the-propagandists-the-real-story-about-how-the-new-york-times-and-the-white-house-has-turned-truth-in-the-ukraine-on-its-head/

wo weeks ago, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham was widely mocked for this breathless, fearmongering tweet:

We have never seen more threats against our nation and its citizens than we do today.
— Lindsey Graham (@GrahamBlog) May 22, 2015

This morning, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, demanding passage of the USA Freedom Act, said something quite similar: “I have never seen a time of greater potential danger than right now.” After issuing her scary warning, Feinstein claimed: “I’ve never said that before.” That’s very strange, in light of this 2013 headline following a joint appearance she made with GOP Rep. Mike Rogers on CNN:

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/30526-for-terrorist-fearmongers-its-always-the-scariest-time-ever

Did you see that bit on Jon Stewart? It gets worse every year.

Given that history is whatever happened before we were born, statements like this will always find currency.

-- Mal

I take the level of fearmongering as a good indicator of our leaders' insecurity and lack of mental resources. The current crop of top-down herd-thinkers do not impress. Anybody that comes along and cleans their clock for them suddenly becomes Hitler, because obviously nobody less than Hitler could have made them look foolish. Doesn't matter who it is, a smart autocrat like Putin, a flamboyant but not so sharp populist like Chavez, or a shy really-smart nerd like Snowden, they are all Hitler. It's like the name was a magic wand in their minds.

the Cold War--emigres were involved in winding it up (though Stalin's "beat everyone to death" policies were the other side of the coin), emigres were the ones saying that every land reform in Guatemala or Thailand was a sign of COMMIES, emigres were the ones saying that every change was the USSR building its empire at the expense of ours, emigres swung our Israeli policy far to the right, and Daniel Pipes' crew corrupted even Carter's foreign policy ("somocismo without Somoza," anyone?)