Bulletin
N° 817
Living Off The
Bodies Of Dead Yemeni Children
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50308.htm
A report on the genocidal policy of US-Saudi attacks on Yemen,
with a short video: "Black Sabbath ~ War Pigs"
Subject : LATE CAPTIALIST “REFORMS,” LIKE A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL . . . .
29 September 2018
Grenoble,
France
Dear
Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,
The
proverbial paradox of counter-revolutionary “Reforms” – which make some lives
better by making other lives worse – is a historical fact of life,
undisputed in knowledgeable circles. The trick is to secure within a sector of the public
assent to such “reforms” by soliciting reliable “leaders” who will cooperate
with this ruse. The necessary illusion is easily manufactured by the architects
of any over-centralize political economy. Centuries of capitalist growth has
produced a mountain of documents which substantiate the fact that periodic
crises are followed by “reforms” which usually involve removing
extreme violence to other geographical regions, so that the appearance of
“progress” can be maintained, while at the same time class warfare is muted,
hidden by other paramont concerns.
Thus
the very fabric of capitalist civilization, of which we are an integral part, is
based on the profitable returns of private capital investments. Sometimes, this
may entail low wages and high unemployment; other times, higher
wages and lower unemployment - when, for example, it becomes necessary to invade
foreign nations in order to secure profitable returns on investments. The real
nature of our political economy can be seen in its entirety only when we focus
on the exploitation of alienated labor and the methodical extraction of surplus
value from this labor. Any other focus, no matter how informative it might be, can offer
only a partial understanding of the workings of the system.
William
Morris was aware of the charade of “civilization” in Victorian England
that was created in the wake of the Industrial Revolution, and, in April 1889, he
responded to a Spanish “Anarchist-Communist” tract that espoused the ideal of
“a social state in which there is no necessity for government . . . .” and
that acknowledged tactics in which “we must also recognize as a guarantee of liberty
the abolition of the principle of private property and of the exploitation of
man by man . . . .” Morris restated his belief that class-conscious struggle
was the necessary engine for fundamental social change :
‘I will begin by
saying that I call myself a Communist, and have no wish to qualify that word by
joining any other to it. The aim of Communism seems to me to be the complete
equality of condition for all people; and anything in a Socialist direction
which stops short of this is merely a compromise . . . a halting-place on the
road. . . . Communism also will have to keep itself free of superstition. Its
ethics will have to be based on the recognition of natural cause and
effect, and not on rules derived from a priori ideas of the
relation of man to the universe or some imagined ruler of it; and from these
two things, the equality of condition and the recognition of the cause and
effect of material nature, will grow all Communistic life.’(cited on p.639)
Thus
Morris held that Communism was the “necessary development of Socialism,” and,
while acknowledging his sympathy for the “Anarchist-Communist” position, he
nevertheless insisted on “the necessity for individual submission to collective
decisions.”
‘I have always
believed that the realization of Socialism would give us an opportunity of
escaping from that grievous flood of utilitarianism which the full
development of the society of contract has cursed us with; but that would be in
the long run only; and I think it quite probable that in the early days of
Socialism the reflex of the terror of starvation, which so oppresses us now,
would drive us into excesses of utilitarianism. . . . So that it is not
unlikely that the public opinion of a community would be in favour
of cutting down all the timber in England, and turning the country into a big
Bonanza farm or a market-garden under glass. And in such a case what could we
do, who objected ‘for the sake of life to cast away the reasons for living’,
when we had exhausted our powers of argument? Clearly we should have to submit
to authority.’(cited on p.640)
William
Morris’s close associate Frederick Engels warned against “hot-house” theorists,
those intellectuals who worked outside the working-class movement: What they
produced was sometimes attractive, but their ideas had little chance of
survival, as the roots had not developed in the turbulent milieu of massive
class struggle experience. History showed such ideas were little more than belles lettres,
with no hope for longevity and utility. Experience of close relationships with
the real actors on the front lines (with all the contradictions it would
involve) was a pedagogical requirement for the development of revolutionary
theory, according to Engels.
The
Socialist League was formed on December 30, 1884 by William Morris, Eleanor
Marx-Aveling, Edward Aveling,
and Belfort Bax with a program which advocated
“international revolutionary socialism.” It’s monthly publication, Commonweal,
first appeared in February 1885 ; it was
financed by Morris, who also served as chief editor, whereas Aveling worked as the assistant editor. In his “Farewell,” written for Commonweal at the end of 1890, Morris
wrote:
‘Men absorbed in a movement are apt to surround
themselves with a kind of artificial atmosphere which distorts the proportions
of things outside, and prevents them from seeing what is really going on. . . .
What was it
which we set out to accomplish? To change the system of society on which the
stupendous fabric of civilization is founded, and which has been built up by
centuries of conflict with older and dying systems, and crowned by the victory
of modern civilization over the material surroundings of life.’(cited on p.663)
The
effective birth of modern Socialism in Britain was in 1883, and the pioneers of
English Socialism were no more than a “band of oddities.” “[They] were there,
he wrote:
‘by dint of their special
intelligence, or of their eccentricity; not as working-men simply. . . . As a
friend . . . once said to me, We are too much a
collection of oddities. . . .’ (cited on p.346)
And
yet their conversion to the Socialist cause must be explained by the deep
economic and political upheavals in British life, when the economic boom of
industrial supremacy for two years following the Franco-Prussian War of
1870-71, entered a phase known as the “Great Depression”, lasting more than
twenty years, when American and German competition challenged British
manufacturers in the world market. It was a period when industrial productive
capacity increased, while prices fell and profit-margins were cut. The British
economy was facing severe problems of readjustment as unemployment grew and the
symptoms of overproduction appeared.
‘Who were
the statesmen who took up the momentous questions laid before England of the
nineteenth century by the English Socialists? Who were the great divines who
preached this new gospel of happiness from their pulpits? Who were the natural
philosophers who proclaimed their hope and joy at the advent of a society which
should at last use their marvelous discoveries for the good of mankind?
'There is
no need to take pen in hand to write their names. . . .
‘There
has been self-seeking amongst us, and vainglory, and sloth, and rashness;
although there has been at least courage and devotion also. When I first joined
the movement I hoped that some working-man leader, or rather leaders, would
turn up, who would push aside all middle-class help, and become great
historical figures. I might still hope for that, if it seemed likely to happen,
for indeed I long for it enough; but to speak plainly it does not so seem at
present.’ (cited on pp.663-664)
From a historical perspective, the movement had grown over the years and had
evolved into a qualitatively different experience.
‘When we
first began to work together, there was little said about anything save the
great ideals of Socialism; and so far off did we seem from the realization of
these, that we could hardly think of any means for their realization, save
great dramatic events which would make our lives tragic indeed, but would take
us out of the sordidness of the so-called ‘peace’ of civilization. With the
great extension of Socialism, this also is changed. Our very success has dimmed
the great ideals that first led us on; for the hope of the partial and, so to
say, vulgarized realization of Socialism is now pressing on us.’(cited on p.664)
In
this social context, Morris criticized two distinct tendencies within the
movement both of which he deemed to be counter-productive for any Socialist advance:
the anarchist “bluster of riot and partial revolt” and the “our old
acquaintance, palliation” promoted by the reformers and opportunists. True to
character, Morris, turned his attention toward the
latter and criticized those who espoused relief
in place of revolution:
‘The whole set [of] opinion amongst those more of
less touched by Socialism . . . is towards the New Trades’ Unions and
palliation. Men believe that they can wrest from the
capitalists some portion of their privileged profits . . . . That [this] could
only very partially be done, and that the men could not rest there if it were
done, we Socialists know very well. . . .’(cited on
pp.664-665)
He
used the struggle of the 8-hour day as an illustration of this illusory
victory: “No permanent material benefit can accrue to [the workers] until
Socialism has ceased to be militant, and is merged in the new society.”
‘For the rest, I neither believe in State Socialism
as desirable in itself, or, indeed, as a complete scheme do
I think it possible. Nevertheless some approach to it is sure to be tired, and
to my mind this will precede any complete enlightenment on the new order of
things. The success of Mr. Bellamy’s book, deadly dull as it is, is a straw to
show which way the wind blows. The general attention paid to our clever
friends, the Fabian lecturers and pamphleteers, is not altogether due to their
literary ability; people have really got their heads turned more or less in
their direction.’(cited on p.665)
Morris
insisted that as material conditions changes, the mass of workers would
become increasingly favorable to a Socialist consciousness of what changes would
be desirable.
‘This time when people are excited about Socialism,
and when many who know nothing about it think themselves Socialists, is the
time of all others to put forward the simple principles of Socialism regardless
of the policy of the passing hour.
‘. . . In
saying this I am speaking for those who are complete Socialists – or let us
call them Communists. I say for us to make Socialists is the
business at present. . . .’(cited on p.665)
Social
agitation was not enough, in Morris’s opinion; nor was the demand for social
reforms and electoral campaigns going to produce a Socialist society:
‘Our business, I repeat, is the making of
Socialists, i.e. convincing people that Socialism is good for them and is
possible. When we have enough people of that way of thinking, they will
find out what action is necessary for putting their principles in practice.
Until we have that mass of opinion, action for a general change that will
benefit the whole people is impossible. Have we that body of opinion or
anything like it? Surely not . . . . Though there area great many who believe it possible to compel
their masters . . . to behave better to them, and though they are prepared to
compel them . . . all but a very small minority are not prepared to do without
masters. They do not believe in their own capacity to undertake the management
of affairs, and to be responsible for their life in this world. When they are
so prepared, then Socialism will be realized ; but
noting can push it on a day in advance to that time.( cited on pp.665-666)
‘Therefore, I say, make Socialists. We Socialists
can do nothing else that is useful, and preaching and teaching is not out of
date for that purpose; but rather for those who, like myself, do not believe in
State Socialism it is the only rational means of attaining to the New Order of
Things.’(cited on p.666)
E.
P. Thompson, at this point comments on Morris’s “pure” Socialism “outside the mass labour
movement, rather than a propaganda of both theory and
practice within the worker’s own organizations.”
Engels’s
advice throughout these years was different in emphasis: he urged the Socialists. . . to carry on their activities ‘right in
the heart of the proletarian masses’, to ‘throw off their narrow sectarianism
at all costs and affiliate to the labour
movement in order politically to shake up the proletariat’. . . . [Morris] was still placing too much
emphasis upon the inculcation of Socialist theory in the abstract; far too
little upon the educative role of the struggle itself. Engels, by contrast,
stressed repeatedly the importance of practical experience. He and Marx (he
wrote in 1888):
‘entirely trusted to the
intellectual development of the working class, which was sure to result from
combined action and mutual discussion. The very events and vicissitudes of the
struggle against capital, the defeats even more than the victories, could not
help bringing home to men’s minds the insufficiency of their various favourite nostrums, and preparing the way for a more
complete insight into the true conditions of working class emancipation.’(cited on pp.667-668)
Engels
developed this thesis in a letter to H. Schlüter,
written on January 11, 1890, in which he commented on English and American
workers:
‘. . . they go their own
way. One cannot drum the theory into them beforehand, but their own experience
and their own blunders and the evil consequences of them will soon bump their
noses up against theory – and then all right.’(cited
on p.668)
In
Thompson judgment, Morris was misguided in his efforts: “To ‘make Socialists’
while remaining aloof from the New Unionism was simply a policy of
self-destruction. If reformism was to be fought, the place to fight it must be
within the people’s mass organizations. . . .”
The
source of Morris’s strength and inspiration was at the same time a cause of his
political weakness. The depth of his hatred against capitalism made him
inclined to denounce all partial reforms as compromises or betrayals. The
clarity of his vision of Socialist society made him impatient of any advances
which savored of the re-organization or ‘improvement’ of capitalism. Above all,
he feared the penetration of the Socialist movement by the values and outlook
of the middle class.(p.668)
Engels had made the same observation in
a letter to the German-American Socialist Friedrich Sorge
dated December 1889:
‘. . . The most repulsive thing here is the
bourgeois ‘respectability’ which has grown deep into the bones of the workers.
. . . I am not at all sure for instance, that John Burns is not secretly
prouder of his popularity with Cardinal Manning, the Lord Mayor and the
bourgeoisie in general than of his popularity with his own class. And Campion .
. . has intrigued for years with bourgeois and especially conservative elements
. . . . Even Tom Mann, whom I regard as the finest of them, is fond of
mentioning that he will be lunching with the Lord Mayor. If one compares this
with the French, one can see what a revolution is good for after all . . . .’(cited on p.668)
Thompson
concludes this discussion in Chapter VI, “The Last Years of the Socialist
League,” with the following judgment:
Certainly Engels
was right that the real way to make Socialists and win theoretical
clarity was for the existing Socialists to carry on the struggle within the labour movement itself. But Morris’s purism should not be
confused with preciousness. In the last years of his life, when he had broken
with the League, he was to show himself still capable of further ‘education’ –
ridding himself of many of his errors, while never abandoning for a moment the
fight against Fabianism. And at the same time he was
to become increasingly preoccupied with the problem which Engels, too, regarded
as central: [viz.] the creation of unity within the movement, and the building
of a united Socialist Party.(p.669)
The
28 + items below will serve to inform readers of the powerful
contradictions that are governing our political economy and the increasingly
sharp focus that social class antagonism has come under in recent weeks. The
traditional socialist question – Which side are you on? – has taken
on new importance in these days of universal crises . . . .
Francis Feeley
Professor emeritus
of American Studies
University
Grenoble-Alpes
Director of
Research
University of
Paris-Nanterre
Center for
the Advanced Study of American Institutions and Social Movements
The University of
California-San Diego
a.
In Yemen and Beyond, U.S. Arms
Manufacturers Are Abetting
Crimes against Humanity
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50327.htm
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies
Our leading weapons dealers have
developed a business model that feeds on war, terrorism, chaos, political
instability, and human rights violations.
The Saudi bombing of a school bus in
Yemen on August 9, 2018 killed 44 children and wounded many more. The attack
struck a nerve in the U.S., confronting the American public with the wanton
brutality of the Saudi-led war on Yemen. When CNN revealed that the bomb used
in the airstrike was made by U.S. weapons manufacturer Lockheed Martin, the
horror of the atrocity hit even closer to home for many Americans.
==========
b.
Hold the Front Page: The Reporters are Missing
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50300.htm
by
John Pilger
The death of Robert Parry earlier this
year felt like a farewell to the age of the reporter. Parry was "a
trailblazer for independent journalism", wrote Seymour Hersh,
with whom he shared much in common.
Hersh revealed the My
Lai massacre in Vietnam and the secret bombing of Cambodia, Parry exposed
Iran-Contra, a drugs and gun-running conspiracy that led to the White House. In
2016, they separately produced compelling evidence that the Assad government in
Syria had not used chemical weapons. They were not forgiven.
Driven from the "mainstream", Hersh must publish his work outside the United States.
Parry set up his own independent news website Consortium News, where, in a
final piece following a stroke, he referred to journalism's veneration of
"approved opinions" while "unapproved evidence is brushed aside
or disparaged regardless of its quality."
Although journalism was always a loose
extension of establishment power, something has changed in recent years.
Dissent tolerated when I joined a national newspaper in Britain in the 1960s
has regressed to a metaphoric underground as liberal capitalism moves towards a
form of corporate dictatorship. This is a seismic shift, with journalists
policing the new "groupthink", as Parry called it, dispensing its
myths and distractions, pursuing its enemies.
Witness the witch-hunts against refugees
and immigrants, the wilful abandonment by the "MeToo" zealots of our oldest freedom, presumption of
innocence, the anti-Russia racism and anti-Brexit
hysteria, the growing anti-China campaign and the suppression of a warning of
world war.
With many if not most independent
journalists barred or ejected from the "mainstream", a corner of the
Internet has become a vital source of disclosure and evidence-based analysis:
true journalism. Sites such as wikileaks.org, consortiumnews.com, ZNet zcomm.org, wsws.org, truthdig.com, globalresearch.org,
counterpunch.org and informationclearinghouse.info are required reading for
those trying to make sense of a world in which science and technology advance
wondrously while political and economic life in the fearful
"democracies" regress behind a media facade of narcissistic
spectacle.
+
Assange Reveals Biggest
Threat to Humanity in Latest Released Recording
https://sputniknews.com/science/201809211068222409-artificial-intellegence-wikileaks-assange/
==========
c.
Noam Chomsky - The Future of Capitalism
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkcDT4l7e4o
+
Prof. Richard Wolff: Capitalism on the
Brink of Collapse
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50302.htm
"The Rich depend on the poor"
==========
d.
From:
"William
Blum" <bill@williamblum.org>
Sent: Friday, 21 September, 2018
The
Anti-Empire Report #160
William Blum takes on the Washington Post again, in the person of columnist Max Boot, formerly of the
Wall
Street Journal
https://williamblum.org/aer/read/160
by William Blum
Dear Mr. Boot,
You write: “Every
administration since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s has tried to improve relations
with Moscow.” . . .
+
The Surest Sign Yet
Billionaires Are Building an Oligarchy
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-surest-sign-yet-billionaires-are-building-an-oligarchy/
by Jim Naureckas
The announcement
that Time magazine would be bought by software CEO Marc Benioff highlighted the growing trend of billionaires
buying up media outlets.
While media moguls have always been
wealthy—with press barons (Rupert Murdoch, Michael Bloomberg, Donald
Newhouse, etc.) still well-represented on Forbes’ running list of the world’s billionaires—what
distinguishes this new breed of press magnate is that they bought their media
properties with fortunes made in other industries.
Some, like Benioff,
come out of the tech industry; tech tycoons like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, eBay’s
Pierre Omidyar and Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, have profited from a tech boom
(or bubble) that gives them plenty of
cash to spend. Others come out of the financial sector, which has doubled its share of the US
economy over the past 70 years. Real estate developer Mort Zuckerman—who owned The Atlantic from
1980-99, the Daily News from 1993-2017, and still owns US News
& World Report, which he bought in 1984—was a harbinger of non-media money
coming into the media sector.
Wherever their money comes from, the new
moguls’ interest in buying up outlets is generally less the direct profit
involved—media profits are typically declining as the old local monopoly model
erodes—and more the power that comes with control of the public conversation.
Being a latter-day Citizen Kane is a personal ego boost, to be sure, and
provides a platform for an individual ideology—whether it’s Philip Anschutz’s
social conservatism or Omidyar’s civil
libertarianism.
==========
e.
Michael Moore vs. Donald Trump in
“Fahrenheit 11/9”:
New Film Warns Our Democracy Is At Risk
(1/6)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/21/michael_moore_v_donald_trump_in
“Fahrenheit 11/9”—That’s
the name of the new documentary premiering today by Oscar-winning filmmaker
Michael Moore, a stunning retelling of the 2016 election and its aftermath.
11/9. That’s November 9, the day Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential
election. In the film, Michael crosses the country, documenting not only the
rise of Trumpism but also the teachers’ strikes
sweeping the nation, the “blue wave” of progressive candidates in the 2018
primaries, the rise of student activism after the school shooting in Parkland,
Florida, and the water crisis in his hometown of Flint, Michigan. Moore spares no
one in the wide-ranging documentary, which takes aim at the Democratic
establishment, The New York Times and other mainstream media outlets, the
Electoral College, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and even himself. Michael Moore
joins us in our studio to talk about the film and much more.
==========
f.
In Viral Video, Medea
Benjamin Confronts Trump Official on Iran
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peJGmeg6ZE8
At a public event in Washington, DC, CodePink's Medea Benjamin
confronted Brian Hook, the head of Trump's Iran Action Group, over the US
withdrawal from the JCPOA and re-imposing crippling sanctions on the Iranian
people. Benjamin joins us to discuss her action, which went viral online.
+
Terrorists kill Iranian children and
soldiers in military parade attack
+
“WARNING: DISTURBING FOOTAGE”
Islamic State and an Arab nationalist separatist
group, called the Patriotic Arab Democratic Movement in Ahwaz, both
claimed responsibility for the attack.
Islamic State said via Amaq,
the news outlet linked to the group, that “Islamic State fighters attacked a
gathering of Iranian forces” in Ahvaz.
Isis wrongly suggested the Iranian president was
speaking at the parade. Hassan Rouhani was speaking
at a parade in the capital, Tehran, instead.
Iran called on Denmark and the Netherlands to
extradite the attack’s “perpetrators and their accomplices” to stand trial, Irna said, citing foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi.
“It is not acceptable that the European Union does
not blacklist members of these terrorist groups as long as they do not
perpetrate a crime on ... European soil,” Qasemi was
quoted as saying.
The British charge d’affaires,
summoned in the ambassador’s absence, was told it was unacceptable “that the
spokesman for the Al-Ahvazi terrorist group was
allowed to claim responsibility of the attack through a London-based TV
network”, according to the news agency. Tehran claims the group is backed by
its arch-rival Saudi Arabia.
+
Ahwaz Attacks: Is Saudi Arabia Taking the War Inside
Iran?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50328.htm
by Shireen T. Hunter
Less than a
month after Iran’s consulate in Basra was attacked, a group of terrorists
claiming to be members of the Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz attacked a
military parade in the capital of Iran’s Khuzestan province, killing 25 people
and wounding many more. When the Basra consulate incident took place , some commentators in Iran speculated that the
attackers also wanted to target Khorramshahr and
Abadan. Now it seems that they were not too wrong.
The Ahwaz
attacks also occurred shortly after operations by Kurdish insurgents belonging
to the Iranian Kurdish Democratic Party in Iran’s mostly Kurdish inhabited
regions in the country’s northwest. These attacks prompted the revolutionary
guards to target the bases inside Iraqi Kurdistan from which they were
operating. These back-to-back attacks raise the question of whether the United
States and its regional Arab allies have adopted a strategy of besieging Iran
in many of its vulnerable provinces, possibly as a prelude to more direct and
large-scale military operations against Tehran.
==========
g.
Iran on Brink of ‘REVOLUTION’ in Wake of
US Sanctions,
claims Rudy Giuliani
by Geroge Cook
DONALD Trump’s personal lawyer has said
the US’s sanctions on Iran are causing the Middle Eastern nation economic pain,
and noted there could soon be a “successful revolution”. Rudy Giuliani, the
former Mayor of New York, made his comments to a crowd at a hotel in Times
Square where he was attending the Iran Uprising Summit held by the Organisation of Iranian-American communities, which opposes
the current regime in Tehran.
He said: “I don’t know when we’re going
to overthrow them.
“It could be in a few days, months, a couple of years. But it’s going to happen.”
However, John Bolton, Donald Trump’s
National Security Adviser, has stated it is against US policy to seek “regime
change” in Iran.
Mr Giuliani
nevertheless praised the sanctions and stated that they are “working”.
He said: “The people of Iran obviously
have had enough now.
“The sanctions are working.
“The currency is going to nothing; these
are the kinds of conditions that lead to successful revolution.”
The US State Department has reiterated
that Mr Giuliani does not speak for the US
administration.
Trump is nevertheless aiming to persuade
Iran to curb its nuclear program and support for militia groups across the
Middle East by virtue of his economic sanctions.
The US administration intends to
implement further tariffs on the country’s oil industry on November 4, after
withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal in May.
Iran has claimed is has not broken the
2015 accord, and stated it has complied with the agreement between Tehran, the
US and five other world powers.
+
‘We’ll overthrow them!’
Trump’s lawyer stirs up ‘Iran Uprising
Summit’
after deadly
terrorist attack
https://www.rt.com/usa/439146-iran-uprising-summit-revolution/
+
White Helmets Volunteer Caught With Rebels Dumping
Beheaded Bodies
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201706231054899766-white-helmets-volunteer-beheaded-bodies/
+
Impartial and humanitarian White Helmets participating
in the beheading and throwing of Syrian soldiers bodies at a dumpster in Daraa today:
https://twitter.com/Ali_Kourani/status/877287658472472579
(Warning: Extremely graphic video)
+
The Fakest Fake News: The
U.S. Government’s 9/11 Conspiracy Theory
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50337.htm
by Edward Curtin
A Review of 9/11Unmasked: An
International Review Panel Investigation by David Ray Griffin and Elizabeth
Woodworth.
If you want to fathom today’s world, absolutely nothing
is more important than to understand the truth about the attacks of September
11, 2001. This is the definitive book on the subject.
For seventeen years we have been subjected to an onslaught of U.S.
government and corporate media propaganda about 9/11 that has been used to
support the “war on terror” that has resulted in millions of deaths around the
world. It has been used as a pretext to attack nations throughout the
Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
It has led to a great increase in Islamophobia
since Muslims were accused of being responsible for the attacks. It has led to
a crackdown on civil liberties in the United States, the exponential growth of
a vast and costly national security apparatus, the spreading of fear and
anxiety on a great scale, and a state of permanent war that is pushing the
world toward a nuclear confrontation. And much, much
more.
==========
h.
Battle
for Idlib
What does Iran want in northern Syria?
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/iran-northern-syria-180922094328020.html
by Hassan Ahmadian
Iran seeks to increase pressure on the
US in Syria and portray its military presence there as an occupation.
+
Iran summons UK, Dutch and Danish envoys
over attack on military parade
Iranian soldiers run for cover following
the deadly attack on a parade in the south-west city of Ahvaz. Photograph: Morteza Jaberian/EPA
Iran has summoned envoys from
the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Denmark over Saturday’s deadly shooting
of 29 people at a military parade in the south of the country, state media has
reported.
The British charge d’affaires,
along with the Dutch and Danish ambassadors, were “informed of Iran’s strong
protests over their respective countries’ hosting of some members of the
terrorist group” which carried out the attack, the official news agency Irna said.
Gunmen sprayed a crowd with bullets in
the south-western city of Ahvaz, at a military parade in the in oil-rich
Khuzestan province. Members of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards and soldiers
from the country’s army, as well as civilians, including children, were among
the victims.
==========
i.
Published: 23
Sep, 2018 @ 08:21
‘Criminal negligence’ or disregard to
Russia-Israel ties:
MoD details
chronology of Il-20 downing
https://www.rt.com/news/439151-russia-israel-il-20-negligence/
Misinformation
& 'criminal negligence'
On the evening of September 17, the
Russian Ilyushin IL-20 with 15 crew
on board was circling over the Idlib
de-escalation zone on a special reconnaissance mission, when four Israeli F-16
fighter jets left their country's airspace and flew over the neutral
Mediterranean waters towards the Syrian coast. The Israeli Air Force gave the
Russian side less than a minute's warning before dropping the precision-guided
glide bombs, leaving virtually no time for any safety maneuvers, Konashenkov said, calling such actions "a
clear violation of the 2015 Russian-Israeli agreements."
Moreover, the Israeli military failed to
provide the location of their jets or properly specify their targets, claiming
they were going to attack several 'industrial facilities' in northern Syria,
close to the Il-20’s area of operation. The misinformation prompted the Russian
Command to order the recon plane back to the Khmeimim
air base. The Israeli jets, however, instead almost immediately attacked the
western Syrian Latakia province
+
“Can Russia Survive Her “Partnerships”? Has
Putin Made A Strategic Miscalculation?”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50296.htm
In an act of intentional
deception, Israel used a Russian airplane to cloak an Israeli attack on a
Syrian ground position, with the consequence that Syrian air defense missiles
downed the Russian airplane with the lost of 15
Russian military lives. In the words of the Russian Ministry of Defense: “The
Israeli pilots used the Russian plane as cover and set it up to be targeted by
the Syrian air defense forces. As a consequence, the Il-20, which has radar
cross-section much larger than the [Israeli] F-16, was shot down by an S-200
system missile.” Russian Defense Minister Shoigu
said: “The blame for the downing of the Russian plane and the deaths of its
crew members lies squarely on the Israeli side. The actions of the Israeli
military were not in keeping with the spirit of the Russian-Israeli
partnership, so we reserve the right to respond.” https://russia-insider.com/en/russian-military-says-holds-israel-responsible-deaths-15-servicemen-reserves-right-respond/ri24780
See also: http://tass.com/defense/1022123. For a few minutes it looked like Israel was finally
to be held accountable for its reckless and irresponsible actions, but it was
not to be. Russian President Putin contradicted his Defense Minister by declaring
the loss of Russian lives to be “accidental,” a result of a “chain of tragic
circumstances.”
One wonders how Israel does it. President Putin covered up for Israel’s
destruction of the Russian IL-20 just as President Johnson covered up for
Israel’s murderous attack on the USS Liberty that resulted in 208 US Navy
casualties. https://www.rt.com/news/438728-putin-israel-syria-plane/ As
Israel gets away with everything, including routine massacres of unarmed
Palestinian women and children, there is no reason to expect Israel to change
its behavior.
+
Russian-Israeli
Conflict in the Skies of Syria
https://lobelog.com/russian-israeli-conflict-in-the-skies-of-syria/
by
Paul R. Pillar
The sudden
ruffling of Israeli-Russian relations over the accidental shootdown
by Syria of a Russian surveillance aircraft, killing 15 crew members, is the
sort of incident apt to happen when a modus vivendi
joins parties with much different perspectives, one of them broad and the other
narrow.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin has the broad perspective. His policies toward both
Syria and Israel are part of a strategy of making Russia an important player
throughout the Middle East. It is a good realist strategy, worthy
of emulation, in which Russia talks with everybody and does not allow any
rigid division of the region into friends and foes to constrain its diplomacy.
Putin has played his cards skillfully and has made his government a more
broadly influential interlocutor in the Middle East than the United States
despite having expended far fewer resources in the region than the United
States has over the last couple of decades.
==========
j.
US-led aircraft evacuate Daesh commanders from eastern Syria: Report
The US-led coalition purportedly
fighting the Daesh Takfiri
terrorist group has airlifted to a safe sanctuary several commanders of the
foreign-sponsored terror outfit from a region in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, where government
forces and fighters from popular defense groups are tightening the noose around
the extremists.
Local sources, requesting anonymity,
told Syria’s official news agency SANA that two US-led military aircraft
conducted the operation on the outskirts of al-Marashida
village, and transported the Takfiris to an unknown
location.
SANA, citing information received from
local residents, reported on December 29 last year that American helicopters
had evacuated Daesh commanders from several districts
of Dayr al-Zawr province
two days earlier.
Earlier that month, the Syrian
government had sent a message to the United Nations, accusing the US-led
coalition of reaching deals with Daesh and
coordinating its actions with the terror group’s commanders.
On September 10, 2017, Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid al-Muallem
said the US-led coalition was trying to destroy the Arab country and prolong
the armed conflict there.
+
Putin’s Hesitation Has Lost Syria’s Idlib Province
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50301.htm
by Paul Craig
Roberts
+
Analysis
//Russia's Claims on Downed Plane Over Syria Are Dubious, but Will Usher in New
Reality for Israel
==========
k.
https://iak.salsalabs.org/blogdigest09222018/index.html?wvpId=9623ec16-0340-11e6-ab9d-12c35146c141
|
|
|
+
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard: It is Outrageous that the US is Supporting
a Genocidal War in Yemen
Over 5 million children are facing
starvation and a cholera outbreak is raging in Yemen, the worst humanitarian
crisis in the world, yet the US continues to support the Saudi bombing and
destruction of the country, says Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
==========
l.
Economics,
September 21, 2018
Putin’s Government Is Fuming After First Rate Hike Since 2014, Sources Say
by Evgenia Pismennaya and Ilya Arkhipov
==========
m.
Ten years after the fall of US-based
investment bank
==========
n.
The Neoliberal Order Is Dying. Time To Wake Up
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50306.htm
by Jonathan Cook
In my last blog post
I argued that power in our societies resides in structure, ideology and
narratives – supporting what we might loosely term our current “neoliberal
order” – rather than in individuals. Significantly, our political and media
classes, who are of course deeply embedded in this neoliberal structure, are
key promoters of the very opposite idea: that individuals or like-minded groups
of people hold power; that they should, at least in theory, be held accountable
for the use and misuse of that power; and that meaningful change involves replacing
these individuals rather than fundamentally altering the power-structure they
operate within.
In other words, our political and media
debates reduce to who should be held
to account for problems in the economy, the health and education systems, or the
conduct of a war. What is never discussed is whether flawed policies are really
the fleeting responsibility of individuals and political parties or symptoms of
the current neoliberal malaise – manifestations of an ideology that necessarily
has goals, such as the pursuit of maximised profit
and endless economic growth, that are indifferent to other considerations, such
as the damage being done to life on our planet.
+
==========
o.
From:
"Agence Media Palestine" <agencemediapalestine@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, 21 September, 2018
Subject: Eva Illouz : L’état d’Israël
contre le peuple juif
|
==========
p.
From: "FREE PALESTINE" <eb.erouq@hotmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 25 September, 2018
Subject: Gaza under death .. I talk to you from
the hospital .. The nurse Amal
Arafa
Dears,
I need you and your
donation. I know that it has become very difficult and difficult
We are now suffering
from death
Gaza under death
I need you help us
I beg you
I do not want to
talk a lot. I'm in a difficult situation
My nurses and
nurses need you
Do anything you can
do
The nurse Amal Arafa
https://fundrazr.com/a1NtN3?ref=ab_b7RWR6_ab_7mgjz7aE4Kb7mgjz7aE4Kb
|
Please stand with us, we need you Please stand with us, we need you fundrazr.com |
==========
q.
Cash investigation
- Plastique : la grande intox (Intégrale)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZT3drAYIzo
==========
r.
Black Agenda Radio, Week of September
17, 2018
https://blackagendareport.com/black-agenda-radio-week-september-17-2018
with Nellie Bailey
and Glen Ford
·
The
Black Wall Around Barack Obama: Who Does It Protect Him Against?
·
Supreme
Court Kneecaps Voting Rights Act: The Real News Network Talks to Bruce A. Dixon
·
Ohio’s
Junk Mail Trick Led the Supreme Court to Approve Jim Crow Voter Purge
·
The
Supreme Court? Is This Why We Vote For Democrats?
·
Are Black "Success Stories" Really Holding Us
Back?
==========
s.
New Allegations Against
SCOTUS Nominee Brett
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJEkGIbcPfI
Democrats are investigating a new
allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh during his days at Yale University.
+
Report: Senate Aides Knew of Second Kavanaugh Sexual Assault Claim & Tried to Rush His
Confirmation
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/24/report_senate_aides_knew_of_second
==========
t.
#MeToo Founder
Tarana Burke on Sexual Assault Allegations
Against Kavanaugh:
“We Believe Survivors”
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/9/25/metoo_founder_tarana_burke_on_sexual
==========
u.
Tulsi Gabbard on the Administration’s Push for War in Syria
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/50309.htm
by James Carden
The congresswoman has accused President Trump and Vice
President Pence of protecting “al-Qaeda and other jihadist forces in Syria.”
On September 13, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard took to the floor
of the House to rebuke the administration,
accusing President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence of protecting “al-Qaeda
and other jihadist forces in Syria,” all the while “threatening Russia, Syria,
and Iran, with military force if they dare attack these terrorists.”
“This,” continued Gabbard, “is a betrayal of
the American people, especially the victims of Al Qaeda’s attack on 9/11 and
their families, first responders, and my brothers and sisters in uniform who
have been killed or wounded in action and their families. For the President,
who is Commander in Chief, to act as the protective big brother of al-Qaeda and
other jihadists must be condemned by every Member of Congress.”
I
spoke to Gabbard earlier this week about her
opposition to Trump’s Syria policy :
James
Carden: In June you
and Republican Congressman Walter Jones introduced HR 922, the No More
Presidential Wars Resolution, which would both define presidential wars not
declared by Congress under Article I, section 8, clause 11 as impeachable “high
crimes and misdemeanors” as well as prohibit the president from perpetuating
ongoing wars or from supplying, among other things, war materials, military
troops, military intelligence, and financial support without first receiving
congressional authorization.While the policy of
attacking Syria clearly fails on a moral, legal, and consequentialist
grounds, it also will likely backfire on realist grounds. What is your view in
terms of who would benefit and who would suffer from a US-led attack on Syria?
Tulsi
Gabbard: In the
short term, President Trump would benefit the most. The president loves being
adored and praised, and despite his rants against them, he especially craves
the favor of the media. Trump remembers very well that the only times he has
been praised almost universally by the mainstream media, Republicans, and
Democrats, was when he has engaged in aggressive military actions. Brian
Williams, Fareed Zakaria
and others could hardly contain their delight. CNN’s Fareed
Zakaria said, “Donald Trump became president of the
United States” the moment the bombs started dropping. MSNBC’s Brian Williams
praised the launching of US missiles, saying, “I am guided by the beauty of our
weapons.” The Washington Post’s David
Ignatius said that he thought that by taking this action, Trump “restored the
credibility of American power.”Right now, President Trump’s approval ratings
are dropping, and he craves positive reinforcement. He and his team are making
a political calculation and looking for any excuse or opportunity to launch
another military attack, so that Trump can again be glorified for dropping
bombs. Others who would gain the most are Al Qaeda and all the terrorist
organizations who are wanting to keep alive the
regime-change war against Assad. Their war to overthrow Assad is about to end.
They’re finally facing defeat. A US attack that significantly weakens the
Syrian military and would be a gift to these terrorist groups who want to
overthrow the government and set up a Sunni Extremist theocracy in Damascus.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar would be the beneficiaries.
==========
v.
From: "World BEYOND War" <info@worldbeyondwar.org>
Sent: Tuesday, 25 September, 2018 5:26:49 PM
Subject: World BEYOND War News: Videos from #NoWar2018
==========
w.
Weaponized Dreams? The
Curious Case of Robert Moss
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/21/weaponized-dreams-the-curious-case-of-robert-moss/
by Paul Fitzgerald
- Elizabeth Gould
+
A CIA lucky break? How the death
of the 'Smiling Pope' helped Washington
win the Cold War
https://www.rt.com/op-ed/439831-john-paul-smiling-pope/
by Neil Clark
The sudden
death of Pope John Paul I, exactly 40 years ago today, stunned the world. The
'Smiling Pope' had only served for 33 days. His demise and replacement by John
Paul II marked an important turning point in the old Cold War.
The year
1978, as I argued in a previous op-ed, was the year today's world was made.
There was
nothing inevitable about the ascendancy of Reagan and Thatcher, the rise of
groups like Al-Qaeda and IS, and the downfall of the Soviet Union. The
neoliberal, neoconservative world order and its associated violence came about
because of key events and decisions which took place 40 years ago. The Vatican
was at the heart of these events.
The drama
which unfolded there in the summer of 1978 would have been rejected as being
too far-fetched if sent in as a film script. In a space of two and a half
months, we had three different Popes. There was no great surprise when, on
August 6, the first of them, Pope Paul VI, died after suffering a massive heart
attack. The Supreme Pontiff, who had served since 1963, was 80 and had been in
declining health. But the death of his much younger successor, John Paul I, a
radical reformer who wanted to build a genuine People's Church, has fuelled
conspiracy theories to this day.
1978: The
year today’s world was made
Cardinal
Albino Luciani, the working-class son of a bricklayer
(and staunch socialist), from a small town in northern Italy, was a Pope like
no other. He refused a coronation and detested being carried on the sedia gestatoria – the Papal
chair. He hated pomp and circumstance and pretentiousness. His speeches were
down to earth and full of homely observations, with regular references to
popular fiction. He possessed a gentle humor and always had a twinkle in his
eye. He was by all accounts an incredibly sweet man.
But there
was steel there, too. Luciani was determined to root
out corruption, and to investigate the complex financial affairs of the
Vatican's own bank, and its connection to the scandal-hit Banco
Ambrosiano.
==========
x.
Hiding in Plain
Sight: Why We Cannot See the System Destroying Us
by Jonathan Cook
==========
y.
Blue Angels: the Naked Face of Empire
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/24/blue-angels-the-naked-face-of-empire/
by Max Wilbert
The United States is a military empire
that was built and is maintained by organized violence.
The origins of this country lie with the military
conquest and either destruction or forced resettlement of indigenous people.
Today, the modern American lifestyle is maintained, as Thomas Freidman (someone
with whom I agree on very little) writes, by the “hidden fist” of the military.
“McDonalds cannot flourish without MacDonald
Douglass,” Friedman wrote. “And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for
Silicon Valley’s technologies to flourish is called the US Army, Air Force,
Navy, and Marine Corps.”
I am reminded of this fact every August. August
brings Seafair to Seattle, and with Seafair comes the Blue Angels, a Navy/Marines squadron of
F/A-18 fighter bombers that travels the US each year, entertaining the public
for an annual cost of $37 million.
As these jet aircraft roar overhead, I cover my ears
and wince at the spectacle of widespread public adulation. These war machines
are worshipped. Earlier today, I watched a five-year-old boy cheering and
yelling “yee-haw” as the fighter formation shot
overhead. Out on Lake Washington, a toxified remnant
of what was once an ecological paradise, other Seattle residents on boats and
rafts raised their hands towards the jets in supplication. As five aircraft
passed directly overhead, I watched one white American man hold a can of beer
above his face and pour the liquid directly down his throat.
For thousands of people, the roar of an F/A-18
fighter bomber is the last sound they ever heard. The F/A-18 aircraft played a
major role during the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 US invasion
of Iraq. Between these two conflicts, more than a million civilians were
killed—many of them in bombings. The same jet continues to be used in Syria, in
Yemen, in Somalia, and elsewhere all around the world.
The US military uses its power to promote and
protect a certain vision of prosperity and societal development. In 1948,
George Kennan, then the Director of Policy Planning for the US State
Department, wrote in Memo PPS23 that “[The United States has] about 50 percent
of the world’s wealth but only 6.3 percent of its population… Our real task in
the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships, which will permit us
to maintain this position of disparity…”
In the 70 years since Kennan wrote that memo, that
“pattern of relationships” has been successfully devised and maintained. The US
military is the largest in the world by expenditure, with more than $600
billion in annual funding and more than 2 million personnel (including
reservists).
The true costs of this are incalculable. They range
from the ecocidal, genocidal destruction of Vietnam
and Cambodia to the horrors of Gulf War Syndrome to the toxic remnants of
weapons manufactories in cities across the country. In Guatemala and El
Salvador, the legacy of US-sponsored right-wing terrorism still echoes through
a shattered society. In Nevada and across oceania,
indigenous lands remain irradiated from decades of weapons testing, and nuclear
waste which continues to leak into groundwater and seep into soils will remain
deadly for hundreds of thousands of years.
As Friedman reminds us, military might and corporate
power remain inextricably linked in creating consumer culture. We are reminded
of this at Seafair, where sponsors include 76,
Boeing, Starbucks, Amazon, Uber, Oracle, Microsoft,
LG, Samsung, CapitalOne, and many others.
Each F/A-18 costs about $29 million, and is produced
by Boeing, the second-largest weapons manufacturer in the world, one of the 100
largest companies in the world, with just under $100 billion in annual revenue.
Seattle still fawns over Boeing, which brought so much wealth to this region,
just as it now fawns over Amazon and Microsoft. Their digital products colonize
our minds, just as Boeing’s weapons help control territory.
==========
z.
From:
"CODEPINK
INFO" <info@codepink.org>
Sent: Wednesday, 26 September, 2018
Subject: Thank you for signing our petition to the media!
Dear Peace Activist,
Thank you for signing our letter to the New York Times and Washington Post
asking them not to be complicit in a war with Iran. Please also join us in
supporting the Iranian people by recording a video of yourself sending a
message of friendship to the Iranian people. Go to our We Love
Iranians page for details.
Please forward this email to others who may want to sign:
Here's the full petition:
Don't Iraq Iran!
Dear
Editorial Board,
President
Trump gave an inflammatory speech this morning at the United Nations General
Assembly calling for member states to isolate and punish Iran, after accusing
Iran of sponsoring terrorists and exacerbating tensions in the region. We urge
you as respected journalists to hold the Trump administration accountable for
this rhetoric, for pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal, for violating the
diplomatic efforts of our European allies, and for making life miserable for
ordinary Iranians through draconian sanctions.
We do
not want another war in the Middle East. The media must not be complicit in
selling a war with Iran the way it did with Iraq 15 years ago. You have the
power to tell Americans the truth by providing them with facts. We ask that you
do not give credibility to the distorted lies coming from the Trump
administration, and instead hold them accountable for their dangerous
imperialistic policies. We urge you not to help the government sell another
devastating war to the American people, but instead bring to light the
administration’s hawkish policies towards Iran.
We
don’t want another Iraq.
Sincerely,
CODEPINK
P.S.
Your friends can sign here: http://www.codepink.org/dont_iraq_iran?recruiter_id=734269
==========
zz.
American Anomie
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-anomie/
by Chris Hedges
+
Trump Calls Hearing 'Brutal,' Praises Kavanaugh (Video)
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-reportedly-pleased-by-kavanaughs-denials-video/
(6h 53min)
+
Why Lindsey Graham (Rep. Senator - FL) decided to "explode"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR8SiZbzbKs&feature=youtu.be
==========
zzz.
From: Jim O'Brien via H-PAD
To: h-pad@historiansforpeace.org
Sent: Friday, 28 September, 2018
Subject: [H-PAD] H-PAD Notes 9/28/18: Okinawa statement; links to recent
articles of interest
https://www.historiansforpeace.org/
Note: Over a hundred scholars and activists have issued a statement opposing plans for a new U.S. Marine base
in Okinawa. Historian Peter Kuznick of American
University (pkuznick@aol.com)
is one of the coordinators of the statement.
Links to Recent Articles of Interest
"How the Koch Brothers Built the Most Powerful Rightwing
Group You've Never Heard Of"
By Alexander Hertel-Fernandez,
Caroline Tervo, and Theda Skocpol, The Guardian, posted September 26
A detailed history of the extremely
well funded Americans for Prosperity
Emery University press release,
posted September 24
Carol Anderson teaches Afrjican American Studies at Emery University. Her new book
is One Person, No vote: How Voter
Suppression is Destroying Our Democracy.
"Who
Putin Is Not: Falsely Demonizing Russia's Leader Has Made the New Cold War Even
More Dangerous"
By Stephen F. Cohen, The
Nation, posted September 20
The author is a professor emeritus
of history at Princeton University and New York University.
"Yemen's
Descent into Hell: A Saudi-American War of Terror"
By Rajan
Menon, TomDispatch.com, posted September 18
The author teaches international
relations at City College of New York and is a senior research fellow at Columbia
University. The article gives background on the war in Yemen and the U.S. role
in it.
"John Dower in Conversation: Part II"
Interview by Patrick Lawrence, The
Nation, posted September 17
A wide-ranging interview with a
leading historian of the Pacific War uses past wars to illuminate present-day
issues of imperialism and race.
"What Does Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Think About the South China Sea?"
By Daniel Bessner,
New York Times, posted September 17
Argues that progressive politicians
should pay more attention to the need for major changes in the U.S. stance
toward the world.. The author teaches foreign policy
at the University of Washington.
"Sabra and Shatila:
New Revelations"
By Seth Anziska, NYR
[New York Review of Books] Daily, posted September 17
Excerpted from the author's
Princeton University Press book Preventing
Palestine: A Political History from Camp David to Oslo.
By John Maxwell Anderson and
Meghan Menard McCune, The Conversation, posted September 13
On the use of forged documents to
justify intervention in Russia toward the end of World War I.
"25 Years After the Oslo Accords,
Independence Remains More Elusive Than Ever for Palestinians"
By Rashid Khalidi,
The Nation, posted September 13
The author teaches Arab Studies at
Columbia University.
"A 'Gentlemen's Agreement': How Oslo Worked Out as Planned
for Israel"
By Jonathan Cook, View from
Nazareth blog, posted September 13
The author is a British journalist
based in Nazareth, Israel, since 2001.
By Stephen M. Walt, Foreign
Policy, posted September 7
"America's newest
live-streaming reality show features the foreign-policy establishment fighting
for its life against Donald Trump." The author teaches international
relations at Harvard University.
__________________
Thanks to Jerise
Fogel, Margaret Power, Steve Gosch,
and an anonymous reader for suggesting articles in the above list. Steve Gosch also consulted on which articles to include.
Suggestions can be sent to jimobrien48@gmail.com.