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Miles Report No. 57 - CBC and Russian propaganda; and Harper channeling Bush II

CBC and ‘news’ from Moscow

I have just watched a section of the CBC National tonight (2015-02-04) that was supposed to be reporting from Moscow about the amount of ideological propaganda coming from Russia.

Ironically, the item itself was a rather good case of pure propaganda. Certainly, some items mentioned displayed some crass overt propaganda manipulation (the Russians were never very good at propaganda in comparison to the "west" which is much more subtle). Using only Pravda - essentially now a US style tabloid and all that entails - as a point of reference provides a very narrow bias and perspective on Russian media.

Is Russia reviving its nationalism? Yes, and it is about time especially after their economy was ripped off by the west during the Yeltsin years.

Is Russia fighting in Ukraine? Yes, indirectly, as a result of U.S. covert operations as witnessed by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria "F**k the EU" Nuland's recorded conversation that helped create the putsch overthrowing the Ukrainian government (along with 5 billion dollars).

Is the Kiev government neoNazi? Mostly, although they did not win a majority of the vote, they have under Arseniy Yatsenyuk captured many of the top governmental offices, including Defence and Foreign Affairs. They have used intimidation, violence, and murder to control their position in government.

Did the Ukraine/Kiev attack Novorussiya? Yes they did, and are now suffering the consequences of their idiocy, slowly losing ground and many, many lives.

Is the USSR suffering economically? Yes, of course, as the oil price drop is hurting their economy, but it is also hurting - and will hurt more as time goes on - the Canadian economy, the U.S. economy, and others. Sanctions have also taken a bite, but it is reinforcing Russia’s turn to China and the “rest of the world” for trade - other than the EU which is hurting as well. Ironically, did you see the news item that US-Russia trade increased last year?

Is Russia isolated? Absolutely not, when its main and mostly only opponents are the "west" consisting of the U.S./Canada, NATO/EU, and a few outliers like Australia and New Zealand (in other words, the former British colonial territories). Otherwise, China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Iran and many other 'non-aligned nations' are increasingly using bilateral currency agreements to avoid using the US$, and thus avoiding SWIFT and the IMF.

The "rest of the world", consisting of most of the world's population, most of the world's economic growth - at least up until the oil price crash - is quite happy to see the U.S. controlled reserve currency, the fiat petro-dollar, set up for a crash. Yes, it is surging now, but that is only because there is a "currency war" in which most other currencies are falling in relation to it. Eventually the trillions of US$ printed without any support from a productive economy or from gold backing will find no home and then become worthless as they all return home.

If you want propaganda, you need only look at the U.S. and Canada, where the vast majority of the mainstream media is controlled by five corporations in the U.S. and three in Canada, all of whom follow the general political lie that Russia is at fault for all that is occurring in the Ukraine.

It is time for Peter Mansbridge to resign. He is well past his "best before" date. For that matter it might be time for all of CBC to resign. It certainly cannot be trusted as a source of independent journalism anymore - which ironically is maybe why the Conservatives, although they are gutting it financially, are willing to keep it alive.

The problem with propaganda in the west is that it is so pervasive, and so well done that few people recognize it for what it is, but it is there. To control a population a fear factor needs to created: now we have both the war on terror and the anti-Putin/Russia rhetoric and slander to provide a double barrel of fear. The mainstream media in the "west" has done a wonderful job in creating these fear factors, willingly kowtowing to the powers that be without questioning or examining the root causes of many of the actions associated with both barrels.

If people would take the time to read Zbigniew Brezezinski's "The Grand Chessboard" and understand that he is still influential in US ideological doctrines, they would understand that the US is intent on containing and deconstructing Russia and China. Canada is simply the U.S.' ignorant lap poodle.

Paul Wolfowitz, Undersecretary for Defence with Bush I, wrote the "Defense Planning Guidance of 1992." This doctrine was “to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival.” With an eye toward “deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role,” the United States would maintain unquestioned military superiority and, if necessary, employ force unilaterally.

Consequently, after many years, Putin has managed to recreate a good portion of national pride in Russia. At the same time he is being the 'immovable object' that the US' 'full spectrum dominance' of the Wolfowitz Doctrine (along with first strike nuclear war) for warfare has come up against (even considering its overall failure in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria among others).

I find it highly distasteful - at minimum - that such poor reporting on Russia is considered to be 'news' or even an 'oped' on CBC. So yes, time for Peter Mansbridge and his editorial team to retire, perhaps along with all of CBC.

Harper channels Bush II

It is well known that the neoConservatives under Harper are pretty much in bed with the the US Republican party, receiving much ideological motivation and much tactical information for elections. I was still surprised to hear Harper sounding pretty much like George Bush after 9/11, creating the “with us or against us” dogma of black and white, good and evil.

It was an almost verbatim response when he said Canadians "are targeted by these terrorists for no other reason than that we are Canadians. They want to harm us because they hate our society and the values it represents." Yeah right they hate us solely because of who we are.

No, they hate us because we are allied with the U.S. It is the U.S. along with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that initiated support for the mujahideen “freedom fighters” (as per Ronald Reagan) in Afghanistan, that morphed into the Taliban who supported al-Qaeda which was not so much an organization than another ideological idea. After Afghanistan the US illegally invaded Iraq where there were no al-Qaeda (and no WMDs) and created the environment where al-Qaeda could enter and survive. US attempts to overthrow Assad in Syria ended up supplying and training more jihadis who morphed into the newer and even more vicious ISIS who gathered strength from the disaffected Sunnis in Iraq.

Are they terrorists? Of course, and a particularly nasty bunch at that. But don’t forget their roots, roots that go deep into US foreign policy to contain and control the Middle East in order to control the oil markets of the world with Saudi aid. Instead of actually wanting democracy and freedom as they always propagandize, they are quite happy supporting dictators, monarchs, despots and their kind as long as they keep the US$ and oil supplies under control.

So in that sense, yes, they do hate us for our values and our society. Our values that support the US as global military hegemon without real concern for democracy or freedom.

Our values also support a backward tribal, monarchic, misogynist, Wahhabi fundamentalist, jihadi training government in Saudi Arabia.

Not my values.