Little to no intelligence at the top of the U.S. media and government

By Martin Love

NORTH CAROLINA - The tippy top of the U.S. journalism food chain is arguably The New York Times, and the best known “journalists” at the Times are probably the names most readers have seen for decades such as columnist Thomas Friedman. Friedman, and some of his colleagues at this strongly Zionist oriented newspaper (allegedly the paper of record whatever that means exactly when it is supposed to mean the most accurate and honest, but it has never been so) are well paid writers (or maybe shills) who consider themselves “intellectuals” of a sort, except that they are not very bright and are propagandists for the most part.

Friedman recently came out and defended the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and said he would do it all again. He defended the invasion and subsequent battles that killed probably two million or maybe three million people (very low-ball estimates are about one million) and maimed millions more, and the suffering goes on in Iraq from depleted uranium, wrecked clean water sources, destroyed infrastructure, ruined lives…you can name ANY horror and Iraqis have seen it over the past 30 years.

One thing hard to fathom is WHY the U.S. has any credibility in Iraq (it has none in Syria or Iran and is losing it in Jordan and even Egypt) and WHY the U.S, has not been kicked out of Iraq and diplomatic relations severed. In fact, the problem in the Arab or the Muslim world is, as it has long been, disunity and pandering to the West, especially the U.S., for gratuities and faux “protection” of one sort or another. But what is especially galling in Friedman’s attitude is his condescension to towards the Muslim world generally.

Friedman, and he’s worth focusing on because his views reflect the views of many others in positions to influence policy in Western countries, has written that on 9/11 the U.S. got hit with all the “distilled pathologies” of the Arab/Muslim world and if this culture does not open itself to religious and gender pluralism, it is going to die and “Israel is going to be surrounded by complete and utter chaos”. This is worth parsing:

It is not yet been established who was behind 9/11. The CIA and the Mossad probably did have a role and knew what was coming before 9/11 arrived, and the official U.S. 9/11 investigation report is a joke that explains none of the anomalies at the scene of the crime – lower Manhattan, particularly the collapse of the towers and Building 11. So whose “pathologies” is Friedman addressing? And it is fair to say that the Zionists have ALWAYS benefitted from chaos in surrounding countries. Zionists literally thrive on Arab and Muslim disunity, and are terrified of Muslims and Christians speaking with one voice.

The countries that WERE destroyed or nearly destroyed by the U.S and its allies, if they still exist as functioning polities, do not have the surfeit of the pathologies Friedman cites most often: a lack of gender pluralism and a lack of religious freedom. In fact, the U.S. has supported and funded and armed the MOST reactionary, illiberal, anti-social religious nutcases the world has ever witnessed: this includes ISIS, the Saudis, an-Nusra (al-Qaeda) and others. And it has underwritten exactly the kind of chaos (faudhaa) that Friedman falsely claims to abhor.  The U.S. has also twisted the arms of OPCW to falsify reports that Basher Assad used chemical weapons on his own citizens, this to justify attacking Syria by the U.S. and allies. But let’s carry this further.

Which countries are the least “democratic” and oppressed in the Middle East? Certainly not Iraq as it was even under Saddam Hussain – the Ba’athists were secular even if free elections were frowned upon to support Saddam. Same with Syria under the Assads, where women, aside from constraints that may be imposed by their families, are little different than women in the U.S. And same with the Libya that was (before Hillary Clinton directed the destruction of that country (once the most prosperous in Africa) with Obama, and bragged about Qaddafi’s horrible murder by bayonet. Yeah, the countries WITH the “pathologies” that Friedman cites are precisely the most oppressive and least “democratic” in the Middle East and the closest U.S. allies: Israel and Saudi Arabia primarily, but also Egypt under Sisi.

Friedman supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq because he claimed the establishment of a democratic Arab state in the Mideast would force other countries to modernize and liberalize. Nope. This did not happen. U.S. allies, cited above, became LESS liberal and less ideologically “modern” even while Syria has struggled to avoid being destroyed by terrorists funded and armed by the U.S., the West and the Saudis. Friedman was and even today is either lying or incompetent and ought not be writing for any media or have any kind of public platform.

Iran has long been demonized for its alleged lack of religious and social freedom, but which largely Muslim country with Muslim religious leaders in power allows the same degree of religious and social freedom as the Islamic Republic? Not the Saudis for sure. And which country has the second largest Jewish community in the Middle East? Iran. Iran is certainly a unique country, and it does have some internal points of contention that eventually might be addressed by all of Iran’s citizens in a climate where it is not being attacked by outsiders. But the Islamic Republic is not and should not fall apart because of the U.S. threat and hostility and sanctions. The mere fact that the Trump Administration has supported the MEK (a terrorist group labeled as such by the U.S. in the past) or even anyone related to the Pahlavi (puppets) tells one all that’s needed to know about the idiocy of U.S. thinking.

Virtually all the world, aside from the U.S. warmongers and resource rapists and the backward Saudis and the Zionists, literally BEGS that Iran remain steadfast and get through this difficult time intact and strong of spirit. Iran is a country that is going to emerge as a world leader in some respects if only the world can become truly “multi-polar” and dispense with the destructive hegemonic pretensions of the U.S.

If a prince murders a journalist, that’s not a hiccup

Reports of the macabre murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi regime, if proven true, entangles the US administration as well, especially Donald Trump, his son-in-law Jarred Kushner and other close associates into a sticky web, extrication from which might not be easy without irreparable damage to their political careers.

Now we have an interesting piece that appeared in the US daily “New York Times’ written by Nicholas Kristof and titled: “If a prince murders a journalist, that’s not a hiccup”.

The reports about Jamal Khashoggi, the missing Saudi journalist and Washington Post contributor, whom I’ve known for more than 15 years, grow steadily more sickening.

Turkey claims to have audiotape of Saudi interrogators torturing Jamal and killing him in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. None of this is confirmed, and we still don’t know exactly what happened; we all pray that Jamal will still reappear. But increasingly it seems that the Saudi Heir Apparent Mohamed bin Salman, better known as MBS, orchestrated the torture, assassination and dismemberment of an American-based journalist using diplomatic premises in a NATO country.

That is monstrous, and it’s compounded by the tepid response from Washington. President Trump is already rejecting the idea of responding to such a murder by cutting off weapons sales. Trump sounds as if he believes that the consequence of such an assassination should be a hiccup and then business as usual.

Frankly, it’s a disgrace that Trump administration officials and American business tycoons enabled and applauded MBS as he imprisoned business executives, kidnapped Lebanon’s prime minister, rashly created a crisis with Qatar, and went to war in Yemen to create what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis there. Some eight million Yemenis on the edge of starvation there don’t share this bizarre view that MBS is a magnificent reformer.

Trump has expressed “great confidence” in MBS and said that he and King Salman “know exactly what they are doing.” Jared Kushner wooed MBS and built a close relationship with him — communicating privately without involving State Department experts — in ways that certainly assisted MBS in his bid to consolidate power for himself.

The bipartisan cheers from Washington, Silicon Valley and Wall Street fed his recklessness. If he could be feted after kidnapping a Lebanese prime minister and slaughtering Yemeni children, why expect a fuss for murdering a mere journalist?

MBS knows how to push Americans’ buttons, speaking about reform and playing us like a fiddle. His willingness to sound accepting of Israel may also be one reason Trump and so many Americans were willing to embrace MBS even as he was out of control at home.

In the end, MBS played Kushner, Trump and his other American acolytes for suckers! The White House boasted about $110 billion in arms sales, but nothing close to that came through. Saudi Arabia backed away from Trump’s so-called Palestinian peace deal. Financiers salivated over an initial public offering for Aramco, the state-owned oil company, but that keeps getting delayed.

The crackdown on corruption is an example of MBS’ manipulation and hypocrisy. It sounded great, but MBS himself has purchased a $300 million castle in France, and a $500 million yacht — and he didn’t buy them by scrimping on his government salary.

In fairness, he did allow women to drive. But he also imprisoned the women’s rights activists who had been campaigning for the right to drive. Saudi Arabia even orchestrated the detention abroad of a women’s rights activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, and her return in handcuffs. She turned 29 in a Saudi jail cell in July, and her marriage has ended. She, and not the prince who imprisons her, is the heroic reformer.

Just last month in London, unidentified Saudi men, one wearing an earpiece, attacked a Saudi dissident named Ghanem ad-Dosari, who has mocked MBS as “the tubby teddy bear.” As they punched Dosari, they cursed him for criticizing the Saudi ruling family.

Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch told me: “MBS’ message to Saudis is clear: I will shut you up no matter where you are and no matter what laws I have to break to do it.”

The Heir Apparent showed his sensitivity and unpredictability in August when Canada’s foreign ministry tweeted concern about the jailing of Saudi women’s rights activists. Riyadh went nuts, canceling flights, telling 8,300 Saudi students to leave Canada, expelling the Canadian ambassador and withdrawing investments. All for a tweet.

Western companies should back out of MBS’ Future Investment Initiative conference later this month. That includes you, Mastercard, McKinsey, Credit Suisse, Siemens, HSBC, BCG, EY, Bain and Deloitte, all listed on the conference website as partners of the event.

We need an international investigation, perhaps overseen by the United Nations, of what happened to Jamal. In the United States, we also must investigate whether Saudis bought influence with spending that benefited the Trump family, such as $270,000 spent as of early 2017 by a lobbying firm for Saudi Arabia at the Trump hotel in Washington. The Washington Post reported that Saudi bookings at Trump Chicago increased 169 percent from the first half of 2016 to the first half of this year, and that the general manager of a Trump hotel in New York told investors that revenues rose partly because of “a last-minute visit to New York by the Heir Apparent of Saudi Arabia.”

If Saudi Arabia cannot show that Jamal is safe and sound, NATO countries should jointly expel Saudi ambassadors and suspend weapons sales. The United States should start an investigation under the Magnitsky Act and stand ready to impose sanctions on officials up to MBS America can also make clear to the Saudi clan that it should find a new heir. A mad prince who murders a journalist, kidnaps a prime minister and starves millions of children should never be celebrated at state dinners, but instead belongs in a prison cell.