2015.04.14 rising and falling

Wednesday 2015.04.22

We’ve passed the Easter holiday, ending one of the most important periods of the year of Christianity, observing the events of a week a long time ago, from the arrival in town of Jesus, to his execution by the local officialdom, and the resurrection.

Anyone who ever knew anything about the story of the last days of Jesus knows some of the basic circumstances. He ran into quite a bit of agitated trouble from much different actors in this play. There were the local functionaries and officialdom of the Roman Empire, who saw this humble Jewish carpenter as potential big trouble upsetting the control of the empire. There were the zealots who were severely disappointed and even outraged by him, as they were expecting a messiah who would come and make big trouble for the Roman Empire, and there were also the local religious leaders who found that he was quite troublesome when it came to their positions of importance, and gathering wealth with claims that this was all for God, while Jesus spoke openly in severely criticizing all that.

It might be worth some reflection to consider how Jesus might be greeted if there was a return visit, with a different empire trying to rule the world, including the Middle East, different kinds of militaristic zealots and sanctimonious religious characters. I think the idea that history doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes certainly holds true, and in this case, I have to suspect that a return of Jesus would obviously not find people trying to nail him to a cross, a brutal anachronism, but maybe finding him on some sort of “watch list” of empire, perhaps put into a prison camp in an orange jumpsuit, with great hostility from people claiming to be waiting for The Messiah while carrying around in their minds a mix of militaristic jingoism and sanctimonious attitudes of self-righteous piety.

 

You might want to take a few minutes to go back and review a vote in the United Nations General Assembly on a resolution opposing a reappearance of fascism in Europe. This is an item that, I suspect, is almost completely unknown to average citizen here in the US, completely ignored by the popular news media.

UN resolution vote

U.S. Among Only 3 Countries Officially Backing Nazism & Holocaust-Denial

Who voted against the resolution? Ukraine, the United States of America, and Canada. This says a lot. I imagine that this might puzzle people, but it’s easy to explain and understand if you have been following what has been happening in eastern Europe and the associated geopolitical madness, as opposed to what we’re being told by Washington and the subservient propaganda media serving as “news” here, and people set aside what they might like to believe, and actually face some truth.

Let’s be plain and clear. Ukraine voted against it because the Ukrainian government was taken over in a coup d’etat by a bunch including actual neo-Nazi fascists.

The US representative to the UN voted against it because, according to them, it was offensive to Ukraine, which is one of the rare bits of actual honest truth coming from the US government about this ugly saga. I’m sure a UN resolution of this kind would be offensive to the Nazis in Ukraine, and this makes it very plain that the US is, in fact, fully supporting them.

The Canadian vote is fairly obvious, really. One aspect is simply a sycophantic subservience to Washington, particularly from current Canadian Prime Minister Harper, and I suspect from what I can gather that there is some influence from a substantial population in Canada of Ukrainian immigrants from the western regions of Ukraine where this lingering Nazi culture has apparently remained ever since the involvement of that cultural segment in cooperation and support for nazi Germany in World War II.

You might have an obvious question in mind, which is, what about the votes of many nations who, like Canada, might be regarded as typically voting in line with whatever Washington wants? Look through the list, and you’ll find quite an interesting list of “abstain” votes, from nations that should be surprising, nations that you would fully expect to be voting for a resolution opposing a rise of fascism and neo-Nazi activity, with no question about it. But Washington voted “no”, and representatives of these nations would be put in an awfully awkward position to join Washington, and essentially vote for Nazi fascism by tacit approval, and another awkward position to vote against Washington.

So… “abstain” it is. Quietly avoid taking a position at all, to avoid the choice of either essentially voting for a rise of Nazi fascism, on one hand, or angering the neocon madmen in Washington, on the other.

[Last minute addition- listening to radio news this morning brought the news that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada would be sending about 100 “non-combat troops” to Ukraine.]

This is astonishing, completely horrifying, shocking, and yet hardly anyone seems to even know about it. Tell people about any of this, and too many people simply and instantly dismiss it all as tinfoil-hat nonsense and “Russian propaganda”.

Leader Of Ukraine’s Neo-Nazis Appointed As Advisor To Army | Zero Hedge

Coups and “Color Revolutions”: US Wages “Geopolitical Warfare” against Russia in Central Asia and Caucasus | Global Research

Ukraine Blocks 10,000 Websites, Confiscates a Newspaper | Global Research

US-Backed “TechCamp” Color Revolution Revealed by Ukraine Official | Global Research

Ukraine: The Truth » CounterPunch

Meanwhile, back in Canada, a bit of news managed to still be astonishing, which is really doing something these days. A Ukrainian-born concert pianist, Valentina Lisitsa, has apparently been speaking out about the horror show her native country has become thanks to the coup that overthrew elected government leadership, installed neo-Nazis in power, and almost immediately proceeded to launch attacks against the Russian-Ukrainian population in the eastern Ukraine Donbass region who dared to refuse to accept the new junta in Kiev.

Toronto Symphony Bans Pianist Critical of Kiev Regime | Global Research

Musical Toronto

Controversial Ukrainian-born pianist dropped from TSO concerts – The Globe and Mail

Toronto symphony bans Ukrainian-born pianist over ‘provocative’ tweets denouncing Kyiv’s ‘neo-Nazis’ | National Post

 

The international messes involving Washington are not just about the mess they helped create in Ukraine. As it seems to be increasingly impossible to even keep up with it all, now we have Washington’s support for Saudi Arabia as it’s invading the neighboring country of Yemen.

Saudi Dictator, Killing Hundreds of Civilians with Support from Washington, moves to Gunning Down Domestic Anti-War Protesters |Washington’s Blog

It gets stranger and stranger.

FBI Says Islamic State Wants to Hack WordPress Websites – ISIS Hacks Traced Back to Maryland, Home of the NSA | Global Research

There’s much more on hand to talk about, as always, but maybe for now, there’s a simple thought to ponder. How much better would many things be if we were not dealing with people in power trying to rule the whole world at all costs, and how bad might things be if this continues?

These Are all the Countries Where the US Has a Military Presence | Global Research

 

It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled- Mark Twain

Americans like to think of themselves as proud individualists, but like so many elements of the American self-image, that’s an absurd fiction; these days, as a rule, Americans are meek conformists who shudder with horror at the thought that they might be caught straying in the least particular from whatever other people expect of them. -John Michael Greer (2015)

“When societies get badly stressed, delusional thinking increases. We are now in that situation.” – James Howard Kunstler

“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” – Benito Mussolini

We have become like the latter-day Romans. We worship the gladiators and we have forgotten the architects and the philosophers – Dean Kamen

“The secret of being a top-notch con man is being able to know what the mark wants, and how to make him think he’s getting it.” -Ken Kesey

“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” -Aldous Huxley