Pelshval

Antropologiske betraktninger om pelshvaldrift

Pusillanimous press

24.03.2025 /

Glenn Greenwald is not the only one who has spoken out against the political incarceration in the USA of Mahmoud Khalil. Quite apart from the almost insolent disregard for due process in the case, it is one of innumerable examples of the harm done to the USA by AIPAC, Israel’s carefully crafted state within the United States. I think that the US elite should ask themselves how to rebuild confidence in the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of government, because at this rate the country will descend into anarchy.

Attempts to force AIPAC to register as a Foreign Agent in accordance with FARA rules have been thwarted for decades. The media rarely brings up the matter for fear of being attacked by AIPAC’s rabid Anti-Defamation League. AIPAC is powerful enough to run much of USAs foreign policy to the detriment of the USA. The fact that Genocide Joe and Trump compete at being “Israel’s best friend” says it all: They have no choice. We have seen under Biden and Trump that AIPAC even controls the universities, and AIPAC has long since had total control over Congress, as every other child knows. In the USA, that is.

In Norway, however, we do not know this, as our problem is of a different order. We read about Israeli atrocities against Palestinians every single day. Police do not interfere with pro-Palestine demonstrations. Even if we defend Hamas, as I do, because I consider Hamas a liberation army against Israeli occupation, we are not harassed. Every occupied nation surely has a right to defend itself? That, I am told again and again and again, applies to Ukraine. Does it not follow that it also applies to Palestine?

And yes! Ukraine does have a right to defend itself. Most certainly. The tricky part of this issue is, however, … well actually, there are very many tricky parts. But one of them is: Who or what is Ukraine?

I have insisted in previous posts that Zelensky was elected with a 73 % victory in 2019 on a “peace program”. I have insisted that Zelensky was prevented by western intermediaries (among them Boris Johnson) from signing a peace accord with Russia in April 2022. The Norwegian press has been conspicuously silent about both of these facts, also about the two Minsk agreements which preceded them and were disregarded by “the Ukrainians.” Why the quotation marks? Well, because I must ask: What Ukrainians? I repeat Zelensky won a landslide victory on a peace programme”. So I strongly suspect that the Minsk agreements were rejected not by “the Ukrainians” but by some Ukrainians.

Why have the Norwegian media failed to inform us about any of this? Why have the Norwegian media stopped mentioning fascist groups in Ukraine? There is at least one reply to the question: Jens Stoltenberg, of whom Norwegians are very proud – may he never know another good night’s sleep. But even Jens Stoltenberg was a puppet, I suspect, and the media in Norway as in the USA and Europe are being held hostage by very powerful forces.

I put to you – and I’m not really in doubt about this at all – that a) Russia did not want to invade Ukraine b) Ukraine did not want to join NATO c) that Ukraine is not even vaguely a Democracy and has not been so since the Maidan coup in 2014. In fact I suspect that Ukraine as a state is more repressive, by far, than Russia. But can I provide evidence to document my claims? The corporate press is of no help.

There are books, of course, but where do I find them? Where do I even learn of their existence? Like most other people I depend on the press. Unfortunately, the corporate press is useless – I can find no better word – about the Ukraine war: No nuance, no analysis, no attempt to understand the root causes, just one single explanation: The Russians are bad and the Ukrainians are defending Democracy, no less. The same approach is apparently adhered to in the USA about Gaza: Palestinians are superfluous, Hamas rapes women and beheads babies. Israel is fighting for its existence. End of story.

True, we have the independent media; the Grayzone, for instance. They have provided invaluable documentation from the Middle East. (And no, there does not seem to be any evidence that Hamas raped people on October 7 or beheaded babies,) But if you want to check the credentials of your sources – I certainly do – you might go to Wikipedia. You will see that the Grayzone has been grossly smeared.

People or sources who are openly critical of US and EU foreign policy are also subjected to crude libel. Whereas AIPAC takes care of those who criticise Israel, NED will look after those who oppose warmongering. I no longer devote any of my earnings to what was once our wonderful Wikipedia, as I suspect that AIPAC and NED make sure my contributions and yours are no longer needed.

Few experts dare introduce doubts about the Democracy of Ukraine and the purpose of this war. So Norwegians eagerly cheer the shining knight Zelensky and send billions of dollars’ worth of weapons with which the Ukrainian nation can continue committing suicide. I really don’t have any other explanation for such bizarre conduct other than that Norwegians must be convinced that Good will win over Evil in the end.

However, facts about Ukraine do exist, if we can find them. Glenn Diesen has treated us to a most interesting conversation with the US academic Nikolai Petro [Wikipedia as at 23 March 2025], and I am now reading Nikolai Petro’s book The Tragedy of Ukraine (2023) which serves as a detailed analysis of the Ukrainian conundrum.

I urge you to listen to the illuminating conversation between Glenn Diesen and Nkolai Petro .

Mot hvem? For hva?

22.03.2025 /

I Norge hører jeg stadig oftere snakk om EU. “Vi må holde sammen,” heter det.

Starmer og Macron snakker om å sende 20 000 mann som fredsbevarende styrke til Ukraina for å overvåke en ev. “våpenhvile”. “Fredsbevarende styrke”? Bemannet av Storbritannia og Frankrike som har besluttet å ruste opp med astronomiske summer for å krige med Russland? Tyskland snakker til og med om å skaffe atomvåpen. Russland ville naturlig nok oppfatte slik en “fredsbevarende styrke” som en fiendehær.

EU er i ferd med å bli en militærallianse mot Russland. Det at Russland har ydmyket NATO og Europas ledere (inkludert de norske) er ikke til å holde ut. Også pressen må føle seg rimelig flau etter å ha heiet på sanksjoner og opprustning, demonisert Putin, lovet seier over Russland og fremstilt Ukraina som et demokrati.

Mette Fredriksen skriker at Russland er Europas største trussel. Keir Starmer maser om å patruljere Ukrainas luftrom med “flere dusiner” Typhoon- eller F35-fly for å støtte soldatene de ønsker å sende dit, fordi, som Starmer sier: “we know one thing for certain, which is a deal without anything behind it is something that Putin will breach.” Jasså, så det vet vi? Formodentlig fordi Putin er ond, mens Ukraina, derimot, (og vi) ikke bryter avtaler?

Vanlige EU-borgere, på sin side, er nok mer opptatt av å beholde helsevesen og skole enn å fortsette krigen i Ukraina. (Slik sett er vanlige EU-borgere ganske forskjellige fra nordmenn.) Men demokrati er ikke et overordnet prinsipp i EU. Så det blir det ikke noe av. I hvert fall ikke i Tyskland. For der har mannen som ikke er kansler (enda) overtalt partiene som tapte valget, til å vedta, i en nasjonalforsamling som i prinsippet er oppløst, noe som det nyvalgte Bundestag som kommer sammen 25. mars ville ha avvist: nemlig å fjerne gjeldstaket.

Tysklands gjeld utgjør nå 62 % av brutto nasjonalprodukt, Med den store satsingen på særlig forsvar skal det lånes mer enn en billion euro, slik at gjelda vil øke til minst 90 % av BNP. Tysklands status som en solid lånetaker vil bli svekket. Landet vil måtte betale mer for nye lån, altså renter som går av statsbudsjettet hvert år, og landet vil på sikt måtte ta lån for å betjene lån, osv. Euroen har allerede blitt noe svekket.

Wikipedia har en interessant artikkel om det tyske gjeldstaket, som visstnok ble innlemmet i den tyske grunnloven i 2009. Taket er blitt hevet to ganger siden, står det, i 2022 og 2025, begge gangene for militære formål (” both for the purpose of significantly increasing defense spending.”)

Hva betyr 1 billion?

En milliard har 9 nuller (tusen millioner)
En billion har 12 nuller. 1 000 000 000 000, Det er ganske mye.
I tid, for eksempel, utgjør en billion sekunder – hold fast – 31 688 år. Yepp. Jeg spurte DeepSeek.

Hva betyr dette for Tyskland, mon tro? Hadde jeg vært tysker hadde jeg ikke sett lyst på fremtiden. Tyskland skal blant annet betale 4,6 milliarder EUR i militærhjelp til Ukraina bare i år. Og de skal gjennomføre en monumental opprustning av forsvaret.

Reaksjoner

Spania, Portugal og Italia er ikke imponerte. Også deres gjeld vil bli dyrere som følge av Tysklands grep. Og de anser ikke Russland som den store faren.

Jeffrey Sachs sier EUs forestillinger er “delusional”. Ola Tunander er snillere og sier EU lever i en boble.

Stjernereporteren Glenn Greenwald kaller EU-toppene for “unhinged”. Det sier han på et av sine time-lange foredrag med tittel European Leaders Make Maniacal Rearmament Vows They Cannot Keep. Jeg anbefaler å lytte til det fra ca. 19 minutter – der han først forklarer hva han står for i kampen for “free speech”, som han mener er mer truet i USA siden 7. oktober 2023 enn selv etter 9/11. Dette fordi AIPAC (USAnske sionister som inkluderer ikke minst evangelister) har skremmende mye makt. For eksempel har de fått myndighetene til i praksis og uten grunnlag i loven å kriminalisere Israel-kritikk. Først på slutten snakker han om Europa, hvis ledere altså er “unhinged”.
(Jeg må innrømme at den som ikke abonnerer på Glenn Greenwald får mye uønsket reklame med på kjøpet.)

Også mester Mearsheimer, kaller EU-toppene for “delusional”. Når han blir spurt: “Tror de virkelig på det de sier – at Putin eller Russland er en reell trussel mot Europa”, blir den smarte gamle statsviteren unnvikende “Tja, tro og tro….” Men det han så sier slo ned som en stein i min brønn:

USA har kontrollert Europa siden annen verdenskrig. Europa har til gjengjeld vært USAs tro tjener, økonomisk, militært og diplomatisk (ikke minst i FN). USAs utenrikspolitiske kurs, “the rules-based order”, har vært vår utenrikspolitiske kurs. Vår “frie”, liberale verden skulle sluke land etter land. Nå er Europa i forfall, svekket industrielt, splittet politisk og utmattet militært og USA er mindre interessert i oss enn i BRICS. EU er gjenstand for sentrifugale krefter.

Hvilken visjon skal nå holde EU sammen? Hva er nå EU-motoren? Mearsheimer sier: Russofobi. Russofobi er heretter vår raison d’être.

Litt av et samlende prosjekt, hva?

Retribution

18.03.2025 /

No, I don’t approve of death penalties. Death is too kind a punishment for people like Netanyahu. After all, Hitler preferred to die rather than face the music. True enough, there are those who claim that he and his Eva escaped to Latin America. I used to dismiss such suggestions as fantasies, but now I’m not so sure. Sufficiently many lies fed to us over the past few years have taught more and more of us that no untruth is too ignominious for the powers that be.

Just to pick a few disparate examples, they lied about Covid (which turns out to be, after all, a leak from a gain-of-function laboratory), the Skripal case, the beheaded babies, the Bucha massacre, the Nord Stream sabotage, Russiagate, and the Hunter-Biden laptop… You really cannot believe a single word they say. And to top it off they call those who doubt their lies “conspiracy theorists”.

Whether or not Hitler did indeed blow himself up, Netanyahu and his ilk do not deserve death. On the contrary, we need to keep them alive, to be able to make an example of them, to point at them and warn racists “You don’t want to be like that, do you?” Basically, they should be kept in cages in zoos, not safely locked away in prisons, but out in the open for all to see and stare at in horror.

Alas, we were wrong to tell our children that there are no monsters except in fairy tales. Netanyahu is about as horrible a monster as any that has sprung out of human imagination. And there have certainly been plenty of them. Why? How come our imagination has fostered so much horror?

Take, for instance, the immense library of Satanic creatures, goblins, witches, devils and whatnots who populate the Christian underworld. They are the collected product of human fear, of terror inspired by real creatures. Throughout history, there have been Netanyhus, people totally devoid of moral fibre; callous, base and dreadful.

I sometimes hear: “There is some good in all human beings.” I’m sure the words are kindly meant, but the statement is purely academic, probably uttered to encourage tolerance. Generally, of course open-mindedness is conducive to an atmosphere of peaceful coexistence. But do we want peaceful coexistence with a Netanyahu and his ilk?

What if he loves his mom? Maybe he enjoys playing tennis or eating strawberries? So? Of course he isn’t always thinking about frying Palestinians!! Does that mean there is “goodness” in him? He is the very epitome of Western depravity. Should he not then be treated as such?

Instead, he and his ilk are being allowed to continue on a course that is so evil it poisons our minds, fills us with hatred, dread and suspicion. Because if he and his ilk can do these horrible things in one part of the world, others are sure to follow their example elsewhere.

The key words here are “his ilk“. Yes, I do need to stress the ilk bit – because it is true that Netanyahu is not alone. From what we see of big time traffickers of drugs, organs and weapons we know that monsters are attracted to one another. Moreover, the Israeli monsters would have been impotent without the energetic support of their “ilk” in the USA, the world’s most dangerous country, the country with hundreds and hundreds of military bases all over the world, the forever-war country, the big-bully country. Netanyahu has, indeed, a great big army of co-devils in the US, many of them, I am told, of Evangelical persuasion (I wonder how they figure their god will treat genocide supporters.)

I have a very good friend whose neighbour, an arrogant awful bully, is driving him nuts. I have suggested getting a little doll and sticking pins in it.

Alas, my fantasies of Netanyahu and his ilk in open cages in zoos all over the Western world will not relieve me of my fear of modern-day Western monsters any more than pins stuck in a doll.

Above all it won’t spare the lives of all the Palestinians that we know will be murdered over the next weeks. Our governments, our “leaders” – the Starmers, Macrons, Merzes, von der Leyens and Kallases – know that mass murder is being prepared and they are not doing a thing to stop it. Not a thing.

They – the Starmers, Macrons, Merzes, von der Leyens and Kallases –are of “his ilk”. Send them to the zoos!

Meanwhile

15.03.2025 /

While we are being dumbed down by a devastating propaganda storm, Oslo, the capital of Norway has had practically no winter this year, the first part of which should have been winter in this hemisphere. No frost, no snow, hardly any precipitation and lots of sun. Much of Andalucia, however, has been very cold and has suffered rain – floods even – as if to compensate for recent years of serious drought.

I just thought I’d mention the matter, although I assume you are not here for a weather update.

So here is the situation: While we, the Europeans are getting ready to go to war against Attila the Hun, or Hitler, as we prefer to call him these days, there has been a rather interesting development: The verdict of the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal. I admit this sounds like some sort of PC gaming event, but it is dead serious. Just as the war games against Attila the Hun are dead serious. “People die”, as the US president keeps saying, and that is normally considered serious, but Keir Starmer and Zelensky are evidently not normal.

I recently sent a book about economics to a friend. He reposted: “The economy for me is not only over my head – I’m just not interested.” I think his view of economics is shared by most people, even by those who deeply care about political issues. Unfortunately, as I see it, politics are not – as most people seem to believe – about “values”, but about money, or rather about who gets it and who keeps it.

So it is with wars. Attempts to weaken or even Balcanize Russia are also about money, certainly not about values. Zionists’ attempts to prohibit free speech are not about values either. Lots of things are about money. Even the weather is about money although we don’t usually think about money when we contemplate the rain outside our window.

Mind you, I don’t mind money. I want a warm bed as much as anybody else, as well as my three meals a day. But I really don’t need a Porsche (not that I have one). I would much rather know that the kids in Gaza have comfortable beds and three meals a day. I don’t see what’s so great about Porsches or, for that matter, “sustainable growth”. I mean considering that growth is not – repeat not – sustainable although consummate liars of Zelensky’s or Keir Starmer’s calibre might smoothly tell us to go on castigating the weather, the elephants, the Russians, the Palestinians, and the 50 % of the UK and US populations who might not be able to afford a comfortable bed and three healthy meals a day. Why on earth do we listen to consummate liars decade after decade?

Has the world improved over the past decade in any way? Any way at all? Will the weather improve over the next decade?

Will there be another decade?

Enn om Trump …

05.03.2025 /

Ja, enn om han “tar” Grønland? Hva gjør vi da? Bortsett fra å protestere, mener jeg. For protestere kan vi, og gjør vi, støtt og stadig. Men hva gjør vi? Trump vil selvfølgelig iscenesette “grønlandsk aksept”, på den ene eller den andre måten, for eksempel ved å “frigjøre” Grønland fra Danmark, ved å mobilisere deler av befolkningen på Grønland til å ønske USAnsk overtakelse velkommen.

Man må huske på at selv om bevilgningene til USAID og NED er kuttet nå, betyr ikke det at Trump og hans team ikke kan skru på kranen igjen, men til fordel for prosjekter som er i deres interesse. Det kan for eks. gis massiv støtte til NGOer og opptil flere “uavhengige aviser” som agiterer for løsrivelse fra Danmark og til diverse prosjekter for å lette hverdagen for den grønlandske befolkningen.

Se hva CIA skriver om Grønland. Naturressursene inkluderer kull, jern, bly, sink, molybden, diamanter, gull, platina, niob, tantal og uran, dessuten vannkraft og ganske sikkert olje og gass. Mye fint å hente der, altså. Rent bortsett fra kontrollen over Nordkalotten.

Ja, jeg tenker faktisk vi må se i øynene at dette kanskje er et reelt mål ikke bare for Trump men for Pentagon (uavhengig av hvem som bor i det Hvite slottet). Kontroll over Nordkalotten, tenk på det!

Så hva gjør vi? Kan vi løfte så mye som en finger for å komme Danmark til unnsetning? Som Steigan skriver i et hjertesukk 4. mars:

Du får ikke ta ut en patron fra et norsk militært lager uten at det registreres av Pentagon. Alle innkjøp gjøres fra leverandører som er godkjent av Pentagon, og det er gjort på et øyeblikk for Pentagon å lamme det norske «forsvaret» hvis man skulle ønske. Uten overvåkingsdata og satellittkommunikasjon er det norske militæret satt på bakken, blokkert og blindt. Det kan ikke foreta seg noe.

Nei, våre myndigheter vil nok måtte innse at det er fint lite å gjøre annet enn å bite i seg skammen og hilse storebror velkommen på Nordkalotten. Og russerne vil jo ikke komme Danmark til unnsetning, får vi tro.

Hvor er vi nå?

04.03.2025 /

USAs kursendring I forhold til Russland og Ukraina har skremt opp mange.

EU, Norge og NRK har hittil sett kun én løsning på konflikten: mer krig, flere lik, flere og mere våpen. Når målet ikke ble oppnådd med den gitte løsningen, når det aldri ble planlagt noe alternativ B, og det til overmål viser seg at USA ikke lenger “er med”, er det naturlig at mange blir engstelige og sinte.

Jeg får spørsmål fra venner som ikke leser disse sidene og som derfor ikke sikkert vet hva jeg mener bortsett fra at jeg antakelig mener “noe annet, som vanlig”. De vil høre meg bekrefte deres fordømmelse av Trump og Putin. (Også jeg lever i den villfarelse at fordømmelse av fienden gir sjelefred.)

Og også jeg er redd for fremtiden. Heller ikke jeg har tillit til Trump, men jeg har enda mindre tillit til den politiske eliten i Europa og Norge. La oss si det i klartekst: Vestens håndtering av forholdet til Russland etter Sovjetunionens oppløsning gis strykkarakter. Vesten regnet med at Russland ville forbli en “failed state”, noe man bare kunne sparke rundt på banen som en punktert fotball. Slike feilvurderinger inspirerer ikke tillit.

Jeg håper, ja, jeg håper inderlig at det blir fred, en fred som garanterer alle i Ukraina retten til å beholde sitt morsmål og sin kultur, ikke bare i heimen men også i all offentlighet. Jeg håper at fascistiske nasjonalister, som vestlig presse har valgt å overse, blir stilt til ansvar for sine handlinger. Det er nok for mye å håpe at vi i Norge erkjenner at Ukraina ikke var et demokrati etter 2014, for mye å håpe at vi innser at Zelensky svek sine løfter til folket som stemte på ham i 2019 (jf. f.eks. et brev til Trump fra et ukrainsk parlamentsmedlem i husarrest).

Når det er sagt, så håper jeg også inderlig at Russland ikke vil kreve for stor en pris for fred! Russland har vunnet krigen – ingen tvil om det! Russland kan og bør stille harde krav. Men menneskeheten er ikke tjent med en ny verdenskrig.

Mer vil jeg ikke si til mine venner som ikke har fulgt med i timen. I stedet sender jeg dem her en liste av kilder jeg anbefaler dem å ta en titt på.

NOEN KILDER

Om norsk utenrikspolitikk

Norge står i en særstilling hva gjelder fravær av kritikk mot landets utenrikspolitikk generelt og NATO-medlemskapet spesielt. Men jeg har i det minste funnet et par kritiske røster:

  • Tormod Heier: Libya. Krigens uutholdelige letthet
  • Yama Wolasmal “Yama utfordrer Stoltenberg” (med engelske undertitler)
    I boka “Det jeg så” antydes dessuten pressekritikk.
  • Ola Tunander fra Prio:
    Libyakrigen – Bruken av retorikk og bedrag for å ødelegge en stat
  • Steigan.no Selv jeg har vært feigt ambivalent til Steigan. Men han er utvilsomt meget dyktig, og han gir norskspråklige lesere et uhyre viktig innblikk i hvordan verden ser ut utenfor vårt knøttlille Europa. At Norge velger å tie i hjel hans bidrag, er det bare vi – Norge – som taper på.
  • Anders Hellebust:
    Med rett til å varsle. Norske myndigheters bruk av løgn fra den kalde krigen og frem til dag (2023)
    Denne bokan var jeg faktisk ikke klar over før jeg i dag så den omtalt på steigan.no! Les hva Tore Linné Eriksen har å si om den.

Om Bruk av “retorikk og bedrag”:

  • Arthur Ponsonby:
    Falsehood in Wartime Denne korte og lettleste klassikeren fra 1923, viser at det man sa før og under første verdenskrig, og det man sier i dag er skremmende likt. Boka kan lastes ned som pdf fra linken.
  • Glenn Greenwald:
    Helt siden Snowdens avsløring av NSA har jeg fulgt Glenn Greenwald, først i the Intercept og senere i “talk shows” som han har holdt på ulike plattformer, for tiden på Rumble” eller som podcast. Han startet sin karriere som en “1st amendment” advokat, og hans glitrende retorikk er til denne dag først og fremst viet.
    • informasjonsfrihet
    • pressefrihet, og i det siste
    • rett til å demonstrere mot sionisme
  • Medieovervåkerne
    Ja,selv i Norge har vi et bittelite men dønn saklig team som følger med. Jeg vil ikke minst trekke frem to episoder, men anbefaler dem alle.

Om geopolitikk generelt:

  • Steve Walt og John Mearsheimer
    Disse to herrene er nålevende statsviteres lærefedre. De representerer noe man kaller “realisme-retningen”. De advarte om denne krigen i flere år før den begynte.
    Et kapittel i ovennevnte bok av Tormod Heier omhandler tre hovedretninger i statsvitenskap, blant dem “realisme-retningen”. Den retningen som følges i vesten i dag er IKKE realisme-retningen som Walt og Mearsheimer underviste.
  • Økonomen Michael Hudson:
    Han er gammel som nøkken, men skarp som en sigd. Som tidligere Wall-Street-økonom har han hatt rikelig anledning til å studere hvordan rike plyndrer fattige – dvs. hvordan vesten plyndrer det globale sør, og hvordan vestlige lands eliter plyndrer sine lands befolkninger.
  • Glenn Diesen:
    Nordmann, ja, og professor ved Universitetet i Sørøst-Norge, men kansellert i Norge. Han henvender seg til et meget stort internasjonalt publikum. Jeg vil spesielt anbefale:
    • The Think Tank Racket (2023)
    • The Ukraine War and the Eurasian World Order (2024)
    • Hans såkalte substack-kanal. Den må man riktignok abonnere på, men abonnementet er gratis.
  • Jeffrey Sachs er økonom og internasjonal statsmann fra øverste hylle. Han har utrettelig advart i alle mulige og umulige fora mot USAs og Europas utenrikspolitiske kurs i forhold til Russland (og Israel). Han har hele tiden lagt vekt på at Russlands invasjon ikke var uprovosert. Her er hans tale til EU-parlamentet den 19. februar i år.

Om USAs rolle

Her vil jeg først og fremst vise til salig William Blum’s bøker. William Blum vokste opp under enkle kår, men som hardt-arbeidende patriotisk amerikaner hadde han intet høyere ønske enn å få jobbe i utenriksdepartementet. Jammen klarte han å komme seg dit, men som følge av det han lærte under Vietnamkrigen, bestemte han seg i stedet for å vie resten av sitt liv til å kartlegge USAs forbrytelser mot menneskeheten. Det som gjør disse bøkene spesielt verdifulle er ikke minst kildematerialet han oppgir. Alle tre kan lastes ned gratis.

Det finnes mange andre forfattere, f.eks.:

  • Tim Weiner:
    Legacy of Ashes (CIA brukte f.eks. Ukrainske nazistiske krigsforbrytere).
  • Vintent Bevins:
    The Jakarta Method (en lettlest og spennende bok)

Spesielt om Ukraina-krigen

  • William Burns
    Han var CIA-sjef under Biden. Som USAs ambassadør til Russland i 2008, sendte han det berømte Nyet-means-nyet-notatet som vi har kjennskap til kun takket være Wikileaks.
  • Emanuel Todd: Han ble brått berømt etter at hans 1976-spådom om at Sovjetunionen ville kollapse hadde gått i oppfyllelse.
    La défaite de l’Occident (“The defeat of the West”)
    Boka ble utgitt, i januar 2024 og spår Russlands seier i krigen mot det han kaller den de-industrialiserte og “nihilistiske” vesten.
  • Jan-E. Askerøy:
    Russland, Ukraina og Vesten.
    Denne boka er en samling artikler, flere av dem skrevet før krigen startet. Ifølge etterordet ble de utgitt da forfatteren var 80-år. Jeg tenker man gjerne kan begynne med etterordet som forteller hvem han er og hvorfor han synes det er så viktig å fortelle det han vet.

    Jeg skulle ønske flere hadde lest denne norske boka før vi rotet oss inn i uføret vi nå befinner oss i.
  • En jungel av podkastere og videokastere som kommenterer Ukraina-krigen.
  • Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) ble dannet av bl.a. Ray MacGovern, tidligere CIA offiser. Merk at Wikipedia prøver å de-legitimere gruppen med å antyde at de er “implicated in support for Russian propaganda regarding the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections …”
    For flere av VIPS-folkene var “siste strået” løgnene som utløste angrepet på Irak. De er altså pensjonerte etterretningsoffiserer, men de herrer (og en dame) har enda sine kilder. Meg bekjent er det kun én av disse tidligere statlige etterretningsfolka som har eget nettsted, nemlig:
  • Larry Johnson:
    Sonar21 serverer daglige små godbiter – ofte av typen “etterretning” som aldri når fram til avisene – eller kommentarer til en nyhet. Se f.eks. dagens (pr 1/3/25) om USAID,

De andre VIPSENE gjester jevnlig en eller flere videokastere.

“Regime-change operations“

Alle de ovennevnte kildene (selv Tormod Heier) snakker om USAs regime-endrings-operasjoner, som foregår stadig vekk og nesten over alt. Slike operasjoner bevirkes for en stor del av USAID og NED. Nettopp i dag lærer jeg at Romania’s Calin Georgescu er blitt pågrepet og siktet på nokså uklart grunnlag. Han vant nylig presidentvalget i Romania, men det ble avlyst under påskudd av at det hadde vært gjenstand for russisk innblanding. Det var bl. a. dette utenriksminister Vance nylig viste til som avvik fra demokratiske prinsipper i Europa. Georgescu ville ganske sikkert ha vunnet på nytt. Han er kritisk til EU, til NATO og til Europas militære støtte til Ukraina-krigen.


Om verdenssituasjonen generelt

Antiwar.com er en nettside med forbløffende bred nyhetsdekning. I feltet “Country” tastet jeg inn Romania og fikk en del info om pågripelsen av Georgescu. Se også “Latest news”.

Consortium News. Til slutt en kilde jeg har fulgt i mange, mange år. Det ble opprettet av journalisten som avslørte Iran-Contras plottet ledet av Oliver North. Han døde i relativt ung alder, men fremheves som representant for en mer eller mindre utdødd yrkesgruppe: Etterforskende journalister. Artiklene i CN er skrevet nettopp av etterforskende journalister, noen av dem prisvinnende sågar, men de er ikke lenger velkomne i det gode selskap.

Tilbake til Norge

Jeg beklager at så få av mine kilder er norsk-språklige. Det skyldes nok ikke vrangvilje fra min side, men sier desto mer om anemien i norsk presse.

And behold, there was change

23.02.2025 /

I – The usual sort of day

I started the day, as I always do, by checking the news, starting with the news from NRK, the Norwegian national broadcasting company. Top story:

“Trump repeated the incorrect claim that Zelensky is a dictator.”

Did you notice “the incorrect claim”? Or are you so used to this sort of thing that you’ve stopped noticing. There was no question, not even an expression of polite doubt: Could it be that Zelensky is a dictator? Why would President Trump call Zelensky a dictator?

Most Norwegians read only the Norwegian press. So Norwegians will not have heard about Zelensky’s banning of various news outlets and TV station, etc,. long before the Russian invasion.

Meanwhile right-wing populist parties are gaining ground in Europe. But trust NRK (I repeat: the Norwegian national news outlet) to put their own twist on the story: “The German Security Services warn about Russian interference in the upcoming elections.”

Not a word about:

  • any reasonable grounds German voters might have to distrust their political establishment;
  • US interference in many other countries’ elections;
  • a recent avalanche of information about how USAID is a front for regime change operations and imposition of neoliberal policies on countries all over the world: here, here and here.

I repeat: Not a word about the above.

The Norwegian national network adds, for good measure, that “Danish PM Mette Fredriksen repeats ‘Putin won’t stop at Ukraine.’ ” The network does not explain why we need to fear that “the Russians are coming”. Nor do we hear much about USA’s very real economic and/or military assaults on countries all over the world over the past 70 years. Moreover, having warned us about “Russian interference” in the upcoming elections, NRK does not inform us of the crackdown on free speech in Germany just last week with the German state’s cancellation of Francesca Albanese. See her response

These days, Norwegians must be among the most ignorant peoples in all of Europe. All they have been told about USAID is that USAID employees risk losing their jobs and that hungry Africans are losing their rations.

Trump was never my man, nor was Biden. But at least Trump has been repeating that he wants the killing to stop, and I thought: Let’s see if he means it. Nobody else seems to be saying that; certainly none of Europe’s top guns.

***

II – US elections

I did not comment on the recently concluded US elections. As far as I was concerned Trump could not be much worse than Genocide Joe and his neocon minions, probably not much better either.

Great was my surprise, then, when Trump and his team dented the roof with their scores at the Security Conference in Munich, an event I have never previously bothered about, but this year’s conference was a humdinger!

  • Marco Rubio started a few days earlier by declaring in an interview that the US unipolar moment is over. For that he scored 10 out of 10 in my book. It was just an interview, but it went viral, I mean, it went global.
  • Then Pete Hegseth advised us all to look at the “realities on the ground” in the Ukraine war. For that he scored 10 out of 10. (The realities are that Russia has won the war.)
  • Finally, JD Vance advised the EU to observe the basic rules of democracy and civil rights and to refrain from cancelling elections they don’t like. For that he scored 10 out of 10.

We have been told the USA’s performance left at least one delegate in tears. I for my part wept for joy. This, I thought, this takes us a big step back from midnight on the doomsday clock.

What followed immediately after the conference was the truly historic meeting in Riyadh. Apparently Trump made the initial call. That was all it took! One phone call! And those “horrible” Russians responded at once. They, too, want peace, not because they have been weakened but because they never wanted the war in the first place according to the Bill Burns memo from 2008. (I insist: It was not unprovoked and it did not start in 2022. Regardless, what you think of Tucker Carlson – I think he is rather courageous – you really should listen to what Jeffrey Sachs tells him about the run-up to the Ukraine war.)

The Europeans are furious. I truly do not understand why their policies are so delusional, so I turn to Thomas Fazi and his article: “JD Vance’s speech: change of paradigm or new hegemonic phase?” Yes, he is right to warn people like me. I am so relieved by the break from Biden policies that I am liable to oversee new dangers. Trump and his team certainly deserve praise for retreating from the nuclear brink, but they are no angels either. The USA may nominally have abdicated from unipolarity, but old habits are hard to break. Let us not be fooled.

***

III – On political loyalty

I am all for personal loyalty. And I am also all for adhering to principles. But political loyalty… ? To put it briefly, I am more in favour of healthy exchange of opinions supported by factual arguments. Above, I have given kudos to Trump, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, also to Tucker Carlson. I suspect that I would disagree in a big way with any of these guys on most political issues. For instance I am all for taxes, all for workers’ rights, and I believe the very concept “sustainable growth” is oxymoron. But I also believe that we all benefit from exchange of opinions and above all from freedom of information which is in short supply these days.

So if Trump and his team have earned kudos, they should be granted kudos. I hope they keep up the good work of retreating from midnight on the doomsday clock.

On this note, you might want to watch the conversation between:

former CIA officer Larry Johnson and former UK diplomat Ian Proud

Realiteter og realiteter, fru Blom

18.02.2025 /

Det forekommer nå og da at jeg støter på en gammel venn – snart den ene, snart den andre fra en av mine mange fortider. Det er hver gang like underlig å ta opp tråden: Jeg konverserer velvillig nervøst:

Lever moren din enda? Hvordan gikk det forresten med …? Spiller du fortsatt? Er du fortsatt sammen med …? Bridge? Aldri hadde jeg trodd det! … Katter, ja, koselige dyr. Osv.

Men alle jeg treffer vet i alle fall én ting om meg og spør med en gang hvordan jeg har det med Gaza-tragedien, for jeg har vært Palestina-venn siden tidenes morgen. Jeg har nå tilgitt og, ja, glemt alle dem som nedlatende forklarte for meg at “det er jo to sider ved den saken, vet du.” Jeg har inntrykk av at nordmenn flest er opprørt over Israels handlinger og at de fleste til og med har fått med seg at USA er tungt medskyldig.

“Men siden vi sist traff hverandre,” forklarer jeg med et litt unnskyldende flir, “har jeg nok pådratt meg et synspunkt som er enda mindre stuerent enn min Palestina-støtte var den gang.” “Åh?” sier motparten interessert. “Jeg har et annet syn på Ukraina-krigen enn det som aksepteres her,” forklarer jeg og vil helst skynde meg videre til et annet tema. Men motparten tar ikke hintet: “Sier du det? Spennende”. Og det sier vedkommende med oppriktig interesse, så jeg går i fella.

Jo, mumler jeg, det er ikke tvil om at Russlands invasjon var folkerettsstridig, men på den annen side så var den strengt tatt ikke uprovosert. “Å?” kommer det skarpt fra motparten. Og jeg skjønner at å forklare mitt poeng nærmere ville kreve en hel historietime med veggkart, tidslinjer og det hele, så jeg lar det ligge. I stedet sier jeg at jeg finner det kynisk, umoralsk, kriminelt – husker ikke hvilke ord jeg pleier å bruke, men blir brått klar over at ingen ord kan uttrykke min avsky for det jeg skal beskrive – at det fanges inn ukrainske menn fra gaten nærmest med lasso og at disse stakkarene sendes til slakteriet, når det for lengst er klart for alle og enhver at krigen ubønnhørlig er tapt. (Og jeg hever stemmen og gestikulerer fortvilet når jeg uttaler siste bisetning.) Her nikker motparten tankefullt. Så da må jeg få inn et ekstra spark: Og ukrainerne har mistet minst 700 000 (døde altså) antakelig langt flere. Men her blir det liv i leiren (motpartens, altså): “Men det vet vi ikke!”

(Å jo da, det vet vi.) Jeg nøyer meg et et forsonende: “Kanskje ikke.”

Jeg forteller at det er en hærskare av internasjonale forskere, gravejournalister, statsvitere og andre analytikere med imponerende CVer som aldri svelget “narrativet” vi blir servert. “Har du forresten lagt merke til hvor ofte militære offiserer blir brukt som NRK’s “eksperter” om denne krigen og om Afghanistan-krigen?” spør jeg. Jo, nikkes det trist, det hadde motparten sannelig lagt merke til.

Og så bruker jeg trumfkortet – det jeg tror er trumfkortet: Allerede i mars 2022 var de begynt på fredsforhandlinger, og en avtale var egentlig klar. Ukraina skulle ikke bli medlem i NATO og russiskspråklige ukrainere skulle få beholde sitt morsmål og sin religiøse__ Men her våkner motparten indignert: “Men har ikke Ukraina lov til å velge hvilken militærallianse de vil tilhøre, da?”

Jeg klør meg i hodet. Hvor har dette mennesket gått på skole, spør jeg meg hver gang jeg hører dette. Jeg holder meg for god for å spørre om spørsmålet også gjelder for Mexico. Mexico kunne sannelig ha trengt noen russiske eller kinesiske baser på grensen til sin tyranniske nabo. Men det trikset er blitt brukt for mange ganger av andre.

I stedet sier jeg bare lavt at Ukraina ville IKKE inn i NATO. Det var USA/NATO som ville ha Ukraina. Zelensky ble i 2019 valgt av 73 % av befolkningen da han lovet å avslutte borgerkrigen og slutte fred med Russland. Men det var sterke krefter som ikke tillot ham å innfri valgløftene. Jeg forstår imidlertid straks at argumentet er dødfødt, siden den informasjonen (om valget i 2019), i likhet med svært mange andre opplysninger, aldri har nådd fram til det norske publikum.

Jeg nøyer meg med å spørre om motparten i det minste har sett, eller hørt om, artikkelen i New York Times for nesten tre år siden, om de 12 CIA-basene på Ukrainas grense til Russland?

Men motparten har hørt nok – har forståelig nok gått trett av temaet og avslutter bestemt: “Uansett, det går bare ikke an å marsjere inn i et annet land! Dessuten er jo Putin helt fryktelig.”

Jeg har sluttet å innvende, “men tenk på hvor mange land USA har marsjert inn i!” Jeg vet så uansett hva slags svar jeg får. Det blir en skuldertrekning og: “ja, det er ille det og.”

Siden siste gang jeg hadde en slik samtale, har USAs forsvarsminister bedt Europeiske ledere vennligst forholde seg til realitetene på slagmarken i Ukraina. Det sa han på Sikkerhetskonferansen i Munchen, hvor også USAs visepresident ga de samme lederne en verbal ørefik eller to. Europas statsoverhoder, inkludert våre egne, sparker og hyler som en flokk voksne barn med personlighetsforstyrrelser. De er rasende.

De raser mot USA – ja, det er helt forbløffende, fordi det har de aldri gjort før – ikke fordi så mange lik ligger igjen på slagmarken, men fordi fordi USA later til å være innstilt på å få en slutt på barbariet.

I skjønnlitteratur fra 1900-tallet ser vi fra tid til annen at en mann skyter seg når han forstår at han har valgt en katastrofal kurs. Ja, selv i 20-tallets skjønnlitteratur finner vi eksempler på at mektige menn kan kjenne skam. I dag ser vi nesten aldri at mektige menn eller kvinner nekter å leve med skammen. Er det fordi ingen lenger vet hva skam betyr. Eller er det fordi nettopp de aller mektigste, som NATO-sjefer, EU-sjefer og statsoverhoder av brutale land som USA og UK har lært å omgjøre skam til vold?

Så etter USAs korte og overraskende opptreden i Munchen, vil vi her i Europa se våre ledere utføre en serie C-momenter for å tilrettelegge “narrativet”. Følg spent med de neste ukene. Jeg vil anbefale å kopiere eller på annen måte lagre de motsigelsesfylte fremstillingene som vi vil se. Det blir mange som vil måtte omforklare tidligere ytringer.

USAID

11.02.2025 /

I see in various outlets and articles that USAID has been financing 85-90% of the Ukrainian media. Admittedly none of my sources for this claim are passionate admirers of US foreign policy and NATO: But I put to you that the following sentence, penned by Glenn Greenwald makes very good sense:

But the reason USAID was created in the first place is because it’s so much easier to access and manipulate other countries when there’s a pretense of humanitarianism to it rather than an explicit CIA or State Dept program.

Read it again. Is there any reason on earth why the US would not pretend to have philanthropic intentions in a country whose leadership they want to support in the face of popular opposition, or whose leadership they want to topple?

USAID (pronounced U-S-A-I-D) USA International Development – is not an acronym. It was created by then President Kennedy in 1961 with the specific aim of countering Soviet Influence. According to The Times of India, USAID has continued its foreign interference with unabashed energy since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, for instance in Cuba, Bolivia, Russia, Brazil, Peru.

According to the Iranian Press TV:

USAID, the agency responsible for implementing much of the US foreign aid program, is significantly impacted by Trump’s order. The directive effectively halts the agency’s current $42.8 billion budget allocated for global operations. (my highlight)

…about

According to observers, there is a dark side to US-provided foreign aid, particularly involving USAID.

Over the years, activists have frequently exposed the exploitation of USAID by successive US governments to push their nefarious agendas abroad. In numerous instances, the agency has served as a cover for US “regime change” plots in many countries, from Cuba to Syria to Venezuela. 

Afshin Rattansi, British journalist and author, underscored that USAID functions as “an arm of regime change and subversion,” infiltrating societies in the Global South and inciting unrest against leaders who either refuse to comply with Washington’s economic or do not align with US foreign policy.

“Millions in the global south will celebrate the end of this organization which created fake neoliberal revolutions for hire, to destroy real revolutionary movements and governments,” Rattansi wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday.

Why do I quote an Iranian outlet? Because I believe it is essential to hear all parties to an argument, be they friend or foe. I am not quoting the Brookings Institute, which also holds strong opinions on the matter, because those are the opinions most of us hear many times a day, year in and year out. In any case, the Iranian Press TV which I just discovered today, looks very interesting, indeed. I put to you that we know no more about Iran than what the US/EU wants us to know, which is not much, and not necessarily all correct.

Anyway, here is a quote from a source most people in the US/EU consider “respectable”, France24. I find the quote eerily unsubstantial:

USAID, an independent agency established by an act of Congress, manages a budget of $42.8 billion meant for humanitarian relief and development assistance around the world.”

You might take a look at how other outlets assess USAID, though I would consider opening the following links a waste of time, unless you have a sense of humour:

I must admit, though that the following item from the White House caught my eye:

More than $9 million of USAID’s ‘humanitarian aid’ intended to feed civilians in Syria ended up in the hands of violent terrorists, including an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Iraq.”

Some of the moneys disbursed by USAID have no doubt contributed to disaster relief. (I am all for disaster relief.) Most of it, however, is not.

How do I know? I was taught, way back in time, to do my research conscientiously. What I have since learnt is that I should not blindly trust my government any more than I should trust corporations or other gold diggers. They all have vested interests. The same goes for independent journalists, of course. But over the years, I tend to trust a handful including those of the Greyzone. Time and time again, Greyzone has provided meticulous and painstaking research, not necessarily of the spectacular “scoop” kind, but of the kind that subsequently proves to have been invaluable, as in their take on USAID, a topic they have been following for years.

I just watched a film from 1972, directed by the magician Costa Gavras, State of Siege. Would you believe that the chief villain in the film was a USAID torture instructor, or rather USAID itself. I actually remember the case – yes, it was real enough – but I didn’t know about USAID. We can thank Trump for exposing that USAID is not all that it seems. And we can thank Costa Gavras for explaining in considerable detail what it pretended to be versus what it really was.
Sources:

  • According to the Greyzone (Do please see, not least, GZ’s linked sources)
  • According to Georgian state TV (should we not also hear a victim’s story?)
  • Lastly, Glenn GReenwald’ extremely interesting examination of Wikileaks documentation regarding a similar and very large and powerful organisation that nobody has ever heard of.

From the US tax payers’ perspective, there is the issue of accountability: Just how were the moneys used? To what bank accounts in whose names, were they disbursed. Where are the receipts regarding their actual use? Did such expenditures truly serve US interests, or just the interests of the 1%? It is a marvel that taxpayers have not long since demanded accountability!

We occasionally hear about the black hole in Ukraine, into which billions have disappeared. Most recently Zelensky himself said that Ukraine has only received 76 billion USD out of the 177 bn allegedly delivered by the US. Here I quote the KYIV Independent:

Ukraine has not received even half of the $177 billion the U.S. allocated to support Kyiv throughout the full-scale war, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with U.S. podcaster Lex Fridman released on Jan. 5. Zelensky implied that this development may have been linked to corruption or lobbying on the side of U.S. companies. Ukraine’s head of state said this in response to Fridman’s question about corruption concerns in Ukraine.

On second thought, I will quote Brookings, because their defence of USAID is so outrageously misleading as to be directly ludicrous. (My emphases in bold: what is ludicrously false)

Abolishing the congressionally funded USAID would hurt U.S. interests in multiple ways that go beyond the core principle of U.S. policy to save lives.

USAID’s efforts to prevent conflict around the world, encourage democratic and pluralistic processes and protect human rights, reduce suffering from death and disease, encourage sustainable economic growth, and prevent environmental destruction reflect the essence of the United States. They help build an international environment that services U.S. interests and values

By way of conclusion, here is the very first sentence in Wkipedia‘s article on “Indoctrination”:

Indoctrination is the process of inculcating (teaching by repeated instruction) a person or people into an ideology, often avoiding critical analysis. (My highlight)

I put to you that we are all – here, there and everywhere – subject to massive indoctrination. Yes, here, too. And we all know that, but somehow we fail to take the fact into account when our sources tell us again and again and again about countries “we” don’t like. Some of what we are told is undoubtedly true, but much is false, deliberately so, at that.

“


“

Manufacturing consent in Norway – mission accomplished

10.02.2025 /

Yesterday I had the privilege of exchanging a few words with a political scientist whom I greatly admire, and whom I have often mentioned here in the past, Professor Glenn Diesen. He has written a number of books, most recently:

  • Europe as the Western Peninsula of Greater Eurasia: Geoeconomic Regions in a Multipolar World. Rowman & Littlefield. 2021.
  • Great Power Politics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: The Geoeconomics of Technological Sovereignty. Bloomsbury. 2021.
  • Russian Conservatism: Managing Change Under Permanent Revolution. Rowman & Littlefield. 2021. 
  • Russophobia: Propaganda in International Politics. Springer. 2022. 
  • The Think Tank Racket: Managing the Information War with Russia. Clarity Press. 2023.
  • The Ukraine War and the Eurasian World Order. Clarity Press. 2024. 

In The Think Tank Racket he explored the sinister part played by fake NGOs, think tanks, media outlets and the like (financed, as it now turns out, not least by USAID) with the explicit aim of promoting a “rules-based order” (our rules, stupid). Some of these fake institutions also receive generous funding from the Norwegian government.

Such artificial institutions are working hard, as we speak, to implement regime change operations and, if required, civil wars wherever the financial and strategic interests of the US elite are not sufficiently heeded. In Ukraine they have worked hard – very hard indeed – to suppress dissent against the Zelensky regime, which now appears to have been a dictatorship.

They also work hard to ensure that citizens in “Western” countries are prepared for and able to support certain regime change operations in non-Western countries.

The manufacture of consent has been particularly successful here in Norway, where confidence in the system has not yet been eroded by the dramatic fall in living standards that has plagued other European countries, and where people are ludicrously proud of Jens Stoltenberg. That he is a neoliberal warmonger has somehow not been brought home on them. Almost all Norwegians are now warmongers. Hearing little old ladies speak, you’d think they were raring to go fight the Russians.

With great clarity and, I would add, humility, Glenn Diesen has above all analysed the tortuous demise of the unipolar system and the unfortunate reluctance of the EU and my own country to understand the need for a new “security architecture”, as he calls it.

Unfortunately empires don’t collapse over night nor do they go quietly. They go crashing through the landscape, smashing everything and everybody on their way out.

I had never previously met Glenn Diesen whose work I have followed studiously for nearly three years. What I was very glad I could thank him for yesterday, is his remarkable courage and stamina! The malevolent and absurdly unscientific persecution he has been subjected to in the Norwegian press, day in and day out, reminds me of fascism, quite simply. You see, in this country, if you don’t like US expansionism and the methods used by the US to retain its hegemony, you’re worse than an infidel.

They don’t burn infidels, it is true, yet, but they smear you, ruin your reputation, finish you off one way or another. They? Who are they? Why, the NGOs that defend “justice” and “democracy” of course! They are trying to light a pyre under Glenn Diesen and others who seriously challenge business as usual. That they devote so much venom on him, is merely an indication, you might say, of how very impressive his work is. It is also an indicatori of Norway’s groveling suberviance to USA.

Well, it turns out that Glenn Diesen has had enough. True, there are other Norwegians who know that the USA is anything but committed to “democracy”, “justice”, and “freedom”. But they dare not speak. That’s how bad it is. So Glenn Diesen is leaving the country. The police have warned him he is not safe here. He has applied for citizenship elsewhere. A scientific refugee FROM Norway. This is not the first time science is targeted, and it surely won’t be the last.

But the smell of burning science is definitely foul.

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