Crisis in Oekraïne #62 Rusland is een tankstation.

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The Danger of False Narrative
_{March 27, 2014 by Robert Parry}

Exclusive: Like a decade ago with Iraq, Official Washington’s pundits and pols are locked shoulder-to-shoulder in a phalanx of misguided consensus on Ukraine, presenting a false narrative that is taking U.S. policy into dangerous directions, writes Robert Parry.

The American people got a nasty taste of the danger that can come with false narrative when they were suckered into the Iraq War based on bogus claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction that he planned to share with al-Qaeda.

Nearly 4,500 U.S. soldiers died in the conflict along with hundreds thousands of Iraqis. The war’s total financial cost probably exceeded $1 trillion, a vast sum that siphoned off America’s economic vitality and forced cutbacks in everything from education to road repair. Plus, the war ended up creating an Iraqi base for al-Qaeda terrorists that had not existed before.

But perhaps an even more dangerous problem coming out of the Iraq War was that almost no one in Official Washington who pushed the false narrative – whether in politics or in the press – was held accountable in any meaningful way. Many of the same pols and pundits remain in place today, pushing similar false narratives on new crises, from Ukraine to Syria to Iran.

Those false narratives – and their cumulative effect on policymaking – now represent a clear and present danger to the Republic and, indeed, to the world. The United States, after all, is the preeminent superpower with unprecedented means for delivering death and destruction. But almost nothing is being done to address this enduring American crisis of deception.

Today, Official Washington is marching in lockstep just as it did in 2002-03 when it enforced the misguided consensus on Iraq’s WMD. The latest case is Ukraine where Russian President Vladimir Putin is accused of committing “aggression” to expand Russian territory at the expense of noble ”democratic” reformers in Kiev.

Not only is this the dominant storyline in the U.S. media; it is virtually the only narrative permitted in the mainstream press. But the real narrative is that the United States and the European Union provoked this crisis by trying to take Ukraine out of its traditional sphere of influence, Russia, and put it in to a new association with the EU.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with Ukraine joining with the EU or staying with Russia (or a combination of the two) – depending on the will of the people and their elected representatives – this latest U.S./EU plan was motivated, at least in part, by hostility toward Russia.

That attitude was expressed in a Sept. 26, 2013, op-ed in the Washington Post by Carl Gershman, the neoconservative president of the National Endowment for Democracy, which doles out more than $100 million in U.S. funds a year to help organize “activists,” support “journalists” and finance programs that can be used to destabilize targeted governments.

Gershman, whose job amounts to being a neocon paymaster, expressed antagonism toward Russia in the op-ed and identified Ukraine as “the biggest prize,” the capture of which could ultimately lead to the ouster of Putin, who “may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.”

The NED, which was founded in 1983 to do in relative openness what the CIA had long done in secret, listed 65 projects that it was financing in Ukraine, using U.S. taxpayers’ money. In other words, Gershman’s op-ed reflected U.S. policy – at least inside the State Department’s still-neocon-dominated bureaucracy – which viewed the EU’s snatching of Ukraine from Russia’s embrace as a way to weaken Russia and hurt Putin.

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Export crude, not gas, to help allies, oil exec says

An oil executive told the House Foreign Relations Committee that the United States should export crude oil to allied countries to help their energy security and reduce Russia’s influence.

The testimony from Harold Hamm, chairman and CEO of Continental Resources Inc., came amid bipartisan calls to increase exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to undercut the influence Russia holds by being an energy superpower in Eastern Europe.

“We could help with oil exports that could have an immediate impact all over the world,” Hamm, who is also chairman of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, said at the Wednesday hearing.

While Ukraine and other Eastern European countries currently lack the infrastructure to import LNG from tanker ships, they have the infrastructure for oil.

“Making America a world leader in LNG exports is a worthy goal, but the truth of the matter is these new export terminals will not be up and running for some time,” he said in written testimony. “If we want to have an overnight impact on today’s global events, we can immediately begin exporting crude oil, which does not have the same infrastructure constraints.”

Continental has significant oil drilling operations in North Dakota's Bakken region, where it is one of the largest producers.

The Domestic Energy Producers Alliance said allowing crude exports are a “longstanding tenet” of its policy platform. A law passed during the 1970s OPEC oil embargo makes it illegal to export crude.

Continental also produces natural gas. Hamm called for quick approval of the 24 applications currently pending at the Department of Energy for projects to export LNG to countries with which the United States does not have a free-trade agreement.

http://thehill.com/blogs/(...)e-says#ixzz2xGfIUEWp

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2014 16:30 schreef firefly3 het volgende:

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Hitler achtig

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2014 17:17 schreef DeParo het volgende:

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Afghanistan gaat steeds beter .

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Four trapped inside Kabul guesthouse stormed by Taliban
_{KABUL Fri Mar 28, 2014 11:47am EDT}
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Violence has spiraled in Afghanistan in recent weeks, with Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacking an election commission office in Kabul on Tuesday.

Last week, nine people including an AFP journalist and an election observer were killed in an attack on a highly fortified hotel in Kabul.

A senior police official said one attacker in Friday's raid was still resisting, with 18 foreigners, including children, having been evacuated and taken to a safe house.

Deputy interior minister, General Ayoub Salangi, told Reuters that at least one Australian citizen was among those rescued, but the nationalities of the others were not clear.
..

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2014 17:35 schreef firefly3 het volgende:

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Je moet wat meer uitzoomen.

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As US war ends, Russia returns to Afghanistan with series of investment projects
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In Afghanistan, Russian officials point to their development activities as a counterexample to US aid projects, which many Afghans criticise as wasteful and misguided.

"The mistake of the last 12 years is that people were eager to give money, but without the proper strategy," said Russian Ambassador Andrey Avetisyan, who was also based in Kabul as a young diplomat in the 1980s.

Many Afghans, including President Hamid Karzai, praise the Soviet model even though they fought a bloody 10-year war against the country's army, which invaded in 1979 to support an unpopular communist government.

"The Soviet money went to the right place. They were efficient in spending their money and doing it through the Afghan government," Karzai said in an interview with The Washington Post this month.

The new warmth between the Kremlin and Afghanistan was visible this week when the Afghan government released a message from Putin marking the Islamic new year. It was the only such message made public, and was released at a time when the United States and European governments are imposing sanctions on Russia for its expansion into Ukraine.
[..]

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2014 17:47 schreef firefly3 het volgende:

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Leuke pro Russische propaganda crap. Zou ook voor het eerst zijn dat rusland een land hielp. Heb ze amper gezien bij rampen zoals orkanen en tsunamis.

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As the U.S. military prepares to leave Afghanistan after nearly 13 years of conflict with the Taliban, three visiting U.S. congressmen had to endure a statement from Afghan president Hamid Karzai that was released while they were in Kabul.

Citing “the free will of the Crimean people,” Karzai’s office said, “We respect the decision the people of Crimea took through a recent referendum that considers Crimea as part of the Russian Federation.” To date, only Syria and Venezuela have taken a similar position.

The New York Times suggests the Afghan move is linked to the fact that Russia “has been increasingly active in offering development aid. Given Russia’s heavy influence on countries along Afghanistan’s border, maintaining a long-term relationship with the Kremlin is seen as essential to Afghan foreign policy. Moscow is also ramping up its investment in Afghanistan. It is rebuilding the relics of the Soviet occupation and promoting its own political and cultural prowess.”

Indeed, Saturday’s Washington Post has an important article on the changing of the guard in Afghanistan:

“In Afghanistan, Russian officials point to their development activities as a counterexample to U.S. aid projects, which many Afghans criticize as wasteful and misguided. . . . Many Afghans, including President Hamid Karzai, praise the Soviet model even though they fought a bloody 10-year war against the country’s army, which invaded in 1979 to support an unpopular communist government.

“The Soviet money went to the right place. They were efficient in spending their money and doing it through the Afghan government,” Karzai said in an interview with The Washington Post this month.

The irony here, of course, is rich. Afghanistan was indeed invaded by the Soviets in 1979, but that is now conveniently forgotten by the Karzai regime. It is no doubt grateful the new Russian development aid is being spent “through the Afghan government,” a euphemism for the enormous corruption and bribery Karzai’s government is famous for. For some years, the U.S. tried to bribe the Karzai regime into doing its bidding. Ultimately, they failed. It seems the U.S. is not only clumsy at nation building, but also can’t seem to get the hang of “nation bribing.”

http://www.nationalreview(...)ck-country-john-fund