(On the top right hand side of this page you can choose for a translation in the language of your choice in Google Translate)
Hier een artikel van Philip Giraldi, waarin deze aantoont dat men in de VS bepaald niet vrij is. Sterker nog: de juist bestaande onvrijheid wordt steeds verder aangescherpt, overigens is het in de rest van het westen niet veel beter, ondanks dat men een grote bek heeft over Rusland, China en andere volgens het westen dictatoriaal geregeerde landen…..*
Schuldig hieraan zijn zeker de door de VS en haar slaafse NAVO-partners uitgelokte oorlog in Oekraïne en de genocidale oorlog van Israël tegen het Palestijnse volk. Wat Giraldi in zijn artikel niet noemt zijn de draconische maatregelen die werden genomen tijdens de Coronahysterie, waarbij het recht op privacy, burgerrechten en zelfs grondrechten op grote schaal werden geschonden door de politici, die juist deze rechten met hand en tand zouden hebben moeten verdedigen…..
Bij al deze zaken werden de politici geholpen door de reguliere westerse (massa-) media en zogenaamde deskundigen die niet zelden banden hadden en hebben met de farmaceutische maffia. Die banden hadden en hebben die media zelf overigens ook, dit vanwege het feit dat deze media ofwel staatsmedia zijn (je bijt niet in de hand die je voedt), dan wel de commerciële media die in handen zijn van plutocraten met hun enorme aandelenportefeuilles in zowel de farmaceuten, de wapenindustrie, de grote bouwfirma’s en de fossiele industrie. Al moet over de laatste nog wel worden gezegd dat zeker de staatsmedia, maar ook veel commerciële media nog al eens met kritiek komen op die fossiele industrie, al is het goed mogelijk dat dit wordt toegestaan daar men is overtuigt dat de wereld voorlopig niet zonder die industrie kan en je daarom makkelijk kritiek kan uiten, immers die kritiek zal niet leiden tot snelle veranderingen….
Meer dan schandalig is het feit dat onafhankelijke westerse journalisten, die verder kijken dan hun neus langs is, in het land van herkomst worden gestraft voor bijvoorbeeld het kritiek uiten op de wat in feite een oorlog van de NAVO is tegen Rusland, een oorlog die in Oekraïne wordt uitgevochten, uiteraard onder aanvoering van de grootste terreurentiteit ter wereld >> de VS…. Het is zelfs zo zot dat één van de beste onderzoeksjournalisten van de laatste 20 jaar, Julian Assange al 5 jaar lang in isolatiefolter wordt gehouden in Groot-Brittannië en dat wanneer hij mocht worden uitgeleverd aan de VS hem een levenslange gevangenisstraf wacht en ook dat naar grote waarschijnlijkheid in dezelfde isolatiefolter…. Vergeet niet dat in de VS 120.000 mensen in isolatiefolter gevangen worden gehouden!! (het in isolatie houden van mensen is één van de ergste martelingen die zwaar ten koste gaan van de fysieke en geestelijke gezondheid, ofwel een zwaar barbaarse en bijzonder inhumane straf)
Journalisten die het lef hebben om tegen het westen in te gaan wat betreft de oorlog in Oekraïne, of die hun werk gebruiken om het voor de Palestijnen op te nemen, grote kans lopen in eigen land te worden gestraft, zo zijn er journalisten in Duitsland, Groot-Brittannië en Frankrijk van wie de bankrekening is geblokkeerd zodat ze niet meer vrijelijk kunnen reizen en hun beroep derhalve niet meer kunnen uitoefenen, waarbij ze zelfs de kans lopen om te zijner tijd voor de rechter te worden gedaagd en hen mogelijk zelfs een gevangenisstraf wacht….
Scott Ritter is ook het slachtoffer van zijn kritiek op het westen geworden, men heeft hem zijn paspoort afgenomen zodat het ook voor hem moeilijk wordt om zijn beroep nog uit te kunnen oefenen, ook hij berichtte op een totaal andere manier over de oorlog in Oekraïne en de genocidale oorlog van Israël tegen het Palestijnse volk….
Het voorgaande terwijl de westerse overheden en zelfs zo ongeveer alle westerse reguliere media het gore lef hebben om te klagen over nepnieuws (fake news) en desinformatie op de sociale media, de media waar je nog echte journalisten kan vinden, die niet het narratief volgen wat de reguliere media wel doen, het narratief van de westerse regeringen, zogenaamde deskundigen, lobbyisten van de wapenindustrie en rechtse denktanks, die allen de status quo willen bewaren en zich achter het voeren van oorlog hebben geschaard, zogenaamd om vrede te bereiken. Al die groepen eisen dan ook dat er censuur wordt uitgeoefend op de sociale media, terwijl ze tegelijkertijd pochen over de democratie in hun land….. ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!
Lees het uitstekende artikel van Giraldi, eerder geplaatst op Information Clearing House, die veel verder ingaat op die zogenaamde vrijheid in de VS.
(als je het Engels niet machtig bent, zet dan de tekst om in Nederlands met behulp van Google translate dat je rechts bovenaan deze pagina ziet staan, klik eerst in het menu op ‘Engels’, waarna je weer kan klikken op die vertaalapp, daarna zie je bovenaan in het menu ‘Nederlands’ staan >> klik daarop en de hele tekst staat vervolgens in het Nederlands, de vertaling is van een redelijk goede kwaliteit.)
Land of the Free?
Better watch what you say and to whom.
June 13, 2024
Many individuals who actually care about the United States Constitution and its guarantee of basic liberties for the American people have been seriously concerned over how recent Administrations, both Republican and Democratic, have taken steps to control and limit the rights of citizens to exercise free speech as well as freedom to travel and associate freely. This abuse of power, for that is what it is, has unfortunately escalated sharply due to the uncompromising commitment of the Joe Biden White House to both Israel and Ukraine. It manifests itself in many ways, but most often includes steps to make it difficult for concerned Americans to learn for themselves the truth about what is taking place in the various international hot spots that the US State Department appears to be cultivating in such a fashion as to bring the world to the brink of nuclear war.
Those truth-tellers who persist in exposing the criminality in high places have been targeted and labeled in some government circles as “info-terrorists” and there has been what appears to be a sustained effort underway to undermine the credibility of journalists who are daring to report favorably on either Russia or the Palestinians. Interestingly enough, the Ukrainians have established the gold standard in identifying dissident journalists through their Department of Disinformation called “Myrotvorets.” It includes a list of names of those individuals who might be assassinated to silence them. The US has, not surprisingly, been seeking to establish a similar government agency, though hopefully without the kill list.
In the latest manifestation of denial of fundamental rights in an attempt to shut down a critic, on June 3rd the State Department forced former Marine intelligence officer, Chief UN weapons inspector, journalist and author Scott Ritter off a plane headed to Russia by way of Istanbul and confiscated his passport. According to Scott “As I was boarding my flight out of New York I was pulled aside by three armed Customs and Border Patrol officers, who seized my passport. When asked why, they said orders of the State Department. No further information was provided. My bags were removed from the flight, and I was escorted out of the airport.” Ritter, who has been a persistent critic of both the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, was traveling to participate in the highly respected annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum as a guest speaker. The seizure of the passport to block his travel is a violation of the First, Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
In an interview later that day with Judge Andrew Napolitano, Ritter admitted that he had been taken aback by what had happened to him and should have been more aggressive in defense of his rights. He did not, for example, demand to see a warrant or be given a receipt for the passport and did not get the names of the three officers who had taken it away and escorted him out. He also should have demanded the name of the State Department Official who had signed the order to accost him in the most embarrassing fashion possible as he was boarding the plane and take his document.
Interestingly, Scott Ritter’s name appeared prominently on the Ukrainian “Disinformation” hit list. And not terribly surprisingly, the mainstream media, which is in sync with the government on the wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, did not give the Ritter story much coverage. The silence is particularly remarkable as the press, which has been protecting President Joe Biden and his Homeland Security lackeys as they watched millions of people illegally cross the Mexican border into the US failed to exercise any vigilance when a single American citizen was unsuccessful in trying to go the other way completely legally.
Ritter, to be sure, has been a powerful voice critiquing the Iraq War, where his inspections turned up no WMD and he declared, in August 2002, that a case had not been made for attacking Saddam Hussein. If George W. Bush and his gang of neocons plus Congress had only paid attention to Scott Ritter, the US would have been spared the loss of thousands of soldiers and the utter waste of trillions of tax dollars. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis also died as a result of the US attack on their country.
Since that time, Ritter has been an activist who calls for dialogue, negotiation and diplomacy to avoid wars, particularly in the current context where the United States is supplying tens of billions of dollars in arms to expand the war with Russia, sustain the attacks on Gazans and establish a pretext for a war with China over Taiwan. Ritter has traveled to Russia and Iran, as well as to other hot spots, without regard for his personal safety, driven by the desire to tell the truth about what is being propagandized in hopes that he will make politicians think twice about what they are doing. Scott has reported what he sees and describes the conversations he has had with local people without fear or favor, always with the objective of avoiding war and death. For his pains, he inevitably is accused of being a source of Russian and anti-Israeli disinformation and even acting as “Putin’s poodle,” but his information has proven to be overwhelmingly reliable.
Interestingly, this week’s incident was not the first time when Ritter was targeted by the US government for truth-telling. In the wake of the passport seizure, he recounted on X how “The similarities between what happened to me on June 3, and what transpired some 21 1/2 years ago, are disconcerting. Then, the FBI carried out a concerted effort to prevent me from making a documentary movie, ‘Shifting Sands,’ about the flawed case for war being promulgated by the US government. They threatened me with arrest, they engaged in acts of physical intimidation, and—when this didn’t work—they played a role in manufacturing a case designed to destroy my personal character in the eyes of the general public. The 2001 incidents were a warning shot across the bow for me to begin toeing the line. When I refused to do so, releasing my documentary film and actively speaking out against the US case for war with Iraq, the FBI then arranged to have the information about the 2001 incidents leaked to the press in an effort to destroy my credibility on the eve of a February 2003 trip I was planning to take to Iraq, together with a high-profile international delegation, that was designed to prevent a war between the US and the government of Saddam Hussein.”
Scott is not alone in being a target for government attempts to discredit him. Almost anyone who has good access to media and audiences and crosses the established line will be confronted to a greater or lesser extent. Sometimes the confrontation does real damage as in the recent cases of employees of universities and government who have lost their jobs for speaking out in defense of the Palestinians. Has anyone in America lost a job for promoting an ongoing and highly visible genocide, i.e. Israel’s apparent inherent right to kill tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians? No, that is considered acceptable speech by those who govern us and make up the rules.
Those of us who are under attack regularly for going against government writ sometimes exchange jokes about how defying the administration or Congress means going it largely alone in a fight against thousands of government lawyers who will be able to write or interpret the “rules” to crucify you staged in a selected court house before a co-opted judge where you will be certainly convicted. The threat is real, think of what Julian Assange is going through driven by a vengeful US government aided and abetted by those of a like mind in Britain, the home of the Official Secrets Act. The government nearly always wins when it comes to ruining one’s life on spurious or transmutable charges like the Espionage Act of 1918. Scott will have to get a lawyer and sue the government in an attempt to get his passport back and along the way a faceless bureaucrat will no doubt accuse him of high crimes and misdemeanors.
This latest outrage reminds me of something that I and others went through a few years ago relating to Iran, another preferred target of Israeli/US government rage. In May 2018 I and others from many nations, including Israelis and even an American rabbi, attended what was a public media annual conference in Masshad, Iran hosted by the Iranian NGO New Horizon foundation to discuss “Jerusalem/al-Quds the Eternal Capital of Palestine.” The discussions were wide ranging and include some sharp criticisms of Iranian policy. At the time, the Trump Administration was preparing to withdraw from the JCPOA agreement which monitored the Iranian nuclear program and was also ready to declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel, an illegal move. Trump’s Treasury Department was pursuing a policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran and groups like the Jewish Anti-Defamation League were calling the conference an “anti-Semitic gathering” that “included US and international anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and anti-war activists.” The conference nevertheless proceeded peacefully, culminating in a press conference in Tehran that I and others spoke at which was open to the international media.
Unfortunately, someone in Washington did not like the idea of a conference that brought together people from many nations and beliefs to discuss a contentious international problem. In February 2019, Sigal Pearl Mandelker, then Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence and an Israeli citizen, ordered the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to sanction the American-educated founder of New Horizon Nader Talebzadeh Ordoubadi as well as his Lebanese wife, Zeina Mehanna, his organization The New Horizon Conference (NHC), and some of its staff for holding the conference. Ostensibly and perhaps inevitably the reason was “anti-Semitism, Holocaust Denial, and allowing Iranian intelligence to recruit attendees.” Mandelker, by the way, was suspected of having links to Israeli intelligence, Mossad. She was inter alia reportedly involved in brokering the infamous Florida deal that allowed the wealthy child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and probable Israeli spy to avoid federal charges.
I may have inadvertently been the source of the claim about Iranian intelligence operating at the conference in Masshad. Shortly after I returned from Iran to the US, I was visited by two FBI officers who wanted to talk about the gathering. They were polite enough, and when they asked if I thought that Iranian intelligence officers were “working” the conference I replied that they most definitely were but while New Horizon certainly knew about it I strongly believe that they had no choice and were not actually complicit in what was going on. In fact, I was personally “pitched” three times – once by an officer posing as a journalist; once by an officer posing as a foreign ministry official; and once by two intelligence officers using alias names who, I later learned, were the head and deputy head of the Ministry of Intelligence. I was not threatened in any way during the pitches, but I was, of course, in their country and completely under their control.
In order to place in context what took place, I would point out that any international conference almost anywhere in the world like the one we attended in Mashhad would be covered by the local intelligence service in an attempt to make recruitments and obtain information. The CIA has an entire division called National Collection which spends much of its time going to conferences in the US where foreign targets will be present. In like fashion operate the British, French, Mossad, Russian and Chinese services. In my opinion, targeting New Horizon for sanctions because an event hosted by it was exploited by its country’s intelligence service is wrong because NH clearly had no choice in the matter. And it is what the United States and other countries do regularly.
The sanctioning of New Horizon became relevant when NH sought to host another conference in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2019. Roughly the same group of Americans, myself included, was invited to speak or otherwise participate. Several of the Americans were approached in advance by FBI agents, evidently acting under orders from Sigal Mandelker. The Agents warned that any participants in the conference might be subject to criminal indictment upon return to the US because New Horizon was under sanctions. One of those who was approached by the Bureau elaborated how “They’re interpreting the regulations to say that even if you only associate with someone who has been sanctioned, you are subject to fines and imprisonment…” The Bureau went on to explain how Iranian sanctions are somewhat unique. That’s because Iran is a “comprehensively sanctioned” country, meaning that anything having to do with “supporting it” is sanctionable, including tourist visits that aid its economy. We were informed confidentially that if we attended the conference we would be arrested upon our return and would face criminal prosecution as well as possible fines up to $300,000. We all decided not to go and the conference gathering proceeded peacefully without any US input.
The point I am trying to make is that this has been going on for quite some time and rather aggressively by the US government, yet even a well-informed American is probably completely unaware of how he or she can be stripped of fundamental constitutional rights without any ability to push back against the system. And it comes from both Democratic and Republican administrations as well as from government agencies that have been corrupted to the point where they exist to serve their political masters rather than the American people. Hopefully, Scott Ritter will get his passport back and be free both to travel again and speak his mind. We need him and also millions more voices challenging the horrors that have been coming out of Washington.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.
Hier nog 2 reacties op het bericht van Giraldi:
I started reading dystopic sci-fi quite early on. My Golden Years, early teens, discovering the Universe. Oh wherefore art thou, Valentine Michael Smith? Love, Ben.
Prometheus
“…groups like the Jewish Anti-Defamation League were calling the conference an “anti-Semitic gathering” that “included US and international anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers and anti-war activists.” ”
Aha…those dastardly anti-war activists…forever disrupting our indU$tria£i$€d b£oodbathing$ and pi££aging with pleas for humanity.
Pretty soon there’ll be one under every bed.
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Voor de bezoekers die Engels niet kunnen lezen: voor de niet op dit blog gepubliceerde artikelen in het Engels die je onder de volgende links vindt, moet je zelf even een vertaalapp zoeken op het web. Bij sommige browsers krijg je onmiddellijk een pop up met de vraag of het artikel moet worden vertaald), er zijn gratis apps van redelijke kwaliteit die dit kunnen (soms in 2 of of meer delen >> bij lange artikelen).
Visitors who can’t read Dutch for the articles you find under the following links, articles other than from this blog: on the web you can find free translation apps with reasonable quality, which can do the job (sometimes you have to do it 2 or more times >> with lengthy articles). Some browsers give a pop up with the question if you want a translation.
* Neem ook het feit dat wij in Nederland en de bevolkingen van andere westerse landen in feite een slaaf zijn van het dak boven ons hoofd, terwijl dat NB een mensenrecht is!!! (in de VS kan je je huis verlaten als je dat niet meer kunt betalen, al heeft de VS daardoor een enorm aantal daklozen en zelfs gezinnen moeten vaak in erbarmelijke omstandigheden leven, aan de andere kant kan je hier met een ongelofelijk grote schuld komen te zitten als je de woonlasten niet meer kunt opbrengen…) Zie wat dat betreft onder andere: ‘Datalek bij woningcorporatie (die ook in bezit is van belastinggegevens) en de schandelijke huurverhogingen‘
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Zie ook: ‘When The Powerful Control Public Opinion, Elections Aren’t Real‘ (13 juni 2024) En als verkiezingen niet echt zijn geldt dit ook voor de zogenaamde democratie en vrijheid!! Een artikel van Caitlin Johnstone.
‘EU-verkiezingen: een geweldige berg desinformatie van en over de EU‘ (6 juni 2024)
‘EU parlementsverkiezingen en Songfestival ‘telestemmen’‘
‘Ursula von der Leyen: een corrupte vijand van de democratie‘ En zie de berichten onder de links in die blogpost!!
‘Voorspelingen van Khadaffi komen uit: het morele en ethische failliet van het westen‘
‘Von der Leyen laat nog eens geheel overbodig haar onmenselijke kant zien‘
‘The Media Skew Public Perception By Manipulating People’s Attention‘ De zogenaamd onafhankelijke reguliere westerse media zijn de grote pleitbezorgers voor dictatuur, juist door het tegenovergestelde te beweren en met desinformatie in feite de lezers te hersenspoelen. (zie mijn eerdere schrijven in dit bericht/////) Ook dit is een uitstekend artikel van Caitlin Johnstone.
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Wat betreft de genocide die de fascistische apartheidsstaat Israël uitvoert op de Palestijnen in de Gazastrook zie: ‘Klachten dat Hamas de bevolking als menselijk schild zou gebruiken gaan volkomen voorbij aan de dagelijkse gang van zaken in de Gazastrook‘ (12 juni 2024) En zie de berichten onder de links in die blogpost!!
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Wat betreft Julian Assange zie: ‘Morgen en overmorgen geeft het Britse gerechtshof de beslissing of Julian Assange mag worden uitgeleverd aan oorlogsmisdadige VS‘ (19 mei 2024) En zie de berichten onder de links in die blogpost!!
‘Klokkenluider veroordeeld tot 5 jaar en 8 maanden voor het openbaren van Australische oorlogsmisdaden begaan in Afghanistan‘ Klokkenluiden en een echt vrije onafhankelijke pers moeten onafscheidelijk verbonden zijn aan een democratie en aan de vrijheid in een democratie!!
Voorts zie wat betreft ook andere journalisten die het leven en werken onmogelijk wordt gemaakt: ‘Oekraïne: journalist Alina Lipp: bankrekening geblokkeerd en kans op 3 jaar gevangenisstraf voor het berichten over oorlogsmisdaden‘ (21 juli 2022)
Graham William Phillips, is een Britse journalist die wordt vervolgd door zijn regering, ook zijn bankrekening is geblokkeerd voor gebruik, dit daar hij de waarheid vertelde over Oost-Oekraïne….. Eerder had ik een video van YouTube waarin hij één ander uitlegde, echter zijn YouTube account is geblokkeerd en de inhoud is verwijderd, ofwel censuur anno 2023 >> alleen al dit zou de fascistische-Oekraïne-staat-aanhangers wakker moeten maken, zeker als je bedenkt dat Philips maar weinig mensen bereikt met zijn Facebook account, waarom dan hem censureren?? Juist! Zogenaamd om de burgers te beschermen tegen desinformatie, terwijl hij gewoon berichtte over wat er gebeurde in Oost-Oekraïne, ofwel men mag de waarheid niet weten, sterker nog die wordt afgedaan als Russische propaganda….. Volgens de VN heeft het nazi-leger van Oekraïne in Oost-Oekraïne vanaf 2014 tot 2023 meer dan 14.000 etnische Russen vermoord met bombardementen op burgerdoelen in de afgescheiden staatjes, een oorlogsmisdaad van formaat….. Eén van de redenen waarom Rusland ingreep in 2022…..
‘German journalist faces detention for reporting on Ukrainian crimes in Donbass‘
‘Julian Assange, Alina Lipp, and Anne-Laure Bonnel–When truth becomes a crime in the West‘
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Voor meer berichten over Palestijnen, genocide, Oekraïne, democratie, vrijheid en/of dictatuur, klik op het desbetreffende label, direct onder dit bericht.
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Let op!! De ruimte om reacties weer te geven werkt niet altijd. Als je commentaar hebt en het lukt niet op de normale manier, doe dit dan via het mailadres trippleu@gmail.com, ik zal deze dan opnemen onderaan in het bewuste artikel, althans als je geen geweld predikt, voorts plaats ik jouw reactie ook al staat deze diametraal tegenover dat bericht. Alvast mijn dank voor jouw eventuele reactie, Willem.
