Beaucoup Coups: Thailand!

Soon to be Served Military Coup a la Mode!!

No country can boast the number of military,  civilian coups as Thailand.   It does not matter what is the issue.  It’s totally irrelevant who is in charge and who wants to be in charge….

  You can always be certain that if there is any sort of discontent anywhere up and down the Kleptocracy,  once called Siam,  then one or another military officer will initiate a coup.   More often than not,  the military coups are bloodless but the one that is about to happen now,  February 26, 2014 has already taken the lives of 21 people.  In addition,  the number jailed over the four month anti-government demonstration has risen close to 1000 people.

Interestingly,  Thailand is a country that was literally constructed for the “King And I”.    The king,  of course,  unbeknownst to his servile population is American born ---Cambridge Hospital,  Cambridge, Mass.    However,  the King does nothing but posture and grimace which seems to suffice the body politic.  The Thai King is treated as a God.     However,  be wary of saying anything negative about his ersatz king.  According to the Thai people the American King can do no wrong.   Therefore,  the pandemic Thai problems of  child prostitution;  dysfunctional civil institutions; and  rampant corruption/ constant military coups has nothing to do with this American born King.

  Wow! What a racket!

You could  have guessed that yours truly had been arrested in Bangkok for uttering the King’s name [whatever it was] in vain to Thai Airline employee.  Before you could say WTF?,   military officers,  policemen and officials of Thai Airline were confronting me in the First Class Lounge.  The issue was not clear then and it certainly is not clear now.   Apparently,  I had mentioned the ‘king’ in some manner that the Thai Airline official felt was ‘insulting’.   For that I refused to apologize.  They wanted to take my passport away.  I refused.   Eventually they declared me PNG—Persona Non Grata.   This PNG nonsense was absurd because I was not an official of the USG and just a passenger in transit to my more favorite country of Cambodia.

  Can you believe that dear readers?
  That a country where once the Khmer Rouge ruled and decimated became my favorite country—even over the puerile pleasures of Pat Pong—Sin City, Bangkok?

  The truth is that even as DAS for East Asia,  I never liked the Thais.   I found them supercilious, venal and completely without any moral integrity.    Once I even threatened to ‘take out‘ Pol Pot who was residing under Thai protection.   But that is another story for another time.

  Needless to say that Thailand was an,  is an ally to anyone who will pay its price of maintaining a standing army which for the most part,  kills Cambodians, Burmese, and Thais.    The Thai military,  like the king and queen,  are an ambitious testimony to hypocrisy and venality.

 

It is important to understand that Thailand has never been invaded for several centuries because they are clever enough to create Low Intensity Conflicts [LIC] on all their borders so no country would venture to traverse an ongoing LIC.   It would be militarily very costly and foolish.

  Therefore despite the fact that the present military officially ruled out a coup,  guarantees me that there will be a coup.    What is one more coup or so, in a country that has lived in cynical version of Roger/ Hammerstein’s Broadway  Musical –The King And I?

  What makes the hypocrisy almost unbearable is that every Thai military general with whom I had to work with,  informed me as a point of conciliation  [of what?] that they had to be Buddhist Priests for at least one year or more,  before returning to their vicious ways in the military.

There are only two certainties in Thailand and Bangkok—Venereal Disease and an accompanying military coup.    Please be aware that the Thai military controls and profits from the endless bordellos servicing all kinds of carnal/sexual pleasures for the straight and LGBT populations of the world.   All of which, I am certain, the effete American King has never partaken of……MUCH !!!

To the next Thai coup!   May it be at least as successful as the one before, and less tortuous than the next one. 

  Coup A La Mode!! 

Congratulations Thailand –you still have not evolved!!!! 

on another subject
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/02/evidence-that-both-navy-seals-found-dead-on-the-maersk-alabama-had-links-to-boston-bombing-sniper-teams-2906646.html?utm_campaign=&utm_content=beforeit39snews-verticalresponse&utm_source=direct-b4in.info&utm_medium=verticalresponse&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fb4in.info%2FtVDA

some news updates
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/27/world/europe/russia.html?hp&_r=0

Ukraine Victory Defeats Putin!
The next countries to fall because of the Western “PUT” [Stock Short] on Putin’s Hegemony are: Belarus; Moldava; Georgia; and Central Asian Republics.

  As I predicted some time ago,  the Ukraine’s civil war would end in a coup.  The President left,  his security forces did not resist and Russia lost it’s economic/political influence over the Ukraine.

Still the “western front” is not quiescent.

  However,  Putin’s extravagant expenditures of over 50 Billion Dollars on the Sochi Olympics combined with the loss of Russian leverage over the Ukraine, places Vladimir Putin in grave trouble.   

As Howard Cosell the boxing aficionado might have announced over the airwaves:
“Putin,  the ten year heavy weight contender of Russia has finally found himself against the ropes.  He is exhausted from both the body punches by the indomitable forces from the west [read CIA]  to his pocket book and security apparatus.  He no longer can maintain his country in the luxurious state they have become used to.”
Only one year ago,  Putin appeared on top of the world.  He was a close ally of Iran,  Syria, Venezuela,  Cuba,  and in control of the Central Asian Republics Kazakhstan etc.   However today,  after the Ukrainian coup and the Sochi Olympics,  Putin looks fatigued and overstretched.

Putin and his financial cohorts in the Kremlin have to be aware of key factors eroding Russian hegemony at home and at ‘near-abroad’.  Here are some of my assumptions as to why Putin is now in serious trouble at home and beyond:

[1] Russian demographics show that the aging population is increasing exponentially; while the youth are not reproducing at a high enough rate to compensate; and they are fleeing the country for better opportunities abroad.

[2] Putin has to contend with ethnic tensions in Central Asia as we have witnessed recently with the Russian anti-terrorist activities all over Dagastan, Sochi and elsewhere in Central Asia.    In addition,  millions of Central Asians arriving into Moscow,  St Petersburg and in other parts of the Russia have caused even more civil strife and increased ethnic tensions with a concomitant rise of Russian Neo-Fascist Nationalism.

[3] Putin  just lost his strategic  leverage over the Ukraine.  Now Putin has to be even more careful to maintain a stronger hand over his ex-wrestler thug,  Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in his ‘hit-man’ and ‘fixer’ for decades.

Sidebar: I have to share an incident that occurred with me and a companion almost a decade ago.   I was on my way to Warsaw, Poland on a train from Moscow, Russia.   The KGB knew that I was on the train.   At 4:30 am the train stopped in Brest-Litovsk, one thousand meters away from the Polish border.   Lukashenko’s security guards armed with machine guns arrested me and my companion,  interrogated me for hours then threw me off the train.   I finally found my way to Minsk where the kind Belarus citizens offered to help me.  I then boarded the train back to Moscow where I reamed the KGB for their cowardice behavior and warned them that they and Lukashenko would pay for this dastardly deed.   Riots erupted in Minsk several weeks later thanks to my brave professional colleagues in the US.

But really what makes me so certain that Putin is in very real trouble?

 

Its the economy STUPID!!!   Russia’s domestic economy is literally in the toilet.

  Since the 2009 Russian financial crisis,  Russia’s growth has been less than 1.5 % compared to a high GDP of 8% in several years ago.   Most of the growth came from inflated prices in the energy sector which was controlled by the Kremlin.   At the same time, Putin adjusted the price of his energy to his former satellite countries,  especially the Ukraine.   Despite the fact that the energy sector made up half of the Russia’s budget,  the country found itself in ECONOMIC STAGNATION where it still remains.    Foreign Investments in Russia have markedly decreased because of a worldwide mistrust of Putin and his corrupt political cronyism.    Private sector outflow of capital reached a peak of 48 Billion Dollars,  a ten year high. And the capital is still leaving Russia despites Putin’s personal threats against the Russian oligarchs [ex-KGB].

Finally the Central Bank Of Russia is in VERY SERIOUS TROUBLE---closing over 800 banks all over Russia for ‘irregularities’.    In a similar situation , The National Bank of Kazahkhstan has devalued its country’s currency creating a financial crisis in the Moscow-led Customs Union—Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Georgia, Central Asia.    Russia as regional power is waning if not evaporating.

  I tell you these things to explain why a revolution in one country,  like the Ukraine has a serious consequence beyond its own borders.

I stated in previous blogs that the President of the Ukraine would be forced out by a coup,  I also will predict that in time [not too long], Putin will find himself embroiled in domestic turmoil.   Putin will once again recognize the familiar contours of the old Bolshevik Revolution that brought his ancestors into the Soviet Union.   There will be civilian protests.   Next there will be the repression of the civilians by the Russian security forces.  The Russian military will be placed on stand by.    Putin will have to decide how much power he may have to exhort in order to maintain Law and Order.   Power in the Russian sense,  means only one thing.   Putin is a devotee of Stalinism.   Putin knows all too well how Stalin defined power: “Through the barrel of a gun!”

  The real question is how much force and intimidation will Putin exert before he is removed from power….by whatever means. 

  za vashee zda-ro-vye!

To your health,  Putin!

   

Venezuela Invokes Martial Law: “A State of Exception” ---Military Junta Possible as Venezuela Military Called into Quell Rioters in Caracas.

Venezuela like margarine has a ubiquitous presence in the USA.   Every time,  you see or fill up in a Citgo gas station,  you are directly putting money into the pocket of the Venezuelan dictators—Hugo Chavez [before he died] and President Nicolas Maduro [before he is about to die].

 

Why is that the case?

11% of US oil consumption comes directly from Venezuela.   Through Citgo,  Venezuela and the U.S. subsidiaries own eight U.S. refineries.   These particular refineries are highly prized by both Venezuela and the US because they are especially configured to refine HEAVY CRUDE which has a high sulfur content.  This heavy crude oil can then be sold on the world markets at a major discount to lighter crudes.   Like many geographically disparate areas around the world,  oil and gas play an exceedingly important part in the internal dynamics of Venezuela.

American oil and gas interests in countries like the Ukraine,  Iraq,  Afghanistan,  Saudi Arabia, UAE,  and Venezuela are often wrapped in all sorts of different narratives which include such blistering words as ‘democracy’, ’liberation’, ‘freedom’ and so on.

  You get the idea….

Venezuela is not really very much different than the other countries listed above.

  Several decades ago,  a lowly military officer was placed with our approval into the Chancellorship of the failing institution known as Venezuela.   He became so obnoxious and incompetent that our CIA saw it fit to attempt a coup against him.   True to form,  the coup failed.

  Chavez was mad,  rightfully so.    He continued on his dysfunctional course of leading the country to poverty,  corruption and stagnation.

However,  he left our oil interests alone.   Instead we found concern about our geopolitical interests not south of our border but in some 16,000 miles away in Iraq then Afghanistan.

For the most part of the past fifty years,  South America has been of little if no concern to American foreign policy interests.   With exception of our frisky CIA and some of our SOF that have been playing in the jungles and cities of Colombia, Chile, Bolivia etc.    In particular,  the CIA had a momentous burst of history when it arranged for the assassination of Chilean President Salvador Allende and put in his place,  General Pinochet.   However,  this South American shenanigans was not quite movie material for our CIA office embedded in Hollywood.   So these  ‘stand downs’ , ‘false flags’ and ‘assassinations’ in the Southern Hemisphere would not be dramatized for the movie audience,  like Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Homeland et. al.

  Southern Command,  the military headquarters located in Miami was at best an appendage to an inert military civilian South American foreign policy.   Also, SOCOM,  Special Operations Command,  located in Tampa, Florida was replete with sex, mischief and dinner parties.   General David Petraeus as SOCOM Commander and DCI, was literally ‘blown away‘  at the military command center of Iraq,  Afghanistan. 

Sidebar:  Why NOT locate SOCOM in Florida?  Beautiful beaches,  great fishing and gorgeous socialites married to busy doctors and four star military officers bereft of meaningful human companionship….all on our tax dollars! 

Now back to Venezuela.

  The present scenario of young students fighting the oppressive government is familiar.

Then what makes this scenario so different from the one in Libya,  Egypt,  Syria?
  Nothing!

  The nature of 21st century internet coverage by other young aficionados of revolutions have afforded a worldwide audience a chance to see the inevitable pattern of informal opposition to any ruling power,  irrespective of geographical location.    What one sees is that a few organized students start off with rocks bottles,  stones.  Next we see the initial confrontation against the police escalate to Molotov cocktails and then eventually lighting cars on fires and gunshot.   The sequence of events is inevitable because the drama of militant confrontation follows a very strict script.   If one deviates from it, the news disappears or the opposition snuffs out the protests.   However,   if the internet can sustain a conflict for the viewership for whatever Machiavellian or ‘altruistic’ reasons, then the viewership escalates exponentially.

Paddy Chayefsky’s brilliant film,  NETWORK,  presage decades ago the necessity for TV [then] to orchestrate or arrange for riots,  protests for whatever reasons , as a means of entertainment for the masses.

  Am I being facetious or callous?

  Bread and circus had always been a part of the historical imperative of political change,  whether by force or by consensus.   The only difference between Venezuela and the Ukraine is the military.   Once a leader calls upon the services of his/her military to suppress political dissent,  then all bets are off as to the outcome.   The military as in Egypt and Syria can and will support the ruling elite---which is usually the military.

  It is well to remember that in Venezuela,  it was the military that brought Chavez into power and keeps Maduro in his place.   But once you serve at the good graces of any military,  you should well remember,  the sullen words of Brutus:   “I come not to bury Caesar; but to praise him.”

Good luck Venezuela,  you will need it.

America is out for a South American Siesta------  and we will back----- never!

good explanation of the Ukraine's strategic importance, with the watch (10 mins)
Thanks Richard Presser!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6jHhzj08yQ&feature=youtu.be

Here is the AJ podcast
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEz30l6jz6E&list=UUvsye7V9psc-APX6wV1twLg&feature=c4-overview

Recent Increase in Intensity of  Syrian Civil War / Escape of Afghanistan Prisoners: Predictable Outcomes of American Intervention!

I am compelled to belabor the point that our past jingoist cavalier invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan were geopolitically destabilizing and self-destructive to American interests.    What arose subsequently in both countries were a series of shifting battle scenarios and confusing alliances among so-called ‘terrorists’.   These ersatz terrorists were reacting to the very disruptive nature of the American invasion itself;  as well as the ‘untoward consequences’ to the quotidian life of the particular citizenries.   In simple terms,  invasions are by their very nature exceedingly complicated to plan,  execute and predict.

  I speak not from someone who has been on a military planning staff but rather as a professional who has had to deal with the travail and hardships of evolving civil wars initiated by the USG or other so-called Super Powers [read Russia, France, England, et. al].    I  cast no aspersions on anyone,  least of all our own military,  which has had a certain proclivity to relearn lessons of combat and asymmetric warfare,  not once but again and again… until they forget it all together.   That’s why we have War Colleges,   a futile attempt to instill creativity and ‘out-of-box-thinking’.  

But enough carping….  

The recent escalation in the Syrian Civil War where a Baskin-Robbins assortment of 31 flavors of newly created terrorist cells are fighting one another as well as their principle enemy Bashar Assad,  illustrates the tenets that I have called the Dr P. Principles of Permeability of Enemies:

[1] War is not an extension of policy.   I basically refute Clausewitz.

[2] War is fought for only one reason—to fight a war.   Rarely are there other reasons like land access, oil or my favorite- humanitarian reasons.

[3] The more complex the war becomes,  the greater the theory of reductionism comes into play.   Witness the Iraq War when Gen Shenseki argued for a minimum force structure of 250,000 yet only 75,000 soldiers were granted by Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz.

[4] Most American Wars are initiated by Presidents and senior Officials who have never engaged in any form of combat  or were directly involved in any form of death defying overseas ‘enterprises’ ,  either in single or multiple units.

[5] War is an abstract concept for war planners.    It has very little textural, visceral or consequential component to it.  More like a game.

[6] The  inherent nature of war is referred to as ‘unexpected consequences’ implying that despite serious planning and foresight,  what subsequently occurred was ‘force major’ or an ‘act of God’ for which the military planners and POTUS are not responsible?!?

[7] In every civil war around the world,  there are ‘extremists’ with whom we cannot deal with; and ‘moderates’ with whom we can work with and even arm with necessary supplies.

[8] These so-called civil wars have shifting alliances where there is no spectrum of moderate to extremists.  All elements of the civil war have but one interest—their own specific power gain, bereft of any other considerations.   Each group, despite rhetoric to the contrary, want to prevail in an extremely competitive field of killing, mutilation, and barbarism.

[9] At any given time or place, if one were to identify a terrorist group, there is a very high probability that the terrorist group was either created by a major superpower or it’s proxy.   Once that anointed terrorist group has been created,  trained and supplied by a superpower or proxy,  it will, more often than not, ‘blowback’ on it’s creator and switch sides to destroy the ‘creator’.

[10] The number of different terrorist groups are never measured in ‘additive terms’ but in ‘exponential variants’.

 For example, if there are four different terrorist groups fighting in Syria [which there are] then the number of permutations of potential enemies is NOT ADDITIVE:

• Four Plus Three Plus Two Plus One = 10 different groups fighting among each other.

• Rather the real number of potential fighting groups and enemy combatants are:

• Four Times Three Times Two Times One= 24 different permutation of groups that shift back and forth at any given time and place.

Remember that no one anointed leader is ever grateful for American assistance or presence in his country.   Witness the bipolar phenomenon Hamid Karzai. Born, bred and nurtured by “CIA” and Dr Zalmay Khalilzad.    Now Karzai refuses to work with the USG and releases all our American captured Afghan militants.

These civil wars lead to massive displacements of people,  personnel and countries.   The most natural consequence is a humanitarian disaster accompanied by more fighting until another dictator or authoritarian leader arises and the USG forgets about the countries that it had unnecessarily invaded.

Lets not forget the brave American men/women who are killed, mutilated and are immediately shuffled to the backwards of a dysfunctional VA Hospital system rife with cash and entrenched in stifled bureaucracy.    All these America casualties are retitled ‘wounded warriors’ for purposes of alleviating the military/civilian conscience.   Post conflict,  most ‘wounded warriors’ wondered why they had gone into combat in the first place and was it worth it??

All these America initiated wars are costly and create a massive interregnum financial/political domestic stagnation which takes decades to realign into some semblance of normalcy.   Then of course we have the senior military /civilian initiators of the unnecessary war write ‘biographies’ justifying their incompetency and malignant narcissism.   These phantasmagorical biographies usually receive seven figure advances which never is justified; while the ‘wounded warriors’ and brave veterans have a ‘hard time’ maintaining an ordinary life and even a harder time  supporting  their family.    Predictably the mainstream media fellates these senior leaders and military planners so that they can also write non-fiction books that receive only six figure advances while they continue to appear on disappearing talk shows –providing a surplus of ‘talking heads’ or ‘bullshitters’. 

I hope that I have made my point.

I am becoming fagged out by the inanity of our past,  present and future military/intelligence escapades.   I call them escapades, because for the most part our military has become nothing more than men/women dressed in some camouflaged uniform that presages nothing more certain death or highly probable dismemberment.    US military leadership has lost it’s credibility and legitimacy by parading on the grounds of some pristine fort where there will be no chance of their ever encountering mishap or ‘collateral damage’.

  As for our intelligence, it is beyond resuscitation.

Yet on a bright note,  our CIA, SEAL, and other SOF units seem to have a Hollywood-Tropic tendency.

  Recommend:  that we dissolve the Pentagon,  for it’s nothing more than an elaborate Home Depot of antiquated and futuristic military supplies, and transform it into a subsidiary of NETFLIX,  PARAMOUNT,  UNIVERSAL or better yet---WALT DISNEY STUDIOS.   At the rate that our military/intelligence community creates ‘stand downs’, ‘false flags’ and fictional tales of rescue,  let’s use their collective imaginative talents to further their fictional careers  in the entertainment industry..

Yet,  I am grateful for the presence of our military because they afford me characters and interesting places where I can visualize that next exciting scenario for TOM CLANCY’S OP CENTER and NET FORCE.

Seriously,  what would I do without Muslim Terrorists or North Korean ‘mad men’? 

  Thanks!! 

And good luck on your next unnecessary invasion. !!!

I am planning to be on Alex Jones today at 2pm Eastern.  Spread the word!

Edward Snowden: Spy or Whistleblower?  Neither!
He is a Manufactured Avatar of the American Intelligence Community!

For over a year,  the bloated American Intelligence Community,  both the military and the civilian components,  have been playing a game with us,  citizens-taxpayers.    A narrative was created in the personae,  or what I call ‘avatar’ of an ostensible ex-CIA,  ex-Special Forces and ex-NSA contractor named “Edward Snowden.”   This Edward Snowden apparently leaked millions of intelligence documents regarding our massive electronic surveillance over our citizenry. 

At the same time that Snowden is seeking political asylum in Russia,  he directly attacks both the Director of National Intelligence, Lieut. General [Ret. USAF] James Clapper and General Keith Alexander [US Army],  Director of the NSA/Cyber Command as the major culprits who are ‘destroying our personal liberties’ and are ‘snooping‘ on ‘foreign countries and foreign businesses.’ 

  Sounds nefarious? 

  On the surface,  Snowden sounds like the Mick Jagger’s image conveyed in the introductory lyrics of “Sympathy for the Devil”—‘You don’t know my name, but you do know my game.” 

  A portrait of Snowden has been constructed by Snowden in collaboration with others to create this Janus-like two headed monster.  Devil or angel?  Spy or whistle-blower?    Nothing could more simple than a binary decision by the worldwide audience than a reflexive response similar to the infamous Gladiator fights during the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.    For some time now,  Snowden has presented his personae on different European TV Shows including the German TV one posted earlier on my site (thanks Patriarch!).     After watching this  interview a few times,   I came away thinking,  not like an ordinary American citizen,  but more like a counter-intelligence operative.

What were the disturbing elements about Edward Snowden and this Intel narrative?

▪ On one hand,   Snowden wants Americans to believe that he was just a simple Booz Allen sub-contractor who suddenly had a major crisis of conscience when DNI James Clapper ‘lied’ to Congress when he said that NSA never spied on the American public.

▪ Snowden’s personal indignation seemed to be credible and sincere.   However,  when he started to explain the complete layout of the intelligence community and how different compartments of the NSA worked along with the Intelligence Community,   I could have sworn that he sounded more like James Clapper than James.

▪ Snowden never mentions John Brennan (his real boss at CIA).   He only hammers on the—the DNI and the NSA (DNI and NSA are managed by military and ex Military) 

▪ Snowden never mentioned his direct employer—Booz Allen— which is also controlled by John Michael McConnell,  former Vice Admiral (26 years in Naval Intelligence,  DNI 2007-2009,  Director NSA ’92-’96).

▪ McConnell now heads Booz Allen,  a $5.9B  ‘nursing home’ for ‘retired military/civilian intelligence officers’ paid completely by the US taxpayers.

There are many players in this BeltWay Bandit theater which includes corporations like L3 Corp,  SAIC,  Mitre.   One of the stars is none other than James Clapper!  with supporting performances from CIA-operatives including George Little [Media Relations],  James Woolsey [Director of CIA under Clinton].    In a dramatic twist now Clapper and Woolsey want to ‘try’ Snowden as a ‘traitor’ and are vociferous in their protestations… Perhaps too much!

  Edward Snowden is part and parcel of an intelligence game played out in the public,  by ex officio and present day intelligence officers from the CIA;  NSA; National Geospatial Agency; and Congress .

Far fetched?
  But remember  in the world of intelligence there are no good guys or bad guys-  just players and non-players gaming out the need for more and more intelligence and surveillance for a series of contrived threats in order to control,  subjugate and tax the public.   That old quest for dominance and riches.

  Am I too harsh?   Maybe!
For the most part,  the incestuous relationships among the CIA,  the NSA ,  NGA and Booz Allen,  Carlyle Group speaks to one concern above all others---how much money will the private/public,  military/civilian  intelligence sector continue to receive from year to year?   At issue is not outcomes or results.    For the most part,  over the thirty years that I served in different administrations,  I find the Intel Community easily loses sight of the mission.   It’s relevance is much like the US military—only to itself.    As I wrote in a previous blog,  that our military had no need for the USA and the USA had no need for our military; so it is with our civilian/military Intel Community.   Their only major concerns—security,  pension, and career advancement.   Not exactly the attributes required of a proactive, risk-taking enterprise.

Where does Snowden relate to this incestuous,  abscess ridden,  dysfunctional intelligence community?
  In my opinion,  he is an ‘avatar’ created by the community to pre-empt the American public and private industry from controlling the evolving narrative of the future of the internet and the need for NET FORCE—a concept I literally created thirty years ago.    I envisioned several government agencies,  both domestic and foreign that would have to monitor and control the net in the name of ‘national security’.

  Snowden is just a ‘tool’ or ‘narrator’ for the American Intelligence community to delineate the problems of electronic surveillance;  the need for private public oversight and involvement and the imperative for all Presidents and legislators to remember that at any given time,  the NSA and the DNI can evoke the following iconic terms of fear—“We have a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER!” 

 

Snowden has allowed himself to be compared to the historically renown ‘whistleblower’  Daniel Ellsberg of the infamous “Pentagon Papers”.   However,  like Snowden,   Ellsberg was just another “CIA/military facilitator” who ostensibly worked at the State Department.    He never worked at State.

Ellsberg was in fact a CIA operative with a flimsy State Department cover who had worked at the Air Force think tank—RAND corp.    And, more importantly,   he had worked closely in Vietnam with the nefarious “Quiet American”  CIA operative--  General Edward Landsdale.

  Confusing?
  On the one hand,  both Snowden and Ellsberg work for intelligence organizations and even joined the military.   Although in the case of Snowden,  he “broke his leg during Special Forces training for Iraq”    In the case of Ellsberg,  he was a ‘gung-ho’ ,’crazy’ [according to my boss, Henry Kissinger] First Lieutenant Company Commander in the Marine 2^nd Infantry Division.    Neither man attacked their true linear patronage-the CIA.   Snowden briefly states ‘he served in the CIA’ but makes no further mention of that fact .   Nor does Snowden berate any Civilian/military leaders of the CIA .

  Strange?

  Ellsberg gets indicted for divulging the Top Secret Pentagon Papers  then like Snowden,  he ‘seeks refuge for fear he may be assassinated’.

  Nonsense!

  Where did I encounter Daniel Ellsberg between 1971-74?   At M.I.T!!!   At the John McCone Center of International Relations where all my Professors and students were trained by the CIA.

So like Snowden,  Ellsberg works with  the CIA and then ends up in a  CIA sanctuary.    Yes,  I am saying that we the American citizens have been played by our intelligence community for their own benefit,  without regard to our national security or their own legitimacy.
  What I am really trying to say is that the CIA and other intelligence organizations created the wars in Vietnam,  Iraq,  Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somali, et al.    Now,  through an Edward Snowden,  a bright young articulate ‘whistleblower/spy,’ the CIA and the other intelligence organizations are able to control all the narratives concerning 9/11,  Stand Downs,  Drone Wars, and other illegal activities by co-opting the public into a conversations that appears to threaten our core values,  concerning ‘freedom of speech’ and other bill or rights issues; while all the time, extracting out more tax dollars and ‘spinning war stories’ as they wish.

 

They are truly CATHOLIC IN SCOPE AND BELIEF!    The CIA [Brennan], White House [Doyle, McTiernan,] NSA [Alexander], DNI [Clapper]—can all commit the sins of war and destruction while at the same time, they allow us to FORGIVE THEM OF THEIR SINS.    Not bad! They are perpetrators of crimes; then they act as ‘judge and jury’. 

 

From Ellsberg to Snowden,  we have had Bush Sr,  Clinton,  Bush Jr, and Obama---FOUR CIA OPERATIVES working  as  ‘thoroughly vetted civilians’   espousing  transparency,  justice,  honor and all the democratic values that a republic will allow.   Then we have countless number of appointments in the military and civilian organizations representing much sound and fury signifying nothing.    All along the narrative consists of a ‘good guy’ ,  a ‘bad guy’ and of course,  don’t forget, ‘freedom of the press’.

My conclusion concerning Snowden  is that we,  Americans,  have been had.    For the most part,  our legislators act as political panderers,  nothing more than decaying appendages in a dying corpse.   What remains is the exoskeleton of a republic where bread and circus is interspersed with occasional media blitzes orchestrated for and by our ignoble,  imploding intelligence community.

Citizens call to action:  recall these congressional waste products,  demand accountability on the Intelligence Budget which is north of $50B,  let’s elect a president that is not a tool of the CIA.   Let’s examine the resumes of our candidates and ask questions of their background.  Don’t get fooled again!

Here is what I found on U.S. Intelligence Budget,  its a doozy. $48-$52 Billion.
http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/191-press-releases-2013/888-dni-releases-updated-budget-figure-for-fy-2014-appropriations-requested-for-the-national-intelligence-program

This is a must watch for all,  Edward Snowden interview.  This is a net assessment of a new age,  its perils and its reality.  Listen and put the pieces together.  Thanks Patriarch (once again).
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f93_1390833151

Nancy Pelosi is so bad (she takes ZERO responsibility for the mess of Obama care and her congress) its funny.  She has lost her key minions and she is nervous,  good.  Thanks John Stewart!
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/01/31/watch-nancy-pelosi-actually-gets-laughed-at-during-her-interview-with-jon-stewart/

video is half way down....watch it,  please.

Ukrainian President Victor F. Yanukovick Develops A ‘Cold’ in the Midst of a Civil War!

My Professional Diagnosis is that he IS suffering from “The Terminal Illness”,   I Call – A COUP!!   NOT A CROUP! 

  For the past several months,  many of us have been following with bated breath the efforts of Western-Oriented Protestors fighting against a corrupt,  Pro-Russian [also pro-Soviet] government led by Russian apparatchiks including former ex-President Yanukovych.    The president who is only 64 years old and was in excellent health suddenly developed a case of the ‘catarrh’ [fever, malaise, sneezing].

  Immediately,   I had two thoughts….

 

The first image was that of the character,  Adelaide,  in Frank Loesser’s brilliant Pulitzer Prize/Tony winning musical called “Guys and Dolls”.    In that musical there is a poignant scene where Adelaide tried to manipulate her miscreant boyfriend,  Nathan Detroit,   into marrying her by developing an psychosomatic ‘cold’ .    Needless to say that Adelaide’s wily methods do result in success.

  But the second image that I have about the Ukrainian President’s so-called ‘cold’ is of a coup that occurred against Mikhail Gorbachev in August of 1991.    As prominent Ukrainian journalist,  Vitaly Pornikov,  correctly remembers that on August 19, 1991 the U.S.S.R vice president announced that the then Secretary General Gorbachev had a ‘serious illness’ and the next day Gorbachev was in handcuffs and thrown out of power.     Needless to say,   Mr Putin conveniently arrived on the scene a few years later.

 

So let me share with you not the reality of the Ukrainian civil war;  but instead I would like to explain several of the different types of coups that will occur in the UKRAINE within the next few weeks.

First for those of you readers who might be interested in creating a coup somewhere in the world,   may I suggest Edward Luttwak’s practical handbook: Coup D’Etat: A Practical Handbook.    I know Edward and I can assure you that he certainly knows about his subject.    He even made a film on a certain coup.  However,   there is a more interesting nosology of coups - so those of you who are interested in developing different types of coups can garner significant information from the learned Harvard Professor Samuel P. Huntington.

Here are his categories and some of my favorite types of coups:
[1] Breakthrough Coup D’ Etat:  A revolutionary army overthrows a government in order to create a new power elite. 

▪ This type of coup is often INITIATED BY MID-LEVEL JUNIOR OFFICERS.

▪ Examples include: Col. Nasser’s Egyptian Coup in 1952;  Col.  Qaddaffi’s Coup in 1969; and a few coups in Africa.

[2] Guardian Coup D’Etat:  often described as the ‘MUSICAL CHAIRS COUP’.   Usually this type of coup is initiated in the ‘interests’ of IMPROVING PUBLIC ORDER,  EFFICIENCY AND TERMINATING CORRUPTION.

▪ This type of coup is most often than not initiated by the RULING MILITARY OFFICER OF THAT PARTICULAR COUNTRY.

▪ Examples abound here: In 1999, General Pervez Musharaff overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister Nuwaz Sharif.  Then Musharaff was ‘voted out’ in  a bloodless coup by Prime Minister Benazhir Bhutto.   Now Bhutto who was killed in a coup was no stranger to coups herself.   Both her father was overthrown in a military coup and her husband who became Prime Minister of Pakistan after having been jailed by the Pakistani military for eleven years.  No one can beat the ISI Pakistani Military for coups and counter-coups!

The sequence really does not matter.   What does matter is that a ‘failed state’ like the present Ukraine or Thailand will enter into some form of civil strife, often amounting to a ‘civil war’ and then … pooff!   the military takes over power.

Lest you think that America has not had any coups,   please think again!

  The assassination of JFK was in fact a coup undertaken by both US military and civilian forces.   LBJ was the recipient as was many other economic/political interests.    Nixon was taken out by a ‘Watergate Scandal’ which in effect amounted to ‘civilian coup’. 

  What do I mean?
  Nixon was becoming inconvenient for many civilian /military/financial elements of the USG.    He was not part and parcel of the then established Northeast power or Texas business interests.    He was Eisenhower’s bête-noire as his Vice President and was in many ways of ‘out of control’. 

Similarly,   the stand down on 9/11 was and still is a Bush Jr/Cheney ‘bloody coup’ with participating member of our civilian/military/ financial community with help from Israel,  Pakistan,  Dubai and Saudi Arabia.    So these are the types of coup that have become somewhat popular in our times.

  Please don’t get so indignant or self-righteous.    As for me,  I realize that our great country, the USA,   is in effect a de facto military coup.

  Think about it!

  Every congressional district and Senatorial state has more military/industrial complexes than any ‘bloody coup’ could ever have accomplished.

 My favorite Republican President,  Eisenhower,   warned us about the military/industrial coup.    But  no one listened because he did not SPECIFICALLY USE THE WORD “COUP”….he used the word complex,  but he meant coup.

  When you think of all our military command centers---CENTCOM,  SOUTHCOM,  SOCOM—just in Florida; as well as CINPAC,  AFRICOM [which was ordered to ‘stand down’ in Benghazi’] –what do you think we are?

 

We are nothing more than a  garrison state or PAX AMERICANA or if you wish,   A ROMAN EMPIRE.    Our centurion guards,  the chiefs of the area commands,  patrol the world in over 720 plus military bases located in over 224 countries.    That constitutes in anybody’s language an IMPERIAL STATE with military control.    The civilians,  including POTUS,  are irrelevant.   I wish it were different but its not.    Americans have been asleep so long that they forgot that they had created a military that was loyal to no country other than itself.  

So,   Mr Ukrainian President,   don’t feel so bad when you find yourself in prison or political exile.

  Please consider…..

  Putin was trained by the best SPY MASTERS in the world bar none  (Markus Wolf and Yuri Andropov).

Viktor,    the worst that can happen is that we,   America,  will take you in as a ‘political refugee.’   You and Mr Gorbachev can even make some DINGI [money] by advertising Louis Vuitton Handbags from the back of a black Limousine.    If you are really good, we can even get you a book contract and then you can appear on the John Stewart Show or Steven Colbert—your choice.

 

The alternative could have been worse.

  Putin at least is not STALIN-  not yet!

Sidebar:  It is estimated that Stalin killed 4million Ukrainians in 1933 alone,  starved them to death!

 

Old Russian proverb:  The thief that stole 3 kopeks is hung,  the thief that stole 50 kopeks is praised!

Here's some background on my next post (coming soon)!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/world/europe/ukraine-unrest.html?hpw&rref=world