I've never been a huge fan of Brand for a variety of reasons, but in this episode of his YouTube program "The Trews" he makes the point that the Gaza-Israel situation is made worse by a belligerent and uninformed media exemplified by Sean Hannity and FOX in this instance. Of course like Hannity, Brand is an entertainer and both tend toward conflict and confirmation bias rather than rational discussion and/or provision of useful information. On the other hand, when the predominant position of media is more closely aligned with Hannity, the conflict is bound to continue for there is no way to stop it short of annihilation/subjugation/surrender.
The Guardian has made a big To-Do over it which at least gets it some attention.
I'll try to get into a little more of the underlying issues in a subsequent post.
Michael Gordon. Does the name ring a bell? It ought to. Michael Gordon was a co-reporter with Judith Miller on a number of those false stories published by the New York Times, false stories otherwise known as propaganda, which assisted the Bush-Cheney Administration in ginning up support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, an action that led to perhaps a million dead, four or five million displaced, who knows how many millions wounded, an entire nation -- and later on a whole region -- in flames and ruin, and so on.
That Michael Gordon. He's still with the NYT, and it seems he's at it again, this time on the Ukrainian front, cheerfully spreading false information and propaganda about supposed Russian "special forces" stirring up trouble and making war -- or what have you -- in Ukraine's Eastern Sector, where Ukrainian troops have been ordered to engage and defeat the "terrorists."
Now, the New York Times has led its Monday editions with an article
supposedly proving that Russian military special forces are secretly
directing the popular uprisings in eastern Ukraine in resistance to the
Kiev regime, which took power after the violent overthrow of elected
President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22.
The Times based its story on grainy photographs provided by the Kiev
regime supposedly showing the same armed “green men” involved in actions
with the Russian military earlier and now with the pro-Russian
protesters who have seized government buildings in towns in eastern
Ukraine.
The Times reported, “Now, photographs and descriptions
from eastern Ukraine endorsed by the Obama administration on Sunday
suggest that many of the green men are indeed Russian military and
intelligence forces — equipped in the same fashion as Russian special
operations troops involved in annexing the Crimea region in February.
Some of the men photographed in Ukraine have been identified in other
photos clearly taken among Russian troops in other settings.”
The Times apparently accepts the photos as legitimate in terms of
where and when they were taken, but that requires first trusting the
source, the post-coup regime in Kiev which has a strong motive for
making this argument as a prelude to violently crushing the eastern
Ukrainian protests.
Secondly, one has to believe that the fuzzy photographs of the
circled faces are the same individuals. They may be, but it is difficult
to be sure from what is displayed. The principal figure shown is a man
with a long beard and a cap sometimes pulled down over his forehead. He
could be a Russian special forces soldier or a character from “Duck
Dynasty.”
And the resemblance of some uniforms to those worn by Russian
soldiers is also circumstantial, since military gear often looks similar
or it could have been sold to civilians, or the men could be veterans
who kept their old uniforms after leaving the military. The fact that
these men are adept at handling weapons also could mean that they have
prior military experience, not that they are still active.
For the Times to cite the Obama administration’s endorsement of the
Kiev regime’s claims as some kind of verification is also silly. Anyone
who has followed the Ukraine crisis knows that the U.S. government is
wholeheartedly on the side of the post-coup regime, trumpeting its
propaganda and dismissing any counterclaims from the Yanukovych camp or
from Moscow.
Masked Men
There’s other silliness in the Times article, such as the notion that
the Russians are unusual in “masking” their special forces when U.S.
military and intelligence services have been doing the same for decades.
In contradicting Russian denials that the Kremlin has dispatched
undercover soldiers, the Times wrote:
“But masking the identity of its forces, and clouding the
possibilities for international denunciation, is a central part of the
Russian strategy, developed over years of conflict in the former Soviet
sphere, Ukrainian and American officials say.”
Is it possible that the Times’ reporters, including Pentagon
correspondent Gordon, don’t know that U.S. Special Forces and CIA
officers routinely grow beards and wear local garb to blend in when they
are operating in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Central America, etc.?
When
I was covering Central America policy in the 1980s, I knew American
mercenaries, including former U.S. Special Forces soldiers, who provided
training and other assistance to the region’s security forces.
Sometimes, these veterans coordinated their actions with the U.S.
government and sometimes they were simply making money.
More recently, there have been the various permutations of
Blackwater, a private security firm that employs former U.S. military
personnel and makes them available to governments around the world,
sometimes in support of American interests but sometimes not.
All these are factors that should be considered when making claims
about whether military men who show up in Kiev or eastern Ukraine or
anywhere else are on assignment for a specific government or are working
for a local “oligarch” or are simply inspired by nationalism. But these
nuances are missing from the Times story as it jumps to its preferred
conclusion.
Plus, you have to wonder how skillful the Russians really are at
“masking” if they have their special forces troops wear uniforms that
can be so easily traced back to Russia.
That is not to say that these “green men” might not be Russian
special forces. I have one longtime source who is convinced that they
are Russian soldiers (though he has not seen any proof), and another
source who insists that the Russian government did not want the
uprisings in eastern Ukraine and did not dispatch these men.
But the Times should have learned from its previous blunders and
taken care to include alternative scenarios or point to evidentiary
holes in what the Kiev regime claimed. Instead, the Times has again
acted like a prosecutor determined to make a case, not a fair-minded
judge weighing the evidence.
It is also an indictment of the Times’ professionalism that this
newspaper of record can’t seem to detect neo-Nazis in the post-coup
regime, when some have open histories of pro-Nazi behavior, while it
goes to dubious lengths to discredit the eastern Ukrainians who are
resisting the imposition of authority from an unelected administration
in Kiev.
Just like the “aluminum tube” story that justified killing so many
Iraqis and the “vector analysis” that almost unleashed a devastating
U.S. bombing campaign on Syria, the Times’ “green men” piece may be
the prelude to a bloodbath in eastern Ukraine. [For more on the U.S.
propaganda, see “Ukraine. Through the US ‘Looking Glass.’”]
That the New York Times would once again enable and publish such falsity in order to help "make the case for..." well, in this case, if not war, exactly, at least its simulation... is no surprise. It's what they do, it's part of the Times' corporate values, it's a way of life for the Gray Lady.
That they would send their crack Pentagon reporter to do it, someone who passes on every false Pentagon story he can get his hands on or he is fed is something to be expected as well.
But these days, reporters like Parry and many others smelled the rot and propaganda right off and raised quite a stink about it, so much so that Margaret Sullivan was forced to respond and a sort-of-something like a "correction" -- but not retraction -- wound up buried in the print editions of the paper and was posted online.
This sort of stinky propaganda effort is found throughout mainstream -- and much of the "alternative" -- American media, especially whenever the Powers That Be want to make a war of some sort. It's labeled "patriotic" reporting, but it's really the devil's handiwork. It's so common at the New York Times -- in regard to some issues but not others -- that the paper's reputation for truth-telling long ago went into the trash heap, and all their stories about issues of war and peace are met with understandable skepticism and many face fierce criticism. The Times lies, and Michael Gordon, as parrot and mouthpiece for the Pentagon and on his own account, is one of the Times' worst offenders. His partner, Judith Miller, now works for FOX, where she probably belonged all the time.
Gordon would fit right in.
Given the shaky provenance on which the original NYT story was based, you'd think there would be more than a few caveats before anything was published, especially in light of the obvious propaganda that is being distributed like candy from all the Western and Ukrainian governmental (or in the case of Ukraine "governmental") sources (not that the Russians aren't doing something similar; they definitely are.) The point is not that propaganda is being distributed, it is that the premiere media outlet in the United States is uncritically amplifying it and using one of its least credible and most notorious warmonger-reporters to do so.
Of course, part of the problem was that a coup was engineered and undertaken in Kiev, much as a similar action was taken in Cairo last year, to overthrow the elected government and install a "coup regime" friendly to certain Western and financial interests. Popular discontent was used as the pretext for the coup in both cases.
A major difference is that the coup in Cairo was backed by and undertaken by a very strong military -- which had also been instrumental in overthrowing the Mubarak regime two years prior. The Cairo overthrow of Morsi was accompanied by a furious bloodbath of Morsi supporters, thousands shot down in the streets, tens of thousands jailed and effectively disappeared. The Cairo coup was backed by if not instigated by Washington, and to this day, while the US Government pretends to "distance itself" from the brutal actions of the Cairo coup regime, Washington's support for the Cairo coup regime has never wavered. "Just don't call it a coup."
Ukraine is different because there is no substantial Ukrainian military. Thus a coup was instigated by a technocratic, predatory finance sector with strong EU ties (which included support from Americans like Pierre Omidyar) without much consideration of the consequences.
The Eastern Sector, which has close ties to Russia, wishes autonomy, and some of the government facilities in the Eastern Sector have been taken over and barricaded by Russian sympathizers, generally called "separatists." All that's clear about them is that they don't want to be ruled by the Fascists and Nazis in Kiev.
The Kiev coup regime is on very shaky ground, as they were installed to accomplish certain actions on behalf of the EU, NATO and IMF, and are not really a governing entity at all. Their control of the country is limited to say the least.
In order to make them into a government, they must demonstrate they control territory, the armed forces, and the loyalty of the People -- none of which they've been able to do. Especially not in the Eastern Sector, but it doesn't appear they have much support or authority anywhere in Ukraine outside the palaces they occupy in Kiev.
Consequently, the furious propaganda campaign, overwhelming practically everything else. The Kiev coup regime -- or its sponsors -- employ open Nazis, fascists and mercenaries to do their wet-work -- which may well have included the snipers in the Maidan square in Kiev which led directly to the overthrow of the Yanukovych government. Sending death squads to the Eastern Sector seems to be underway, but so far, results are inconclusive.
In the meanwhile, Michael Gordon at the New York Times will no doubt continue to crank out warrior propaganda to support the notion that this war of all wars is the necessary war.
(Via Willy Loman, which you ought to read if you want to know what's up with That Plane and all...;-)
Last week the NYT was all hopped up about the Evil That Is Iran, supposedly building a "non-functional mock up" of a Nimitz class aircraft carrier in their Gachin shipyard in the Persian Gulf. Oh. Noes. What could the perfidious Persians be up to now????
The Evil Non-Functional Aircraft Carrier of Doom!!!
The Times speculated that the Perfidious Ones would blow up the mock up for propaganda value!!!! Eeek!!!!!!. The EVIL!!!!!!
This is just some of the hyperventilating included in the Times piece:
Navy
officials responded that no drones had been shot down by enemy fire,
although the Pentagon acknowledged at the time that it had lost a small
number of ScanEagles, likely to engine malfunction.
Iranian
Navy officials could not be immediately reached for comment as the
country prepared to celebrate its New Year festivities on Friday.
American intelligence officials cited a photograph taken on Feb. 22 in
Bandar Abbas and a brief description in Persian of the vessel on a
website for Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.
For
now, Navy analysts and American intelligence officials say they are not
unduly concerned about the mock ship. But the fact that the Iranians
are building it, presumably for some mysteriously bellicose purposes,
contrasts with the fact that the Iranians stepped back from their
typically heavy anti-American posture during a recent naval exercise in
the gulf.
So. Proof. Proof I say! of Evil Intent. They want to blow it up!!!! For propaganda!!!!
More from the Times story (remember, this was in the New York M-F Times:)
“Based
on our observations, this is not a functioning aircraft carrier; it’s a
large barge built to look like an aircraft carrier,” said Cmdr. Jason
Salata, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, across the
Persian Gulf from Iran. “We’re not sure what Iran hopes to gain by
building this. If it is a big propaganda piece, to what end?”
Whatever
the purpose, American officials acknowledged on Thursday that they
wanted to reveal the existence of the vessel to get out ahead of the
Iranians.
There you are. That's all you really need to know! Teh EVUL!!!!!
The Non-functional Aircraft Carrier of Doom is a... movie prop. Oh. Well. I guess never mind then.
Well, the Iranian model is part
of a drama, albeit not one that is supposedly worrying the Pentagon —
and the story isn’t that much of a mystery.
If The New York Times had come to EA, rather than the Pentagon, we
could have eased their minds while deflating their headline: the
“aircraft carrier” is a movie prop — one that we have known about for
almost a year.
US officials and analysts forgot or were unaware of all this — or
were confident that Schmitt would not discover the truth as they put out
their scarier tale:
“It is not surprising that Iranian military forces might
use a variety of tactics — including military deception tactics — to
strategically communicate and possibly demonstrate their resolve in the
region,” said an American official who has closely followed the
construction of the mock-up….
“The system is often too opaque to understand who hatched this idea,
and whether it was endorsed at the highest levels,” said Karim
Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace.
Schmitt wrote of his efforts to check the US claims, “Iranian Navy
officials could not be immediately reached for comment as the country
prepared to celebrate its New Year festivities.”
Schmitt did not say if he had tried to confirm the story with The Times’ Tehran correspondent, Thomas Erdbrink.
Other US media raced to get Washington’s officials and politicians for their own versions of the story. Representative Eliot Engel told USA Today,
“We don’t really know what it means, but I for sure don’t trust the
Iranians. It’s some kind of a ruse and whatever they are up to, it’s no
good.”
CNN announced that it had “commercial satellite images”
and brought out its unnamed US official to declare, “While the purpose
of the fake carrier is unknown, Iran may be planning to destroy it in a
propaganda move.”
Meanwhile, Iranian outlets — some of whom have long been noted for
their propaganda and scare stories — reveled in The Times’ conversion of
the movie ship into a menace.
Mashregh News laughed at the “quandary of America’s security and intelligence officials”. Alef put on a more serious face:
The issue has turned into a good excuse for another wave
of hype against Iran. Without any proof or real basis, the western media
have jumped again to paint a negative picture of Iran.
The Times and Schmitt — and their Pentagon and intelligence sources —
don’t seem bothered, however. They have not stepped back from their
original story:
This is exactly the kind of lie routinely propagated by US and EU media, on their own or by military and government impetus, propaganda that keeps international tensions at a feverish level.
If it's in the Times, of course, it must be true. (Forget about Judith Miller and Michael Gordon and Curveball and all the rest for the moment, these are different times.)
Nevertheless, the debunking of this little bit of hoo-hah is somewhat delicious...
As one day they shall! The unauthorized, illegal conquests of the Wehrmacht-Red Army shall not stand!!! Ukraine shall be restored to its rightful place among the Community of Nations!!!! Ukraine's territorial integrity is paramount!!!! Give Crimea back to Ukraine!!!!! NOW!!!!
The Great Ukrainian Reconquista is under way! Stand with Ukrainian Patriots against Putin-Hitler's Soviet Stalin-aggression!!! We are all Ukrainians!
In all the hoo-hah over the "Crimean Crisis" (right, whatever), the ongoing sabotage and subversion situation in Caracas and much of the rest of Venezuela is often forgotten, not even a sideshow in the pageant of world events.
But we shouldn't overlook it.
The protests by the Prada and Gucci set in Venezuela against the Bolivarian Revolution and the Maduro government have not stopped, not by a long shot, but participation seems to have declined significantly. This may or may not be due to official repression -- which has sometimes been reported to be severe. More than likely, it is due to the protesters' lack of unity and coherent policy prescriptions.
I've said, and I'll say again, these people just want their power back. The protesters are mostly middle and upper income Venezuelans, mostly white, and mostly of the former ruling class. Their power was diminished or eliminated by the Bolivarian Revolution, and they are still resentful and determined to restore their position and status in order to once again be able to exploit and oppress the lower orders, the poor people, the zambos,indios, and negros who have seen their condition improve and their situation advance under Chavismo.
More than likely, the protests in Venezuela will resume their intensity once the situation in Crimea stabilizes -- if it does -- and the various NGOs and government agencies in Colombia and the US can once again focus their attention on detaching Venezuelans from their Boliavarian Revolution, and detaching Venezuelan oil from the clutches of the Revolutionaries.
Returning things to the status quo ante in Venezuela, when the right kinds of people ruled the unruly masses with rod and staff and they could loot the treasury at will is only just, amirite?
But these things take time in the Modern World; no longer is Gunboat Diplomacy manifested throughout the uncivilized parts of creation, no longer does Washington just dispatch the Marines any time the natives get restless under the thumb of their overlords.
The hubris that led to the bloody debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to many other interventions and drone wars against "suspected militants" -- (Good doG in Heaven, suspected? That could be anyone, for any reason or none at all. What are they thinking? Or is thinking no longer allowed among the High and the Mighty?) -- has somewhat tempered the urge to send the troops much of anywhere these days. Their fights against peoples struggling to be free -- as they interpret the term -- haven't turned out so well.
But Venezuela is being "done" nonetheless, through internal subversion and sabotage, directed from the palatial suburban spreads of the wealthy in Caracas as well as the fincas in the outlying regions, as well as from Bogata, as well as from Miami, and I think there is no doubt of consideration and direction from the think tanks and strategic centers of Washington, DC, as well.
When the time is right, and the situation is ripe, Venezuela will be returned to its rightful place among nations, subservient to the will of the Grand Pooh-Pahs in Washington, and once again, its people impoverished, embeggared, ragged and starving, under the let and authority of some of the very people who are causing so much ruckus in the streets.
Please note: This Plan, which was circulated by RT in Spanish last November, in advance of the Venezuelan municipal elections on December 8, 2013, has not been authenticated. There is no proof in other words -- none that I've seen, anyway -- that the plan as it was published by RT was ever actually created, developed and implemented in toto or in part by the actors and elements named.
And yet, rather shockingly prescient, many of its aspects have been part and parcel of the demonstrations and their string-pullers since the latest wave began right after the elections in December. There has been a mounting level of violent protest, sabotage, interference with supplies and deliveries of electricity, food stuffs, and basic supplies (the Toilet Paper Revolution, this one is) and to favorably propagandize the rebels everywhere. Whether or not the plan is authentic, in other words, it is being carried out almost to the letter.
As far as I know, no one has attempted to discredit the Plan, either. There have been ritualized denials by the State Department that their personnel have had anything to do with the uprisings, but they are as creditable as this unsourced document, maybe less so, given the fact that the State Department has a somewhat sketchy relationship with the truth now and then. So I don't know. I can't vouch for the authenticity of the document that RT circulated, but it is certainly interesting that some parts of it are being implemented in Venezuela.
Once the Ukraine Thing is stabilized and Moldova is folded into the EU's Far Periphery, I'm sure attention will once again be turned to Venezuela, where all eyes will be on that bus driver in Miraflores Palace, and getting his ass out of there.
These are the outfits Omidyar Network has funded to the tune of $1.105 million over two years, not a huge amount by any means, but enough, it seems, to have an effect. And that's what any billionaire philanthropist/investor wants his or her money to do. Effect the outcome of events. Cause events if need be.
Over the last several days, I've been looking into "New Citizen" and "Center UA," the two outfits Omidyar admits to funding in Ukraine. Strangely, the admissions are somewhat incomplete. For example in announcing the grant/investment in "New Citizen (Center UA)" in 2011, Omidyar omits to mention that "New Citizen" is a project of "Center UA", and in clarifying their funding in Ukraine, they fail to mention, again, that "New Citizen" is a project of "Center UA," and they further muddy the waters by claiming their investments were in "Center UA," not mentioning "New Citizen" at all -- except in the title. An observer might suspect deliberate obfuscation. A lawyer would say, "It's in the title, and the link within goes to "New Citizen," and besides, everything -- except that $770,000 grant-or-investment -- was already disclosed long ago. There is no news here..."
At any rate, I've been trying to find out what this "New Citizen" is and what "Center UA" is supposed to be.
New Citizen's website is in Ukrainian only, and basically what they say they are is an umbrella "service" organization for 58 other organizations, including "Center UA," although a project of "Center UA," whose website is in English, and whose website appears to be down at the moment...
Of the New Citizen members that have functioning websites, however, we may begin at the beginning and go through the list:
Mama-86 is a water resources management NGO (interesting in and of itself) which posted a communiqué in November from Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum condemning the Ukrainian Government's decision not to sign and implement the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU and demands the resignation of the Cabinet of Ministers and the immediate signing of the Agreement. (By whom?) Interesting, too, is that Mama-86 says it is a member of
Ukrainian National Platform Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership, which brings together 186 NGOs from all over Ukraine...
Well now, first I've heard of that, and look, another umbrella! As I mentioned in discussing this exploration, you go down so many diversionary corridors and blind alleys it isn't even funny.
The chair of the coordinating council of Mama-86 is Anna Golubovska-Onisimova, who has apparently very strong EU connections.
An environmental NGO, focused on integrating and managing Ukrainian water resources with those of the EU could hardly be called pernicious, could it? Well, it's hard to say, isn't it? One can't know from the looks of things.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Internews UA is the next member with a working website. Its mission as stated on its home page is:
The promotion of European values in Ukraine through the development of successful media
So that's good. Only what does it mean, exactly? Media promotion of "European values" could be anything, I guess, but the upshot would be propaganda, would it not? And what is this apparent assumption that Ukraine's "values" aren't those of Europe? Interesting.
At any rate, they sponsor a lot of projects and programs to inject -- shall we say -- these values of which they speak into Ukrainian consciousness and to promote them through "successful media." They will be sponsoring fora shortly to discuss and promote EU connections.
Headlines
EU invites you talk about the relationship of the EU-Ukraine in Ivano-Frankivsk
March 12 at 10.00 in Ivano-Frankivsk, a workshop on "EU-Ukraine relations: where next?".
EU Delegation to Ukraine invites experts on European integration,
international affairs experts and analysts, representatives of local
governments and the business community, civil society activists and
journalists to discuss the most pressing issues on the agenda of
relations between Ukraine and the EU. more
Training on Europe - invite journalists to participate
March 14-15 in Kiev held a training on "Discovering Europe". Invited journalists from Eastern and Southern regions of Ukraine. Deadline for applications - 10 March. more
Exclusive interview with the chief editor of the site MediaPort Zurab Alasaniya
Journalists Project EaP Media Freedom Watch an exclusive interview
taken in Kharkov editor of the most popular online news portal MediaPort
Zurab Alasaniya on freedom of speech in Kharkiv. more
Just a sampling of what they offer and what they do.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Next we find something called "Democratic Initiatives Ilko Kucheriv" headed by Irina Bekeshkina. A quick glance at their home page shows item after item of anti-Russian propaganda, not exactly the promotion of "democratic initiatives," but I guess it is necessary to denounce Russia before any "democracy" can be initiated in Ukraine. Or anywhere else for that matter. They also have many projects, which I didn't investigate for the simple reason that their homepage was cluttered up with so much overt anti-Russian speakers and propaganda. It's sort of the counterpoint, I guess, to Internews's pro-EU stuff. Hand in glove as it were.
Up next is something called "The Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research" which is also filled with anti-Russian propaganda. Huh. Practically everything they have on their homepage is about protesting in the Maidan, getting rid of Yanukovych, and denouncing Russia. There seems to be a theme here.
The center is headed by Yulia Tyshchenko and Kostyantyn Mykhailychenko. The link goes to a email post by said Kostyantyn Mykhailychenko which is interesting in and of itself for it describes a book published in 2009 called "EU's Eastern Partnership: Additional Possibilities for European Integration of Ukraine." How charming. But it doesn't stop with Ukraine. Included in the EU's "Eastern Partnership" are Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Moldova. The book, it seems, was being distributed free online within Ukraine by request to the Center, printed copies available by application. Looks like there might be long term plans to "coordinate" all of these Eastern lands bordering Mother Russia with EU. Perhaps Mr Putin in the Kremlin isn't quite so "paranoid" and "desperate" as he is made out to be by the Western media.... but then again, he's Russian...
--------------------------------------------------------
Then we have Mvarta, the Ukrainian Youth Guard. It appears to be organized as a political pressure and lobbying group composed of young voters advocating the interests of children and youth throughout Ukraine and holding politicians accountable for fulfilling their promises to youth. How refreshing. Mvarta is headed by Evgenya Malykh. Interesting...
--------------------------------------------------------
Next is Debate Academy. They announced a workshop last October that seems pretty straightforward:
Bring out the debaters
We invite students to participate in a seminar Debate skills, which will take place on 23-24 November 2013. in Uzhgorod.
Taking part in the workshop you will:
- Learn how to shape the debate of national decision-making turned into teaching methods ";
- Learn to use the information to confirm the opinion;
- To improve their public speaking skills;
- Learn the basics of Public Speaking;
- Find new friends and meet old;
- Learn what a "Debate adrenaline";
- Try their hand at debating!
Who we are waiting for:
Young people from all over Ukraine who want to improve their skills in reasoned debate.
Conditions:
participation in the event is free. Participants are provided with books, textbook and handouts. Nonresident reimbursed travel expenses and accommodation provided.
How to register:
to take part in training must complete the online form (http://bit.ly/182Z9nm) and qualify. Applications will be accepted up to 18.00 hrs. November 18, 2013.
For more information, please refer to branch of "Debate Academy» http://www.debate.org.ua. For additional questions, please call: 0504112042 Nazar, Vladimir 0637371611.
Organizer: branch of "Debate Academy" in partnership with the
Foundation for information and education initiatives "Development" and
Transcarpathian community centers with the financial support of the
"Roma of Ukraine" MF "Renaissance".
Of course there are more organizations to track down thanks to this announcement. Dimitry Sinchenko is the go-to guy for the Debate Academy, and he has quite an interesting website which I don't have time to explore in detail, but he seems pretty deeply involved in the overthrow of the Yanukovych government and is a Deputy Head of the UDARVitali Klichko party.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We have something called "Elite State" the function of which is not entirely clear, but from what little I could glean from their webpage (which is considered malware, so beware) they are primarily involved in coordinating information on behalf of graduates of the National Academy of Public Administration of Ukraine. And offering some interesting "psychological games" of power. The head is Olga Piddubchak who says of herself: (translated from the Ukrainian via the Google Machine)
President of NGO "elite of the state" Olga Piddubchak - bright and outstanding personality. From a genetic nature and space volitional qualities as born in the Year of the Tiger, Eastern horoscope. Honors social intelligence, personal charisma and sunshine of the Golden Fleece, for the Western zodiac Aries horoscope. It has a strong intuition and inclination to understand the unconscious, because it is hazel - for the Celts, Druids horoscope.
And Mrs. Olga was born in Zhytomyr ancient land where long live the
western Scythians, the Celts, who worshiped the sun god - Cola and Water
Goddess - Dan. Moreover, on this fertile land, as the philology and toponymy, the village of Ray. Perhaps not everyone knows, but it was the name of the mother of the Supreme God Zeus.
So, given this strong earth girl who graduated with a silver medal and
school honors - Zaporozhye Institute for Municipal and Public
Administration majoring in "administrative management". She later graduated
from the master's and graduate of the National Academy of Public
Administration under the President of Ukraine in Kiev, specialty "State
Government". He has practical experience in the law drafting. Years of public service began in 1999.
Ms. Olga has several publications in scientific journals and actively
participates in conferences of national and international levels. Research interests: political-socialization of young executives in terms of administrative reform in Ukraine. By the ideology
of Unique Ukrainian Spiritual Democracy, which combines the irrational
(soul), good (democracy) and the historical experience of successful
ancestors ancient Ukrainian state. The nature of Nordic and emotional, the sanguine and choleric limits.
That does not prevent him more than three years to manage
non-governmental organization that brings together successful and
patriotic representatives of state agencies, local governments and
scientists. Combines in his person the lively creative logical and intuitive approaches to solving management problems. Adheres to the principles of ecological social relations of gender harmony and positive future programming. Favorite mythological images Olga - First Princess Country Artiniyi, silver Vovkynya in Diamond Crown. The immediate objective:
to create an effective administrative system under which happen
gradually replacing the moral quality of obsolete and structurally
qualified personnel on the system, positive and patriotic staff with
appropriate education in the field of public administration. The first step in this direction - to improve the system of transparent competitive selection to public service. Projects is working now: Legislative theater Ball Masters and Ministers. Membership in civic councils: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kyiv City State Administration. Note:
NGO "elite of the state" was registered 08/08/08, has representation in
19 regions of Ukraine and 13 community councils in ministries,
departments and regional administrations.
At least from that, I kind of like her! Oh well...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
We move on to: "Ukrainian Strategy" headed by Anatoliy Pinchuk (this site is also considered malware). I won't link to this one because it is firing off warning after warning, so better not. At any rate, it appears to be a very pro-active neo-liberal political and economic endeavor. Anatoliy Pinchuk is very closely tied into the international neo-liberal think tank community.
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Following "Ukrainian Strategy" is the social activist Alexey Pogorelov who is CEO of the Ukrainian Association of Press Publishers which is an umbrella organization for 114 independent media outlets and which seemed to be aligned with those determined to overthrow Yanukovych. More malware, so I won't link.
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Thence to: "Community" Foundation, a Eurocentric outfit headed by Taras Peter, a media consultant to various government and non-government organizations.
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Next we have "Center UA" the umbrella under which "New Citizen" is formed. Center UA is headed by Oleh Rybachuk, who is considered quite notorious by some. Here's Mark Ames' description:
When the revolution came to Ukraine, neo-fascists
played a front-center role in overthrowing the country’s president. But
the real political power rests with Ukraine’s pro-western neoliberals.
Political figures like Oleh Rybachuk, long a favorite of the State Department, DC neocons, EU, and NATO—and the right-hand man to Orange Revolution leader Viktor Yushchenko.
Last December, the Financial Times wrote that Rybachuk’s “New Citizen” NGO campaign “played a big role in getting the protest up and running.”
New Citizen, along with the rest of Rybachuk’s interlocking network of western-backed NGOs and campaigns— “Center UA” (also spelled “Centre UA”), “Chesno,”
and “Stop Censorship” to name a few — grew their power by targeting
pro-Yanukovych politicians with a well-coordinated anti-corruption
campaign that built its strength in Ukraine’s regions, before massing in
Kiev last autumn.
Rybachuk is widely considered to be the power behind the overthrow of Yanukovych, but he is also considered to be the tool of the EU and the US State Department. So are quite a few of the other individuals and organizations under the wing of Omidyar/"New Citizen"/USAID/NED.
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Following "Center UA" is "Bukvoid" -- an online and print publishing outfit which seems pretty straightforward. It's headed by Sergey Rudenko, but not the Soviet General...
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Next is the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine which boasts of more than 600 journalist members and affiliation with the International Federation of Journalists. It is headed by Ukrainian Media Personality Roman Skrypin (though their history page says he resigned in 2011.)
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Then we have the Institute of Political Education which appears to be primarily dedicated to the EU integration project. Headed by Oleksandar Solontay and Andrey Strannikov, both associated with "Youth Guard" and other NGOs active in Ukrainian Politics.
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Next is the Institute of Media which appears to be an anti-Russia propaganda outfit. Its head is Victoria Syumar.
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Tired now, must take a break.
David Swanson posted a link to this feature length OccuDoc film, "American Autumn," over at FDL, but I thought I'd post the video itself. It's New York-centric, but that's OK as long as folks are clear that "OWS" is New York City and "Occupy" is global. Of course that distinction only makes sense if what's been going on in New York is seen as something other than what's going on in your town...
"American Autumn" is yet another of those outstanding visuals that have come out of the whole Occupy Movement. I don't necessarily agree with everything in it, but that's OK.
I wrote in an earlier post that the media collective that has arisen is perhaps the most pronounced Occupy legacy to date, and I thought I'd try to expand on that a little bit today.
Of course, as we all know, Occupy "began" with a poster, or rather an ad campaign that featured a poster, initiated by AdBusters, a Canadian publication notorious for tweaking the media and public relations in every conceivable way and initiating a whole raft of alternative ad campaigns of its own.
Video production and graphic arts are integral parts of media, advertising, and public relations. They are inseparable. And anyone who's been around the realms of marketing -- and propaganda -- for any length of time is well aware of how important these elements are to shaping public consciousness. They infuse our culture.
I've been struck for many years at how completely so many Americans, even on the internet, or maybe especially on the internet, are captives MSM. Unless they see it over and over again on their cable teevee, it isn't real.
"Alert the media! Get this to Olbermann stat!" became a catchphrase and joke on the internet as various leftish elements were allowed a little bit of freedom of expression through "New Media" during the Bushevik Era, mostly in blogs during those days.
This led to obsessions with various personalities on the teevee and columnists in the papers. It took quite a while for the early blogger triumphalists to recognize that not only were they media critics, they were themselves "media," and they were quite as capable of generating news if they chose to be as those they were so obsessively criticizing and denouncing in the mainstream media. In other words, they could -- if they would -- be doing what they were criticizing the "media" for not doing. And there were more and more people in the various aspects of the alternative media who were doing what the mainstream media wasn't doing but who were almost totally ignored by blogger triumphalists.
"Blogs" seem almost anachronistic now. There are so many more aspects to alternative and New Media that some corners of the intertubes, cul de sacs if you will, like blogs seem quaint these days. I wasn't able to consistently blog until 2007 though I'd made previous attempts going back to the late 1990's. But by the time I entered the field on a regular basis, it was no longer the next big thing. Not even close. That was actually liberating, but I'll get more into that aspect of New Media in a bit.
When Occupy came around, initiated by AdBusters but not run by them by any means, graphics, print and video media were almost immediate highlights of the nascent movement. Handlettered signs on scraps of cardboard were a feature of the first wave of Occupy demonstrations, and they continue to be an important element in the panoply of Occupy graphics and visuals. Handlettered signs were supplemented by strong original graphic designs printed in bold colors on large posters which were sometimes carried in demonstrations and marches or posted around and near Occupy sites but more often served as internet graphics almost exclusively. That is to say, the often very bold and striking Occupy graphics were available for download from the internet -- still are, for that matter -- and circulated widely on the internet, but they weren't necessarily printed in large quantities for distribution and use among demonstrators on the ground. Other graphics, which might not have a strong internet presence, tended to be used on the ground, often supplied through unions and other supporting groups or were created especially for the specific Occupy or event and produced by artists involved in it. At the rally after the pepper spray incident at UC Davis, for example, a collective of artists produced a series of stunning screen-printed posters that were distributed (still wet) among members of the crowd but which never appeared anywhere else.
One of the chief elements of Occupy media, at the outset and now, is video, both livestream and production. In fact, the Global Revolution livestream, which I believe originated in Spain or perhaps Greece during the pre-Occupy days, became the immediate outlet for real time news and information about OWS in New York, and when it wasn't working -- which was often in the early days -- Twitter became the news resource of choice.
"The livestream is down" became something of a constant complaint about OWS as for a time those who were attempting this new (to most of us) form of live internet video from New York had frequent equipment problems (laptops were used in the beginning), were unable to establish a connection with the internet, and had such frequent outages of coverage at Zuccotti/Liberty Plaza it seemed that the streams were being deliberately sabotaged.
As other Occupys were established around the country and the world, most had a livestreaming video contingent, and few of them had the kinds of service interruptions that seemed to plague OWS. Many livestreamers used the UStream software and service rather than Livestream, and they seemed to have much better and more reliable results. UStream also provided advanced equipment at no cost to some of the more prominent streamers, though ultimately, most streamers settled on using their own iPhones and jerry-rigged stabilizers and mounts for their efforts rather than bulkier equipment.
Tim Pool became the breakthrough streamer in New York, live streaming the police assault on the OWS encampment and its aftermath in November of 2011 -- for a total of 21 hours nonstop.
That singular effort demonstrated the potential of the livestream format for gripping coverage of Occupy events and news. It was a revelation. It also became something of an unfortunate standard. No individual can maintain a round the clock schedule like that for very long, but Tim did it once, and he became an instant celebrity -- both on the internet and in the mainstream media. I shouldn't say it went to his head, but I think it went to his head. There was another problem as well: his celebrity attracted controversy and eventually attracted what appeared to be attacks from persons unknown (but widely assumed to be "black bloc anarchists") and accusations that he was a snitch in cahoots with the police. Something similar happened to some of the other prominent independent streamers such as OakFoSho in Oakland. Both Tim and Spencer (OakFoSho) took it hard and both, for the time being, have shut down their Occupy coverage.
Other livestreamers have emerged in the absence of or as complements to Tim and Spencer and some of the other better known livestreamers, and I follow as many of them as I can.
Of course much of what Occupy is doing these days isn't as constant and dramatic as it was in the early days so the need for extensive livestreaming of actions doesn't seem quite as pressing. Burnout has been a real physical and emotional problem throughout the Occupy firmament, not simply among the media collective -- although burnout seems to be more of a problem in media than in some of the other aspects of the continuing Occupy movement. I witnessed it first hand at my local Occupy. While there is still an independent media presence with the local Occupy (yes, it is still in operation), it is much lower key than previously, and there is only one individual doing most of the video streaming and recording as opposed to the half-dozen or so who once occupied the Media Tent and ultimately burnt out in their efforts (I'm sure they would deny it!)
In addition to the livestreaming, Occupy in New York and elsewhere in the country and around the world has produced some of the most compelling and visually stunning stand alone videos there are these days. Not only is the output remarkable, these videos are some of the most professionally well-crafted media I've seen from any source. Some are feature length while most are much shorter. As film-craft they are among the best in the documentary field.
No matter how Occupy evolves, the new media it has spawned will stand as one of its chief legacies.
It is a Do It Yourself media first and foremost. The insight is that you can do it yourself, you don't need to rely on the Mainstream Media. Though there are distinctive personalities involved, it is not a personality driven media unlike most of what's in the mainstream, and it does not rely on expensive equipment and a huge corporate infrastructure to exist or survive. Much of it, such as the graphics and the printed newspapers, is old fashioned and evocative of previous revolutionary eras. Much of it, like the livestreaming and the videos, is well in advance of the mainstream.
The New New Media that has come out of Occupy to my mind represents a paradigm shift in progress, away from the rigidity and control of the traditional media and their corporate owners and toward a more personal media.
As that concept takes hold, public perceptions will change. My hope is that the ability to propagandize from "above" will diminish and eventually disappear, but hopes are fragile things, and I don't really know how this paradigm shift will evolve.
All I know is that what's been done so far by the Occupy media collective has had a profound effect on public consciousness.
In a future installment, I hope to be able to assemble some of the examples of Occupy media I've written about here, but my schedule is likely to be somewhat chaotic for a while as packing and travel and a whole raft of other issues come to the fore.
Livestreams everywhere along with Twitter and Facebook have become the media platforms of the Occupations. The Livestreams often freeze or otherwise become barely or non-functional. Twitter and Facebook don't appeal to large swaths of the public. But many of the Occupations produce excellent videos like this one and post them on the YouTubes.
Agit-prop such as has never existed before.
And it's working.
Here's an additional video from last night. A Marine named Scott Olsen is wounded when he is hit in the face by a tear gas canister. (When I first saw this scene last night, I thought the wounded person on the ground was a woman.) People rush to his aid. The police then fire a flash grenade directly at the wounded man and those trying to help him. It is monstrous. Insane. These are the kinds of things that make the Occupation Revolution necessary.
Mark Ames and Yasha Levine drop a bombshell over at Alternet, claiming -- with abundant evidence -- that the whole TSA Porno-Scan and Junk Touching Hysteria last November was manufactured by the Rightist Radicals in charge of the Republican Party so as to... prevent TSA employees from unionizing.
Hm.
Who'dathunk?
Those People would do a thing like that? How could it be?
Of course Ames and Levine are notorious for probing deep and long into the machinations of the Oligarchy in this country, just as they were notorious for doing so in the Oligarchic Russian Federation. Their probes got their Russian publication, the Exile, shut down by the Putinist Authorities. So now they operate on line, and... it's a Good Thing.
That the Oligarchs who rule us would go to such elaborate lengths to stymie efforts to organize TSA workers borders on the insane when you think about it. But when a kind of inverted "liberationist" ideology takes hold, as it has among so much of the Ruling Class, insanity is the rule not the exception.
"Liberation" yes, but only for the Rulers. The ruled -- that would be the rest of us -- are to submit... or, at least in theory, perish.
What Ames and Levine have put together about the hysterics over TSA Porno Scans and Junk Groping last year is a fascinating read. There's always something else again going on behind the scenes, and it makes one wonder at just how easily Americans can be duped. Even the most highly educated, informed, and educated.
The Truth May Be Out There, but in the meantime Believe Nothing.
Feeling a little better, so it's time for a good cry.
The videos ain't so good, but it's one of the finest contemporary productions of "Hair" there has been anywhere, and there isn't any other number in the American Musical Theatre that can reduce me to a blubbering wreck every time I hear it or see it performed.
"Flesh Failures/Let the Sunshine In" does that to a lot of people, and not just of my generation, surprisingly enough. It did it when I first saw the show in 1969 in San Francisco, and it's done every time I've seen the show since (in revivals in which the cast had no clue to what the show was about... oh, dear.) The one time it didn't do it was when I saw the movie. I could intellectually accept the transformations Milos Forman was making with this and other numbers and appreciate what he was doing, but when it came down to it, he had sucked almost all the emotion out of the show and left it just "a movie."
Much as I denounce Arizona for cause, this production of "Hair" -- which played in Tuscon and Phoenix -- was outstanding. Of course, they'll probably never do it again.
A side note about "tribalism." "Hair" was promoted as the "tribal love-rock musical," partly on the basis of how the casting was done (not looking for a lot of bubble-headed American Musical Theatre Perfessionals), and the kind of literal tribe the producers and directors were trying to create with every company, back from the very beginning. It wasn't entirely revolutionary at the time -- it was an adaptation from the Living Theatre -- but the way it was done with "Hair" seemed most successful.
The point of making the company into a tribe was primarily for cohesiveness, of course. It's not an easy show to approach or do, and it wasn't easy back in the day, either. It took courage and talent, but it took trust even more. At least at first, it didn't have stars. There was no "name part." The story was relatively simple, but it was complicated to tell it, and that complication made it a "star" vehicle for practically everyone in the cast. There was no chorus and first and second leads and all that, at the time, and still, typical of the Broadway Musical. Every moment counted.
There was another point to the tribe: bringing the audience into the show. Letting them join in, freely, uncoerced. It worked.
But then, as time wore on, casts became jaded, much of the glow and luster of the early productions dimmed. They became... "shows" almost like any other. Audiences could sense it even before the casts did in some cases.
"Hair" closed on Broadway well before the end of the Vietnam War. It was still playing on tour at home and abroad, but on Broadway, it had fizzled out.
At least by that time there wasn't any draft any more.
So there is that.
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The first video above has been made private for some reason. This is a video of the same scene(s) from the 2009 Broadway revival of "Hair" -- the staging is almost identical, and I'm not sure, but I think the Claude is the same actor.
[Update: No, it's not the same actor playing Claude in Arizona and on Broadway. The Arizona Claude, whose video of him singing a knock-out performance of "Flesh Failures" is Kyle Harris; the Claude on Broadway (who was no less good) was Gavin Creel.]
