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Tag Archives: violence

FTAC–A Note: Iron River, Narcotics, and the Ecology of Latin American Mass Migration

11 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by commart in 21st Century Feudal, 21st Century Modern, Canada, Caribbean Basin, Central America, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, FTAC - From The Awesome Conversation, North America, United States of America

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

arms smuggling, iron river, Latin America, mass migration, narcotics, North America, transnational crime, violence

This post continues my practice of trying to make accessible and somewhat permanent useful observation composed in passing elsewhere online or in correspondence. In short Twitterese, I’ve diagrammed the argument as, approximately, “NA cash->LA narcotics->NA; NA arms->LA carte & gang violence->migrants->NA.” Close enough. “NA”=”North America”, of course, and “LA”=”Latin America”.

Here follows an online comment already made plus short associated and supporting reference.


Our narcotics habits, ______, fuel the cartels and gangs of Latin America, and those are not known for healthy governing practices. The abused, impoverished, terrified, and threatened migrate to El Norte where they believe there will be at least better security, order, and rule-of-law.

We Americans (and Canadians) are not only a powerful market for everything that may be obtained only through smuggling, we’ve had a business going in running arms into Latin America (along with all the outlaws of the world). Term for exploration on the web: “America, arms, iron river”. I have collected articles on the subject dating back to 2007.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-mexico-guns/iron-river-of-guns-flows-from-u-s-to-mexico-idUSN1223853620070713 (2007)

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/opinion/international-world/guns-mexico.html (2021)

The sad truth about my Fellow Americans is that we’re greedy as sin, –or desperate and both–and we pay a high price for it x addictions x homelessness x social failures x social pathologies. Neither our Far Out Left nor Rabid Reactionary Right seems to have a clue as regards the full ecology of corruption, crime, narcotics, trafficked labor (2nd largest abuse of all), and above all our most prized possession: money–would that our ethics, principles, values, and general American spirit modify the national appetite for good times and loot.


Related Online

Abbany, Zulfikar. “Report: EU spends 31 billion on illicit drugs.” DW, April 5, 2016.

Cheatham, Amelia and Diana Roy. “Central America’s Turbulent Northern Triangle.” Council on Foreign Relations, last updated June 22, 2022.

Gaynor, Tim. “‘Iron river of guns’ flows from U.S. to Mexico.” Reuters, July 13, 2007.

Grillo, Loan. “Slow the Iron River of Guns to Mexico.” The New York Times, February 26, 2021.

Kilmer, Beau. “Americans’ Spending on Illicit Drugs Nears $150 Billion Annually; Appears to Rival What is Spent on Alcohol.” RAND, August 20, 2019.

Krauze, Leon. “Biden must stop the ‘iron river’ of U.S. weapons devastating Mexico.” The Washington Post, March 10, 2021.

Llana, Sara Miller. “US guns fuel Mexico drug war? The politics behind the issue.” The Christian Science Monitor, June 15, 2011.

Mallene, Laura. “Europeans Spend $30 Billion A Year On Drugs.” Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, November 28, 2019.

Martinez, Gabriela. “The flow of guns from the U.S. to Mexico is getting lost in the border debate.” PBS New Hour, June 12, 2019, updated July 2, 2019.

Mathema, Silva. “They Are (Still) Refugees: People Continue to Flee Violence in Latin American Countries.” Center for American Progress, June 1, 2018.

Morris, Nathaniel and Gema Kloppe-Santamaria. “The Many, Varied Violences Behind the Central American Exodus.” IPI Global Observatory, November 15, 2022.

Pendergast, Curt. “Arizona guns quietly smuggled across border as bullets fly in Mexico.” Tuscon Arizona Daily Star, November 25, 2019, updated June 26, 2020.

Rubio, Yury. “Twenty-first Century Slavery: How to Stop Human Trafficking at the U.S.-Mexico Border.” The International Affairs Review, December 15, 2022.

Seelke, Clare Ribando. “Trafficking in Persons in Latin America and the Caribbean.” PDF. Congressional Research Service, October 13, 2016.

VICE News. “How the US Fuels Mexican Cartel Violence.” Video. YouTube, August 22, 2021.

–33–

Turkish Unrest – The Death of Berkin Elvan, Young Passerby, Spurs Anti-Government Protests

11 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by commart in Asia, Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Islamic Small Wars, Political Psychology, Politics, Turkey

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

political, political psychology, politics, protests, Turkey, Turkish unrest, violence

Berkin Elvan, then 14, got caught up in street battles in Istanbul between police and protesters on June 16 while going to buy bread for his family. He slipped into a coma and became a rallying point for government opponents, who held regular vigils at the hospital where he lay in intensive care.

Death of Turkish boy hurt in protests rekindles unrest across country | Reuters

* * *

. . . Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the main target of last year’s demonstrations, has so far declined to apologise for any of the protesters’ deaths. He has riled opponents, however, by praising the police response to what he and his allies depict as a foreign-backed coup attempt as “heroic”.

Protests erupt in Turkey after death of boy hurt in 2013 unrest – FT.com

Dictators fear making apologies, which perhaps would make them look wrong, or much worse, weak.

Related: AFP: Clashes erupt in Turkey after protest teen dies

* * *

Between the Islamic Small Wars and its pack of malignant narcissists and renewed Russian imperialism driven by the vertical of the hour Putin and his coterie, I think we’re going to see a lot of breathtakingly callous violence perpetrated by the same and lied about in similar ways.

The recent revolution in Ukraine cannot be Yanukovych’s fault, except perhaps for being weak in the face of western-backed nationalist fascist aggression, or so he might say; ditto for whatever Russians may be thinking about Putin tonight while he most certainly intends to annex Crimea, regardless of the true fealty, or lack thereof, on the part of Crimean Ukrainians: and so it goes for Assad and Khamenei and too many others around the world.

Put it in common punk talk: “They wasn’t doin’ nothin’.”

Related: AFP: Clashes erupt in Turkey after protest teen dies; 40 Tragic Pictures From Turkey As Clashes Erupt After Death Of 15-Year-Old Berkin Elvan; Erdogan’s silence shows absence of moral compass – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East – 3/12/2014.

# # #

Link

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/drone-captures-birds-eye-view-kiev-unrest-n34506

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by commart in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

political, politics, protests, Russia, Ukraine, violence

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ukraine-crisis/drone-captures-birds-eye-view-kiev-unrest-n34506

Ukraine – More Death In the Shadow of the Russian Federation

20 Thursday Feb 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Eurasia, Political Psychology, Politics, Regions, Russia, Ukraine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

crisis, killing, political, politics, Putin, riots, Russia, Ukraine, violence

Ukraine death toll rises as violence rocks Kiev – YouTube – 2/20/2014.

Sniper fire!

Sound familiar?

Pssst.  Syria.

Similar remnant state-to-state architecture.

Similar beliefs about power.

Similar manners confronting challenges to authority.

* * *

Related: Hotels in Kiev Are Being Turned into Morgues as the Death Toll Mounts | VICE United States – 2/20/2014; Truce crumbles amid gunfire in Ukraine, protesters claim 100 dead – CNN.com – 2/20/2014; Ukraine violence: dozens killed as protesters clash with armed police | World news | theguardian.com – 2/20/2014; Worried by Ukraine violence, Russia ponders next steps | Reuters – 2/19/2014:

Footage of violence in the Ukrainian capital was beamed almost non-stop into Russian homes by state television on Wednesday, accompanied by apocalyptic warnings of civil war next door and accusations of meddling by foreign states.

Russians well know this form in lying through accusation.

They have been through it right to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, about 24 years ago, and here they have again arrived captive (fewer than 7 percent of Russians speak English) to state media and “covered” by a state security apparatus employing more than 400,000 of their neighbors.

* * *

Video of Ukraine Soldiers Shooting AK 47, Sniper Rifle at People as Truce Fails, 25 More Die – YouTube – 2/20/2014.

I cannot yet vet videos, much less receive them independently.  Nonetheless, one may see through them to the contact point between worlds of deception reliant on narcissistic manipulation for wealth and the self-aggrandizement it affords and the other of integrity that insists on speaking truth to power and on political conversation in the open.

______

Also posted recently to BackChannels: Ukraine – “We Want To Be Free From Dictatorship” | BackChannels – 2/19/2014.

# # #

Ukraine – “We Want To Be Free From Dictatorship”

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

conflict, coup, military, political, politics, protests, Revolution, Ukraine, video, violence

Fires burning on Independence Square, Kiev – YouTube – 2/19/2014.

* * *

Я УКРАИНА I Am a Ukrainian HD – YouTube – 2/14/2014. 0:25:

We want to be free from dictatorship.  We want to be free from the politicians who work only for themselves, who are ready to shoot, to beat, to injure people just for saving their money, just for saving their houses, just for saving their power.

I want these people who are here, who have dignity, who are brave: I want them to lead a normal life.  We are civilized people but our government are barbarians.

* * *

Deadly clashes between protesters and police in Kiev on Tuesday led to a fire-lit nighttime assault by Interior Ministry troops on the main protest encampment at Independence Square, in what may be a dramatic and irreversible turn in Ukraine’s months-long political crisis.

In violent turn, Ukraine fighting kills at least 25 – The Washington Post – 2/18-19/2014.

* * *

Kiev Ukraine Protest 2014 LIVE Explosions | Protesters Clashes With Police | 14 People Dead – YouTube – 2/18/2014.

* * *

EU foreign ministers have called an emergency meeting on Ukraine for Thursday.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said: “We have … made it clear that the EU will respond to any deterioration on the ground. We therefore expect that targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force can be agreed by our member states as a matter of urgency.”

[Live updates] EU to discuss sanctions after Ukraine’s bloodiest day | euronews, – 2/18/2014.

* * *

In the middle east: Putin-Assad-Khamenei.

In eastern Europe: hard to say.

As the late Barry Rubin has pointed out in regard to the middle east, the revolution goes with the military.  Mubarak had a good run, but come time to set up dynasty, Egypt’s military countenanced the revolution (and a year later rescued the latent democracy from a fascist Islamic organization that maintained the Mubarak-era torture chambers, jailed progressive journalists, altered the constitution to consolidate power in what may well have been another “president for life”.

No dice.

With Assad’s unforgivable assaults on Syrian noncombatant constituents in mind, this news unfolding from Ukraine may well signal the end of an age of dictatorship.  It may turn out a second fall of the Soviet Union, a post-Soviet challenge to the continuance of state oligarchies forged in the shadows of the Cold War.

One hopes that it is not also the start of a new era of autocratic repression, but with armed state organizations brought to the barricades, one never knows.  Who is in those military and paramilitary forces?  Are their senior and junior officers dissenting from the projection of state power and the arrangement of regional power?

The people have themselves: what else do they have?  Who else do they have on board with them?

As Nero fiddled, so I’ve heard, Putin as host of the most expensive winter games in history, has been in his glory in Sochi.

Kiev, Ukraine Protests Are Vladimir Putin’s Worst Nightmare | New Republic – 2/18/2014.

* * *

Echoing Ukraine’s interim prime minister, Peskov told reporters that Russia saw the protests, during which deadly clashes erupted on Tuesday, as an attempted coup.

Putin, Ukraine’s Yanukovich spoke by telephone: Kremlin – Yahoo News – 2/19/2014.

“An attempted coup” seems the predictable spin.

We shall soon find out, I am sure, what Ukraine’s armed forces think about that, for protest in the streets is by itself a strong signal — ask Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan about that — but it is not a coup; it is, however, revolutionary.

Additional Reference

Washington Post: Ukraine rejects repression – 2/2/2014; Seizure of police stations in Lviv continues – 2/19/2014; Payatt: Yanukovych responsible for everything that happens in Ukraine – 2/19/2014; IM: Police probing 40 cases on mass riots in Ukraine – 2/19/2014; At least 25 reported dead, more than 1,000 injured in Feb. 18 clashes (VIDEO)

# # #

Iraq – Back to the Dark Ages Today

08 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Iraq, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Politics, Psychology, Regions

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

conflict programming, honor, Iraq, violence

(CNN) — Gunmen burst into the home of a local leader Thursday in Iraq, killing him and five of his family members as they slept. The attackers then planted explosives and blew up the home, police said.
The attack took place in Tikrit.

Council leader, family killed in their sleep in Iraq – CNN.com – 11/8/2013.

* * *

The female MP recalled when Sheikh Ali was member of her political party, saying he used to live in a house owned by Iraq’s chief of staff and that he had 30 bodyguards who were all on the payroll of the government.

She further claimed that he used to praise and glorify the government day and night. But when it was no longer in his interest, he turned against the government and considered it his enemy.

TV debate goes wrong as Iraqi tribal sheikh removes microphone, throws it away – 1/20/2013.

* * *

And Sheik Ali Hatem al-Suleiman, a leader in the Sunni Awakening movement, storms out of the conference after the opening speeches and threatens to leave the conference altogether. “People want answers from us,” he says. “We’re not going to sit here only to listen to speeches.” The Awakening opposes the Sunni-led insurgency within Iraq. Shi’ite leader Sheik Muhammed Fahman al-Rikahis wonders how any reconciliation can take place if key groups are not invited or fail to take part in the dialog.

Ali Hatem al-Suleiman – 3/18/2008.

______

It’s not all the Sheik al-Suleiman’s fault, if it all.

The shadows creep across the landscape, sewing discord or renewing it, etching their program in blood to bear forth inconsolable sorrows to soak in endless cycles of revenge.

______

Six high ranked Democrats and Republican senators claimed sectarian violence was rife also because of Maliki’s failure to give Iraq’s Sunnis, Kurds and other minorities a greater role in the country’s administration.

“This failure of governance is driving many Sunni Iraqis into the arms of al-Qaida in Iraq and fuelling the rise of violence,” a letter signed by both high ranked Democrats and Republican senators read.

Russia Supplies 44 Military Helicopters to Iraq after US Snub – IBTimes UK – 11/8/2013.

Perhaps Putin knows something about Al Qaeda – Wahhabi – Sunni Islam and the extremist fronts to which two, albeit from the darker shadows, contribute cash or favors for “field operations” to their perceived advanced guard.

______

Al Qaeda’s main branch in Syria, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), will be disbanded but the jihadist al-Nusra Front will continue to operate in the country under al Qaeda’s command, al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri said in an audio message broadcast by Al Jazeera on Friday . . . Zawahiri said in the message that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of al Qaeda operations in Iraq, had “made a mistake by establishing the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant without asking for our permission, or even informing us”. It was not clear when his statement was recorded.”

Al Qaeda reshuffles operations in Syria – SYRIA – FRANCE 24 – 11/8/2013.

The legitimacy of a theocat’s power rests on several competitive dimensions — lineage, mentors, scholarship — approximated similarly among uncommon or exceptional personalities.

Of course, in lieu of other and more peaceful social methods and skills, they’re going to fight for position Alpha.

_______

▶ Iraq violence producing a damaged generation suicide bomber – YouTube

______

BBC News – Iraq violence: Army base suicide bombings kill 16 – 11/7/2013.

______

At first glance, they can look vibrant, busy and even welcoming. But without notice they can turn into a scene of the utmost violence.

Bombings of bus stations, cafes, restaurants and even mosques have become part of everyday life.

More than 400 people have been killed in attacks in Iraq this month . . . .

BBC News – Baghdad bomb blasts pile pressure on Iraq leaders – 10/29/2013.

______

One may suggest that the invention of a religion synthesis the immediate concerns as well as habits of mind of the adapting and adopting culture, i.e., we invent our programs – sun worship or virgin sacrifice, holy emperor or more reasonably humble elected public servant — and then we live in them and call what we do “our culture” and our way and our calendar and our rites and our language.

Iraqis caught up in promoting and facilitating sectarian violence may be likened to dictators or mafia bosses: while we’re quick to notice the methods involved in making “offers that can’t be refused”, we’re slow to notice how dismally trapped — painted into their own corners, suffocated surrounded by their own mirrors — these personalities make themselves.

Having hitched their identity and honor to corruption, murder, and sadism, they’re “in it” but good with their associates behind them to keep them from backing up.

If that is the premise — and we could argue it some and it would probably hold up — what drives Iraq’s violence, what’s in the heart, i.e., combatant self-concept, has access to no program other than continued accelerated and escalated “gaming violence” and retribution.

Those who keep themselves out of it needs must passively, cautiously perhaps, weather it.

It’s a miserable condition in which to live with more moderate and productive passions and ends.

There are never enough dead for forestall the launch of one more attack.

And another.

Plus.

Appended

BBC News – Analysis: Iraq’s never-ending security crisis – 10/3/2013.

# # #

JiSadists – An Update on Westgate Mall Barbarity

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Facsimile Bipolar Political Sociopathy, Islamic Small Wars, Politics, Psychology

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

analysis, Islamist, violence, Westgate

This inexplicable savage violence is typically attributed to psychological warfare, military tactics or individual acts of brutality but for Jihadists they are justifiable sacred acts against the enemies of Islam. They are ritual murders that are consistent with a growing global Jihadist method of operation [MO]. Similar acts of torture, rape, beheading and mutilation regularly occur in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Syria and other countries.

Jihadist Ritual Murder & Mutilation at the Mall | FrontPage Magazine – 10/1/2013.

In the larger view, engagement and indulgence in violence are not the province of one criminal or religious motivation but a part of the complex cultural psychology of our species and the cultures and subcultures it generates.  Brought into empirical view, the behavior of interest — outrageous and unbridled gang violence — becomes less significant in history and much, much less romantic by way of related desires and dreams.

We may not have a religious issue per se with Islam or Islamists bur rather the challenge of addressing an anthropological phenomenon analog across diverse gangs and tribes.

So who is looking through the microscope and who has been laid out for dissection on a slide?

Dawn Perlmutter’s piece today in FrontPage provides for reflection on the motivation and psychology exhibited in Islamist attacks.

Additional Reference

Perlmutter – Mujahideen Desecration – Fall/Winter 2006/2007.

Perlmutter – Semiotics of Honor Killing – Fall 2011.

John P. Sullivan – www.scivortex.org/6FromDrugWarsCriminalInsurgency.pdf – 2012.

# # #

FNS – Egypt –

18 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by commart in Conflict - Culture - Language - Psychology, Egypt, Islamic Small Wars, Middle East, Regions

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Egypt, politics, violence

Euronews invited to visit Egypt’s wounded police

***

Christian Churches Throughout Egypt Stormed, Torched – 8/15/13

***

Maspero Youth Union’s Facebook page reports 38 churches burned and looted, 23 attacked and partially damaged, six school burned and looted, seven Coptic buildings burned and looted, six Christians dead, and seven kidnapped.

***

Egypt Islamists vow new demos after deadly day of anger

***

CAIRO — More violence is expected in Egypt after chaos swept through the country last week, leaving nearly 900 dead in four days of unrest and threatening to stall a political transition.

Egypt braces for more violence after deadly week

***

Some 38 Muslim Brotherhood supporters died in disputed circumstances at a prison yesterday, as the leader of Egypt’s powerful army warned he would not tolerate violence, urging Islamists to change course.

Balmer, Crispian and Yasmine Saleh (Reuters).  “38 prisoners die as Egypt violence escalates.”  Irish Examiner, August 19, 2013.

***

My eyes have read 890 dead in the recent fighting.

My ears have heard 3,500 Muslim Brotherhood supporters arrested.

There’s potential for drawing down the violence in Egypt’s polarized society by dint of one side not having to prove God’s favor on the way to producing a more broad and meaningful round of elections, which I hope will neither be forgotten nor put off more than a year.

The other side has demonstrated its values in the burning and pillaging of properties of the Coptic Church and in general rioting.

# # #

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Epigram

Hillel the Elder

"That which is distasteful to thee do not do to another. That is the whole of Torah. The rest is commentary. Now go and study."

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? If not now, when?"

"Whosoever destroys a soul, it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whosoever that saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world."

Oriana Fallaci
"Whether it comes from a despotic sovereign or an elected president, from a murderous general or a beloved leader, I see power as an inhuman and hateful phenomenon...I have always looked on disobedience toward the oppressive as the only way to use the miracle of having been born."

Talmud 7:16 as Quoted by Rishon Rishon in 2004
Qohelet Raba, 7:16

אכזרי סוף שנעשה אכזרי במקום רחמן

Kol mi shena`asa rahaman bimqom akhzari Sof shena`asa akhzari bimqom rahaman

All who are made to be compassionate in the place of the cruel In the end are made to be cruel in the place of the compassionate.

More colloquially translated: "Those who are kind to the cruel, in the end will be cruel to the kind."

Online Source: http://www.rishon-rishon.com/archives/044412.php

Abraham Isaac Kook

"The purely righteous do not complain about evil, rather they add justice.They do not complain about heresy, rather they add faith.They do not complain about ignorance, rather they add wisdom." From the pages of Arpilei Tohar.

Heinrich Heine
"Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned." -- From Almansor: A Tragedy (1823).

Simon Wiesenthal
Remark Made in the Ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, Vienna, Austria on the occasion of His 90th Birthday: "The Nazis are no more, but we are still here, singing and dancing."

Maimonides
"Truth does not become more true if the whole world were to accept it; nor does it become less true if the whole world were to reject it."

"The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision."

Douglas Adams
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" Epigram appearing in the dedication of Richard Dawkins' The GOD Delusion.

Thucydides
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."

Milan Kundera
"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting."

Malala Yousafzai
“The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born.”

Tanit Nima Tinat
"Who could die of love?"

What I Have Said About the Jews

My people, not that I speak for them, I nonetheless describe as a "global ethnic commune with its heart in Jerusalem and soul in the Land of Israel."

We have never given up on God, nor have we ever given up on one another.

Many things we have given up, but no one misses, say, animal sacrifice, and as many things we have kept, so we have still to welcome our Sabbath on Friday at sunset and to rest all of Saturday until three stars appear in the sky.

Most of all, through 5,773 years, wherever life has taken us, through the greatest triumphs and the most awful tragedies, we have preserved our tribal identity and soul, and so shall we continue eternally.

Anti-Semitism / Anti-Zionism = Signal of Fascism

I may suggest that anti-Zionism / anti-Semitism are signal (a little bit) of fascist urges, and the Left -- I'm an old liberal: I know my heart -- has been vulnerable to manipulation by what appears to me as a "Red Brown Green Alliance" driven by a handful of powerful autocrats intent on sustaining a medieval worldview in service to their own glorification. (And there I will stop).
One hopes for knowledge to allay fear; one hopes for love to overmatch hate.

Too often, the security found in the parroting of a loyal lie outweighs the integrity to be earned in confronting and voicing an uncomfortable truth.

Those who make their followers believe absurdities may also make them commit atrocities.

Positively Orwellian: Comment Responding to Claim that the Arab Assault on Israel in 1948 Had Not Intended Annihilation

“Revisionism” is the most contemptible path that power takes to abet theft and hide shame by attempting to alter public perception of past events.

On Press Freedom, Commentary, and Journalism

In the free world, talent -- editors, graphic artists, researchers, writers -- gravitate toward the organizations that suit their interests and values. The result: high integrity and highly reliable reportage and both responsible and thoughtful reasoning.

This is not to suggest that partisan presses don't exist or that propaganda doesn't exist in the west, but any reader possessed of critical thinking ability and genuine independence -- not bought, not programmed -- is certainly free to evaluate the works of earnest reporters and scholars.

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