Friday, April 05, 2019
Headlines for April 5, 2019
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for April 5, 2019
*Iran Moves to Cement Its Influence in Syria
Tehran uses cash, food and public services in a hearts and minds campaign to cultivate loyalty, draw military recruits and win converts to the Shiite Muslim sect
Tehran uses cash, food and public services in a hearts and minds campaign to cultivate loyalty, draw military recruits and win converts to the Shiite Muslim sect
Slanderous, cynical article, e.g., “The goal is to re-create the Persian empire,” said Muneer al-Khalaf, a member of the City Council of Raqqa, Islamic State’s once de facto capital.” What horrible thing is Iran up to? “To Syrians battered by war, Iran is offering cash, food, Iranian ID cards, public services and free education.” And their sources that this is all a plot to gain Shiite converts? A “24-year old male resident from the nearby village of Jalaa” and “a U.S. official and a person familiar with U.S. intelligence operations in the region.” they actually compare Iran’s actions to ISIS! “Residents from Deir Ezzour Province liken Iran’s strategy of wooing the younger generation to the same tactics of indoctrination once used by Islamic State.” “Just like ISIS gave religious lessons to children after prayers, they are doing the same thing,” said a father of two school-aged children.”
*Russia’s Military Mission Creep Advances to a New Front: Africa
The US presence is described as a “relatively light footprint” (Somalis being bombed today, and earlier Libyans, would presumably disagree) and in 1500 words the word AFRICOM doesn’t appear! Armchair psychoanalysis: “Expanding Moscow’s military sway on the continent reflects Mr. Putin’s broader vision of returning Russia to its former glory.” And, unbelievably ironic considering current events in Venezuela, we’re told “Russia often utilizes coercive, corrupt, and covert means to attempt to influence sovereign states, including their security and economic partnerships.” What we’re not told: US currently has 34 military bases in Africa; Russia has 0.
This goes right along with:
*How Putin Built a Ragtag Empire of Tyrants and Failing States
[cover of the magazine]: Russia’s other plot. Vladimir Putin wants to influence more than elections. Inside his growing empire of rogue states.
With an ominous picture of Putin leaning over the globe, with Soviet red stars over nine countries. Nonsense with a dose of anti-Communism for good measure. Imagine if they put stars on all the places with US bases. And the spectre of Communism is raised again here: “But unlike the Cold War, when the communist East competed with the capitalist West as equals, the new contest is being waged in an altered world.” The first sentence to follow that statement could be: “Russia is no longer Communist.” But that sentence doesn’t appear at all.
*Anti-Semitism Is Back, From the Left, Right and Islamist Extremes. Why?
The first part of the headline is stated as simple fact. Who are these anti-Semitic leftists? Ilhan Omar, unnamed members of the Labour Party, and “fringes of the Yellow Vest movement” (which is not a left movement). Omar is accused of criticizing the “undue influence of Jewish lobbies”, which is a grotesque lie. AIPAC is an *Israeli* lobby, not a Jewish lobby. In a similar vein, the article talks about “leftist critics of Israel, such as the supporters of the British Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn”, with the unstated but implied claim that criticizing Israel constitutes anti-Semitism (if it doesn’t, why is it included in this article?). The article actually compares Corbyn to actual Viktor Orban, who the article describes as having “anti-Semitic leanings”.
Trump, Putin and a Possible ‘Red-Line Moment’ in Venezuela
While the Trump administration has issued various threats, it hasn’t spoken of any “red lines”. That’s the NYT’s contribution to the push for another US military war (the US economic war against Venezuela is in full swing).
This School Doesn't Care Who Your Parents Are
This school is Caltech, of which I am a graduate. And no, they don’t care if your parents were alumni. But of course who you are, and your ability to get into Caltech, is in large part a product of who your parents were. Were you properly fed to promote brain development? Did you have lots of books and other educational opportunities while growing up? Did you go to a private school or have tutors? Or did you have to work during high school and spend less time on your studies? And so on. Headline from just this week: “Wealthy New Yorkers are dropping $375 an hour on prep courses to get their kids into $50,000 ‘Baby Ivy’ kindergartens in an effort to eventually get them into top colleges”. I am reminded of a famous quote by biologist Stephen Jay Gould: “I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.”
*Trump finally recognizes 'noise cancer.' Will GOP health plan cover it?
An imaginary health plan to cover an imaginary disease. Perfect!
Trump may not be a Russian agent. He’s just a Russian stooge.
As I said last week, the idea that Trump is a “Russian stooge” continues to permeate the media (and public consciousness), despite the myriad of actual facts which make it plain how absurd that contention is.
The big loser in Ukraine’s presidential election? Vladimir Putin
Poroshenko and Timoshenko, Western favorites, got about half the vote the comedian Zelenskiy got, a candidate who per the BBC "staged no rallies, gave few interviews, and appears to have no strong political views." One of the few strong views he has, echoing the fact that he speaks Russian, is to oppose the attempt to the existing government to restrict Russian language rights.
Trump’s Golan Move Means His ‘Deal of the Century’ May Be Dead
Was it ever alive? Did it ever exist? As far as I can tell it has about the same status as the Republican health care plan.
What My Fellow Liberals Don’t Get About Venezuela
Stop sanitizing a tyrannical dictator. My country deserves change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/opinion/contributors/venezuela-us-hands-off-joanna-hausmann.html
Stop sanitizing a tyrannical dictator. My country deserves change.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/opinion/contributors/venezuela-us-hands-off-joanna-hausmann.html
By Joanna Hausmann
Times’ description of aithor: “Ms. Hausmann is a Venezuelan-American writer and comedian.” Yes, and her father Ricardo is one of the West’s leading neoliberal economists, who played an unsavory role during the 1980s and ’90s in devising policies that enabled the looting of Venezuela’s economy by international capital and provoked devastating social turmoil. He was “appointed” by Guaidó to serve as his representative at the Inter-American Development Bank. She was also born in the UK, not Venezuela. None of that is revealed by the Times in this error-filled hit piece. See https://www.mintpressnews.com/ricardo-hausmann-morning-venezuela-neoliberal-brain-behind-juan-guaidos-economic-agenda/256185/ for details.
Most Republicans don’t accept a basic Mueller finding: That Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 campaign
"Although the allegations haven’t been proved in a court of law and although Russia’s government denies them, there’s little serious debate at this point that Russia was involved in those hacks and that social media push. No serious explanation for those acts has been offered beyond trying to muck up the 2016 presidential election." Actually when you think of things like the "Buff Bernie coloring book" ad or the ad featuring Satan arm-wrestling Jesus and saying "If I win, Clinton wins!", it's hard to keep a straight face thinking that having any effect on the election whatsoever was a "serious explanation" for them.
