Wide-ranging Interviews of Ray By Scott Horton on Russia

Ray gave two long interviews to Scott Horton recently: the first on Feb. 28, the day before Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech; the second on March 6. Both range widely but one overarching theme is Russia.

1 —

The second interview (March 6):
https://www.libertarianinstitute.org/scotthortonshow/3-6-18-ray-mcgovern-returns-discuss-vladimir-putins-unveiling-russias-latest-nuclear-weapons/
(minutes 2:40 to 32:30; 34:35 to 1:22:20)

2 —

The interview on Feb. 28:
https://www.libertarianinstitute.org/scotthortonshow/2-28-18-ray-mcgovern-u-s-russia-relations-deep-state/
(minutes 2:35 to 1:29:30)

The First Woman Picked to Lead CIA, But Not the First War Criminal

March 13, 2018 (six minutes)

Ray was interviewed Tuesday about Gina Haspel, just nominated to be CIA director.  He found it bizarre to discuss the exploits of the current CIA deputy director/war criminal Haspel, who in 2002 ran the secret prison where “terrorist suspect,” Abu Zubaydah, was waterboarded 83 times.

Such crimes were documented by a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation, based on original CIA cables and other documents — a four year-long effort, a redacted Executive Summary of which was released in Dec. 2014.  It revealed a number of heinous torture techniques used on kidnapped “detainees” and — equally important — gave the lie to claims by top CIA officials that useful intelligence was acquired by the torture.

As soon as Sen. Richard Burr (R, NC) became chair of the committee in Jan. 2015, he ordered all copies of the Senate investigation report returned to the committee.  Ms. Haspel, who has demonstrated a penchant for destroying evidence, can be counted on to deep-six whatever copies may linger at the CIA, unless someone tucks one under his/her shirt and absconds with it.  Haspel played a role in ordering the destruction of videotapes of the waterboarding and other torture she supervised at her secret little “dark-side” facility in Thailand, despite being specifically told by the White House Counsel to preserve them.

NBC’s Clueless Boost for Putin

By Ray McGovern, March 12, 2018

https://consortiumnews.com/2018/03/12/nbcs-clueless-boost-for-putin/

Could it have been deliberate?  Could NBC shudder at the possibility of hearing Putin one day say, a la Nixon, “You won’t have Putin to kick around any more.”

Gang of Four: Senators Call for Tillerson to Enter into Arms Control Talks with the Kremlin

By Gil Doctorow and Ray McGovern, March 10, 2018

Gang of Four: Senators Call for Tillerson to Enter into Arms Control Talks with the Kremlin

Look for news of this important initiative in the NY Times or Washington Post, or on TV.  But don’t waste a lot of time.  It seems that none of the “mainstream” media have yet gotten the necessary guidance from the “blood-soaked arms merchants” (Pope Francis) — from the war profiteers that own much of the media.  So there have been two days of wall-to-wall zero coverage.

Neither should you look for any news or commentary on this key development on the Sunday TV talk shows tomorrow.  It is doubtful that the TV moguls will be able to figure out whom to invite, in the light of this initiative, to keep demonizing Putin and — together with Putin — those sensible souls who believe the U.S. should deal on arms control with Russia before it is too late.

Until the media figures all this out, they will probably be turning to the likes of the petulant, supercilious Megyn Kelly or the “keep-us-safe-from-Putin,” scary Rachel Maddow?

How Washington Provoked—and Perhaps Lost—a New Nuclear-Arms Race

By Professor Stephen F. Cohen, longtime historian of Russia
https://www.thenation.com/article/how-washington-provoked-and-perhaps-lost-a-new-nuclear-arms-race/

Putin declares, in his March 1 speech, that the long US attempt to gain nuclear superiority over Russia has failed and hopes Washington will “listen now.”

Ray has learned tons from Professor Cohen and considers it an honor to inhabit the same category of “untouchable,” as far as the know-nothing, Putin-bashing media are concerned.

Quick, someone call Megyn Kelly and suggest she have someone “read her out of one of Steve’s books,” as NY City natives used to say.

Could the German Social Democrats Revert to the Detente-minded Ways of their visionary Willy Brandt? Conceivably, the prompt publication of German translations of VIPS’ and Ray’s articles may lead to a more informed citizenry, since Germany’s “mainstream” media are as hopeless as those in the U.S.

As we reported earlier ( https://raymcgovern.com/2018/03/01/nachdenkseiten-translates-some-of-rays-articles/ ), the popular German website NachDenkSeiten (NDS) has been posting many of VIPS’ and Ray’s articles, after performing a prompt, professional translation.

Ray got word this morning that NDS has just posted, as lead story on its home page, Ray’s piece on President Putin’s important speech of March 1, “Putin Claims Strategic Parity, Respect” (  https://consortiumnews.com/2018/03/03/putin-claims-strategic-parity-respect/  ) of March 3.

The NDS link is  http://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=42801 ; here is the introduction:

Wladimir Putins Ankündigung neuer Waffensysteme zur Schaffung eines nuklearen Gleichgewichts sei das Ergebnis einer Erosion des Rüstungskontrollsystems durch das unkluge Ausscheiden der USA aus dem ABM-Vertrag im Jahr 2002, erklärt Ray McGovern. Josefa Zimmermann hat den Text für die NachDenkSeiten aus dem Englischen übersetzt.
Dieser Beitrag ist auch als Audio-Podcast verfügbar.

You may wish to tell your German speaking friends — especially the ones in Germany, where key political decisions hang in the balance, as we speak (literally).  Will the SPD revert to the East-West detente ways of Willy Brandt?  Or will it choose to remain as junior partner/handmaiden to the CDU/CSU?