Ray McGovern

Nima Rostami Alkhorshid of DIALOGUE WORKS yesterday gave me space to test my long- and short-term memory of little known but highly relevant facts on Palestine & Ukraine, plus fact-check on Putin rejected for being too sympathetic!

Self-proclaimed Zionist, Joe Biden, with no wits about him, is assuring the destruction of Zionist/Apartheid Israel. As corrupt US Intel leaders help unleash the dogs of war, we cannot be bystanders. “Indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself” -Rabbi Abraham Heschel

By Ray McGovern, October 17, 2023

Russian President Vladimir Putin ad-libbed answers in an interesting interview with Chinese state media before departing for Beijing yesterday. Media consumers should be permitted to learn what Putin said – particularly about Ukraine and Russia’s problems dealing with various US administrations over the years. Readers who rely on the “paper of record”, however, will be shielded from Putin’s remarks and thus any temptation to ask if they might be true.

Today’s New York Times boiled the interview down to one sentence in a boilerplate piece titled: Putin Visits China to Bolster Ties With ‘My Friend,’ Xi:

“’Chairman Xi Jinping calls me his friend, and I call him my friend,’ Mr. Putin told Chinese state media ahead of his Beijing visit.”

Note to Readers: if you “know” that Putin always lies, please read no further. Those of more curious mind are invited to read on. The following are direct quotes from Putin’s responses to questions from the Chinese interviewer, fact checked by me:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I would like to remind you that hostilities in Ukraine did not start with our special military operation, but way before – in 2014, when the Western countries, after having volunteered as guarantors of the agreements between President Yanukovich and the opposition, forgot about those guarantees in a matter of days and – worse still – supported a coup d’état. United States Administration officials even acknowledged spending big money on it – five billion, they said, if memory serves me, – and now we have what was bound to happen. [CORRECT]

I am not going to dwell on whether it was a revolution or whether it was a color revolution, but it was anyway a coup d’état. Yes, it had to do with mistakes made by the then leadership, but those mistakes needed to be remedied through democratic procedures, rather than by means of militants in the streets. But Western countries chose otherwise – to support a coup d’état. [CORRECT]

And then, essentially by proxy of the Kiev regime, they started hostilities in the south-east of Ukraine, in Donbass, and continued those hostilities for eight years, killing women and children. The West paid no attention to that or pretended not to notice. [CORRECT]

Even when agreements were signed in Minsk, Belarus, known as the Minsk Agreements, Russia did everything to follow this path towards settling the conflict. They did not let us do that, either. Moreover, Ukraine’s leaders ultimately said that they simply did not like those Minsk Agreements and they were not going to fulfil them. [CORRECT]

This was aggravated by the United States’ attempts to drag Ukraine into NATO, which led to the escalation of the conflict. Let me remind you that, when Ukraine gained independence – or proclaimed its independence – it was the Declaration of Independence that served as the fundamental document laying the basis for Ukrainian independence. The main principle enshrined in this Declaration of Independence was that Ukraine is a neutral state. [CORRECT]

Yet in 2008, for no good reason – there was no crisis in sight – they announced that they would welcome Ukraine in NATO. [CORRECT]

Why? Still no one understands. And thus, year by year, they would heighten the tensions. Then, finally, the 2014 crisis hit, the hostilities broke out. This took the escalation to a new level. [CORRECT]

Therefore, the start of the special military operation was not the start of a war, but an attempt to end it. … [CORRECT]

We reached an agreement in Istanbul confirming that we were ready for this [to end the special military operation], provided that – I emphasize – the legitimate security interests of Russia are respected. The Ukrainian side put forward very strict demands in terms of security, and we almost accepted them. [CORRECT]

However, as soon as we pulled our troops back from the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, the Ukrainian side committed all the arrangements to flames. … They announced that they would seek to defeat Russia and secure a victory on the battlefield, to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. They launched an active military operation, the so-called counter-offensive. It has continued since 4 June. No results achieved so far, only massive losses. The losses are simply huge, at a ratio of one to eight. [CORRECT]

Of course, we know the proposals of our Chinese friends. We highly value those proposals. I think they are absolutely realistic and could lay the foundation for peace arrangements. But, unfortunately, the opposing side does not want to enter into any negotiations. In fact, the President of Ukraine has even issued a decree prohibiting everyone – including himself – to conduct any negotiations with us. How can we conduct negotiations if they are not willing to and even issued a regulation prohibiting such negotiations? [CORRECT] …

The security of one group of states cannot be built at the expense of security of other states. Security needs to be the same for everyone. In this context, it is extremely important for us that Ukraine stays outside any blocs. We were told as far back as 1991 – by the then US Administration – that NATO would not expand further east. [CORRECT; but one year off re US promises, which began in Feb. 1990]

Since then, there have been five waves of NATO expansion, and every time we expressed our concerns. Every time we were told: yes, we promised you not to expand NATO eastwards, but those were verbal promises – is there any paper with our signature on it? No paper? Good-bye. [CORRECT]

You see, it is very difficult to engage in a dialogue with people like that. I have already cited the example of the Iranian nuclear program. The negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program were very, very lengthy. An agreement was reached, a compromise found, and documents signed. Then came a new Administration and threw everything in the trash, as if those arrangements never existed. [CORRECT]

Judge Napolitano and I discuss latest on Palestine-Israel, including whether it is a good idea to send 2 aircraft carriers to the eastern Med; the difference between terrorism and genocide; and who is telling truth on prospects for Ukraine: Biden or Putin.

Into the valley of death sailed the 10,000, aboard aircraft carriers Ford and Eisenhower – sitting ducks for swarming drones & other weaponry not dreamed of by those who made short work of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Perhaps Blinken/Nuland/Austin want that? Or are they just dumb?

Putin’s Contained Ire at Valdai Forum; Russian ‘Interference’ in US Elections: my interview with Nima Rostami Alkhorshid, October 10 (23 minutes)

I’ll be giving a presentation in person tomorrow at Hofstra U Ruthart Culteral Center Theater. Free. 1-2:25 PM Topic: “CONNED AGAIN, THIS TIME ON UKRAINE”: We need to realize that we are closer to nuclear war now than 61 years ago when Russia put missiles in Cuba. For info: 516-463-5595

Answer to a Close Friend on Palestine

Dear Miriam,

Sorry, this is as brief as I can make it.

I was nine years old (1948) when there was HUGE celebration in the Bronx at founding of the state of Israel. No one told me that Arabs had lived on that land for centuries and were displaced by force, tens of thousands of them crammed into postage-stamp-size Gaza, now host to two million Palestinians.

The Religious ‘Justification’: Zionist Jews, like the ones now in power in Israel, claim God gave them the land they now occupy. They cite Deuteronomy. But given the way they treat Arabs, they ignore the fact that, according to Deuteronomy, it was a two-part ‘deal’. By their oppression of the Arab population, Israel’s leaders push aside the condition God is said to have imposed on their “inheritance”. It was an “only if”.

Deuteronomy 15:4-5 New International Version:

“4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.”

In June 1967 Israel annexed the “West Bank” (of the Jordan) and Gaza by first attacking and destroying the Egyptian and Syrian armies in a surprise attack. Israeli leaders claimed Egypt was about to attack Israel, but former Israeli President Menachem later admitted publicly that this was a lie. In a speech he gave in Washington, DC, on August 8, 1982 he said:

“In June 1967, we again had a choice. The Egyptian Army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.” (See:

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/21/world/excerpts-from-begin-speech-at-national-defense-college.html

On Nov. 22, 1967, UN Resolution 242, adopted unanimously, called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the “territories occupied in the recent conflict”. Israel withdrew from the Sinai after the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979. It did not withdraw from other lands occupied in 1967 – the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights in Syria.

As for Gaza, it has been blockaded to the point that it is almost impossible to get in or out – as I experienced personally in 2011 with gutsy, justice-oriented folks like Alice Walker on the aborted voyage of the “U.S. Boat to Gaza”. (See: http://www.coldtype.net/Assets.11/pdfs/0811.Ray.GazaBoat.pdf)

Getting Away With Murder: On June 8, 1967 Israel tried to sink the intelligence collection ship USS Liberty and leave no survivors – in full daylight in international waters off the Sinai coast during the 6-day Israeli-Arab war. Washington (including the US Navy!) covered up the killing of 34 US sailors and the wounding of 170 others. Thus, Israel learned that it could literally get away with murder – of US servicemen, as well as Palestinians.

The extremists now heading the Israeli government have made no secret of their plans to move even more forcefully against the Palestinians. It was/is a powder keg that has now exploded.

Why Should We Care?

It is, of course, a matter of justice. But if that does not resonate with most of our fellow citizens, malnourished as they are on the activities of Israeli “settlers”, I will appeal below to the enlightened self-interest of Americans.

(As for the “settlers”, I thank God Marine vets Matt Hoh and Mike Hanes were with me when armed settlers attacked a Veterans For Peace delegation in 2017 in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, and later fired tear gas at us in Hebron! I was grateful that the welt on my left breast from a tear-gas cannister, fired at us in Hebron, was gone by the time I got home, so I did not have to tell family members who tend to worry – even when I go off with such sturdy companions.)

American self-interest. In a word, the mistreatment of Palestinians played a huge role in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. You can be forgiven for being unaware of that, if you take your information from the likes of the NY Times or academia, both of which – like the US government – shy away from telling the full story. They press the ‘delete’ button, sometimes literally – as I demonstrated in a Nov. 15, 2009 article I called “Shining Light on Roots of Terrorism”. (See:

https://consortiumnews.com/2009/111509a.html)

Here are short excerpts:

I cited the words of the ‘mastermind’ of 9/11, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as to his motivation. He is quoted on page 147 of the 9/11 Commission Report published on July 22, 2004, as follows:

By his own account, KSM’s animus toward the United States stemmed … from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.

My article continued:

A more convincing swing at this issue was taken in an unclassified study published by the Pentagon-appointed U.S. Defense Science Board on Sept. 23, 2004, just two months later. The board stated:

“Muslims do not ‘hate our freedom,’ but rather, they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the longstanding, even increasing support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan, and the Gulf States.

“Closer to home, by further identifying itself with – and justifying – Israeli repression of the Palestinians, the United States helps breed more Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds and Ramzi Yousefs, more young terrorists determined to make Washington and the American people pay a price.”

Nothing has changed. If Americans are kept in blissful ignorance of this, and Washington continues to give kneejerk support to Zionist Israel, terrorism cannot be kept from our shores.

PS: I gave a short talk on “Is Israel a US Ally?” at the National Press Club on March 7, 2014. You may wish to view it:

“Is Israel a U.S. Ally?” Ray’s assigned topic for a National Press Club speech at the National Summit to Reassess the U.S.-Israel “Special Relationship”

On 9/11/2013, after Putin helped Obama face down the Washington Playbook for war on Syria, he spoke of “growing trust” btw Russia & US. Now it’s “If deterrence fails, we are able to destroy you.”

Larry Johnson & I; cameo by Hillary.

Professor Geoffrey Roberts & I dialogue on “WHY” Russia invaded Ukraine and whether Putin had any real options to the ‘Special Military Operation’, given Russia’s perception of an existential threat. Real dialogue/refresher; Geoff leads off at minute 6:50.