Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Talking to Jim about THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Lazy Dog Joe" went up earlier tonight.

 

 

lazy dog joe

 

 

Okay, this is Jim writing in "A note to our readers" at THIRD:


Please read Ruth's "Those useless executive orders."  I (Jim) was hoping to do a Jim's Corner about that this edition.  Time ran out so Ruth and I are going to do a discussion at her site next week.

 

 And, in my post he linked to, I wrote:


I am not trying to pick but if you are not getting why Ava and C.I. are tired of THIRD, grasp that they wrote "Books," they wrote the WSWS piece, they took notes and typed up the roundtable, they wrote the TV piece.  And they did all of that by Sunday night.  THIRD did not go up until Tuesday morning.  And, honestly, that was only because C.I. heard Scott Horton's program and argued to make it the editorial.  Not trying to pick and not trying to upset anyone.  But that edition should have gone up Sunday and Ava and C.I. busted their butts to try to get it up on time. 

 

So now, here is Jim and we are going to discuss this.

 

Jim: First up, I'm going to note the new content at THIRD:


 

 Jim (Con't): It was still Sunday night when we got that posted -- on the West Coast, it was still Sunday night.  And we got that up because of what you wrote here -- in part because of that.  In the articles above?  Ava and C.I. wrote the TV piece, Books, the KINDLE UNLIMITED piece and we posted Stan's conversation with them -- re-posted.  Looking at the list, I notice we don't have BLACK AGENDA RADIO in the portion after "Highlights."  We were supposed to have that, we were supposed to have the video of Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker doing their video chat.  When we rush, that stuff gets forgotten.  


So you are saying that this is as important?


Jim: I am.  We're doing features that require writing, yes, but we also have the "truests'' each week and other things that we highlight.  Those things require time as well.  I'd forgotten Stan had talked to Ava and C.I. for a piece at his site.  We were already publishing when I remembered.  So we had to hustle to put up the fraud squad.


Isaiah's comic?


Jim: Right because in his conversation with Ava and C.I., Stan had the other comic, the one about Dianne Feinstein.  In a perfect world, that comic would have been an illustration for a piece about the fraud squad.  And sometimes when we're not getting content up on Sundays it's because I'm hoping that we'll manage to pull off some more content if we wait.


Does that ever really work out?


Jim: Not usually but sometimes.


There's a feeling that the site should just be called "THIRD ESTATE REVIEW."


Jim: And not "THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW"?  Yeah, I can see the point to that.  And I don't fault any reader who argues that Ava and C.I. do the heavy lifting.  Each edition, whether they write one, two or three pieces, their writing is the strongest part.  It's always been that way.  We started, in January of 2005, writing TV pieces collectively.  But the readers responded to whatever Ava and C.I. were contributing in those pieces so, within weeks, the rest of us backed off and just let Ava and C.I. have that space.  It's what they do and they do it very well. 


Dona always notes that they've built up this huge body of work.


Jim: And she's right.  Can you imagine having their body of work?  And it predates the discussions that are going on right now.  I don't know if new readers get that.  Ava and C.I. were covering representation, for example, years ago.  There's very little in the air today that they weren't tackling back in 2005 and 2006.  They have led on those discussions.  And it wasn't easy.  They've got a huge audience now.  But back in the first three or so years, there were also a lot of people who hated them, who felt that there was no need to focus on representation in terms of race or gender, who felt that no one cared how LGBTQs were portrayed in the media.  The world has changed -- you can argue it caught up with Ava and C.I.  And Dona's right, they have an incredible body of work.  They have always been the calling card for the site but we also post other things and sometimes that takes a little longer.


And that's not a new thing and complaining about it is not a new thing.


Jim: You're right.  I can remember, as far back as 2008, Elaine complaining that we didn't get stuff posted on Sunday or we took long for this or that.  It's ready when it's ready.  


Did it bother you that I wrote about it here?


Jim: The only thing that bothered me was that I wasn't able to do a Jim's Corner because I did want to write about this.  There wasn't time.  But I'm never bothered when we talk about the dynamics.  I prefer things to be open.  


Well thank you for talking to me.


Jim: Thank you.

 

 

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:

 Monday, February 8, 20201.  More US troops leave today for Iraq while Joe Biden has no policy to offer on that country but does continue to lie about his own Iraq experience.


The war never ends.  Ben Rodgers (KTSP) reported on Friday:


Sixty soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard will be deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. 

The soldiers from B Company, First General Support Aviation Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment based in St. Cloud will deploy Monday. 


Those troops are leaving today.  Iraq?  It's a country that continues to fail to serve its own citizens.  Sura Ali (RUDAW) reports:


Fresh protests broke out in several provinces across central and southern Iraq over the weekend, with several protesters wounded, activists told Rudaw English on Sunday.

Demonstrations broke out in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Friday. Clashes took place between demonstrators and riot police where three protesters were wounded, local activist Muhammad Khayat, told Rudaw on Sunday. 

Protesters blocked the Hadarat Bridge in the city centre before returning to Habboubi Square, the city’s protest hotspot that has witnessed some of the bloodiest crackdowns on demonstrators since popular protests began in October 2019, calling for basic services and an end to corruption. 

"We receive threats almost daily on social media, but this will not prevent us from continuing to sit-in in Haboubi until our demands are met." Khayat said.

Activist Maytham al-Mufadhal, also from Nasiriyah, told Rudaw English that they demand authorities reveal the fate of the activist Sajjad al-Iraqi, who was kidnapped by an unknown party in September. 

"We received many government promises to reveal Sajjad's fate, but several months passed and the results of the investigation were not released. The sit-in continues until the fate of Sajjad is revealed," Mufadhal said.

Activists are often threatened, kidnapped and killed for their involvement in the protest movement. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sent counter-terror forces to Nasiriyah to find Iraqi in September, claiming to know of his location, but he is yet to be found. 


NRT Tweets:

Protesters in Kut call for removal of governor, deputies For mismanagement and corruption #NRTnews #Kut #alNasiriyah #Iraq #Protest #Wasit #DhiQar


IRAQ AND MIDDLE EAST UPDATES Tweets:


Protests return to Wasit as youth burn tyres on the streets
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6:57 AM · Feb 7, 2021



US troops are being sent to Iraq and kept in Iraq to prop up a US-created government there that does not recognize the rights of the Iraqi people and does not serve the Iraqi people.  


Najaf saw other actions on Saturday.  The cult of Moqtada al-Sadr attacked the people of Najaf on Saturday.  RUDAW reports:


Militia forces affiliated with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr raided a number of activists' houses in Iraq’s Najaf province on Saturday night, activists told Rudaw English. The raids came a day after a group of activists chanted slogans criticizing the cleric on the one year anniversary of the killing of tens of people by Sadr supporters. 

Activists on Friday held a ceremony to mark the one year anniversary of a massacre in Najaf’s Sadrayn square where Sadr supporters known as the "Blue Caps" stormed an anti-government protest camp. Twenty-three people were killed and more than 182 wounded, according to AFP.

Live rounds and petrol bombs were used against protesters during clashes, and their tents were burned or removed. Days later, Sadr announced the dissolution of the "Blue Caps" militia.

Video from the anniversary ceremony on Friday showed dozens of people gathered in the Writers Union Hall in Najaf, chanting slogans against the Sadrist movement and its leader. "No god but Allah. Muqtada is the enemy of Allah,” they shouted in clips that went viral on social media. 

The day after the ceremony, forces from the pro-Sadr Saraya al-Salam (the Peace Brigades) militia stormed the homes of four activists, terrorizing them and their families, according to Najaf activist Saif al-Mansoori. 


This follows Friday's action in Najaf.  Fadhel al-Nashmi (ASHARQ AL-AWSAT) reported, "Unidentified assailants attacked the headquarters of the Iraqi Communist Party in Najaf with Molotov cocktails, burning the offices despite causing no causalities."  It's related.  In the past the Communist Party partnered with Moqtada.  That partnership broke and last week they announced an alliance with the demonstrators.  Then their headquarters were bombed.


What's the plan, Joe, what's the plan?


There is none.  So he just avoids the topic.


He gave his 'big' speech on foreign relations last week.  Sheldon Richman (ANTIWAR.COM) observes:


Also among the no-mentions was Afghanistan. How can Biden give his first speech on foreign policy without discussing the country’s longest war? That is really remarkable. The names Iraq and Syria also do not appear in the speech. Amazing.



The 20 minute speech contained no mention of Iraq, as Dr. Abbas Kadhim pointed out in a Tweet:

 

There was no mention of #Iraq in President
@JoeBiden
's foreign policy today. The only Iraq-related policy was the decision to review the previous administration's plans for troops withdrawal from various AoRs. That will include Iraq and we'll see what the review result will be.
4:36 PM · Feb 4, 2021



In 2002, Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War.  


On Oct. 16, 2002, President Bush signed the Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution Joe Biden supported it and happily posed for this photo
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6:48 PM · Feb 7, 2021


All these years later he has to 'familiarize' himself on Iraq before he can figure out a policy?  He has nothing to offer because he chooses to have nothing to offer.  And if he truly had any regret over his Iraq War vote, he would be compelled to make up for it now.  He's doing nothing because he doesn't now -- and never did -- give a damn.  That's why, when he threw out the Iraqi votes of 2010 via The Erbil Agreement, he went to Baghdad and gave puzzled Iraqis a lecture about Ireland -- a lecture that had nothing to do with them.


It's not like Joe can't talk about Iraq at all.  He can lie about it.  And he's been lying yet again.  Rudy Takala  (MEDIAITE) explains:

President Joe Biden on Thursday repeated a claim to a gathering of State Department employees that he once came under fire abroad.

“You have great personal courage. I’ve been with some of you when we’ve been shot at,” Biden told staff, without detailing the incident in question.

It’s unclear what specific incident Biden was referring to in his remarks, but in the past he has faced scrutiny for similar comments. Biden previously made the claim at a Democratic presidential primary debate in July 2007. “Number one, you take all the troops out,” he said. “You better have helicopters ready to take those 3,000 civilians inside the Green Zone, where I have been seven times and shot at. You better make sure you have protection for them, or let them die.”

He later clarified those remarks to say he was inside a building in Iraq’s Green Zone with a contingent of visiting senators that “rattled” as a result from a blast in 2005, and suggested the “shot” that had been fired was akin to mortar fire. “I was near where a shot landed,” he said. “No one got up and ran from the room — it wasn’t that kind of thing. It’s not like I had someone holding a gun to my head.”


Steve Nelson (NY POST) adds:


Patrick Campbell, then legislative director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told The Hill at the time, “Veterans don’t like it when people mischaracterize their service, people who overstate what happens to them. We have names for them.”

George Washington University professor Stephen Hess said in 2007 that the claim “fits into [Biden’s] profile, and that’s exactly why he should be terribly careful about statements that may not quite parse out or deconstruct under scrutiny.”

Biden has a reputation for gaffes and stretching the truth. He said incorrectly in 2008 “I am a hard coal miner,” and was forced to drop out of the 1988 Democratic presidential primary for plagiarism of speeches and a law school paper.


So he can talk about Iraq, he just can't tell any truths about that country.  Then again, Joe has an estranged relationship with the truth:


Jan 6, 2020 Dem Pres. candidate Joe Biden lied saying he opposed the war in Iraq from the very beginning. Sept 12, 2020 Joe Biden lies about his son dying in Iraq. Jan 4, 2021 Biden told State Dept employees he was shot at overseas. nypost.com/207cac6f-25f2-
3:57 PM · Feb 7, 2021



Caitlin Johnstone (ICH) observes:

When you oppose the horror that is western imperialism people try to paint you as a radical extremist who can’t just be reasonable and pragmatic about things, but really nothing could be further from the truth. There’s nothing “radical” or “extreme” about opposing the domination of the entire planet with relentless acts of mass slaughter to the detriment of the world’s most vulnerable populations, all because some sociopaths in DC decided that it is good and reasonable to inflict any amount of terror upon our world to preserve unipolar US hegemony. Opposing this is just basic human sanity.

People will act like you’re unreasonable and impossible if there’s not a single US politician you support.

“Not even Bernie?” they’ll ask. “Not even AOC?? What’s wrong with you?!”

If you are an anti-imperialist, being asked to choose a US politician you support is like being asked to pick a favorite Nazi. The US empire is the single most evil and destructive power on our planet right now and everyone on Capitol Hill is an imperialist facilitator of mass murder, yet you’ll be treated like an extremist moonbat if you don’t like any of them. The problem isn’t that an anti-imperialist has strange, impossible standards, it’s that they oppose an insane and murderous status quo which only elevates leaders who will advance that status quo.




New content at THIRD:





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