Going Rogue With Caitlin Johnstone

And now the imperial blob rolls on to absorb its next target, having grown one Syria-sized increment larger after spending years digesting that nation via proxy warfare, sanctions, relentless bombing campaigns from Israel, and a military occupation designed to steal its food and fuel. Reading by Tim Foley.

Well it looks like the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is on its way out, likely to be replaced by one or more US puppet regimes depending on whether the nation maintains its current borders or is carved up into separate states. The empire notches another win. Reading by Tim Foley.

I have learned a few things in my time on this earth. Not many, but a few. I have learned that western regime change interventionism is reliably disastrous, and that men like John Bolton and Bill Kristol are always on the wrong side of history when it comes to such matters. I have learned that organizing human civilization around the pursuit of profit has had devastating consequences for our ecosystem, our health, our hearts, and our happiness. Reading by Tim Foley.

None of the world's worst people are in prison. Our society is fed a steady diet of movies and shows depicting heroic protagonists fighting villains who abuse and murder people in illegal ways, when in real life the actual villains of our society murder people in ways that are completely legal. None of their abuses are against the law. Reading by Tim Foley.

You won't see anyone in Tony Blinken's family headed to the frontlines in Ukraine. These freaks see the population of this planet as nothing more than pawns on their grand chessboard, and they will sacrifice them just as casually. Reading by Tim Foley.

One great challenge of our time is that while it's becoming common knowledge that western media is propaganda and western politics is a corrupt sham, fake solutions to these problems are being marketed to the mainstream by the same powers responsible for them. Donald Trump himself will tell you that the media are lying and the political establishment is run by swamp monsters, and then say that the solution is to support Republicans and trust right wing media. Elon Musk will go on Joe Rogan and say the same thing. In 2028 AOC will probably run for president campaigning on the Democratic Party version of the same faux-populist message, just as Bernie Sanders did. Reading by Tim Foley.

If you have not spent the past 14 months watching all the footage of dead and mutilated children coming out of Gaza, then you have no business trying to defend Israel and its actions. If you are avoiding looking at the facts, then you have no business talking about them. Reading by Tim Foley.

In less than a week of its supposed "ceasefire" agreement Israel has reportedly attacked targets in Lebanon around a hundred times, leading to a single retaliation from Hezbollah on Monday which resulted in zero casualties. As you might expect, Israel is now playing victim and shrieking bloody murder, vowing a major response against Hezbollah for daring to strike back while Israel violated its ceasefire agreement dozens of times. Apparently this was the kind of ceasefire where only one side has to actually cease firing. This is such a perfect example of everything Israel is. Reading by Tim Foley.

Syria is more complicated and harder to understand than Gaza, but if you look into it you'll find mountains of evidence that for many years the US and its allies and partners have been actively fomenting violence, chaos and destruction in that nation to effect regime change. Reading by Tim Foley.

This is a civilization made of deceitful thoughts, deceitful words, and deceitful deeds. Everything about it is fraudulent. Reading by Tim Foley.

The Biden administration is now pushing Ukraine to lower its minimum draft age from 25 to 18 in order to provide more cannon fodder for the war against Russia. Polls say that both Ukrainians and Americans want this US proxy war to end, but instead of ending it Washington is pressuring Kyiv to throw teenagers into the threshing machine of an unwinnable conflict. And we were told this war was all about protecting democracy. Reading by Tim Foley.

Every so often I like to write out a basic explanation of who I am and what I'm trying to do here. As an entirely reader-funded writer I think it's important to periodically lay out exactly what I'm about so that any patrons or would-be patrons can assess if this weird little project here is something they want to support. Reading by Caitlin Johnstone.

If you stand for truth, peace and justice in this world then it’s important not to make your happiness dependent on large-scale wins. Reading by Tim Foley.

Conventional wisdom about the outgoing Biden administration’s reckless escalations in Ukraine these past few days is that things will cool down once Donald Trump takes office, but Trump’s cabinet picks aren’t really selling this idea. Reading by Tim Foley.

What we all want, deep down, is a truth-based relationship with reality. We might not be aware that this is what we are seeking from life, but it is. And everything in our society is stacked against our ever getting it. Reading by Tim Foley.

We live in a civilization built of lies and abuse, powered by lies and abuse, and defended using lies and abuse. Even the most kindhearted and well-intentioned among us struggle to bring about positive change, because the very fabric of our society is stacked against truth and kindness. Reading by Tim Foley.

The International Criminal Court has formally issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity. No such arrest warrants were issued for President Biden or any of the other western officials who’ve been backing Israel’s genocidal atrocities, which is a bit like a judge issuing a warrant for a mass murderer but not for the guy who gave him the gun and stood next to him handing him ammunition and drove the getaway car and lied to the police to cover up the crime. Reading by Tim Foley.

One of the very few good things coming out of the relentless nightmare happening in Gaza is that at long last the western world is getting a clear look at Israel. The real Israel. Reading by Tim Foley.

It’s so fun how the Biden administration is using its lame duck months to skyrocket hostilities between nuclear superpowers and we don’t even know who’s really making these decisions because the president’s brain is cottage cheese. Reading by Tim Foley.

Reading by Tim Foley.