Paul Brancato

What a minefield this thread is. first, Israel did not need nuclear weapons to defend itself, any more than we or any other nation that has them needs them. Second, criticizing Israel is not anti Semitic, but a look at the latest move by the Republican controlled House shows how prevalent that view is, and how insidious. But to blame it on Jewish exceptionalism? Republicans don’t mind people in their Party talking about Jewish lasers from space, which is truly is anti-Semitic. But rally behind the Palestinian cause? Big trouble. If Jehovah is a Big Lie, so is Christ. And by the way Lance, the Romans did create Christ, whether or not there was a Jewish Rabbi rebel named Jesus. Unless you believe that Paul met the ‘risen’ Jesus on the road to Damascus. Why is it that we can examine all kinds of conspiracies, but fail to see this as the greatest hoax of all time? Btw, I’m not an atheist. I just prefer to ‘worship’ Mother Earth and the Sun and stars, and Nature.

Guyenot mentions 9/11, and I know that W is well versed. I’ve read Guyenot before, and I don’t dismiss his work.

Thanks - read it, and another one linked in the article. Do you think Mossad had something to do with 9/11?

Was Angleton the organizer? Does Newman still believe that? Angleton was certainly close to Mossad, Israel benefitted from it. Has anyone but me read the Mossad/Skorzeny story?

Very much, because as you say people find it unsettling to see the calumny in their leaders and the ulterior motives of the ruling class.

It is an interesting article. Haven’t finished it yet, but to those who have, how would Mossad have carried this out? Whenever this theory arises the antisemites come out in force, the ones who blame The Zionists and Jewish bankers for everything. Unfortunately this causes readers like myself to shut down, even though I am very critical of Israel. Unlike Jim I don’t rule out the possibility that Mossad played a role, possibly even providing the shooters, via Otto Skorzeny. The article mentions Ben Gurion was worried about Egypt, using N-A-Z-I scientists, acquiring nuclear technology. Legend has it, and I find this convincing, that Mossad hired Skorzeny to destroy Egypt’s nuclear program in 1962, something that Otto was uniquely qualified to do.

Dr Helen Caldicott called it psychic numbing.

I think this applies to the JFK research community to some extent. We would rather focus on Oswald’s guilt or innocence rather than on who done it if he didn’t.

Jim - I tried to pm you too. What thread is the Canadian video interview of you and Oliver? I want to share it

There is still a mystery surrounding Souetre, and from what I’ve heard still unreleased documents.

David - interesting conjecture, more believable than thinking Ted Shackley was trying to protect JFK.

W - I appreciate that, and your perspective. Putin is contemptuous of liberal democracy. We are all against totalitarianism of any kind. The question is how did we get here and what can we do? War is unthinkable. When Putin was getting ready to invade, a process that took months, we should have interceded - kinda like JFK in Berlin. In the first place why not promise no NATO for Ukraine? NATO is not the European Union, should not be equated with Democracy. It’s a defense treaty and a militarization on Russia’s border. Ordinary Russians are what - in favor of the West surrounding them with heavy duty weaponry? In the second why not just put defensive forces in before the invasion to prevent it, while focusing all the worlds attention on it diplomatically. Did the US think he wouldn’t invade so why bother? No, every day the media was flashing red, telling us all that Putin was about to invade. If we were that certain, something I didn’t believe at the time but Biden did, why not pull out all stops to prevent it, to try and save the countless lives now being lost? Would Zelensky have refused such help? He was begging for it. Now we have tanks, soon it will be air power. What’s the end game?

Poll - if you had been a delegate at the 1948 Democratic Convention would you have backed Henry Wallace over Harry Truman? When JFK reached out to Krushchev it was anathema to Dulles and his ilk. JFK was staunchly anti-Communist, and I’m sure we’ll educated on Soviet atrocities. And yet he was far more interested in fighting for a peaceful world than in fighting Communists on the battlefield. After the Cuban Missile Crisis he withdrew American missiles from Turkey because that’s what Russia needed. That is the opposite of what NATO has been doing the last several decades. Meanwhile several of you think the rest of us need to be educated about Russian history in order to understand the current situation and put it in perspective, and the argument you make sounds like one the Dulles brothers would agree with, which is that we haven’t made enough of the horrors committed by the Soviets, and prefer to focus on Germany instead. Dulles thought that too, and put it into practice by enlisting, and protecting, German war criminals in order to better fight Communists. I’m supposing some of you agree with that position.

I’ve noticed that the staunchly anti-Putin posters here use offensive language against the posters they see as pro-Putin. This strikes me as an astute post. How far will the world go to arm Ukraine so they can fight a war with Russia that could and should have been avoided? No one wants to see Ukrainians and Russians die - I hope that’s true at least.

There are obvious Trump - Russia ties. Looks likely we have a corrupted high ranking FBI official. But does anyone believe Russia put Trump in the WH? If Comey gets charged, or if it turns out that Comey’s pre-election revelations about Hillary Clinton were driven by McGonigal or Manafort that would be interesting.

I don’t know any Putin apologists. It’s a way to dismiss anyone who disagrees with you.

I should add a few things I found very revealing. Arnold Silver in early 1960’s was CIA station chief in either Luxembourg or Belgium (sorry I don’t recall which but think it was Luxembourg) He was, using a code name, Harvey’s contact with QJWIN. In 1946-47 Silver was an investigator with the Army’s CIC - counter intelligence corp. He wrote, bragged even, that one of his main subjects was Otto Skorzeny. In his final report Silver recommended that Otto be released and allowed to resettle in Spain, Otto’s preference. Silver, in this report, explained that in his view Otto was not a N A Z I, but rather a patriot! I find it hard to think this connection to his role in procuring QJWIN is coincidental. And we all know that Otto was what he was. In the early 1960’s, according to former Mossad agents, Otto, while living in Madrid and hobnobbing with various big wigs, all monitored by the US military btw, was recruited by Mossad who made a deal with him to not mess with his freedom in return for Otto’s participation in destroying Egypt’s nuclear program. He was a good fit, having spent a decade traveling to and from Egypt where he was close to several former N A Z I scientists. I believe Mossad officially denies this, but the former agents who broke the story are quite convincing. The fact that Otto was well known to and admired by both US and Israeli Intelligence is troubling and suggestive.

No it wasn’t just 70 years ago. It’s very real Matt, plenty of good journalists have investigate todays Ukrainian fascists. I did a deep dive about a year ago. I suggest you do the same, just for history’s sake, not to excuse Putin. I’m not arguing about Putin, I only care about how this could have been avoided, and what to do now other than escalate.

I don’t always agree with Jeff, or anyone for that matter, but he takes the time to present his views rationally and politely, which is something that you, Matt, tend not to do. In this case I think he is spot on, and your wisecrack response is dismissive, as you often are. Sorry to be so blunt. Because - no one thinks, or says, that they are in favor of Russian military offensives in Ukraine or elsewhere. Some of us, myself included, think it’s a crime that we ever got here, and we are willing to look at how that happened. If you think Russia is just bad to the bone, that peace with Russia is only possible on our terms, that the only good Russia is a destroyed Russia, that puts you in the company of JFK’s least favorite Joint Chiefs. So just how far are you and others willing to go to ‘win’ this war?

NATO is not the European Union. It’s a defense treaty, in my view basically an arms bazar. It’s got nothing to do with democracy per se. Putin asked that Ukraine not be part of NATO, something the west was not willing to promise. On that level it’s easy for me to empathize with Russia, who have seen their sphere of influence shrink due to NATO expansion. That would have been the diplomatic way to avoid this war, though as you know the eastern part of Ukraine has been at war since 2014. Would you or anyone else agree that making such a promise would have been preferable to an escalating war?

True about Stalin and Putin, but the question is how do we get to live in a more peaceful world? War isn’t the answer. War is a racket. I think jfk saw that. He got the same kind of criticism for his willingness to engage with Castro and Krushchev. I have never received a response to the question I’ve posed several times - couldn’t this war have been averted? Do Putin’s evil ways explain everything? Certainly not. If the west wanted to save Ukraine they missed the moment. Now it’s too late.

I didn’t mean to imply equivalence. Do you really think my post shows sympathy for Donald Trump? I still have two questions regarding classified documents - what’s in them, and why the special prosecutor? I gather that most of you think there is nothing in this that is intended to hurt Joe Biden. I hope you are right. Perhaps we need a special prosecutor to investigate all members of Congress and search all their homes.

I saw this headline and wondered who might post it here and how they might view it. At first it seemed like Biden was trying to stay ahead of the narrative. It’s unclear to me how this wave of hidden document discoveries started, but now it looks to me like regime change. Is the House Speaker next in line after Harris?

Truly it is.

No doubt about Manafort, or about Trump ties with Russia. It’s election interference I’m referring to. And I don’t think Stone backs Putin. I think his position is more anti NATO than pro Putin.