Alt News Consortiums, Gonzalo Lira/Scott Ritter Feud, Berletic Roundtable on Taiwan Question

 

Well, ain't it a shame
That our short little memories
Never seem to learn
The lessons of history
We keep makin' the same mistakes
Over and over and over and over again
And then we wonder why
We're in the shape we're in

Good ol' boys down at the bar
Peanuts and politics
They think they know it all
They don't know much of nothing
Even if one of them was to read the newspaper
Cover-to-cover
That ain't what's going on
Journalism's dead and gone

Excerpt from “Frail Grasp on the Big Picture” by D.Henley / G.Frey / S.Smith

(on Twitter:  @JaredDuBois         on Telegram: @JaredDuBois)

         Many people are aware the US (and other Western countries) mainstream media have devolved into blatant and obvious propaganda and lies, especially since 2020 or 2016. It is hard for those who know they are being lied to (and care) to know where more accurate information can be found about what is going on. Traditional Leftist sides such as Democracy Now, Common Dreams, and Counterpunch have become shills for more wars and more funding for politicians in favor of expanding unnecessary and now downright suicidal conflicts to be or are being fought against Russia via Ukraine, and next in the cue, against China with the token excuse of being to “liberate Taiwan” despite officially “against” Taiwan independence and recognition of it as being legally a province of China.

          These inconsistencies which the US, despite obviously lessening power to inflict their will against other peer countries, thinking wordplay or word games can make US illegal actions legal because of our ever shrinking “coalition of the willing” to accept our definitions of how what would certainly be considered acts of aggression if ANY other nation were to do similar things to US, but is perfectly legal for us to do, and demand adherence to our demands, when it is us that wishes to overthrow other countries, call for revotes if the results we do not like, and basically pass laws and govern according to our “rules based order” instead of things such as, International Law. Basically as others others have stated, making an ever expanding notion, which no other can disagree, not even our “allies” who instead of benefiting trying to conform to our “new order”, are suffering from scarce and expensive energy prices, due to our demand they boycott their previous suppliers and pay 4x more for the same energy, while our “competitors” and “enemies” are getting much cheaper energy, again, due to a situation the US created and demanded.

          I don’t believe these inconsistencies will last, because they cannot last, but it still has yet to be determined how much damage the war hawks and neocons still may cause before they go down to hopefully shameful defeat and are replaced by sane individuals. The “power” of the US to keep these insane people and policies in place this long, after destroying several countries and literally trillions of dollars of new debt, much of which was funneled back to them, their backers (the real power behind the Iron Throne) and those dime a dozen politicians who only care about getting reelected enough to make it into the revolving door of payoffs which constitutes a level of corruption almost no other country could afford to have. Luck us. And lucky them because China and many other countries would impose harsh prison sentences, when not the death penalty, for such mind boggling levels of corruption.

        Gonzalo Lira, a Chilean-American video blogger from inside Eastern Ukraine has complied a list of Alternative News sites which he feels give good views typical news sources would not give. It is almost inconceivable that the US now no longer provides any other perspectives other than what the US government demands the “narrative” to be. Long gone is the notion in US journalism to inform people of how the other side sees the issue. What Paul Harvey used to call “the rest of the story”. Simply shill the official line or lies and all reporters take their cue as to what is allowable to write about the issue of the day. All who deviate are easily, and often quickly, with compliant MICIMATT (Ray McGovern coined term) pressitutes (Paul Craig Roberts term) willing to ride the escalation escalator (Alexander Mercuris (The Duran)) unquestionably to the bitter end.

          Here is the list he gave, which is a good list. I am not familiar with all of these sites, but most, and can vouch they are a good start, with some additions I would add.


ZeroHedge
Naked Capitalism
Vineyard of the Saker.
Moon of Alabama
Dancing with Bears
Sonar21
The Duran
Brian Berletic/New Atlas
I Earl Grey
Military Summary Channel
Weeb Union
MOATS
Grayzone
Douglas MacGregor
Scott Ritter
Pepe Escobar

          To this I would recommend these sites. Redacted News recently had a very good interview with Col. Douglas MacGregor whom he mentioned. Consortium News and Antiwar.com are very good sites and Ray McGovern and Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) are published there, as well as good articles from other writers. Some are focused on war in Ukraine, and many are video based.

Consortium News
Redacted News
Southfront
Antiwar.com
Paul Craig Roberts
Andrei Martyanov
Jimmy Dore
Reporterfy Media & Travel


         Gonzalo mentioned Scott Ritter as a good source on Ukraine, though he said he despises him. It is good when people acknowledge expertise and points when made by someone whom they generally don’t agree with on everything. As others he mentioned as good sources of information have recently pointed out, too often the public, through propagandizing media are led to believe, divide “news” into good sources who must never be questioned, and bad sources, whom they are conditioned to never listen to, despite however many facts and valid arguments they make. The average consumers of such “news” act like cultists who are taught never to question certain topics, and never listen to those who would question such topics.


          Gonzalo states as his reason for “despising” Scott Ritter is that when he was held for several days by the Ukrainian GRU incommunicado, Scott speculated that he had been tortured and/or murdered, or simply stated it as a fact, which Gonzalo said understandably upset his friends and family. However, that was one of the things that brought his situation to the attention of the wider public who had been following the war, following Scott Ritter, and never heard of Gonzalo Lira. Most being held in a situation like that, possibly on the verge of being “disappeared”, seems odd to state that as the reason he would despise Scott.

          Just off the top of my head, I would be much much more angry that once he was released, relatively unharmed despite his blogging things the Ukraine government would most certainly disapprove of, Scott said that was proof he was “controlled opposition” or working secretly for Ukraine intelligence. THAT is a much more serious thing which many would find much more upsetting. Because of that not making much sense, beyond his being a celebrity video blogger, many might have come to a similar conclusion, as many have about Edward Snowden. When things don’t seem to add up, people get creative about thinking what would be the real explanation.

         I mentioned this for two reasons. Many who realize that governments infiltrate even positive political movements or groups, highjack them via coopting leadership roles, and create such fake opposition for false flags and other purposes, fail to realize that painting legitimate leaders, influencers, and writers, as being such happens just as frequently. It is a loaded accusation which in many circumstances will cost one their livelihood, and sometimes even their lives.

          One of the video bloggers he endorsed, Brian Berletic of a YouTube channel, The New Atlas, has been doing very good work on an issue I have been following for the last year and hope to write about and if possible, get a Master’s Degree about topic, the risk of war over Taiwan. More specifically, reintegration peacefully or war over an attempt at independence, being ever less subtly pushed by both major parties in the US.

         This video below which was not on his YouTube channel I found one of the best discussions of the topic and the risk of war over Taiwan in the next few years. I have my own thoughts about this potential conflict, the roots of what is causing it to be accelerated in immediacy and importance, and what might give better perspective on potential outcomes. But I will save that for another day.

         Normally I like to get my news and information from reading. I can get through much more information in the same amount of time. But having two or more people discussing a topic, new perspectives can emerge from the discussion, sometimes spontaneously, which can be apparent to the participants or the viewers, which just hearing one person’s views might not illuminate. That is what is most glaringly absent from traditional news programs, REAL DEBATE, and hashing a topic out via contrary and sometimes conflicting viewpoints. As The Eagle sang, “Journalism's dead and gone,” at least for now in traditional media.