Tag: Killing Hope

The Anti-Empire Report #118: Edward Snowden By William Blum

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26 June, 2013 — Killing Hope

Edward Snowden

In the course of his professional life in the world of national security Edward Snowden must have gone through numerous probing interviews, lie detector examinations, and exceedingly detailed background checks, as well as filling out endless forms carefully designed to catch any kind of falsehood or inconsistency. The Washington Post (June 10) reported that “several officials said the CIA will now undoubtedly begin reviewing the process by which Snowden may have been hired, seeking to determine whether there were any missed signs that he might one day betray national secrets.”

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The Anti-Empire Report #116 By William Blum: Boston Marathon, this thing called terrorism, and the United States

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3 May, 2013 — Anti-Empire Report

Boston Marathon, this thing called terrorism, and the United States

What is it that makes young men, reasonably well educated, in good health and nice looking, with long lives ahead of them, use powerful explosives to murder complete strangers because of political beliefs?

I’m speaking about American military personnel of course, on the ground, in the air, or directing drones from an office in Nevada.

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The Anti-Empire Report #112 8 January 2013 By William Blum: A Jihadist by any other name

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8 January 2013 — www.killinghope.org

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?

“France no longer recognizes its children,” lamented Guillaume Roquette in an editorial in the Figaro weekly magazine in Paris. “How can the country of Victor Hugo, secularism and family reunions produce jihadists capable of attacking a kosher grocery store?” 1

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The Anti-Empire Report No.110 By William Blum: The universe unraveling

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1 November 2012 — www.killinghope.org

The universe unraveling

The Southeast Asian country of Laos in the late 1950s and early 60s was a complex and confusing patchwork of civil conflicts, changes of government and switching loyalties. The CIA and the State Department alone could take credit for engineering coups at least once in each of the years 1958, 1959 and 1960. No study of Laos of this period appears to have had notable success in untangling the muddle of who exactly replaced whom, and when, and how, and why. After returning from Laos in 1961, American writer Norman Cousins stated that “if you want to get a sense of the universe unraveling, come to Laos. Complexity such as this has to be respected.” 1

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ColdType, October 2012: Edward S. Herman, Greg Palast, Philip Kraske, Linda McQuaig, John Pilger, Deepa Kimar and Diana Johnstone

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3 October 2012 — Coldtype

In the October issue of COLDTYPE MAGAZINE – download your free copy today

Cover story this month is Fred Reed’s essay reminding us that playing soldiers is part of the male genome. Really. Helps explain why, despite the efforts of generations of mothers, little boys would still rather play with toy soldiers than their sisters’ dolls. The urge to wage war features strongly in this issue, with essays on the attack on the US embassy in Libya, the race to neutralise Iran’s non-existent nukes, Afghanistan’s 11 years of occupation, the West’s propaganda attacks on Syria and more. Writers include Edward S. Herman, Greg Palast, Philip Kraske, Linda McQuaig, John Pilger, Deepa Kimar and Diana Johnstone.

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The Anti-Empire Report 5 March 2012 By William Blum: Bradley Manning as patsy

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5 March 5th, 2012 — www.killinghope.org

The Saga of Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, and Wikileaks, to be put to ballad and film

“Defense lawyers say Manning was clearly a troubled young soldier whom the Army should never have deployed to Iraq or given access to classified material while he was stationed there … They say he was in emotional turmoil, partly because he was a gay soldier at a time when homosexuals were barred from serving openly in the U.S. armed forces.” (Associated Press, February 3)

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The Anti-Empire Report By William Blum: US Might is Right

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1 November 1st, 2011 — www.killinghope.org

It doesn’t matter to them if it’s untrue. It’s a higher truth.

“We came, we saw, he died.”
— US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton,
giggling, as she spoke of the depraved murder of Moammar Gaddafi

Imagine Osama bin Laden or some other Islamic leader speaking of 9-11: “We came, we saw, 3,000 died … ha- ha.”

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The Anti-Empire Report #98 By William Blum: The crime of making Americans aware of their own history

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4 October 4th, 2011 — www.killinghope.org

The crime of making Americans aware of their own history

Is history getting too close for comfort for the fragile little American heart and mind? Their schools and their favorite media have done an excellent job of keeping them ignorant of what their favorite country has done to the rest of the world, but lately some discomforting points of view have managed to find their way into this well-defended American consciousness.

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The Anti-Empire Report By William Blum: Arguing Libya

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28 July, 2011 — www.killinghope.org

On July 9 I took part in a demonstration in front of the White House, the theme of which was “Stop Bombing Libya“. The last time I had taken part in a protest against US bombing of a foreign country, which the White House was selling as “humanitarian intervention”, as they are now, was in 1999 during the 78-day bombing of Serbia. At that time I went to a couple of such demonstrations and both times I was virtually the only American there. The rest, maybe two dozen, were almost all Serbs. “Humanitarian intervention” is a great selling device for imperialism, particularly in the American market. Americans are desperate to renew their precious faith that the United States means well, that we are still “the good guys”.

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The Anti-Empire Report by William Blum – Libya: Unending American hostility

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1 July, 2011 — www.killinghope.org

Libya: Unending American hostility

If I could publicly ask our beloved president one question, it would be this: “Mr. President, in your short time in office you’ve waged war against six countries — Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya. This makes me wonder something. With all due respect: What is wrong with you?”

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The Anti-Empire Report By William Blum: Portugal 1974 – Egypt 2011

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3 February 3rd, 2011 — www.killinghope.org

A cautionary tale

In July of 1975 I went to Portugal because in April of the previous year a bloodless military coup had brought down the US-supported 48-year fascist regime of Portugal, the world’s only remaining colonial power. This was followed by a program centered on nationalization of major industries, workers control, a minimum wage, land reform, and other progressive measures. Military officers in a Western nation who spoke like socialists was science fiction to my American mind, but it had become a reality in Portugal. The center of Lisbon was crowded from morning till evening with people discussing the changes and putting up flyers on bulletin boards. The visual symbol of the Portuguese “revolution” had become the picture of a child sticking a rose into the muzzle of a rifle held by a friendly soldier, and I got caught up in demonstrations and parades featuring people, including myself, standing on tanks and throwing roses, with the crowds cheering the soldiers. It was pretty heady stuff, and I dearly wanted to believe, but I and most people I spoke to there had little doubt that the United States could not let such a breath of fresh air last very long. The overthrow of the Chilean government less than two years earlier had raised the world’s collective political consciousness, as well as the level of skepticism and paranoia on the left.

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The Anti-Empire Report By William Blum: Wikileaks, the United States, Sweden, and Devil's Island By William Blum

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1 January, 2011 — www.killinghope.org

Wikileaks, the United States, Sweden, and Devil’s Island

December 16 … I’m standing in the snow in front of the White House … Standing with Veterans for Peace … I’m only a veteran of standing in front of the White House; the first time was February 1965, handing out flyers against the war in Vietnam. I was working for the State Department at the time and my biggest fear was that someone from that noble institution would pass by and recognize me.

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The Anti-Empire Report November 2nd, 2010: Jon Stewart and the left By William Blum

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2 November, 2010 — www.killinghope.org

Jon Stewart and the left

The left in America is desperate; desperate for someone who can inspire them, if not lead them to a better world; or at least make them laugh. TV star Jon Stewart is sometimes funny, especially when he doesn’t try too hard to be funny, which is not often enough. But as a political leader, or simply political educator for the left, forget it. He’s not even what I would call a genuine, committed leftist. What does he have to teach the left? He himself would certainly not want you to entertain the thought that Jon Stewart is in any way a man of the left.

He billed his October 30 rally on the National Mall in Washington, DC, as the Million Moderate March. Would a person with a real desire for important progressive social and political change, i.e, a “leftist”, so ostentatiously brand himself a “moderate”? Even if by “moderate” he refers mainly to tone of voice or choice of words why is that so important? If a politician strongly supports things which you are passionate about, why should it bother you if the politician is vehement in his arguments, even angry? And if the politician is strongly against what you’re passionate about does it make you feel any better about the guy if he never raises his voice or sharply criticizes those on the other side? What kind of cause is that to commit yourself to?

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The Anti-Empire Report: In struggle with the American mind By William Blum

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1 October, 2010 — www.killinghope.org

Since The Great Flood hit Pakistan in July …

  • many millions have been displaced, evacuated, stranded or lost their homes; numerous roads, schools and health clinics destroyed
  • hundreds of villages washed away
  • millions of livestock have perished; for the rural poor something akin to a Western stock market crash that wipes out years of savings
  • countless farms decimated, including critical crops like corn; officials say the damage is in the hundreds of millions of dollars and it does not appear that Pakistan will recover within the next few years
  • infectious diseases are rising sharply
  • airplanes of the United States of America have flown over Pakistan and dropped bombs on dozens of occasions 1

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The Anti-Empire Report 4 August, 2010 by William Blum

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4 August, 2010 — www.killinghope.org

So please tell me again: What’s the war about?


When facts are inconvenient, when international law, human rights and history get in the way, when war crimes can’t easily be justified or explained away, when logic doesn’t help much, the current crop of American political leaders turns to what is now the old reliable: 9/11. We have to fight in Afghanistan because … somehow … it’s tied into what happened on September 11, 2001. Here’s Vice-President Joe Biden: “We know that it was from the space that joins Afghanistan and Pakistan that the attacks of 9/11 occurred.” 1

Here’s Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC): “This is the place [Afghanistan] we were attacked from 9/11.” 2

Rep. Mike Pence, the third-ranking House Republican, asserted that the revelations in the Wikileaks documents do not change his view of the Afghan conflict, nor does he expect a shift in public opinion. “Back home in Indiana, people still remember where the attacks on 9/11 came from.” 3

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William Blum: Anti-Empire Report, Number 83 – Some thoughts on 'patriotism' written on July 4

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5 July, 2010 — William Blum: Anti-Empire Report, Number 83

Most important thought: I’m sick and tired of this thing called ‘patriotism’

The Japanese pilots who bombed Pearl Harbor were being patriotic. The German people who supported Hitler and his conquests were being patriotic, fighting for the Fatherland. All the Latin American military dictators who overthrew democratically-elected governments and routinely tortured people were being patriotic — saving their beloved country from ‘communism’.

General Augusto Pinochet of Chile, mass murderer and torturer: ‘I would like to be remembered as a man who served his country.'[1]

P.W. Botha, former president of apartheid South Africa: ‘I am not going to repent. I am not going to ask for favours. What I did, I did for my country.'[2]

Pol Pot, mass murderer of Cambodia: ‘I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country.'[3]

Tony Blair, former British prime minister, defending his role in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis: ‘I did what I thought was right for our country.’4]

At the end of World War II, the United States gave moral lectures to their German prisoners and to the German people on the inadmissibility of pleading that their participation in the holocaust was in obedience to their legitimate government. To prove to them how legally and morally inadmissable this defense was, the World War II allies hanged the leading examples of such patriotic loyalty.

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Anti-Empire Report 12 May 2010: Anti-communist mania by William Blum

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12 May, 2010 — Killing Hope

A man holds a sign at a tax day rally by Tea Party activists in the New York City suburb of New City

Terminally-dumb people have always been with us of course. It can’t be that we’ve suddenly gone stupid.

If you shake your head and roll your eyes at the nonsense coming out of the Teabagger followers of Sarah ‘Africa is a country’ Palin and other intellectual giants like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh … Continue reading →