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THE HUSTLE: Dodgy Aussie expat operating in London tries to con the world about America
Sydney appeasement Prize laureate and Australia’s last unreconstructed yet unconfessed communist, John Pilger, recently self-published a silly diatribe called ‘The World War on Democracy’.
Naturally, the same article was uploaded on the state-sponsored, taxpayer-funded opinion website, The Drum. (Could some Senator ask the ABC at Estimates if Comrade Pilger is being paid for this rubbish? Certainly many Drum contributors are, the going rate being around $200-$300)
On top of that other Aussie export Julian Assange’s decision to take cash from the Kremlin’s foreign propaganda channel, it is clear that John Pilger and other American-hating opinionistas are running an almighty and lucrative scam, with truth as its victim. After the challenges of Iraq, too much of their commentary escapes unchallenged and unscrutinised.
It is an incredibly convoluted and immature article, full of the same tired and discredited anti-Americanisms and irrelevant juxtapositions for which Pilger is loved by the loons and loathed by the logical.
One line of thinking parading as empirical fact, however, cannot not go unmentioned, if for no other reason than it has too much currency among the Australian left:
Last July, American historian William Blum published his “updated summary of the record of US foreign policy”. Since the Second World War, the US he claims has:
■ Attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, most of them democratically-elected;
■ Attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries;
■ Grossly interfered in democratic elections in at least 30 countries;
■ Dropped bombs on the people of more than 30 countries; and
■ Attempted to assassinate more than 50 foreign leaders.
Wow! To the uninitiated, it must seem America is the most imperially aggressive and dangerous force on the world. It’s a miracle they don’t all wear Darth Vader costumes. Well, some do, but we know they are the most harmless of all, nerding it up at comic conventions and such. Please inspect Blum’s Anti Empire Report of the 50 governments American administrations has attempted to overthrow.
Blum’s list claims to be rigorous, but it is just embarrassing and sloppy. The report is a fine example of silly salon smugness.
This report counts as a US government enterprise the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in 1975, the Colonels’ coup in Greece and the Indonesian takeover of East Timor. It’s a list that only a mad-as-cut-snake conspiracy theorist would endorse, which, of course, is what Pilger is and peddles.
It cites CIA involvement in the overthrow of Chile’s Allende socialist government in 1973. It is a contentious and predictable but unsubstantiated claim.
The numbers are rubbery, so rubbery they are enough to arouse the keen interest of fetishists like Pilger.
The dodgy stats includes American interference in the post war Italian elections, which is probably true but an irrelevant inclusion given very active Soviet interference. It includes American support for Pol Pot to overthrow Prince Sihanouk’s peculiar rule – a vivid untruth, as the auto-genocidal Khmer Rouge regime was funded by the People’s Republic of China.
Neither does the report the undoubtedly selflessly worthy and good things done by the US including the American-led liberation of Kuwait to expel occupying Iraq in 1991; nor American support for Australian peacekeepers to land into East Timor in 1999, risking dispute with Indonesia.
Perhaps, the largest omission is the American occupation of Japan, which forced its enemy to become a prosperous and vital democracy, where individual freedoms are respected, to disarm and become a bulwark against Soviet aggression in North Asia. Japan’s success can be in no insubstantial part be attributed to the decency of smarts of the nation that conquered it.
American foreign policy can be flawed and is not always unambiguously benign but only the ideologically blinkered can deny it has been the positive force for good on the world stage for nearly a century.
In one sitting, I listed 53 occupations and regime changes, both successful and attempted, the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation has achieved since 1917.
To be fair, Cuba has not been included. After all, it took a few years after Batista’s fall for Castro to decide he liked the Russians. Nor have I include Cambodia or Laos as they were largely client states of Red China. Nor have I included the client states like Egypt, Iraq or Syria from the 1950s as they came about without Soviet support, which came later.
I did include Algeria as Russian support was crucial in humiliating the French, but not Libya as it was a home-grown affair.
I did not include Soviet support for Saddam Hussein, even though Russian arms gifts and sales vastly exceeded America’s. I note US backing for Ba’athist Iraq makes the intellectually fraudulent Blum list, even though the horse had already bolted. I could have included Gorbachev’s active support for expelling Saddam out of Kuwait, but that would have been too generous.
The greatest war against democracy was not and is not waged by Americans. No great power has done more to expand and protect democracy on every continent.
Have Americans supported brutal regimes? Yes. Entered wars that were conducted badly? Yes. Played dirty geo-politics for strategic advantage? I bloody well expect so.
A rigorous report would also include America’s attempts to bring democracy through President Wilson, support for decolonisation, the Marshall Plan and support for those nations that escaped Russian imperialism and adventurism since 1917. It would include its interventions against rogue states like Libya, Serbia, China and France.
Russian foreign policy, however, has never exported democracy. In fact, I cannot think of any examples, unless one includes the variety of democracy where only one candidate or one party can run and usually polls 98 per cent of the vote. You know, the kind of democratic centralism, John Pliger and Senator Rhiannon believe are legitimate.
Here is my Anti-Empire (Russian) Report and additions and amendments welcome.
1 1918 Poland Independent Poland beats back Dzerzhinsky-led invasion
2 1918 Georgia Stalin invades independent Georgia led by Mensheviks
5 1918 Estonia Lenin occupies Estonia but British support ensures independence
6 1918 Armenia Stalin invades and occupies independent Republic of Armenia
7 1918 Azerbaijan Stalin invade and occupies independent Azerbaijan
3 1919 Lithuania Lenin occupies Lithuania, but German and Polish support ensures independence
4 1919 Latvia Lenin occupies Latvia but German and Polish support ensures independence
8 1919 Finland Finns successfully repel Lenin’s invasion
9 1919 Germany Trotsky unsuccessfully invades revolutionary Germany led by Social Democrats, Lenin and Stalin never forgets his bungling
10 1937 Spain Stalin arms pro-Bolsheviks among Spanish republicans, massacres Francoists, anarchists and Trotskyites alike, but fails to gain Spain.
11 1939 Poland Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement carves up Poland between Hitler and Stalin
12 1939 Lithuania Soviets invade independent Lithuania
13 1939 Latvia Soviets invade independent Latvia
14 1939 Estonia Soviets invade independent Estonia
15 1939 Finland USSR launches the Winter War against Finns, Finns win
16 1940 Moldova Hitler forces Romania to hand over Bessarabia to Stalin, who establishes Moldovan SSR.
17 1941 Finland USSR launched Continuation War, fails again to Finnish army
18 1944 Lithuania Axis-aligned Baltic State re-invaded
19 1944 Latvia Axis-aligned Baltic State re-invaded
20 1944 Estonia Axis-aligned Baltic State re-invaded
21 1944 Moldova Soviets retake Moldova
22 1944 Yugoslavia Red Army assists Tito and the Partisans to dominate Yugoslavia, but Tito falls out with Stalin when Tito wants to invade Italy for Trieste
23 1944 Poland USSR re-occupies Poland, installs pro-Russian stooges
24 1945 Czechoslovakia USSR ignores democratic elections, installs pro-Russian stooges
25 1945 Hungary USSR occupies Hungary, installs pro-Russian stooges
26 1945 Romania USSR occupies Romania, installs pro-Russian stooges
27 1945 Greece USSR, Tito and Greek partisans initiate civil war; Stalin breaks Yalta agreement with UK and USA
28 1945 Korea Soviets install communist dictatorship
29 1945 Mongolia Soviets install communist dictatorship
30 1945 Vietnam Soviets train and arm Ho Chi Minh’s communists
31 1945 Austria Stalin attempts to set up client state but Allies manage to reverse this
32 1946 Bulgaria USSR occupies Bulgaria installs pro-Russian stooges
33 1946 Iran Stalin refuses to withdraw from Iran after joint Anglo-Soviet 1941 occupation to ensure oil supplies
34 1949 China Soviet train and arm Mao’s Communists who eventually force Nationalists out of mainland.
35 1949 East Germany Soviets formally establishes Stalinist DDR
36 1950 Algeria Algerian liberation forces armed by Russia, victorious Algerians ethnically cleanse country of ‘pied noirs’.
37 1950 South Korea North Korea invades South Korea, Russia backs invasion against UN troops
38 1953 East Germany 16 Soviet divisions crush democratic uprisings across DDR
39 1955 South Vietnam USSR arms North Vietnam and Vietcong to overthrow pro-Western South Vietnamese government
40 1956 Hungary Russian tanks crush Hungarian revolt against totalitarianism
41 1961 West Germany Soviets attempt to take over West Berlin by blockading West German territory; American airlift reverses the situation
42 1968 Czechoslovakia Russian tanks brutally crush Prague Spring
43 1969 South Yemen Soviet backed faction take over South Yemen, establish Democratic Peoples Republic of Yemen
44 1975 Ethiopia USSR and Cuba assist Mengistu’s communists, long civil war and massive famine ensues
45 1975 Mozambique USSR arms Frelimo, long civil war ensures, Soviet bloc loot resources rich country
46 1975 Angola USSR and Cuba fund MLPA to takeover Angola, long civil war ensues
47 1979 Afghanistan Pro-Soviet regime falters, requires Russian intervention
48 1979 Nicaragua USSR and Cuba arm Sandinistas whose coup took over from anti-Somoza democrats
52 1999 Kosovo Russia intervenes in UN-sanctioned NATO attack in favour of Serb partisans
53 2004 Ukraine Russia tries to poison pro-Western president candidate, initiates Ukraine’s orange revolution
49 2005 Ukraine To destabilise Ukrainian independence, Russian cuts off gas to Ukraine to keep its Black Sea fleet at Crimea
50 2008 Georgia Russia occupies South Ossetia and Abkhazia to destabilise democratic Georgia
51 2011 Syria Russia arm Syrian dictatorship at expense of Arab Spring uprising and the Free Syrian Army
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Me thinks Scott Ryan’s bold Senate campaign to elevate himself to number 1 is seeing rather a mountain of resistance which will see him kicked off the ticket entirely. Watch this space…..
Not long now before Pilger is a special guest on Q&A again…
Julian Assange will be Australian of the Year in 2013
[It cites CIA involvement in the overthrow of Chile’s Allende socialist government in 1973. It is a contentious and predictable but unsubstantiated claim.]
Only if you have the brains of a guppy.
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm
From which:
Through Freedom of Information Act requests, and other avenues of declassification, the National Security Archive has been able to compile a collection of declassified records that shed light on events in Chile between 1970 and 1976.
These documents include:
** Cables written by U.S. Ambassador Edward Korry after Allende’s election, detailing conversations with President Eduardo Frei on how to block the president-elect from being inaugurated…
** CIA memoranda and reports on “Project FUBELT”–the codename for covert operations to promote a military coup and undermine Allende’s government. The documents, including minutes of meetings between Henry Kissinger and CIA officials, CIA cables to its Santiago station, and summaries of covert action in 1970, provide a clear paper trail to the decisions and operations against Allende’s government
** National Security Council strategy papers which record efforts to “destabilize” Chile economically, and isolate Allende’s government diplomatically, between 1970 and 1973.
** State Department and NSC memoranda and cables after the coup, providing evidence of human rights atrocities under the new military regime led by General Pinochet….
These documents, and many thousands of other CIA, NSC, and Defense Department records that are still classified secret, remain relevant to ongoing human rights investigations in Chile, Spain and other countries, and unresolved acts of international terrorism conducted by the Chilean secret police. Eventually, international pressure, and concerted use of the U.S. laws on declassification will force more of the still-buried record into the public domain–providing evidence for future judicial, and historical accountability.
Have we got a list of US imperialism in the 20th century starting with Cuba (Teddy Roosevelt), Vietnam, South America etc etc and ending with Iraq and Afghanistan. I think it is just as long but not so bloody as Stalin and Hitler.
You are being highly intellectual dishonest. I would do a bit more investigation here. Although it is a good initial assumption, just because John Pilger says it doesn’t mean that it isn’t true.
The parts I am particularly thinking about are East Timor and Chile.
It’s not a reference but I suggest you start here:
“Christopher Hitchens responds to a Jihad sympathizer”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axHR8AOxxkc
i rate Julian with Peter Foster
The series of 6 videos beginning here will also help:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUPS0SbqWjU
***Julian Assange will be Australian of the Year in 2013***
LOL. Right after he gets out of jail in Sweden.
***have Americans supported brutal regimes?***
WWithout the Americans we’d be eating boiled rice, using sticks. That’s if we had any boiled rice. Adrian Jackson would be a kapo for our IJA overlords.
Did I really see somebody quoting Christopher Hitchens as an authority?
It must be a relative of the ignorant oaf.
Kevin, rather than just calling him ignorant, do you care to make some more substantial accusation that can actually be answered? He is many things, but ignorant isn’t one of them, dickhead.
Nick Mack paddywhack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
Dream on Zaf. Allende killed himself because he was taking bribes as part of the compensation packages he was organising for his nationalisation schemes! America did not orchestrate the coup in Chile, it merely sat back and watch the shit hit the fan. Grow up, you Russian apologist and stop believing every stupid anti-American conspiracy theory! The stuff you just posted prove nothing!
Adrian, Stalin killed about 40 million and Hitler around 20 million … really is America as bad as all that? Go the fuck up!!
Assange, Pilger and A Jackson should go on an anti Semitic panel together … Fireworks!!!
The only thing Nick Mack is whacking is himself. Pilger and Assange are giants in comparison.
Wow! Vex is taking on John Pilger and Julian Assange, the very thought of it is a major wack! to Vex.
I love Vexnews! This is one of those wonderful articles that places in context the very complex area of geopolitical conflict and the many undesirable compromises that are forced upon democratic countries in order to preserve their security.
America has been an overall force for great good in the world. The Soviet Union, Communist China and fascist regimes were (and/or remain) forces for evil.
God bless America.
God bless America
My Hero Senator Ryan will be top of the ticket. As will My Other Hero Senator Kroger.
Why is everyone always questioning my integrity?
Andrew – you story SBS Fiasco (13 Dec 11) is not taking any more comments but as a post script I note that the factual drama called “The Promise” show on SBS last last year and subject to a complaint for a WA ALP Senator and the Israel lobby in Australia has been cleared and the complaints rejected (AJN, 03 Feb 12). I supported the drama series and I am vindicated and Burd and Co have mud all over their faces. Alla Akbar
Julian Assange is a true patriot and world hero. He deserves a Noble Prize
Mr Jackson, the premise of ‘The Promise’ was that the State of Israel came about by Jewish radicals who terrorised the occupying force, Britain, into granting independence. This premise is false. I, too, enjoyed the viewing but I am not so gullible about the origins of the State of Israel. Those Jewish militants were bit players in the Middle East’s most democratic state’s foundations.
By the way, it is about time someone wrote some positive stuff about America as the old left seem to have found a new life since the Iraq war went a bit wobbly. Assange is a lying bastard, whose leaked emails only proved that American diplomats were well informed, not nefarious conspirators. I think those women who are taking him to Swedish court for assault are the real heros!! Thanks Mr V. News!!
Giuseppe De Simone is a boring, long-winded blether. Give us a f*cking break Giuseppe!
Blether.
A good word for a B O R I N G turd.
Blether.
Julian Assange deserves accommodation paid for by the Swedish taxpayer.
I take it back. Assange is presumed innocent and deserves the benefit of the doubt.
@ I heart USA! USA! USA!
And damn the facts. There is an attractiveness to your approach that I find difficult to deny. Sieg etc.
Assange is a hero . A true believer in democracy, truth and the free world. He deserves a Nobel Prize
Viktor Yushchenko’s allegation of poisoning is a lie. He was President for five years and during that time there was not one judicial inquiry to back up his allegations of being poisoned.
Evidence that has come to light is that blood samples tested in an European Clinic were forwarded via the USA. A long way to send blood for testing. Yushchenko has since refused to provide any blood samples for independent analysis under controlled conditions. The allegation that Russia was involved is not supported by facts or evidence.
The Orange Revolution was a CIA funded covert operation.
I think Assange is a bogey. A CIA plant. The US is monitoring all those who log-on to Wikileaks and who try to get in contact., If you read the content of the cables there is a lot missing and what is published is mundane stuff that has already been reported.
What better way of luring bait then making out that he is the worlds most wanted.
There you go Shalom, you challenge Adrian Jackson to a serious question and he just goes silent, then makes a simple anti Semitic remark on th next article. He finds it difficult to follow paragraphs of more than two lines and words of more than one syllable
In 1970, Allende was constitutionally elected with just 34 per cent of the vote when the Christian Democratic vote was split three was. Without a mandate, Allende run roughshod over the Chilean congress with a program of nationalisation. His program was deeply resented, food shortages ensued. Communist militias took over large farms and factories. Supreme Court said Allende’s actions were unconstitutional. August 73 – Allende issued a decree giving him dictatorial power. In September, Pinochet goes ahead with a coup. Allende was responsible for his own demise. America did not need to do a thing!!
***Assange is a hero***
Yeah, to Al Qaeda. After Julian finishes his jail sentence for rape in Sweden, he should be sent to Iraq, for trial. Publishing Brad Manning’s stolen military secrets – including the names of Middle Eastern CIA agents, who may have been subsequently murdered – deserves retribution.
Julian Assange is a fanatic.
He exercises poor judgment and places lives at risk.
FOI is critical in a democracy and decent FOI laws would consign Assange to a very small footnote in history.
Allende was a dictator. Pinochet was a dictator. Pinochet built the economy and jailed fewer dissidents per year than Allende. Both had serious flaws. None is a hero.
If Allende was in Australia, he would be Julia Gillard. Elected with 34% of the vote and ignoring the courts and introducing new taxes.
The CIA needs to do nothing in Australia just like it did nothing in Chile in the 1970′s.
Despite its clear political interest, Vexnews has not a single article about the inside gossip on the challenges to Gillard so I am forced to post this here:
You can of course, make it a story if you wish and move it there.
The Age and Fairfax generally have come to her rescue! The Nielsen polling was leaked all day yesterday to really scared backbenchers who were looking at a complete wipe-out and now only twenty of them are going to lose their seats.
I quite like the Prime Minister. I found her to be a true conservative replete with decency and humanity when I met her back in the 1980′s. She was pretending to be a communist sympathiser so she could get elected as President of the Australian Union of Students but I could sense it was all a taactical positioning.
This is not a job for “real Julia” but for the humbled honest decent Julia to take the public into her confidence.
In so doing, we will find there is a lot more in common between the parties than there is dividing them.
A good start would be her agreeing to changing the Carbon Tax start date and compensation to 1 July 2014 or such later date as may be set by regulation. This would keep her promise to the people and take into account the global uncertainty and fear that is gripping the economy right now.
The Greens would go ballistic but the public would love her.
And the United States Empire:-
Wars:-
1950′s invades Korea
1960′s invades Vietnam
1980′s invades Grenada
1990′s invades Iraq (1st time)
1990′s invades Panama
2000′s invades Afghanistan
2000′s invades Iraq (2nd time)
Other military actions:-
1980′s Arms contra rebels of Nicaragua
1987 Bombs Libya
1995 Bombs Kosovo
1990′s shoots down Iran passenger plane
1990′s Strikes in Somalia
And the numerous funding and military meddling in nearly all South American states.
Assange. His “rape” case is about as likely to succeed as the one against Theophanous. Both politically motivated.
Anon (06 Feb 12, 16:40) I hope so. The two Swedish women invited Assange to their home (in one case to stay), then both invited him into their bed (on separate occasions), then they seduced him but then complained about the “morning glory” root after they found out he had shagged both of them. Spiteful behaviour by two womyn who thought they were special and gossiped about it to each our (what happens in the bedroom should stay on the bedroom). They should be greatful that a real Aussie man shagged them.
The other theory is that they were a CIA honey trap. I think this is unlikely; its probably just a case of two freshly shagged women getting their back because they regretted being sluts. We all know the Swedes are tramps in the bedroom.
Anon (06 Feb 12, 16:40) I hope so. The two Swedish women invited Assange to their home (in one case to stay), then both invited him into their bed (on separate occasions), then they seduced him but then complained about the “morning glory” root after they found out he had shagged both of them. Spiteful behaviour by two womyn who thought they were special and gossiped about it to each our (what happens in the bedroom should stay on the bedroom). They should be greatful that a real Aussie man shagged them.
The other theory is that they were a CIA honey trap. I think this is unlikely; its probably just a case of two freshly shagged women getting their back up because they regretted being sluts. We all know the Swedes are tramps in the bedroom.
“I rate Julian with Peter Foster”
Not really fair.
As far as I know, all Foster’s partners have been consenting.
It is surprising that there were quite a number of people who were outraged a few years ago when a Judge, in deciding on a matter of consent, suggested that “No does not always mean No”.
It seems those very same people now want said judge to resume his career in Sweden.
Does Pilger still have a lipstick and semen stained poster of Pol Pot on the back of is bedroom door?
Read this for an idea of what the United States and Israel are fighting against:
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/ayatollah-kill-all-jews-annihilate-israel/
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/ayatollah-kill-all-jews-annihilate-israel/
Americans in Korea, Somali, Libya, Afghanistan and Kosovo – all UN sanctioned for humanitarian/right to protect/ right to defend reasons. What a dickhead to compare these to Russian imperialism. By the way, the Reagan doctrine rocks!
Joey of Simon makes some sense about Gillard. Just expel Rudd, elect Beattie and move on from all this speculation
Anon (06 Feb 12,14:48) A very good start on US Imperialism/Empire history. Prior to 1950 (and after) the USA meddled in the affairs of most South American countries not to mention their wars with the Red Indians (Little Big Horn and Wounded Knee), Mexico (stealing what is now the South Western USA), Canada (1812 but the Canadians burnt the White House down – ha ha and the Yanks lost about 30,000 troops, poorly trained minute men, due to poor logistics – no ammo or food you die).
I invaded the NSW Liberal Party and eradicated the remnants of the right wing.
so the pro-Americans win the argument then.. good!
***ha ha and the Yanks lost about 30,000 troops***
Wacko, you liar – during the War of 1812, the American army never numbered more than 7000 troops.
I fooled the voters of Mordialloc and I am now laughing all the way to the Grand Hyatt where I can entertain my late night visitors at taxpayer’s expense.
Ay Wenchy you better inform em to bring a 40′ plank so they don’t fall in.