84 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 55 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing Summarizing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H4'ed 4/4/15

State Department's Hypocrisies and Lies

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   5 comments

William Blum
Message William Blum

Reprinted from Consortium News

President Barack Obama meets with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Jen Psaki, Director of Communications, in the Oval Office, April 1, 2015.
President Barack Obama meets with Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Jen Psaki, Director of Communications, in the Oval Office, April 1, 2015.
(Image by (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza))
  Details   DMCA
>

In last month's Anti-Empire Report, I brought you the latest adventure of U.S. State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki trying to defend the indefensible. She said then: "As a matter of longstanding policy, the United States does not support political transitions by non-constitutional means," which prompted me to inform my readers: "If you know how to contact Ms. Psaki, tell her to have a look at my list of more than 50 governments the United States has attempted to overthrow since the end of the Second World War."

On March 13, her regular attack on all things Russian included this exchange with Associated Press writer Matthew Lee:

Lee: On this issue, did you get any more about this request to the Vietnamese on Cam Ranh Bay and not allowing the Russians to -- and not wanting them to allow -- you not wanting them to refuel Russian planes there?

Psaki: Well, just to be clear -- and maybe I wasn't as clear yesterday, so let me try to do this again -- it's -- our concern is about activities they might conduct in the region, and the question is: Why are they in the region? It's not about specifically refueling or telling the Vietnamese not to allow them to refuel. [emphasis added]

Lee: So there hasn't been a request to stop refueling them, or there has?

Psaki: It's more about concerns. It's not as much about Vietnam as much as it -- as it is about concerns about what activities they would be in the region for.

Lee: Okay. Well, you -- I mean, there are U.S. planes flying over there all the time.

Psaki: Sure, there are.

Lee: So you don't want Russian planes flying there, but it's okay for U.S. planes to fly there? I mean, I just -- it gets to the point where you -- the suggestion is that everything the Russians are doing all the time everywhere is somehow nefarious and designed to provoke. But you can't -- but you don't seem to be able to understand or accept that American planes flying all over the place, including in that area, is annoying to the Chinese, for one, but also for the Russians. But the suggestion is always that the American flights are good and beneficial and don't cause tension, and that other people's flights do cause tension. So can you explain what the basis is for your concern that the Russian flights there in the Southeast Asia area are -- raise tensions?

Psaki: There just aren't more details I can go into.

Cold War 2.0

On Feb. 15, the Washington Post reported regarding fighting in eastern Ukraine that "the Obama administration released a series of satellite images that it said showed the Russian army had joined the rebels in a full-scale assault to surround troops in the area around the city [Debaltseve].

"Russia has denied that it is a party to the conflict, and it was impossible to verify the three grainy black-and-white satellite images posted to Twitter by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt.

"According to the United States, the images, commissioned from the private Digital Globe satellite company, showed artillery systems and multiple-rocket launchers Thursday in the area near Debaltseve. 'We are confident these are Russian military, not separatist, systems,' Pyatt tweeted."

When the time comes to list the ways in which the United States gradually sunk into the quicksand, slowly metamorphosing into a Third-World state, Washington's campaign of 2014-15 to convince the world that Russia had repeatedly invaded Ukraine will deserve to be near the top of the list. Numerous examples like the above can be given.

If I were still the jingoistic nationalist I was raised to be, I think I would feel somewhat embarrassed now by the blatant obviousness of it all. For a short visual history of the decline and fall of the American Empire, see the video "Imperial Decay" by Class War Films (8:50 minutes).

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Must Read 6   Valuable 5   Supported 4  
Rate It | View Ratings

William Blum Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

William Blum is the author of: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2 - Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower - West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire. (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

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

State Department's Hypocrisies and Lies

Why You Can Hardly Believe a Word of What You Read About ISIS

Terminally Dumb People

Mysterious Deaths in Ukraine

To Cuba with Hate

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend