CONFLICT OF INTEREST???    

The following is an excerpt from a statement made by journalist Max Blumenthal of the “GrayZone” to the UN Security Council on June 29, 2023.  It is self-explanatory.   “Indeed, military cemeteries in Ukraine are expanding almost as rapidly as the Northern Virginia McMansions and beachfront estates of executives from Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and assorted Beltway contractors benefitting from the second highest level of military spending since World War Two.  

These are the real winners of the Ukraine proxy war. Not average Ukrainians or Americans. Or Russians or even Western Europeans.   The winners are people like Secretary of State Tony Blinken, who spent his time between the Obama and Biden administrations launching a consulting firm called WestExec advisors which secured lucrative government contracts for intelligence firms and the arms industry. Blinken’s former partners at WestExec advisors include Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, CIA deputy director David Cohen, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki, and almost a dozen current and former members of Biden’s national security team.   D

efense Secretary Lloyd Austin, for his part, is a former and possibly future board member of Raytheon, and ex-partner of the Pine Island Capital investment firm that collaborates with WestExec and which Blinken has advised.  

Meanwhile, the current US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield, is listed as a senior counsel at the Albright Stonebridge Group, a self-described “commercial diplomacy firm” that also finesses contracts for the intelligence sector and arms industry. This firm was founded by the late Madeleine Albright, who infamously declared that the deaths of half-a-million Iraqi children under the US sanctions regime was “worth it.”  

So while middle-aged Ukrainian men are ripped off streets by military police and sent to the front lines, the financially and politically connected architects of this proxy war are planning to walk through the revolving door to reap unimaginable profits once their time in the Biden administration is over.  

For them, a negotiated settlement to this territorial dispute means an end to the cash cow of close to $150 billion in US aid to Ukraine.”   Below is Blumenthal’s full 14-minute statement before the UN. It is worth watching:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddc1ix_9MII&t=367s   

Dave Svetlik – Mosinee, Wiaconsin    

A Trumplican obfuscates

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

No, not Donald Trump! We all assume the American judicial system that suspects are innocent until proven guilty. However, we have now moved to a system where obvious guilty suspects are handled with “sweetheart” deals to avoid legal convictions. Again, our legal institutions (the DOJ, FBI, CIA) are directly involved with this new approach.

I have listed 3 guilty charges and will explain my positions on each as follows:      Guilty #1 – Hunter Biden – I read the book, Laptop from Hell, over one year ago and am 100% convinced that Hunter Biden is guilty of tax evasion, illegal business relationships with China, Russia, Ukraine and many more countries. Plus, his absolutely illegal possession of a gun with falsifying the application. He is guilty so “lock him up”! The special council investigation with David Weiss is a joke!

Guilty #2 – Joe Biden – It is absolutely obvious that Joe not only knew about Hunter’s business dealings but also has accepted millions from many foreign countries channeled into his “shell” companies. He is guilty as charged and will not only be impeached (the impeachment inquiry will start as soon as Congress returns) but will be tried for treason.

Guilt #3 – Democrats – Who voted for Joe Biden. I hope by now you have “buyers remorse” on your decision. Biden is the worse President in American history and you are guilty as charged. Your sentence will be waived if you vote for Trump in 2024.

Chuck Bracken – Cannon Falls, Minnesota

Keep it up, Jillybones!

I thoroughly enjoy Jill Fisher’s recounting of the local live music scene each week.  Her reviews capture the excitement and  synergy that happens when performers share their music with an audience.  Keep up the good work, Jillybones!  

Steve Pearson – Duluth/Danbury, Wisconsin

Russia is the Aggressor!  

I’m was happy to receive a reply to my letter about Ukraine but let me explain why many of Robert Kosuth’s comments are misleading.  

Kosuth claims that my comments were cribbed directly from US mainstream media, but when I wrote my first letter about Ukraine I was not depending on some supposed biased mainstream media designed to promote liberal ideas. I was just stating my own thoughts about what I had seen in the media in general, But If I must defend my sources let me begin by affirming that I have witnessed the mainstream media produce some excellent reporting, and if it makes mistakes, journals like the New York Times, the Washington post and many others, see nothing wrong with admitting that they made a mistake and then quickly posting a retraction—something that is hardly ever seen in the many blatantly dishonest right wing news sources which so eagerly condemn iconic news outlets as lackeys for a mythical “deep state.”  

Secondly, I dispute Kosuth’s claim that I am ignoring our government’s many mistakes simply by noting that we have not always been wrong?—an idea that has nothing to do with a false equivalency, it is just a statement of opinion derived from what I see and hear—you know, just as Kosuth's opinions are. There have been two Minsk agreements. The first was signed on September 5th 2014 and focused on a commitment to honor a cease fire agreement shared by both Russian and Ukraine but which Russia never respected. By February 2015 Russia's continuing aggression led to additional calls for a cease fire and lead to a 2nd Minsk agreement.

Yet Russia continued its aggression and took the town of Debaltseve six days later. It’s also important to understand that both Minsk agreements were cumulative and not just the second one replacing the first. The fact is, that the first Minsk agreement called for an immediate ceasefire monitored by the OSCE the (Organization for Security and cooperation in Europe) including on the Ukraine-Russian border, and was first agreed to by by the OSCE, Russia and Ukraine.

Yet, even though Russia was the aggressor, and was fully required to follow both the 1st and 2nd Minsk agreements, Russia untruthfully claimed it was not bound by both agreements and that it was just a facilitator. They claimed that that the agreement only applied to Russian separatist groups (The Luhansk and Donetsk Peoples’ Republic) which were actually supplied and directed by Russia itself? Furthermore, the LPR and DPR are not recognized as legitimate members under Minsk because they are both supplied and Directed by Russia!

So rather, isn't it Robert Kosuth truly the one who is using some of America’s perceived transgressions to portray the USA as being completely evil? During the war with Vietnam I did not support our policemen of the world attitude, and I listened to many soldiers who felt trapped and betrayed when they witnessed what was done there. I also learned that GW Bush made up the whole WMD thing in order to wage war in Iraq when we should have been in Afghanistan if we truly wanted to apprehend Osama Bin Laden.  

I have never candy coated America’s mistakes in order to justify our countries many wrongs. I wrote only to question the kind of reverse condemnation of all that the US says and does in order to portray it as being incredibly evil. But it’s absurd to accuse the US of destroying Ukraine to save it, because Russia is clearly in the wrong and our presence In Ukraine is in defense of a country that has clearly been victimized by the ruthlessness of Putin. Its people are victims of atrocities as horrible as those done by Hitler, such as shooting to death innocent civilians and disposing of their bodies In mass graves, including men, women and children! All of Ukraine is committed to fighting Russia to the death rather than give up their own Sovereign Nation, So Putin just keep causing endless suffering in a Geo-political war while being a Tyrant who does what he wants, whenever he want, just to further his own power and ambitions!

While America and many other Nations, are supporting Ukraine without even having any boots on the ground. We are not destroying Ukraine to save it! https://cepa.org/article/dont-let-russia-fool-you-about-the-minsk-agreements/   https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/russia-ukraine-what-are-the-minsk-agreements/   https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/05/04/rattling-nuclear-saber-what-russia-s-nuclear-threats-really-mean-pub-89689    

Peter W. Johnson – Superior, Wisconsin