The latest cover of Time Magazine.

[Nordic]

However, why not put the faces or bodies of people mutilated or blown apart by US and NATO bombs? Or Obama's predator missiles? I'd give Time thumbs up for that. Shit they shoulda done that during the Israeli blitz on Lebanon or Gaza.

So yeah, I would have to agree THIS IS PROPAGANDA, meant to play the part of "hey, remember why were fighting these wars and why Obama is right".

Uh ... exactly. Thus the outrage.

[norton ash]

What happens if (they) leave Afghanistan?

How about a LARGE multi-nation UN police force goes in, gets the heads of the clans, provinces, and alliances together, sets some terms, and strongly suggests that everyone sit the fuck still, share the food, get back to the farm or the office or the marketplace or the madrasa, buy the opium crop (heroin for the dying or other medicines)...

[Avalon]

How the fuck does it take $21,000 to fly 2 dogs to the US? Off by a decimal point?

[jam.fuse]

Reminiscent of the New York Times' front page photos of our heroic mercenaries ('contractors') torn limb from limb in Falluja in '04.

Although this is more disturbing.

[RocketMan]

We do not run this story or show this image either in support of the U.S. war effort or in opposition to it. We do it to illuminate what is actually happening on the ground. As lawmakers and citizens begin to sort through the information about the war and make up their minds, our job is to provide context and perspective on one of the most difficult foreign policy issues of our time.

The fucking nerve. This is... indecent. I mean just the fact that these glib sanctimonious fucks describe this as a "foreign policy issue" tells volumes about the imperial mindset. Words fail me.

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

The CIA-media is cranking hard over the wikileaks doc dump.

CIA-Time Magazine using pictogram psyops.

Target/context: Wikileaks documents on the bloody US occupation of Afghanistan

Message: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_of ... e_the_face

"Cutting off the nose to spite the face" is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive over-reaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the source of one's anger.

The previous issue's cover was a drawing of a boy skipping a stone on a pond.

Target/context: Oliver Stone's expose of Wall Street working with the Nazis in his 'Secret History of America.'

Message: Think of the just published expose of a WWII agency called 'The Pond' which allegedly used corporations to spy on the Nazis, not Oliver Stone's history of corporations aiding the Nazis.

[82_28]

I agree it shows great desperation on their part.

I don't know if I agree. I think it shows the perception of great desperation on their part. None of this has been done "ham fistedly" in a way that the well oiled machine of US/Western media normally has everything down to a science. It has been done with great attention to detail and the ability to simulate government and military confusion. There is no confusion and there is no change of the guard with the much talked about changing of the generals JUST BEFORE the big wikileaks announcement.

I believe we are witnessing a psy-op of monstrous proportions and something major is coming. Do I think wholesale bombardment? Not necessarily. But a sliver of change that out proportions what is going on now somewhere down the road. The desperation is being feigned with an outlook to a grander narrative. My! Look how the oil spill has dropped off the map. Funny. Fuck, what I wouldn't do to be a fly on the wall to see how these idiots operate.

[82_28]

Here in WA state Patty Murray (senator) is running these save Washington Jobs ads by standing up for Boeing's domestic airline sector. It's always about the domestic airliners. Domestic airliners are a mere fraction of what Boeing makes its business on. But it's framed like that. Saving jobs for domestic airliners. Americans should be flying in American built planes -- save the simple fact that most parts imported to build them come from some fucking far away sweatshop company.

What's the story on the crazy azz lithium find in Afghanistan? Any new commentary on that that anyone has seen?

[Twyla LaSarc]

May they rot.

The U.S. began the destruction of Afghanistan in 1979, when President Jimmy Carter and his National Security Advisor Zbigniev Brzezinksi started financing the mullahs and warlords in the largest and most expensive operation in the CIA’s history until that time.

Do Disclosures of Atrocities Change Anything?

By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

http://www.counterpunch.org/

Better than communism, huh? That would have been a tragedy.

On edit: I remember a music program I saw on cable in the early to mid nineties about Afghani musicians who were returning to Afghanistan in the wake of the soviet withdrawl. The communists had looked unkindly on music that was either not utilitarian or was religious in some way. Many of the returnees were women and sufis. Their music was featured on the show. Wonderful stuff.

I pray hey are safely where ever they are and that they did not march straight into the hands of the inquisition specially formulated by that bastard, 'realpolitik'.

[undead]

I thought I would add this one to the thread since it's a doozy:



You know, because you're putting the public at risk when you don't get vaccinated. Imagine what will happen when we have Universal Corporate Healthcare and everyone's individual health is a matter of national security.

[Wombaticus Rex]

Hugh, no weird old man word game necessary (seriously, WTF)....especially since this is more directly traceable, as PsyOps goes:

CIA Document Calls For Using Afghan Women As Messengers To Humanize The War
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/CIA_report_in ... 1_Mar_2010

...here is something you can find in one of the WikiLeaks documents, entitled, “CIA Red Cell Special Memorandum: Afghanistan: Sustaining West European Support for the NATO-led Mission-Why Counting on Apathy Might Not Be Enough”. The document, assessing how to shore up support for the war in Germany and France, begins with this summary...

"This classified CIA analysis from March outlines possible PR strategies to shore up public support in Germany and France for a continued war in Afghanistan. After the Dutch government fell on the issue of Dutch troops in Afghanistan last month, the CIA became worried that similar events could happen in the countries that post the third and fourth largest troop contingents to the ISAF mission. The proposed PR strategies focus on pressure points that have been identified within these countries. For France it is the sympathy of the public for Afghan refugees and women. For Germany it is the fear of the consequences of defeat (drugs, more refugees, terrorism) as well as for Germany’s standing in NATO. The memo is a recipe for the targeted manipulation of public opinion in two NATO ally countries, written by the CIA. It is classified as Confidential/No Foreign Nationals."

It includes sections with the following titles:

“Public Apathy Enables Leaders To Ignore Voters”
“…But Casualties Could Precipitate Backlash”
“Tailoring Messaging Could Forestall or At Least Contain Backlash”

And then finally the section headed, “Appeals by President Obama and Afghan Women Might Gain Traction”, which contains the following:

"Afghan women could serve as ideal messengers in humanizing the ISAF role in combating the Taliban because of women’s ability to speak personally and credibly about their experiences under the Taliban, their aspirations for the future, and their fears of a Taliban victory. Outreach initiatives that create media opportunities for Afghan women to share their stories with French, German, and other European women could help to overcome pervasive skepticism among women in Western Europe toward the ISAF mission…
…Media events that feature testimonials by Afghan women would probably be most effective if broadcast on programs that have large and disproportionately female audiences."

Etc, etc, etc...

Or, the CIA is playing on an old pun about cutting off noses. Yeah, that's probably it.

[norton ash]

Yep, it's horse, not zebra. Catapult the propaganda.

I couldn't bear to watch, but did the subject of women's rights in Afgh come up when Obama was on The View a few days back?

[Nordic]

“Public Apathy Enables Leaders To Ignore Voters”

The story of our lives for .... how long now?

[Hugh Manatee Wins]

...still getting signed out and losing all my posts....fuck. So I'm posting this short-hand extra pissed.

JEEZUS, WR. Atrocity propaganda and exploiting feminism as a wedge is so obvious I didn't bother to point that psyops out in favore of the pictogram aphorism that most wouldn't get at this pathetic UFO-sucking board functioning as a honeypot for counterpropagandists MILES ahead of y'all.

What is that picture of the infant and needle saying? "BIG BABY!" duh. fuck.

It...is...called...a...PICTOGRAM. And it is used for the know-nothings who scan and do not read.
Can RI relate to the concept that there are people on the planet not exactly like themselves?
To not do so is a fucking FASCIST mentality.

[82_28]

(That's "Big Baby Davis" for those in Australia and other second tier countries, btw)