Examining Key Premises in the “Je suis Charlie” Discourse

 By Jonathan Revusky

Pretty much all the public discussion of the [Charlie Hebdo] incident centres around a series of premises that, as far as I can see, do not withstand logical scrutiny. They include:

The premise that it is some kind of "core western value" to insult other people's religious beliefs.

If the "Je suis Charlie" crowd is to be believed, my right to draw a cartoon portraying the Virgin Mary as a street whore and her son Jesus pimping her, is of paramount importance, no matter how offensive other people find it. However, it is not important to be able to:

(i) have a public discussion of the implausibilities of the official story of 9/11

(ii) have intellectually honest discussion of the events of WW2, in particularly the atrocities in which Jews were the victims, i.e. the “Holocaust”.

(iii) even mention the power or organized world Jewry (and I mean, even mention it without bothering to say whether you think it is a good or bad thing, it is simply taboo to mention it.)

(iv) have serious discussion of issues like gender, ethnicity, race outside the imposed straight jacket of "political correctness”.

Why are the above topics of discussion taboo? Apparently, it is because such speech offends people. It is hurtful to them!!!???

This is a bizarre paradox and it baffled me for the longest while. Finally, I did resolve the conundrum. Apparently, in France, and in the West generally, unrestricted free speech is only important in the case of people, who, like the ageing hipster cartoonists of Charlie Hebdo, actually have nothing to say!

Read this article by Jonathan Revusky in full as published by the Saker.

Related: 
Vinyard of the Saker: We Are Not Charlie: A millon Muslims and Christians in the streets of Grozny

iPolitics: France’s free speech controversy lands in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Moon of Alabama: Liberté D´Expression?

Olga Chetverikova: Charlie Hebdo Slaughter: Tragic Lesson for Europe to Learn

John Chuckman: The Extremely Dark and Unexamined Underside of the Charlie Hebdo Affair

Taking Imperialist Humbug to the Next Level: Forty US Stooges in Paris

Petro Porochenko of Ukraine took part in Paris photo-op to honor the staff of the Islamophobic magazine Charlie Hebdo murdered by terrorists (curiously described by President Hollande of France as "illuminé"), while Porochenko's army and Nazified militias continue murdering his own citizens in Donestsk.

Porochenko is one of 40 heads of state who are said to "lead a march of millions" in Paris. But the photos show something different: most of the greatest humbugs and hypocrites in the World, with the exception of the Peace Prize winner, O'Bomber, converged on Paris not to lead a march, but to participate in a photo op, well segregated from the teaming masses.

Arseney Yatsenyuk: Silly Arse, Hitlerian Liar or Obama's Stooge?

Thursday, January 8, Arseney Yatsenyuk on an official visit to Berlin, told an interviewer on German TV channel ARD that the USSR had kicked off the Second World War by invading Germany.

"All of us still clearly remember the Soviet invasion of Ukraine and Germany,"

which is absurd not only because few of the present population of Germany were born 70 years ago, or can, therefore,"still clearly remember" anything about the Soviet march on Berlin, but also because the implication that Russia's invasion of Germany was an act of aggression ignores the fact that it occurred after Hitler's Germany had:

• (a) invaded Ukraine, then a part of the Soviet Union, thereby launching the largest land battles the world has ever seen;


• (b) for 872 days besieged and repeatedly bombed Leningrad (St Petersburg) during which time 700 to 1000 citizens died each day, chiefly of starvation; and 


• (c) launched a direct and bloody assault on Russia's capital city, Moscow.

Is Putin Creating a New World Order? Oil Price Blowback

By Mike Whitney

CounterPunch, January 6, 2015:

“If undercharging for energy products occurs deliberately, it also effects those who introduce these limitations. Problems will arise and grow, worsening the situation not only for Russia but also for our partners.” – Russian President Vladimir Putin

It’s hard to know which country is going to suffer the most from falling oil prices. Up to now, of course, Russia, Iran and Venezuela have taken the biggest hit, but that will probably change as time goes on. What the Obama administration should be worried about is the second-order effects that will eventually show up in terms of higher unemployment, market volatility, and wobbly bank balance sheets. That’s where the real damage is going to crop up because that’s where red ink and bad loans can metastasize into a full-blown financial crisis. Check out this blurb from Nick Cunningham at Oilprice.com and you’ll see what I mean:

 Read more

The Road to War With Russia

By Chris Martenson

Peak Prosperity, January 8 2015: For several weeks now the anti-Russian stance in the US press has quieted down. Presumably because the political leadership has moved its attention on to other things, and the media flock has followed suit.

Have you read much about Ukraine and Russia recently?

I thought not, despite the fact that there's plenty of serious action -- both there as well as related activity in the US -- going on that deserves our careful attention.

As I recently wrote, the plunging oil price is a potential catalyst for stock market turmoil and sovereign instability. Venezuela is already circling the drain, and numerous other oil exporters are in deep trouble as they foolishly expanded their national budgets and social programs to match the price of oil; something that is easy to do on the way up and devilishly tricky on the way down.

But consider the impact on Russia. From the Russian point of view, everything from their plunging ruble to bitter sanctions to the falling price of oil are the fault of the US, either directly or indirectly. Whether that is fair or not is irrelevant; that's the view of the Russians right now. So no surprise,  it doesn't dispose them towards much in the way of good-will towards the West generally, and the US specifically.

The fall in the price of oil is creating serious difficulties economically and financially for Russia. We'll get to those facets in a minute. But right now, I want to focus on the continued belligerence of the US towards Russia -- some of which is overt and some of which, you can be certain, is covert -- which could very well end up provoking a more kinetic and dangerous response than the West is prepared for.

Russia Forced To Act

Before anyone jumps in to say "Why are you defending Putin? He's a bad man", let me just say that I have been closely analyzing each move by Russia and the West since then President of Ukraine Yanukovych declined to sign the European Association Agreement back in November of 2013.
Based on the preponderance of evidence, its' clear to me that the West/US deserve the lion's share of the blame for the conflict that now rages with Ukraine and between Russia and the western world.

Read more 

Related:

Fort Russ: Yatsenyuk is a warmonger and a puppet of Ukrainian oligarchs - Bundestag deputy

Finian Cunningham: NATO Trips on Own Lies with U-Turn on ‘Russian Aggressor’

Zero Hedge: Mikhail Gorbachev Warns of Major (Nuclear) War In Europe Over Ukraine

Dmitry Orlov: US Is on Its Way out of Eurasia. What Trouble Will It Cook up as It Exits?

Charlie Hebdo Police Killing: Wot, No Blood?

Here's a video at Live Leak (It was on You-Tube but soon deleted) showing a wounded police officer in Paris being shot by one gunmen responsible for the multiple murder at the office of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Note the lack of blood, and the absence of either rifle recoil or reaction in the motion of the victim's head. Strange that, and rather different from the Zapruder movie images of the shooting of President Kennedy.

[A truculent commenter (Larchmonter) over at the saker's blog states from a claimed position of expertise that at close range no blood or spatter would be expected, and further points out that the shot was to the neck not the head, which may well be the case. Still the apparent lack of weapon recoil seems surprising if the shot was not a blank. But then my expertise, other than a knowledge of basic physics, is zilch. In which connection, it is interesting to discover the vehemence of those who condemn speculation that contradicts the official narrative, e.g., some seemingly rather dumb commenters over at Craig Murray's blog. Is that because most people have an essentially binary way of thinking — something must be either black or white, yes or no — so that to ask them to entertain a hypothesis causes serious cognitive difficulty? Or is it that are there are great many shills for the mainstream narrative? In either the case, the result is not a useful or intelligent discussion, just an exchange of bald assertions and stupid insults.]

 But not to worry about the lack of blood. Someone added it later (Thanks to Aangirfan for the link:
PARIS INSIDE JOB; JE SUIS CIA LIE.).



As the Sky News reporters states at 1:02

"You can see the blood on the ground that was put there because of the blood that was shed at this spot yesterday."

So what happened to the blood that was shed at this spot yesterday. Did someone scrub it off and then add fresh blood, or what?

But the Sky News report didn't last long on U-Tube. LOL.

It's a pity, though, that the video's gone as it prevents one from checking an interesting point made by LoopDLoop on the Let's Roll Forum. What he says is:

Notice anything?

The cars that are parked there are exactly the same. They have not been moved since the night before. You can clearly match them up. Starting from back up the street a little way there is: a large white van, followed by a small black car, followed by the large white rental van, followed by the small red car with the white sign on the side, followed by the grey car with the yellow roof, followed by a grey sedan.

Watch both videos clearly and you will agree: the same cars are parked in exactly the same locations. So, there can be no question about it: the film of the policeman being shot was certainly taken the day before.

So instead of speculating that it was shot months before, focus instead on the greater mystery: how could these same 5 or 6 cars have remained in exactly the same paid parking positions for over 24 hours in a busy Parisian street?

Suggestion: it's a controlled location.

If anyone has a link to the Sky News report on Live Leak or else where, I'd be glad if they'd pass it on so we can restore the video here.

Related:
 
U-Tube: Paris false flag. Nikolai Starikov 

Moon of Alabama: Paris - A Photo-Op For the Hypocrites

Multi-culturalism Has Failed


Yahoo: 25,000 attend German anti-Islam march, but counter-protests bigger

Yahoo: Erdogan blasts Netanyahu for 'daring' to attend Paris rally

FT: Russian and Turkish conspiracy theories swirl after Paris attacks

Paul Craig Roberts: Charlie Hebdo and Tsarnaev’s Trial: Cui bono?

The Saker: Brainwashed zombies and hypocrites

... Why is it that when all of Europe supported the Syrian Takfiris AND the Ukrainian Nazis 3 million of people did not take to the streets?

How many of those 3 million people and 40 heads of state really do not know that Takfirism has been lovingly and carefully nurtured, organized, financed, trained, federated, directed, supported, armed and protected by the AngloZionist Empire?

How many of those 3 million people and 40 heads of state really do not know that Takfirism is a golem which has two functions – to be unleashed against those who dare disobey the Empire and to terrify the people of the West into accepting a police state?

Fort Russ: Charlie Hebdo anti-Putin cartoons

Deep Resource: European ethnomasochism

Moon of Alabama: Some Additional Bits On The Hebdo Attack

The whole political outrage over "free speech" in this case is completely made up. There is no "free speech" in France or elsewhere in Europe or in the U.S. Most states have blasphemy and lèse-majesty laws. Additionally social laws are effectively in place against other speech issues. Just try to make a few public point about the racist colonizations project of some East European in west Asia and see the reaction. Hebdo Charles itself fired one of its writers for alleged anti-semitism ...

Refreshing News: Charlie Hebdo cartoons: In English

Tony Cartalucci: Paris Shooters Just Returned from NATO's Proxy War in Syria

The Saker: I am not Charlie

The Saker: France's 9/11

Thierry Meyssan: Who ordered the attack against Charlie Hebdo?

The British Royals: Is It Time to Give Them the Chop?

Above the ebb and flow of party strife, the rise and fall of ministries, and individuals, the changes of public opinion or public fortune, the British Monarchy presides, ancient, calm and supreme within its function, over all the treasures that have been saved from the past and all the glories we write in the annals of our country.
Winston Churchill.

There are many excellent reasons for a constitutional monarchy, among them that it discourages megalomania on the part of the head of government. Under Britain's constitutional monarchy, David Cameron, a rather inconsequential public relations flack, on becoming Prime Minister, remained "Mr." Cameron and became resident at No. 10 Downing Street, rather than becoming President Cameron, resident at the Palace. Moreover, under the British constitution, Mr. Cameron, though head of the British government, possesses no power to declare any government measure law, since no law comes into effect without the assent of the monarch.

Hating Vladimir Putin and Russia

By Boyd D. Cathay

Unz Review, December 29, 2014: Anyone who has followed the ongoing crisis in Eastern Europe and Ukraine knows the very hostile view that the establishment news media and Washington political class have of President Vladimir Putin of Russia and his policies. In the halls of Congress and in the mainstream press—almost every night on Fox News—serious charges are proffered against Russia’s president and his latest outrages. Sanctions and bellicose measures get enacted by the House and Senate overwhelmingly, with only meagre opposition and almost no serious discussion.

The mainstream American media and American political leaders seem intent to present only a one-sided, very negative picture of the Russian leader.

Various allegations are continually and repeatedly expressed.

How do these charges stand up under serious examination? What is their origin? And, what do they say about the current political and cultural environment in America and the West?

Read more

Putin on the Decadence of the West (Or why Putin is hated by the liberal-left) Another serious challenge to Russia’s identity is linked to events taking place in the world. Here there are both foreign policy and moral aspects. We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their historic roots, including the Christian values that constitute the very basis of Western civilisation. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. They are implementing policies that equate large families with same-sex partnerships, belief in God with the belief in Satan. The excesses of political correctness have reached the point where people are seriously talking about registering political parties whose aim is to promote paedophilia. People in many European countries are embarrassed or afraid to talk about their religious affiliations. Holidays are abolished or even called something different; their essence is hidden away, as is their moral foundation. And people are aggressively trying to export this model all over the world. I am convinced that this opens a direct path to degradation and primitivism, resulting in a profound demographic and moral crisis. What else but the loss of the ability to self-reproduce could act as the greatest testimony of the moral crisis facing a human society? Today almost all developed nations are no longer able to reproduce themselves, even with the help of unlawful migration. Without the values embedded in Christianity, without the standards of morality that have taken shape over millennia, people will inevitably lose their human dignity. We consider it natural and right to defend these values. One must respect every minority’s right to be different, but the rights of the majority must not be put into question.

Related:

CanSpeccy: American Imperialism Versus Russian Nationalism: The Great Role Reversal

Edward Snowden: German TV Interview

Sanctions on Russia: Punishing Your Friends and Enemies Alike

In a post concerning Western sanctions on Russia, Mike (MIsh) Shedlock refers to an an interview with CNN, during which President Obama said that the US-led Western economic sanctions on Moscow are working, and credited the American-led effort with a downturn in Russia’s economy and the decline of its currency.

But then the President admitted that Russia has yet to pull back from its "aggressive posture" in Ukraine, which is to say Russia has not reversed its aquiescence to the request by the autonomous government of Crimea for accession to the Russian Federation, a request based on an overwhelming positive referendum vote.

In other words, the sanctions have so far entirely failed to achieve their alleged purpose.

Energy Economics and the Price of Oil

The World will never run out of oil. The OPEC countries alone, which currently deliver 30% of the World's supply, have reserves sufficient to meet 100% of world demand for more than 30 years. But new discoveries and continual improvements in recovery efficiency — currenly only around 40% — imply that OPEC will have vast oil reserves 30 years from now even if they were to triple production from today onward.

At the current price of $55–60 per barrel, OPEC is collecting a tidy profit on oil produced at a cost of $25–30 on-shore or $40–50 off-shore, which raises the question: why should prices ever return to the $100-plus range of recent years?

Hating Russians on Cue from the Western Mass Media

the Saker has a pretty scary piece entitled Oh how much they hate and fear Russia and Putin, which prompted several people to comment on the depth of hatred for Russia in the Western world.

But, in fact, Westerners don't in any meaningful way hate Russians. How could they? They know essentially nothing about Russia. They simply hate whoever they are told to hate. That's the essence of Western democracy. The elite brainwash the mass to think whatever the elite want them to think and to vote for whatever the elite intend to do. Right now, hating Russians is what is called for from the West's brainwashed masses.

Update: the Empire's Assault on Russia

Tony Cartalucci: The Feeding Frenzy Begins: Foreign Bankers Descend on Ukraine

Mike Whitney: The US-Saudi Economic Attack on Russia is a Risky Gambit

But who cares? The warmonger elite who planned the attack will no doubt have adjusted their investment portfolio to take advantage of the predictable carnage in oil stocks, vulnerable banks, foreign currencies, etc. If Western economies are damaged, so what? All nations, not just Ukraine and Russia, are to be subordinated to the interests of the international plutocratic elite, so the Machiavellians pulling the strings couldn't care less if the common  folk or non-elite controlled businesses in the West take some heavy hits as a result of their machinations.

UkraineWar.info: Shooting Down MH 17 – BUK 312 Story False Says Ukraine Crew Member

UkraineWar.info: Rostov’s MH17 flight data

Pat Buchanan: Putinism Is on the Rise Across the Globe

Fort Russ: Ukraine Begins to “Turchinovize” its Army

Deep Resource: Vicky, Fuck-the-EU, Newland and the New World Ordure

Thierry Meyssan: How Vladimir Putin upset NATO's Strategy

Paul Craig Roberts: The US Rigging Markets in the War for World Domination

William Engdahl: The Secret Stupid Saudi-US Deal on Syria

CanSpeccy: They will be assimilated, Resistance is futile

The Rouble Collapse: Paranoid Perception Versus Economic Reality

The Russian rouble has fallen to half its summertime value versus the US dollar, which during the same period has strengthened by around ten percent against a basket of other currencies (mainly the Euro, the Yen and the pound sterling).

Image Source Click for larger image.

Many with Russian sympathy attribute the decline to the evil machinations of the United States of Aggression. Collaspsenik, Dmitry Orlov blames Putin for being too liberal. He should, so Orlov thinks, stiff those pesky Western bankers by halting foreign debt repayment until Western sanctions on Russia are lifted.

The Saker holds that the "real problem is the lack of credibility of the Russian Central Bank and the Kremlin. Thus the key factor in the fall of the Ruble is distrust of the Russian authorities." Many commenting on the Saker's blog seem to take a similarly psychological view of the problem.

Canada Prepares for War in Europe: Sends Military Police to Kiev

"Non-lethal" Canadian aid the the Kiev Fascists: Source

The Harper government is seeking deeper ties with Ukraine's Kiev junta, and has signed an agreement aimed at broad military cooperation. As part of this agreement, Canada has sent a team that will seek training opportunities with Ukrainian forces in the areas of military police, medical personnel and "personal protective measures," although, according to the CBC report, neither the minister of Defense, Rob Nicholson, nor the Department of National Defence "could (would?) say what that meant in practical terms."

As we wrote in August, Nazi Nato appears to be setting the stage for a proxy war with Russia, a project in which Canada is a full participant. As a correspondent identified as Larchmonter 445 quoted by the Saker asks:

In the context of US cruise missiles into Poland and 100 US tanks into Latvia, also right on the Russian border, how do you interpret these developments?

If you wondered How Low the US and Its Allies Have Sunk in Hypocrisy and Brutality, Read This

Yes, National Review, We Did Execute Japanese for Waterboarding

By Paul Belaga

Huffington Post, May 25, 2011: In a CNN debate with Ari Fleischer, I said the United States executed Japanese war criminals for waterboarding. My point was that it is disingenuous for Bush Republicans to argue that waterboarding is not torture and thus illegal. It's kind of awkward to argue that waterboarding is not a crime when you hanged someone for doing it to our troops. My precise words were: "Our country executed Japanese soldiers who waterboarded American POWs. We executed them for the same crime we are now committing ourselves." Mr. Fleischer, ordinarily the most voluble of men, was tongue-tied. The silence, rare in cable debates, spoke volumes for the vacuity of his position.

Image source

Now Mark Hemingway of the National Review Online has asserted that I was wrong. I bookmark NRO and read it frequently. It's smart and breezy -- but on this one it got its facts wrong.

Mr. Hemingway assumed I was citing the case of Yukio Asano, who was convicted of waterboarding and other offenses and sentenced to 15 years hard labor -- not death by hanging. Mr. Hemingway made the assumption that I was referring to the Asano case because in 2006 Sen. Edward Kennedy had referred to it. (Sen. Kennedy accurately described the sentence as hard labor and not execution, by the way.)

Dumb Lefties — Left Handers, That Is

My present topic is not politics but handedness. In particular the findings of a recent investigation that left-handers are deficient in cognitive skills, have higher rates of mental and behavioral disability than normal people, and earn less.

As a lefty, this comes as a shock, brought up as I have been to the idea that we lefties are smarter than the right-handed mass. For example, among left-handed rulers there was Ramses II, whose reign is considered by many historians to mark the pinnacle of Egyptian art and culture; Alexander the Great, conqueror of the Persian Empire; Charlemagne, who invented joined-up writing, while founding an empire that set Western Europe on the march from stinking backwater to dominant global power; and, in Washington, DC, sometimes identified as the home of a "vast left-handed conspiracy," four of the last five US presidents (George Dubya Bush being the exception and obviously the dimmest of the lot).

Gold Is Not Money

Speaking before the spooky Council on Foreign Relations, Former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank, Alan Bubbles Greenspan, said:

Gold is a currency. It is still, by all evidence, a premier currency.

So what's a currency?

It is:

A system of money in general use in a particular country.

And what's money?

 It is:

something (such as coins or bills) used as a way to pay for goods and services and to pay people for their work 

So where is gold used to buy a pair of shoes, a loaf of bread, a Boeing airliner?

Ukraine Update

Russia Insider:
EU Seeks Russian Aid to Ukraine While Sanctioning Russia for Its Actions in Ukraine. LOL



Deep Resource:
Crimea for Dummies

James Petras:
The Rise of German Imperialism and the Phony “Russian Threat”

Moscow Times:
Crimean Government Steps Up Confiscation of Beachfront Property Stolen by Kiev Officials

Deep Resource:
Putin and Hollande Meet at a Moscow Airport

BBC:

Ukraine, Russia and the ceasefire that never was

When 1,000 people have died in less than three months, when civilians cower in basements and tens of thousands more flee their homes we can no longer speak of a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine.

And here's the Obama-backed Nazified President Porshenko boasting that forcing children to cower in basements is how Ukraine will win the war



Fort Russ:
Has Hollande Been Cured of the Bulgarian Syndrome by Putin and Nazarbaev?

John Pilger:
Weaponized media target Russia

Russia-Insider:
Ukraine’s New American Finance Minister Lost $100 Million of US Taxpayer Funds

BBC:

Source

Merkel condemns Russia 'interfering' in Eastern Europe
Merkel the NeoCon mouthpeace: only the US and its puppets to interfere in Eastern Europe

AP:
French president supports autonomy for Ukraine’s southeast
Better to face reality late than never.

WUFYS:
Bulgarian nationalist party leader proposes referendum on NATO and EU exit
US commanded sanctions and blocked Russian pipeline projects in response to Russia's response to the American-inspired Kiev coup, seem to be hurting EU nations and the integrity of the EU more than they hurt Russia or threaten Russian unity.

AP:
French leader reaches out to Putin in Moscow

Arkady Molev:
You who chase the Nazi criminals all over the world… how can you miss the Lviv Nazi Renaissance? 

Putin Quote (via Pravda):

This little country America, relies on foreign oil and is telling the whole world and us what to do. Never mind that we're the largest country in the world with our own resources of oil and gas that can supply every nation. America, trillions in debt printing paper money while we have a vast gold supply and trillions in reserves. America has forgotten history. Hitler with millions of soldiers could not conquer us. We met the Nazis face to face and pushed them back to Berlin. A country like the US that overthrows governments for corporate interests like the coup in Kiev will be overthrown in the end.

Deep Resource:
War Again in Europe? Not in Our Name!

Tyler Durden:
Kissinger Warns "We Need A New World Order"; Ukraine Should Forget Crimea & NATO

Patrick L. Smith:
New York Times propagandists exposed: Finally, the truth about Ukraine and Putin emerges

John Mearsheimer:
Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault — The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin

Russia's Puny Economy and Dying Population

In August, while speaking with John Micklethwait and Edward Carr from The Economist, President Obama remarked:

Russia doesn’t make anything. Immigrants aren’t rushing to Moscow in search of opportunity. The life expectancy of the Russian male is around 60 years old. The population is shrinking.

Russia's puny economy and general decline is a common theme among those who disparage Russia. For example, in discussing the threat posed by Russia to European security, former UK Ambassador Craig Murray recently blogged:

Russia is not a great power. Its total GDP is about the same as Spain’s – and Spain is pretty knackered. Russia has even less economic clout as a basis for world domination than the UK. Russia’s economy is not diversified. It is over-dependent on raw commodity production and export.  ...  It will not be long before Poland plus the Baltic states are economically stronger than Russia.

Let's consider these claims. OK, Russia doesn't make anything except, um: