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Page added on October 19, 2016
Kunstler: The Odor of Desperation
It must be obvious even to nine-year-old casual observers of the scene that the US national election is hacking itself. It doesn’t require hacking assistance from any other entity. The two major parties could not have found worse candidates for president, and the struggle between them has turned into the most sordid public spectacle in US electoral history.
Of course, the Russian hacking blame-game story emanates from the security apparatus controlled by a Democratic Party executive establishment desperate to preserve its perks and privileges . (I write as a still-registered-but-disaffected Democrat). The reams of released emails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, and other figures in HRC’s employ, depict a record of tactical mendacity, a gleeful eagerness to lie to the public, and a disregard for the world’s opinion that are plenty bad enough on their own. And Trump’s own fantastic gift for blunder could hardly be improved on by a meddling foreign power. The US political system is blowing itself to pieces.
I say this with the understanding that political systems are emergent phenomena with the primary goal of maintaining their control on the agencies of power at all costs. That is, it’s natural for a polity to fight for its own survival. But the fact that the US polity now so desperately has to fight for survival shows how frail its legitimacy is. It wouldn’t take much to shove it off a precipice into a new kind of civil war much more confusing and irresolvable than the one we went through in the 1860s.
Events and circumstances are driving the US insane literally. We can’t construct a coherent consensus about what is happening to us and therefore we can’t form a set of coherent plans for doing anything about it. The main event is that our debt has far exceeded our ability to produce enough new wealth to service the debt, and our attempts to work around it with Federal Reserve accounting fraud only makes the problem worse day by day and hour by hour. All of it tends to undermine both national morale and living standards, while it shoves us into the crisis I call the long emergency.
It’s hard to see how Russia benefits from America becoming the Mad Bull of a floundering global economy. Rather, the Evil Russia meme seems a projection of our country’s own insecurities and contradictions. For instance, we seem to think that keeping Syria viciously destabilized is preferable to allowing its legitimate government to restore some kind of order there. Russia has been on the scene attempting to prop up the Assad government while we are on the scene there doing everything possible to keep a variety of contestants in a state of incessant war. US policy in Syria has been both incoherent and tragically damaging to the Syrians.
The Russians stood aside while the US smashed up Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya. We demonstrated adequately that shoving sovereign nations into civic failure is not the best way to resolve geopolitical tensions. Why would it be such a bad thing for the US to stand aside in Syria and see if the Russians can rescue that country from failure? Because they might keep a naval base there on the Mediterranean? We have scores of military bases around the region.
It’s actually pretty easy to understand why the Russians might be paranoid about America’s intentions. We use NATO to run threatening military maneuvers near Russia’s borders. We provoked Ukraine — formerly a province of the Soviet state — to become a nearly failed state, and then we complained foolishly about the Russian annexation of Crimea — also a former territory of the Soviet state and of imperial Russia going back centuries. We slapped sanctions on Russia, making it difficult for them to participate in international banking and commerce.
What’s really comical is the idea that Russia is using the Internet to mess with our affairs — as if the USA has no cyber-warfare ambitions or ongoing operations against them (and others, such as hacking Angela Merkel’s personal phone). News flash: every country with access to the Internet is in full hacking mode around the clock against every other country so engaged. Everybody’s doing it. It is perhaps a projection of America’s ongoing rape hysteria that we think we’re special victims of this universal activity.
38 Comments on "Kunstler: The Odor of Desperation"
penury on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 10:35 am
The odor of corruption emanating from the Dems has engulfed the office of the POTUS, When the corruption can be seen by the population as coming from the top, the nation is in trouble.
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 11:08 am
Jeez, penury, positing that the “Dems” have some advantage in the corruption race is naive, if not dishonest. As a non-partisan Independent, I follow the money being thrown at both parties, especially in our state. The current republican state and local politicians currently in office are there due to a big advantage in (mostly out-of-state) money being thrown at select republican candidates in past elections. Think they aren’t corrupt as well?
As an anti-two-party-system guy, I find it laughable that some of you focus on one party or the other as being more corrupt. Not sure if it indicates bias or dumbass. It’s the SYSTEM that is corrupted, and both parties, together, are the system.
Kenz300 on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 11:35 am
The family values candidate. Why do they stay with him ? In his own words he said:
Paid no taxes, divorced how many times, degrades women, does not respect veterans and their families, is making money from his campaign funneling money to his businesses, has questionable charity contributions, filed for bankruptcy multiple times, takes huge tax breaks at the taxpayers expense, flip flops on issues,
The top 1% want it all and the RepubliCON party will give it to them.
Kenz300 on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 11:35 am
A CON man with no moral values.
This is what the RepubliCON party has become.
Dredd on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 11:55 am
Well said Kunstler.
Hawkcreek on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 11:59 am
Yes, the top 1% want it all, and it looks like they have it. Anyone who seriously thinks that both sides of the Uni-party aren’t totally corrupt isn’t really looking – they have just fallen back into the trap of “Hurray for my side”.
Idiotic to vote for Hilary –
Equally idiotic to vote for Trump.
george on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 12:50 pm
One heck of a choice . On the republican side is an arrogant buffoon . From the democrats we have a raving megalomaniac . This is going to be an interesting yet tragic future for all of us.
Plantagenet on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 1:12 pm
Vote Jill Stein. She denounced Hillary as a lying, thieving corporate shill and Trump for being Trump.
Obviously Stein is a smart woman
Cheers!
Davy on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 1:18 pm
This is not just normal beltway party corruption. The extent and the depth of the Klinton corruption is a whole new animal in regards to what the American system has ever seen. This is now coordinated with vertically and horizontally elements. It included multinational elements. It includes the voting process, the media, business, Hollywood, and a corrupt charity. The office of the president and department of justice are in on it. This is a political money fund driven by power and persuasion with a business plan. With such a diverse group of stakeholders bought off and in an integrated allegiances, this criminal group is nearly untouchable. These people are above the law now without morals. The election is the last hurdle.
The public is oblivious of the true extent of the corruption and many don’t care. They care about a narrow range of issues that this criminal group is exploiting with uncanny precision. It is helping that the opposing candidate is so incompetent and divisive especially with minorities, women, and the young. This group is bastardizing moral issues by claiming to represent them but in reality they are using politically correct moral issues as tools of power not belief. These disaffected groups are being tricked into believing this criminal group really represents them and their issues when in fact the group is only interested in their own issue and that is complete power. We may be at the end of the line for this country. November will be a defining moment for the future. The sad fact is if the opposition wins we can expect different issues that will destroy this country. Corruption and political decay has finally taken over either way this election goes.
penury on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 1:45 pm
Read Davy’s comments over: What he said.
GregT on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 2:27 pm
I would agree with Davy’s comment above as well, except for one minor detail.
“The extent and the depth of the Klinton corruption is a whole new animal in regards to what the American system has ever seen.”
What has now become clear to Davy, has been crystal clear to others for a very long time, yet still remains elusive to the majority of Americans.
penury on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 3:29 pm
Ghung as an unbiased observer, try reading the e-mails rele3ased on the Clinton campaign. Then try to make the same statement with a straight face.
joe on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 3:55 pm
Sadly America is not the only country. Duterte, Brexit, migrant crises, middle east collapse, EU banking, we all stand on the edge of somthing that actually feels different. Clinton/Trump wars of words merely reflect our impotence to do anything about the world we live in.
Globalisation is making government irrelevent, but people need it. The alternative is mass religion, we currently see the cognitive dissonance between the end of nationalism, the end of globalisation, the rise of the automation of the services sector (the last industrial revolution) and climate change versus the clash of cultures that all of the above is causing, and the friction is only going to cause more heat, not less. Somthing new is happening.
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 3:56 pm
I’ve read them penury. “Same statement with a straight face” There. Said it.
The problem you partisan a’holes have is you are partisan a’holes. You think if we had emails from previous republican leadership we wouldn’t see the same type of things? Gosh, you guys…..
Maybe you can point us to one particular email you feel makes Clinton more of a Demon than, say, Bush or Cheney. I’ll be waiting anxiously.
penury on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:08 pm
Well we could start with one which show her perjury to the FBI or the ones which show the media people who have been paid off or who currently work for the Clinton org. But you are correct to impartial people like you that would not prove anything. It apparently unbiased to ignore unwanted information.
Davy on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:13 pm
Bush and Cheney showed Klinton the way forward. They are blushing now at how stupid they were for being 1/2 the crook Klinton is.
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:13 pm
By the way, penury, didn’t you dweebs read Manufacturing Consent? Folks like Herman and Chomskey have been ringing that bell for decades:
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, proposes that the mass communication media of the U.S. “are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and self-censorship, and without overt coercion”, by means of the propaganda model of communication.[1] The title, ‘Manufacturing Consent’, derives from the phrase “the manufacture of consent,” employed in the book Public Opinion (1922), by Walter Lippmann (1889–1974).[2]”
That’s the short version from Wkipedia. I read the book in it’s first printing and have been ostracised for telling folks that the media controls who wins elections more than anything, and now you want me to get all OOOOO!, OOOOOH! Read the fucking Clinton emails!
Grow the fuck up. This is OLD news. Now I guess you’ll tell me Chomsky is crazy, eh? I figured this stuff out in the 70s. Why TF do you think I’ve been an Independent my entire adult life?
Hawkcreek on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:18 pm
And people still say, “Yeah, both sides are bad, but your side is a little worse, cause-blah, blah, blah”
Two sides don’t exist. Unless you want to consider the elite against the rest of the world. They are all crooks and need to be destroyed.
Davy on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:27 pm
Sure, this has gone on before but not until now at this level. We are now in a storm of corruption and malfeasance. We are in uncharted waters along with all the other corruption and manipulation of the financial sector.
What is really scary is the beating of war drums. Just wait until the crazy bitch gets elected. Klinton is a well documented mean bordering on crazy bitch in private. On TV the witch is calm and level. Those are the most dangerous type of people. She is going to want Putin’s scalp for all Russia’s anti-Klinton rhetoric and we are going to be her cannon fodder.
penury on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:27 pm
Really, this is old news, I guess I shall have to go back and read Bush’s e-mails or is it Reagans that I missed. I guess I did not get the memo that sai8d ignore the corruption under the current admin as they support Hillary after all it happens all the time. Really?
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:34 pm
Penury says; “Well we could start with one which show her perjury to the FBI or the ones which show the media people who have been paid off or who currently work for the Clinton org.”
Wow! Show me a President who hasn’t lied at one time or another.
“”We did not, I repeat, did not trade weapons or anything else [to Iran] for hostages, nor will we,””
That wasn’t Obama. It was “Mr. Wonderful”, Ronald Reagan. Lied his ass off to Congress and the American people. About the only American President that DIDN’T lie was Carter. See how that worked out. And you REALLY think the media didn’t help get Reagan elected? Fact is, these people have to lie to get elected and to do their jobs. Why? Because we’re a fucked-up society.
Show me a time when media didn’t influence elections. Show me a time when there WASN’T collusion between parties and media. Making a big deal about it because you are scared of Clinton holds absolutely no truck with me.
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:42 pm
penury said; “I did not get the memo that sai8d ignore the corruption under the current admin as they support Hillary after all it happens all the time. Really?”
Yes, it happens, and has been happening forever. What hasn’t been happening forever is emails and hacking. What was it Gomer Pile used to exclaim? “SURPRISE! SURPRISE!” Wake TF up.
One reason I hole up in the middle of nowhere is that my contemporaries are so reactionary and clueless. My parents always said I would have trouble.
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 4:50 pm
Davy said; “What is really scary is the beating of war drums. Just wait until the crazy bitch gets elected. Klinton is a well documented mean bordering on crazy bitch in private. On TV the witch is calm and level. Those are the most dangerous type of people. She is going to want Putin’s scalp for all Russia’s anti-Klinton rhetoric and we are going to be her cannon fodder.”
Do you really think Putin is “anti-Clinton” because he thinks she’s a war-monger? He’s anti-Clinton because he knows Trump is utterly clueless about foreign policy, history, important facts about just about everything else. Putin is anti-Clinton for one reason: He knows a Trump presidency will dramatically weaken America. Putin will run circles around Trump. You think that’s a good thing?
Davy on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 5:53 pm
Ghung, I will not argue that Trump would be a disaster and is clueless to the real geopolitical realities. That is pretty evident yet disengagement and burden sharing does have validity. If nothing else he has balls to buck the system. What is just as evident is how useless Klinton was as a Secretary of State. She is not much better than Trump with geopolitical realities. If this were true why is the US foreign policy a total failure now? She played a huge roll and look at things. Klinton is into selling the office for private gain the rest is a distraction for her. Klinton is very smart with corruption and psychopathic arts. Her foreign policy will be enrichment and revenge. That sounds like one hell of a foreign policy platform. Who knows maybe her and Putin will hit it off. They are both thieves of the highest caliber. It is just Putin is smart and is already the richest politician in the world. Klinton will try to outdo him in that regard.
Apneaman on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 6:08 pm
Yeah, because before Hillary, America had no long history of interventions, regime changes, bombing civilians, assignations and all around expansionism and war mongering. Oh so now millions of Americans suddenly got worried about it?
Ghung on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 6:23 pm
Did someone off Cloggie? This is right up his little alley.
Two things I know;
People are scared
People make very bad decisions when they’re scared.
makati1 on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 6:56 pm
Same old show. Different names. Been going on since at least Reagan. Nothing new. This time:
Clinton is the obvious war candidate.
Trump is the unknown.
All ‘Others’ are distractions.
I’ll take Trump, the unknown, as being the only possible chance to avoid a major war. Neither will avoid the financial and economic crash now gaining speed. Nor will either change the coming human bottleneck and extinction, because they can only speed it up, not stop it.
The internet has been very useful. It has brought the rotten core of the Empire out into the open for all of the world to see. Getting interesting! 20 days to go! Buckle Up!
Boat on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 6:59 pm
Ya’ll are just afraid Hillary will stand up to Putin the brilliant master mind. Including a no fly zone for Syria. Your afraid N Korea will become part of a much larger S Korea. Your afraid China will not attack Taiwan, Hong Kong, and fish/drill outside their 200 mile zone. Yes I suspect that girl will raise fear among the men.
I also suspect she will build coalitions, international law, the UN, trade agreements, etc. After all she is a policy wonk with a chasity belt. You won’t screw me.
peakyeast on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 8:02 pm
@ghung: I assume that Cloggie got paranoid and thought he had an IP ban because, as he claimed that he could not post big posts anymore. He did, however, post 2-3 small posts including the one where he explained his paranioa.
Its technically possible, of course, someone restricted his access to only small texts, but hardly likely that they instead of just banning only restricts the lenght of his posts – especially when considering the general technical level of this site. – Please dont see this as a hint to make the website more advanced, sitemanagers :-). I like simple.
Davy on Wed, 19th Oct 2016 8:22 pm
Clog comes and goes. Arthur was gone for a year then popped up as Cloggie.
joe on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 12:41 am
The laughable truth is that all systems are corrupt. Democracy is no special case of enlightenment guys. To paraphrase a political genius, democracy is a shit system, except for whats in China, Russia etc and dont get me started on the muslim countries.
Its the humans stupid!
joe on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 12:52 am
The last point on this is my thought that if Obama was a 2 term lame duck (since we blame Syria and Libya on Clinton) then its not important who is President because since whoever wins, that person will likely face the most staunch opposition from both left and right. I dont think the media especially love Clinton, I think that the right elite has abondoned Trump because this should have been Jeb Bushs rodeo (Bush/Rubio or Bush/Fiorina), that was the neocon plan, but it failed so they reverted to their other mode which is to tear down and destroy anything not made of their hand. Clinton is as a neocon candidate as they can get, so theyll take it. But in January she will find she has far fewer friends than she thinks.
makati1 on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 1:21 am
joe, whomever ‘wins’ will be trying to keep the US alive and from sliding even faster into the 3rd world. They will likely be presiding over a Greater Depression that will make the 1929 one look like a picnic in the park. And in a world that hates America’s guts. The alternative, of course, is world war that will either begin with nukes or end with them. No winners.
Not sure why Trump even bothered to run other than ego. The end is near no matter what any one of them tries to do. The insanity is too pervasive and embedded in the Beltway Clan to ever be cured by one man.
Try to prep for the future you know is coming and enjoy the show. It is likely to be the last one on earth.
Clgg on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 2:24 am
Davy said “Clog comes and goes”
Make that “Arthur and Clog came and eventually were blocked”
In both cases it began with “posts awaiting moderation” and soon after the red block sign refering to the listed ip-address. Mysteriously I was still able to post one-liner posts. Nothing to do with paranoia as peakyeast suggests, it happened exactly the same before when I was posting as Arthur since January 2012, when I still believed the ASPO-Heinberg story, or rather the relevance of that story.
This is a green-left leaning site, so the ban is no surprise. The surprise is rather that it took so long.
My posts were dictated indeed by collapse, but not of the sort this site used/uses to believe in, namely fossil fuel depletion and climate change, but geopolitical-civilizational collapse, resulting from belief in exceptionalism and mass migration. From the Washington drive to usurp the entire world in their empire and others, lead by Russia and China followed by people onthe European and American Right resisting against that drive. People who in 2016 worry about the immanent impact of peak oil, are missing the point, to put it mildly.
OK, that’s it then. If Clinton would win, war is almost inevitable and we will be all deadly enemies, not for personal reasons, but because of circumstances bigger than us. The MSM broadcasts the message that Clinton will win, but the bookies talk the same language as with Brexit. I don’t know who will prevail.
Bye, bye and all the best.
Arthur
#SendByGPRS
Davy on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 4:46 am
I hate to hear that Clog. We need diversity here and if you are being blocked that signals hidden agenda.
peakyeast on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 6:10 am
@Cloggie: I am sorry to hear that. It seems very strange to me. You are a good poster.
Also Sorry for indicating paranoia – it was just inconceivable to me that you should get a ban when considering the types and types of comments that are here every single day.
Perhaps you should contact the administrator to hear what it is about?
Please dont say good bye. Say auf wiedersehen. 🙂
Sissyfuss on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 8:20 am
The empire is dying and Clinton, Trump, and their cronies are there to pick the bones clean.
JuanP on Thu, 20th Oct 2016 8:39 pm
Ghung “About the only American President that DIDN’T lie was Carter. See how that worked out.”
I was just making this point to the Master Gardener Program Coordinator yesterday when she asked me why I didn’t become American and vote. I told her “The last decent American president was Carter and see what that got him”. It would be pointless to become American to vote for Stein when it would change nothing. Why bother? I will be in Uruguay on election day.