YES, IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE PIGS

Adding insult to injury, the memorial to Michael Brown, the kid who was shot down and killed by the pigs in ferguson, has been burnt down. Could it have been the fucking cops? Of course. Read this...

New Outrage in Ferguson: Memorial to Michael Brown Burned Down

September 23, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

People in the neighborhood rebuild the memorial to Michael Brown after it was burned during the night September 23. Photo: Special to Revolution/revcom.us

Right away, after Michael Brown was gunned down and killed by the Ferguson police on August 9, the people in the neighborhood set up a memorial—right in the middle of the street where the cops let Michael Brown’s body lie for hours. They put stuffed animals, candles, baseball caps and many messages of love and anger. For weeks, people from around the country and the world have come to this memorial, to place flowers, put their own messages, and stand in silence, staring at the blood-stained road—especially during the weeks of defiant protests in the streets.

In the early morning hours of September 23, someone, or some group of people burned this memorial down. Some people think this was done by the cops. When the people in the neighborhood saw this very early in the morning they got together to rebuild the memorial right away, and it was rebuilt by 9 am. Two things can be seen here. One, the outrageous and cowardly nature of this system–how it can’t even let the people have a memorial to the people the armed enforcers murder. They want to destroy this memorial because it is such a reminder to the people of the CRIME that was committed at this spot, of the life that was stolen–and of the need to keep on fighting to get justice for Michael Brown. Two, the people are determined to fight for justice for Michael Brown, to not let this get swept under the rug, and this was the spirit behind how they came together to put a new memorial up right away.

Below: People in the neighborhood are determined to fight for justice for Michael Brown; the memorial was rebuilt within hours after it was burned down.
Photos: Special to Revolution/revcom.us

TRIBUTE BANDS

Last night I went to see an AC/DC and a Judas Priest tribute band at Logan's. I don't remember the names of either. Sorry.
   The AC/DC band played the songs well enough, but they didn't do any Bon Scott-era songs. NO Bon Scott?!!!! What the fuck?! He defined the band, and Brian Johnson was always a cheaper replacement, who would never quite be able to fill his shoes. Sorry, but it's the truth. And the Angus Young in the band could play well enough, but his onstage performance wasn't as Angus-y as it should have been. And where's the jaunty cap?
   The Judas Priest band nailed it pretty well. The singer even hit those crazy ass high notes. They wee the first J.P. tribute band I'd ever seen, and I would go again. Not too soon, but I would.
   What does this have to do with hardcore, or the usual angry political rant? Nothing. But it happened and I was there, dammit. Rock and roll,assholes. 

POISON IDEA!!!

Unbelievable! Poison Idea are coming to our little shithole of a town. I know they've played way smaller shitholes than this, but I don't think they've been here before. This is a hardcore/punk band who have influenced countless others, from metal, to shitty drunk punk, to straightedge bands. The last time I saw them was in  the early '90s sometime. I'm not sure when, because it all seems to blend in together. What are you gonna do, uh? I will be there, and you should too, chumps.

DELIGHTFUL

Here's a lovely little article on Victoria's wacky and zany little punk rock scene and it's diversity, written by Jason Schreurs for Vice Magazine. Enjoy.

DIY YYJ: A LOOK AT VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA’S WEIRDO UNDERGROUND PUNK SCENE

OP-EDS

By Jason Schreurs

1 point on reddit

130

Six Brew Bantha playing in a loft

There's something fucked up about Victoria, British Columbia’s underground punk scene. And we're not talking fucked up, like broken, but fucked up, like weird, and cool, and different. It could be the isolated location of Vancouver Island (you have to take a ferry or plane to get there), and the fact that Victoria musicians just have a bit more freedom to be weirdos, but the do-it-yourself punk scene in British Columbia’s capital is, how shall we say, fucked up? And it’s always been that way.

In Victoria it’s not uncommon to see grindcore bands play with indie rock bands, posi-core bands play with crusty D-beat bands, noise bands play with garage-punk bands, psych-rock bands play with pop-punk bands, and every other possible subgenre combination. Gigs take place pretty much anywhere you can set up a PA system and squeeze a bunch of punks in. Bands and promoters in Victoria work together to support each other, and you don't see the shitty cliques and competitiveness that most major North American cities have.

It could be the city’s size (just over 350,000 in the Greater Victoria region) that dictates that everyone in the local punk scene work together, blending influences and styles along the way. But there’s also the question of the original ‘80s punk bands like Nomeansno, The Neos, and the Dayglo Abortions being kinda wacko to begin with, which led to ‘90s weirdos like Mexican Power Authority, Third World Planet, Goatboy, Soy (Jesus, how about Let’s Put the X in Sex?) and countless others, then on down the line to the equally strange Victoria punk bands of today: bands like three-piece grind wrecking crew Six Brew Bantha.

Six Brew Bantha

“I think there’s less of a gauge for what is cool in Victoria,” offers Six Brew Bantha drummer Tyler Akis, who grew up in the local punk scene. “In a big city people can push shit aside, because there’s elite scenes and there are more niches, but in Victoria you kind of get what you get, and if people want to take a bunch of different styles and combine them into one, people aren’t going to be so judgmental, and they might even take it for what it is.”

Akis and his roommates have been doing shows in their basement, putting together DIY house gigs that include everything from the brutal, chaotic grindcore of his own band (not to mention his two other bands, Dummy Pops, a raw pop-punk band, and crusty hardcore band Kraxxa) to indie rock, noise, and punk bands. As Akis often says, the basement scene at their house, and Victoria’s scene in general, is “chill.”

“People here are more patient and they understand what some of these bands are trying to do,” he says. “In our own band, we take a lot of different influences and put it into one sound, and maybe that’s something accidental just by living here. Maybe it’s something in the water, who knows?”

Tyler Forslund (a.k.a. Ty Stranglehold) distinctly remembers going to his first punk house show in Victoria. He was working at a gas station at the time and, like all good Canadian punks, had some Propagandhi playing on the ghetto blaster behind the counter. “These guys came into my work one night and said, ‘Oh, rad! You’re listening to Propagandhi! My friends are playing a house show down the street tomorrow night. You should come!’ It ended up being just two blocks from my house,” says Forslund, “so I grabbed a six-pack of beer and walked up to this house where I didn’t know anyone and those guys ended up being my best friends.”

That was 20 years ago. To this day, Forslund plays in punk bands, including two cover bands, the Poison Idea tribute, Fatal Erection, and the Angry Samoans holiday-themed tribute, Angry Snowmans. He still promotes and attends DIY punk shows and is one of the many fixtures in Victoria’s punk scene. “That’s another thing about Victoria,” he jokes, “it seems like the punkers here don’t give up either; there are a lot of old people in bands.”

Forslund grew up in the small town of Vernon, BC and got into skateboarding and punk rock when he was 13. When he moved to Victoria at the age of 20 he was blown away by Victoria’s infamous all-over-the-place all-ages show lineups. Back then, it wouldn’t be uncommon for punk, metal, indie, hardcore and ska bands to play on the same bill, or even more likely, bands that sounded like a wonderfully bungled shit-mix of at least three of those styles.

“It took me a bit to get used to,” admits Forslund, “because in the small town I came from the metal dudes despised the punk rockers and the skateboarders, to the point where we’d be getting in fights and they’d chase you down the street, and I got to Victoria and realized, ‘Wow, all of these different scenes are coexisting on a respectful level,’ where people might not necessarily be into another band’s tunes, but they were a local bands doing there thing, so they respected each other for that.”

Not much has changed in the two decades since Forslund hit town and played his own part in creating scene unity in Victoria. Punk houses, community halls, warehouse and gallery spaces, and retail-store basements are still routinely being taken over by punks, metalheads and hardcore kids looking to do their own thing outside of the mainstream live music scene.

Render Useless Photo by Jay Siska

“There’s always been an alternative, and I’m sitting in my bedroom right now looking at two houses to the right of our house that have both done shows in the past,” says Akis. “The house two doors down used to be The Boneyard and did indie rock shows and those were really great; they’d always start way too late and they’d always be really fun and small. And the house right next to ours, a bunch of hardcore guys used to live there and they did hardcore and punk shows. And then in the parking lot across from our backyard, there’s the Norway House, a big hall where we did metal and grind shows. So, right there, there’s just three all-ages spaces right in my neighbourhood which are no longer with us, but one point over the past few years were important places for shows.” Perhaps it’s what Akis calls that “easy Vancouver Island living,” but according to a guy who’s currently doing a huge part in bringing together Victoria’s punk scene, the city is perpetually hell-bent on celebrating weirdness and creativity.

“Maybe there’s a freedom here for trial and error?” laughs Akis. “But, no, seriously, if you have an idea here, it’s a little easier to try something new. I’m not trying to say there’s groundbreaking shit going on here or anything, but it’s easier to make your ideas a reality in Victoria. And I know you can do that in every city, but if your band sucks people aren’t going to be super harsh here. You’re going to have time to grow musically and, like everything else, if you want to get good at something, you need time, and sometimes you have more opportunity to grow as musicians here.”

Started five years ago, Six Brew Bantha now have a table full of vinyl releases to show for themselves, including their recently released full-length, Intravenously Commodified. The grindcore three-piece have done international tours and played countless DIY shows, becoming one of Victoria’s most well-known punk/metal exports. “We were not good when we started and we’ve had a long time to perfect our craft, so to speak,” says Akis. “Open Relationship is another band like that. They just broke up, but it started as an idea by two people and immediately it became a reality, and that’s awesome to see. Sometimes things here pop up out of nowhere and it’s like, ‘Oh my god, this is so good! This is insane that this band just started and they’re already this amazing.’ And then sometimes it’s like, ‘This band sucked so badly when they started and now they’re incredible.’”

Every punk scene has its heyday. And although it could be argued that Victoria’s punk heyday may still be on the horizon, most old-schoolers in the scene agree that the mid-to-late ‘90s were when local punk was at its height of popularity. One guy who was instrumental to that era was Paul Block, nicknamed “The Voice of Reason” by the local scene at the time for his thoughtful between-song speeches with what was arguably the best all-around hardcore/punk/emo band to come out of Victoria that decade: Render Useless.

Block, who also played in such bands as Hoofrarump, The Uniks and Benchwarmer, and booked some of the biggest hardcore shows in Victoria through the ‘90s, says the scene was growing so fast at the time that house shows became almost impossible to do because too many people would show up and things would get uncontrollable. “Although there was a lot of crossover between scenes, there very distinct scenes within that,” explains Block. “The hardcore scene was probably 300 strong, the drunk punk scene was 150 strong at least, there was the metal scene, the hip-hop scene, the indie rock scene, and many times those groups would come together, or spread apart, depending on the styles of music and their behaviour.”

Block came over from Vancouver in the early ‘90s to attend the University of Victoria. Growing up in a big city, he found the scene there rigid, too caught up in status and unwelcoming in a lot of ways, so when he stumbled upon the Victoria DIY scene at a local skate shop called Fine Grind and political punk band Section 46, led by another Victoria scene fixture named Tony Goluza, were practicing in the basement, he knew he would fit in just fine.

Tony Goluza plays Burnside Communty Centre with band, Hudson Mack Photo by Kinzie Photography

“In Vancouver, it was all about getting someone to put out your record for you. When I came to Victoria, no one was worried about that. It was like, ‘We’re making a cassette!’ and I was getting a cassette put in my hands for three bucks whenever I went to a show,” remembers Block. “So every band was making their own tape and putting it out themselves. I still have a milk crate full of cassettes from bands in Victoria. And that was encouraging. You don’t need anything else; just make a tape with three songs on it, then everyone who comes to your show will already know your three songs and sing them with you. And bands were supported like that, right from when they started. That whole notion of DIY was huge in Victoria.”

Like all cities, there were the diehard musicians in the scene who would routinely jump from one likeminded punk, hardcore or metal band to another (Goluza, for one, played in at least eight bands who to the less-discerning ear sounded pretty much identical, including long-running punk band AK-47), but Victoria also had prominent members of its scene who would make a concerted effort to throw us punk curveballs. Take Steve McBean, now known for his work in Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops, whose Victoria bands through the ‘80s and ‘90s were all over the map and tough to keep track of unless you were really paying attention (Mission of Christ: crossover thrash metal; Jerk Ward: fast-punk; Red Tide: surfy punk/hardcore; Onionhouse: emo; Gus: noisey, prog-tinged hardcore).

Dave Wenger and Ache Hour Credo Photo by Sarah Kramer

Or how about the arty, weirdo musical genius, Dave Wenger? Wenger, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident while walking home in the middle of a wintery Montreal night in 2006, was a prominent figure in the ‘80s and ‘90s underground Victoria punk scene. First, he fronted a high-school thrash metal band called Moral Decay, then went on to the ska-tinged fast-punk of M Blanket, then the sprawling emo hardcore sounds of Ache Hour Credo and Breakwater, and finally got as close to settling in as he ever could with Daddy’s Hands, a punk rock re-imagining of the most demented moments of the Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart catalog, with horns, spastic vocals and even stranger lyrics.

Oh, and then there was Wenger’s longtime solo project, Charter Cruise, in which he donned a makeshift disguise and used a noise machine, along with his piercing screeches and caterwauls, to frighten and delight anyone brave enough to listen. In an obituary for The Globe and Mail, writer Martin Patriquin wrote, “Dave Wenger’s music came forth from his innards in bursts, freaking out audiences and influencing peers with buckshot doses of intricate, guttural noise.”

Could a guy like Wenger, screaming about his “Scabby Corsage” and letting us in on Garden City lyrical gems like “a succubus, a vampire, black-hole in a flesh coat” and “what say we fuck on the stairs?” have possibly come out of any punk scene other than Victoria’s?

“Certainly, the DIY scene here was open to having any style of music,” laughs Block, who remembers the creativity fondly. “I mean, look at a guy like Dave Wenger, putting nylons over his head and playing noise machines in the ‘90s, and at the same time you have a punk band like Shutdown playing. Most places that I’ve been would not have those two worlds cross over.”

Flash forward to September, 2012 and Andy Andersson has just opened his Cavity Curiosity Shop upstairs from the already establish punk rock record store, Talk’s Cheap, in downtown Victoria. The punk scene is now fully recovering from several years of relative inactivity from around 2006, and Cavity is a perfect meeting place for punks. Andersson, who was born and raised in Victoria, also puts on all-ages punk/grind/noise/darkwave/etc. shows around town and works the door at Logan’s Pub, Victoria’s independent live music bastion, also known as the Tavern of the Damned. For the past two decades, Logan’s has been the constant 19+ venue for a punk scene that’s rarely needed it as an option. With a frontlines view of Victoria’s underground music scene, Andersson believes the reason why the city sees such an intertwining of punk subgenres and cooperative DIY shows is because, in such a small and isolated city, it’s basically a necessity.

Cavity Victoria Photo by Sara Hembree

“Anyone who’s ever been in the Victoria scene realizes that if we don’t support each other, you only get so much of a turnout at the shows,” says Andersson, “so that exposes people to different genres of music.” Like the glory days of Victoria punk demo tapes being passed around at shows, Andersson says local bands still release an impressive amount of music on vinyl, CD and, yes, cassette, which he’s proud to carry in his shop.

One label in particular, Shake! Records, has put out over 60 releases to date, mostly on tape, including those by local garage and punk bands Durban Poison, Line Traps and Psychosomatic Itch. Put the Shake! catalog together with other indie releases by the likes of indie-punks Open Relationship, grind maniacs Bungus, college-rock nerds Pinner and disturbo noise rockers Nearly Dead, and it makes for an impressive and unique local music section at Cavity.

“A lot of people are into experimental music here, so a lot of bands goof around with different kinds of sounds,” says Andersson. “Younger kids come into the shop and see that all of these local bands are putting stuff out, they get exposed to new bands, and the DIY shows here are pretty accessible and generally really fun, so it gets them excited about the scene.”

Perhaps a punk bedrock of celebrated weirdness has been laid down in Victoria. Some say it started with two brothers in their parent’s basement in the late ‘70s-early ‘80s, combining jazz, prog and punk rock (Nomeansno), others believe that same era’s band with a need to play faster than any band ever had before (The Neos) is what set the tone for the next 30-plus years of crazed punk rock.

“The Neos and Nomeansno are huge influences when it comes to Victoria and those are bands that you can name check to people in the outside world and those are ours; those bands are our hometown heroes. And they’re weirdos,” laughs Forslund. “But I think about this sometimes, and there’s this weird, insular Vancouver Island thing where we are cut off, so we’re left to our own devices, and something about that comes out a little off-kilter and strange. And we’ve got our straight-up punk bands or our political hardcore bands, but there’s still this odd slant that’s underlying sometimes, or maybe it’s right out front. But bands from here are different and it’s noticeable.”

One thing becomes quite evident; there always was and always will be welcoming room for more South Vancouver Island punk bands to try their own version of something that will probably never be defined: the Victoria sound. Allow the Voice of Reason to explain: “I’m going to shoot from the hip on this one, and certainly I’m more disconnected from the scene than I used to be, but when I toured North America with Render Useless, within some cities the competition between bands was fierce,” says Block. “It was a one-up type of thing and I never ever felt a sense of competition with any of the bands in Victoria. In some places, bands haven’t been given the opportunity to play shows or be fostered, where I find in Victoria it’s the opposite. If there’s a new band, they’re sometimes more celebrated and supported and given an opportunity than an established band. It’s like, ‘Hey, these guys are giving it a shot; let’s get behind them. Let’s help them out.’”

Forslund agrees: “I’ve never lived in a bigger city, but I’ve played shows in places like Vancouver where I see the scene disjointed and with these little pockets of scenes, like a city too big to have one giant community. Victoria is the right size and you’re not going to have people who only go to shows in certain neighbourhoods because that’s ridiculous; everything’s within 15 minutes of each other. So everyone bands together.” And Andersson: “Everyone here is really welcoming and they come up and talk to you, and ask how you’re doing. It’s just the right size that everyone knows each other a bit more and you’re not just another set of eyeballs at a show. People tend to form cliques and don’t communicate as much when it’s a bigger city. Here, it’s so small that you go to a house show and everyone wants to stand up front and get thrown into it; and it feels like you’re in the someone’s bedroom.”

And, yes, also Akis: “Everyone’s friends with everybody. We all know each other and no one really hates each other, so there’s no trash talking. Everyone just wants people to do well. And because of the size of Victoria, no one’s really a rock star here. The guy who played guitar in The Neos shops at my grocery store all the time, and I always see him, and I’m like, ‘I don’t think you’re aware of how many people you’ve influenced all over the world.’” So here we are, in Victoria, BC, and everyone in the punk scene is on the same page again, just like they always were. Group fucking hug; let’s mosh that skuzzy basement show like it’s 1994 (or 2014)!

Jason Schreurs is a writer living in British Columbia - @jasonschreurs

WHICH SIDE?

Here is an excellent article on the fucking fake left and other weasels working for the pigs and their system, whether intentionally or not. You don't have to agree with the RCP and the leadership of Bob Avakian, but does that mean you have to go running into the arms of the fucking system and it's enforcers? Instead of whining on about a "cult of personality", get into what is being said, the fucking substance of the matter. Whatever your viewpoint, the RCP stands with the oppressed, and they are not, and will never be, pig informers....

Which Side Are You On?

September 1, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Over the past month, people have risen up—most notably in Ferguson, Missouri—against police murder, but elsewhere as well, against other outrages and abuses. The lines should be very clear: those who stand with justice and the oppressed against those who stand with the oppressors and their enforcers.

But in the course of these uprisings, some people who claim to be on the side of the people have carried out actions that put them with the oppressors. This is not a matter of having political disagreements, even sharp disagreements, about the best ways to resist and seek justice; those kinds of disagreements will, and should, happen in any political struggle or movement. No, this is a matter of actually going over to the other camp, to the oppressors, while claiming to be the biggest fighters FOR the people.

So, let's suggest some simple standards, all drawn from actual events of this past month, that everyone should be able to agree on:

If you go around helping the pigs arrest people, pointing them out and even tackling them for these pigs, then you are working with the pigs and in the camp of the oppressors.

If you go around quoting outright fascist and racist blogs as factual when they attack revolutionaries,then you are lending credibility to the fascists and in the camp of the oppressors.

If you have a journalistic platform and use it to make false accusations against revolutionaries and others who are standing up to resist, either accusing them of crimes or lightly branding them as agent provocateurs, then you are setting people up for prosecution and in the camp of the oppressors.

If you initiate or threaten violence against someone in the movement for justice over political differences, then you are aiding the enemy and in the camp of the oppressors.

If, instead of engaging in principled debate over political differences, you actively refuse and try to suppress such debate and actually spread slander and gutter-level attacks, then you are setting people up for attack by the enemy and in the camp of the oppressors.

If you stalk, pry into and seek to reveal private information about the identities, whereabouts and lives of people who are resisting in dangerous situations, especially situations in which other people have previously been attacked and even killed by counter-revolutionaries and/or the state, then you are aiding and abetting that reactionary violence and in the camp of the oppressors.

If you attack revolutionary leaders with slander or threats, never engaging or speaking to their actual deeds, work or ideas, then you are making it easier for the state and fascists to go after such leaders and aiding the oppressors.

The kinds of outrageous activities pointed to above have all happened—and they must have no place in any serious movement. People should not only abstain from these, but struggle against them when they arise. There are too many bitter experiences, paid for in blood, when this has NOT happened. We should, all of us, struggle to build a movement that is based on courageously confronting and giving no quarter to the enemy AND that is infused with vigorous debate on a foundation of largeness of mind and generosity of spirit on the side of the people.

For background see: "A Reflection on Piggery—Then and Now."

THEY'RE NOT ALL BAD, ARE THEY?

For all of those people who continue to argue that "not all cops are bad...I've met some who are actually really nice", for those morons who can't see the systemic murders these pigs commit, or the fact that any cop anywhere would defend these same police murders, or that it's the unjust system they are sworn to uphold unquestioningly, read this, assholes.

There IS an EPIDEMIC of Police Murders: 59 Stolen Lives from July 17-August 17

September 22, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

A group of volunteers for Revolution/revcom.us took up a project to compile statistics for the number of police murders since Eric Garner was murdered by the police in Staten Island, New York, with a chokehold on July17, 2014. What the research group has established so far is that in one month, from July 17-August 17, the police murdered 59 people—that amounts to just about two a day!

This is staggering and outrageous—showing that indeed, there IS an epidemic of police murders in the USA.

The group’s work is continuing to document lives stolen by the police since July 17 to the present and is asking readers to contribute to this work in progress. Send instances of police murder you know of, including ones to add to this list for July 17-August 17. Write torevolution.reports@yahoo.com. The world needs to know this AND people need to be a part of putting an END to this epidemic of police murder.

*****

1) July 17, ERIC GARNER, New York City: 43-year-old Black man killed by NYPD chokehold. (New York Daily News, July 17)

2) July 17, MISTY HOLT-SINGH, Stockton, California: 41-year-old woman held as a hostage in a bank robbery, killed by police bullets. (Associated Press, July 17)

3) July 17, GILBERT RENTERIA JR., Stockton, California: 30-year-old Latino shot and killed after an alleged bank robbery and a high-speed chase. (Associated Press, July 18)

4) July 17, ALEX GREGORY MARTINEZ, Stockton, California: 27-year-old Latino shot and killed after an alleged bank robbery and a high- speed chase. (Associated Press, July 18)

5) July 17, JUSTIN DAVIS, Germantown, Maryland: 24-year-old suicidal veteran with PTSD, sitting in a car with a rifle shot and killed by three police. (The Commercial Appeal, July 18)

6) July 18, KENNETH JOHNSON, North Las Vegas, Nevada: 34-year-old man shot and killed after fleeing from a routine traffic stop on a motor scooter and brandishing a fake weapon. (FOX5VEGAS, July 18)

7) July 20, RICHARD DUNCALF, Kent, Washington: 28-year-old man shot multiple times by five police in an alleged shootout after a manhunt [alleged crime unspecified]. (Seattle Times, July 22)

8) July 22, JOAQUIN CIBRIAN, La Joya, Texas: 29-year-old Latino, murder suspect, shot and killed after the house he was in was rammed by an armored vehicle and tear-gassed. (News.msn.com, July 22)

9) July 24, LORI KNOWLES, Henry County, Georgia: 37-year-old woman shot by police at her house. (Atlanta-Journal Constitution, July 25)

10) July 25, LUIS JOBEL, Los Angeles, California: 33-year-old Latino shot and killed after reports of someone allegedly vandalizing property and throwing rocks. ( NBC Los Angeles, July 25)

11) July 25, NICHOLAS LISTER, Millcreek, Utah: 31-year-old white man after a domestic dispute at his apartment. (Salt Lake City Tribune, July 25)

12) July 27, ROBERT HENDERSON, Huntington, West Virginia: 37-year-old man shot and killed by police after a dispute in a bar and making a “threatening gesture.” (Associated Press, July 27)

13) July 28, STEVEN ISBY, Chicago, Illinois: 53-year-old burglary suspect. (CBS News, July 28)

14) July 28, CHARLES MOZDIR, New York City: 32-year-old suspected child molester shot and killed by police in Greenwich Village during an attempted arrest. (CNN, July 28)

15) July 29, JOSH EDWARDS, Christian County, Colorado: 25-year-old shot and killed when police tried to serve a warrant. (Herald-Review.com, July 30)

16) July 30, RICHARD NELSON: Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii: 52-year-old shot and killed after he allegedly rear-ended a bus, was seen drinking in his car and driving erratically. (HawaiiNews Now, July 30)

17) August 1, DANIEL PIERRE, Winslow Township, New Jersey: 42-year-old, shot by the police at his trailer home. (ABC News Channel 6, August 1)

18) August 1, ANTHONY CALLOWAY, Fulton County, Georgia: 27-year-old Black man shot by a Fulton County Sherriff’s deputy. ( WSB-TV News 2, )

19) August 1, FRANK AL MENDOZA, Los Angeles, California: 54- year-old Latino bystander shot by police in a hostage situation at his home. (Los Angeles Times, August 1)

20) August 2, CEDRIC OSCAR RAMIREZ, Los Angeles, California: 24-year-old Latino killed by an LA County sheriff’s deputy after allegedly taking people hostage in their home. (Los AngelesTimes, August 2)

21) August 3, OMAR ABREGO, Los Angeles, California: 37-year-old, Latino, beaten by the LAPD after a traffic stop, died 12 hours later. (Los Angeles Times, August 12)

22) August 3, MARK LANZA, Phoenix, Arizona: 23-year-old man shot and killed by police, suspected of a burglary. (The Arizona Republic, August 4)

23) August 3, JACOREY CALHOUN, Oakland, California: 23-year-old Black man shot and killed by Alameda County sheriff’s deputy after a car stop. (KTVU.com Channel 2, August 3)

24) August 3, RYAN SWEARINGEN, Ft. Madison Iowa: 27-year-old white man shot and killed by police after allegedly slashing car tires. (WQAD TV, August 3)

25) August 3, YEE VANG, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota: 20-year-old Asian-American man, shot and killed by police after an alleged car-jacking. (WCCO Channel 4, August 3)

26) August 2, STEVE MATTHEW DOLL, Stockton, California: 40-year-old shot by police after a car chase. (The Recordnet.com, August 19)

27) August 3, VINCENT HINES, Harris County, Texas: 58-year-old man shot by Harris County Sheriff’s deputies after allegedly robbing a bank. (Houston.com, August 6)

28) August 4, MARIA RODRIGUEZ, Bakersfield, California : 42-year-old Latina, shot and killed by Bakersfield PD after allegedly pointing a BB gun at them. (ABC news August 4)

29) August 4, MANUEL FLORES ,Albuquerque, New Mexico : 28 -year-old Latino, shot and killed by a San Bernardino County sheriff after a car accident. (KOAT TV, Albuquerque, August 5)

30) August 5, DONYALE ROWE, Cincinnati, OH: 37- year-old Black man shot by the Cincinnati police after an alleged traffic violation. (Cincinnati.com, August 5)

31) August 5, JOHN CRAWFORD, Beavercreek, Ohio: 22-year-old Black man shot and killed by the police in WalMart while holding a BB gun. (New York Daily News, August 7)

32) August 5, JEREMY LAKE ,Tulsa, Oklahoma: 19-year-old Black man shot and killed by his girlfriend’s white father, who is a cop, after an argument in front of his home. (CBS News.com, August 9)

33) August 6, JAMES PICKARD, JR., Pearl City, Hawaii: 51-year-old man shot multiple times, killed by Honolulu PD after allegedly stealing a car. (KHON 2 TV, August 6)

34) August 7, REGAN WAGNER, Longview, Texas: 23-year-old, white man killed by police after a traffic stop. (News-Journal.com, August 9)

35) August 7, JOSE REYES-TORRES, Folsom, California: 20-year-old Latino shot and killed by police after allegedly confronting them with a knife. (KCRATV.com, August 10)

36) August 8, AUSTIN DAVID UNCLES, Denver, Colorado: 26-year-old white man shot by Colorado State Troopers going after him for an alleged car theft. (ABC 7 News Denver, August 13)

37) August 8, UNIDENTIFIED MAN, AGE UNKNOWN, Detroit, Michigan: Shot and killed after a routine traffic stop. (WWJ TV 62 CBS, August 8)

38) August 8, JUSTIN WAYNE HIGGINS, Fort Smith, Arkansas: 23-year-old, white man shot and killed by Fort Smith PD after an alleged hostage situation. (SouthwestTimesRecord.com, August 10)

39) August 9, JOSE PAULINO, JR., Tamaqua, Pennsylvania : 38-year-old Latino tasered to death by Tamaqua police. (PA Homepage, August 9)

40) August 9, MICHAEL BROWN, Ferguson, Missouri: 18-year-old Black man, shot multiple times by police officer Darren Wilson, Ferguson PD while his hands were up in the air. (New York Times, August 20)

41) August 9, JOSEPH PENDERGHEST, Springfield Township, Pennsylvania: 40-year-old man shot by the Pennsylvania state police after an auto accident. (WGAL.com News 8, August 10)

42) August 9, ALBERTO CORNELIO MORALES, Walnut Park, California: 41-year-old Latino shot and killed by police. (Eyewitness News ABC 7 Los Angeles , August 9)

43) August 11, TORREZ HARRIS, Canton, Mississippi: 52-year-old Black man shot in a laundromat by the police after he allegedly shot his step-daughter in a family argument. (WAPT News, central Mississippi, August 12)

44) August 11, EDDIE DAVIS, DeKalb, Texas: 67-year-old Black man shot and killed by DeKalb police in his home. (arklatexhomepage.com, August 11)

45)August 11, JOSE MANUEL GONZALEZ, Dallas, Texas: 18-year-old Latino, tasered and shot by the Dallas police in his home; he later died at the hospital. (Fox News, Dallas, August 11)

46) August 11, EZELL FORD, Los Angeles, California: 24-year-old Black man with a history of mental illness, shot and killed by the LAPD while lying on the ground. (Washington Post, August 15)

47) August 12, RONALD PIFER, Fairfield Township, Michigan: 54-year-old man shot and killed by Lenawee County Sheriff deputies who went to his house to enforce a court order for hospitalization. (Michigan Live, August 12)

48) August 12, GABRIEL LOPEZ-GONZALEZ, San Fernando, California: 22-year-old Latino, shot and killed by San Fernando PD. (NBC News, Los Angeles, August 13)

49) August 1, JAMES DE VITO, Suffern, New York: 59-years-old, killed by off-duty NYPD cop, who was driving drunk and going in the wrong direction, in a head on collision. (ABC News,New York, September 17)

50) August 13, REAGAN JONES, Muscle Shoals, Alabama: 35-year-old with a history of mental illness, shot by the police. (Alabama.com, August 14)

51) August 13, UNIDENTIFIED MAN, Houston, Texas: Shot and killed by Houston police. (Houston Chronicle, August 13)

52) August 13, MICHELLE CUSSEAUX, Phoenix, Arizona: 50-year-old Black woman shot and killed by the Phoenix PD after her family called the police to take her to a mental health facility. (Arizona Republic, August 23)

53) August 13, JACINTO ZAVALA, Greeley, Colorado: 21-year-old Latino veteran with a history of PTSD, shot and killed by police. (NBC News 9, Colorado. August 13)

54) August 14, DIANA SHOWMAN, San Jose, California: 19-year-old, shot and killed by SJPD after she allegedly pointed a drill at the police. (San Jose Mercury News, August 14)

55) August 14, SONNY WAGNER, Newton, Kansas: 52 year-old man shot by the Newton police in response to a domestic violence call. (KAKE News, August 15)

56) August 14, DANTE PARKER Victorville, California: 36-year-old Black man tasered to death by San Bernadino County sheriffs. (Newsone.com, August 15)

57) August 14, ALVIN CURTIS JENNING , Davenport, Iowa: 61-year-old man shot multiple times by police after a domestic dispute. (WQAD 8 News, August 14)

58) August 17, LEVON LEROY LOVE, San Antonio ,Texas: 44-year-old man found passed out in his car, tasered to death by the police after refusing to go with paramedics. (San Antonio-Express News, August 19)

59) August 17, STEVEN R. PIIRAINEN, Mexico, Maine: 52-year-old white man, shot by Maine police after allegedly stealing a truck. (WMTW Channel 8 TV, August 19)

NO MORE!!! NO MORE!!! NO MORE!!!

Volunteers Needed... for revcom.us and Revolution

WESTERN LIES AND AGGRESSION

Here is an excellent article from the A World To Win News Service about western imperialist hypocrisy when it comes to annexing territory and toppling governments to suit your own ends.
  obama and cameron are two of the biggest liars on the panet, and their hollow rhetoric about human rights,democracy, and other fairy tales is all just fucking smoke. The sooner their criminal system is grabbed by the fucking throat and put down for good, the better off humanity will be.

From A World to Win News Service

Annexing territories and cutting off heads—what, really, are Western values?

September 15, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

September 8, 2014. A World to Win News Service. U.S. President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron have used the events in Ukraine and the beheading of two hostages by the Islamic State (Da'ash) to portray themselves not as predators fighting other predators but fighters for certain moral standards.

What values do the U.S., the UK and other Western powers really stand for? What distinguishes these two men, their governments and the countries they represent, from their enemies?

When is annexation wrong?

At the September NATO summit conference in Wales, Obama lambasted Russia's "incursion" into Ukraine as "unacceptable." Cameron denounced Russian "aggression." NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called on Russia to "end its illegal and self-declared annexation of Crimea."

Why, then, is it "acceptable" for the U.S. and UK to have invaded Iraq and occupied Iraq? Or for these two powers plus NATO to have invaded Afghanistan, which they occupy to this day? Or to have sent their air forces and special forces to overthrow the regime in Libya? Weren't these war crimes whose disastrous effects—from the point of view of the interests of humanity—are still building?

As for "annexation," where would the U.S. and UK be without it? Britain annexed Ireland and still occupies northern Ireland. After an American "incursion" across its northern border, in an act of "self-declared annexation" Mexico was robbed of what is now most of the western United States. Later the U.S. invaded and took over the Philippines and Cuba, and eventually annexed Guam and Puerto Rico.

After having accomplished all this during their "nation-building" period, the U.S. and UK have gone along with other reactionary annexations when it suited their interests—for instance, the Indonesian annexation of Timor and the Moroccan annexation of the Western Sahara. These illegal takeovers were condemned by the UN, but there were no NATO threats or sanctions by "the international community" against the perpetrators, because these regimes were important for Western world domination. Why is Russia being held to a different standard, if not because it is a rival?

And of course, when it comes to annexations and incursions, what about Israel? The UN declared that Israel's 1968 annexation of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights is illegal, and the U.S. government has agreed, but if it is true, as Obama warns Russia, that "actions have consequences," where are the consequences for Israel?

Just after the recent ceasefire in Gaza (which Israel also annexed and occupied, and still treats like a conquered territory where it has the last word—how Putin-like!), the Israeli government announced the appropriation of 400 hectares [about 15.5 square miles] in the West Bank, south of Bethlehem. Ten Palestinian families live on this land, covered with their olive tree orchards. The U.S. State Department said, "We have long made clear our opposition to continued settlement activity."

But what are the "consequences"—for instance, the sanctions? Obama has pledged no cutbacks in military aid to Israel and the Congress has already approved his request for $3.1 billion in 2015.

When should an atrocity be called an atrocity?

"This is a despicable and barbaric murder," Cameron blustered about the beheading of American freelance journalist James Foley. "No just God would stand for what they did yesterday, and for what they do every single day," said Obama, meeting religious fundamentalism with a vow of vengeance stated in religious terms.

But it seems that how wrong it is to behead people depends on who does it.

During the time that Foley was being held hostage, from his capture in November 2012 to his murder in August, Saudi Arabia beheaded at least 113 people, including 17 people in the two weeks just before Foley's death. (This was first pointed out by the UK website Private Eye using figures from Amnesty International.) Capital crimes in Saudi Arabia include armed robbery, adultery, apostasy, rape, witchcraft and sorcery and sedition.

Where are the "consequences"? When Obama met Saudi Arabian King Abdullah for the third time last March, they discussed Iran and Syria. Presumably, Obama didn't tell the medieval monarch that his god is unjust. "Our strategic interests are much more aligned than different," was all that a U.S. official would tell the New York Times about the contents of that conversation. Obama's government sold Abdullah the biggest arms shipment of all time in 2010 ($60 billion worth).

Saudi Arabia provided Islamist cover for the first U.S. invasion of Iraq, and Obama needs the support of these head-cutters (and those of the Free Syrian Army, the Western-favoured "moderate opposition" that also beheads prisoners) for his "coalition" against the Islamic State.

The U.S. doesn't need to cut off heads with swords. It has drones and other aircraft that can be sent to "decapitate" its perceived enemies, sometimes literally. Obama has spent his time in office burning people to death and blowing them to pieces through drone raids in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and now Iraq. According to the London City University-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a decade of American air strikes has left at least 2,500 Pakistanis dead, including many hundreds of people recognized as civilians. Drones routinely hit homes, cars, schools, markets and religious and social gatherings.

Obama brags about his drones, makes jokes about threatening people with them and has tried to make his signature, the sign of his difference with his predecessors when it comes to foreign policy—his own "surgical" sharp sword. As though the high moral ground was at cruise altitude.

Since you won't find many videos of U.S. air strikes online, here's a description of what they do: "Sahib Jin, a 25-year-old neighbour, was one of the first to reach the groom's house after the bombardment. Bodies were lying all over the two courtyards and in the adjoining orchard, some of them in pieces. Human flesh hung in the trees. A woman's torso was lodged in an almond sapling." After a 2002 wedding in Uruzgan province, Afghanistan ended with survivors "collecting body parts in buckets." In 2009, under Obama, U.S. war planes killed 147 people in the village of Granai. (Carlotta Gall, The Wrong Enemy, 2014)

But not all U.S. killing is so hi-tech. The New York Times reporter Gall also brought to light the story of Dilawar, an Afghan taxi driver arrested for driving past an American military base, chained to a ceiling and beaten to death over five days. The autopsy revealed that Dilawar's legs had been "pulpified." The same team of "interrogators" was deployed at Abu Ghraib, one of the U.S. military prisons and torture centres from which the current head of the Islamic State and other leaders emerged.

Anyone who follows news from the U.S. knows that execution by lethal injection can be even more barbaric than cutting off heads. In the last few months two men were basically tortured to death, subject to "excruciating pain" over the course of 43 minutes for one and an hour and forty minutes for the other. Nor is it any less medieval to hold 2.3 million people in prison, often spending years and even decades "entombed," as Amnesty International recently put it. What are lives, especially non-white lives, worth in the U.S.? Local police have killed many hundreds of people in the last decade, and yet Obama's government says it can provide no statistics on the subject. Doesn't that tell you what you need to know about "Western values"?

The Islamists beheaded the journalist Foley for political ends and to send a political message. The U.S., like the world's imperialist and other reactionary governments, kills for the same reasons, abroad and at home. No violent act is beyond them—the only question is what, at a given moment, suits their exploitative interests and their oppressive political power.

Obama said, "One thing we can all agree on is that a group like ISIL has no place in the 21st century." That is true. And it is also true that all the imperialist states, including his own and those of his rivals, and the whole world capitalist-imperialist system that has spawned religious fundamentalism, are no less outmoded, not champions of "humanitarian" values but world champions of crimes against humanity.

A World to Win News Service is put out by A World to Win magazine, a political and theoretical review inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the embryonic center of the world's Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations.

OSCAR GRANT

Some of you may know this, and some may not, but the song "Oscar Grant" on the latest AK-47 CD "Garden City" is based on actual events, and was also heart-wrenchingly depicted in the movie "Fruitvale Station", which I recently saw. Brilliantly acted, real life pain and suffering brought on by the system and it's enforcers, this movie is a must-see for any fool who doubts this, and also for those who don't. Ryan Coogler is an amazing young writer and director. Read this...

Flash: News from Oakland

From readers in the San Francisco Bay Area:

The first hours of the New Year would be the last for 22-year-old Oscar Grant, another murder at the hands of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police. Another precious life stolen from his family, his friends and humanity.

As hundreds looked on at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, they saw Oscar, kneeling with his hands in the air, forced to the platform, face first, by Officer Johannes Mehserle, with another cop’s knee on his neck. Witnesses said Oscar told his friends, who were being threatened by police with tasers, "be cool" and "just do what they say."

Officer Mehserle got off Oscar’s back, stood up and drew his gun. Just as Oscar said, "Please don't taser me, I have a four-year-old daughter,” the cop deliberately pumped a round into Oscar’s back.

Oscar Grant died a short while later, leaving behind a four-year-old daughter and grieving family and friends.

Not only was this a sick, and sickening, execution committed in front of a crowd of horrified witnesses, both on the train platform and from inside a packed BART train stopped at the Fruitvale station, but it was captured on video recorders and cell phones. Several videos taken by BART riders have been shown on TV and YouTube.

One video shows about 5 police yelling at a group of young men, apparently detaining them, roughly. Three or four of the youth are sitting or kneeling on the platform, some are handcuffed. You hear people on the BART shouting at the cops with anger, protesting the treatment the youth are getting. Then you see the cops force Oscar down, his chest to the concrete. One cop puts his knee on Oscar’s neck, then Mehserle stands, straddles Oscar’s back, un-holsters and points his gun—and you hear a shot and see the muzzle blast.

Outrage and shock spread as the video spread on the Internet and national television. For Oscar’s funeral on January 7, over a thousand people overflowed outside the doors of a large church. An outpouring of rage from the community, people of different nationalities, unseen in years, has erupted—daily demonstrations for justice, joined by Oscar’s friends and those who never were given a chance to know him. The Revolution Club—which has been out there from day one—has been joining with the anger, and struggling for the need for revolution.

Knocked back by the intensity of this outrage, a BART spokesman called for calm, cautioning that a rush to judgment was premature before all of the facts were in. BART initially denied having any “corroborating” video surveillance of the incident—claiming that the video camera in that station was not operational.

But witnesses told of being attacked or arrested and their cell phones taken by police. They have not been returned. Many of the witnesses spoke to the press, determined to get the truth out, fully aware of the risk they were taking. They told how because of a reported fight on the train two stations earlier, cops grabbed the first Black youth they saw at the Fruitvale stop. Oscar’s sister told us, “He was a good man. He died because he got off that train.” Though it did not make the press, many told us how the cops were swarming on the platform, threatening, hitting and cuffing anyone who called them out, cursing people and calling them “niggers.”

A well-known lawyer who is representing the family, and who has represented many cases of police murder, called this "the most egregious shooting I have ever seen."

Of course, BART and the Alameda County District Attorney—who are the ones who are responsible for filing criminal charges against Mehserle—promised a full investigation. They did question many witnesses to the killing. BUT, seven days after this blatant killing, Mehserle, who had been on paid leave—and, as this is written, has just “retired”—has refused to be questioned. What’s up with that? A cover-up—while getting their “story” together? When are any of us, when accused of a crime, allowed the “right” to not being interrogated?

The authorities are starting to work their case in the media, suggesting that this is a “double tragedy”—that the murdering cop is suffering too! They suggest that he might have intended “only” to taser Oscar and pulled out the wrong weapon. What bullshit! That a cop, trained in firearms, would mistake a lightweight plastic bright yellow taser for his heavy steel fully-loaded automatic weapon, which he had to cock before firing.

In a personal letter to the family of Oscar Grant, Cornelius Hall—whose son Jerrold was killed with a shotgun blast to the back of his head by the same BART police force in 1992—wrote, “I understand your pain although I will never know what you feel nor will anyone else. Stay focused in your quest for justice although you may get tired at times.”

Then he added from his own experience, and that of many other families who have lost loved ones, “BART will try to demonize your son in order to make his image look bad. Hold your head up high with the memory of his love.”

In fact, this has already started. The media is parroting stories fed by the police about a previous arrest, years back, on Oscar’s record.

But family and friends who knew and loved Oscar are holding their heads high with the memory of a young man who was working two jobs, who loved people and would try to find the best in everyone he met, who loved sports, and was a record home-run hitter in little league, and desired to marry the mother of his beautiful daughter. "What hurts me the most is when he would share with me his love for his daughter, Tayana," one friend told us. Another, talking about plans he and Oscar had just made, said, "I'm angry. I'm in a lot of pain."

A family friend lamented, "We were a village and we raised our boys, we raised them so this would not happen."

But it did. And it does far too often. What kind of system is this that does this to our precious youth?

This capitalist system has made clear once again that it has no future for a whole generation of youth. They have let us know what they think of us. We have to fight for a different future. The murder of Oscar Grant must be met with even more resistance.

MORE IMPERIALIST HYPOCRISY

If the relatives of those beheaded by the islamic jihadist organization "ISIL" want to find out who is behind the deaths of their loved ones, they need look no further than their own bloodsoaked fucked up government.

“Going After” the Islamic State. Guess Who is Behind the Caliphate Project?

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky

Global Research, September 12, 2014

Region: Middle East & North Africa

Theme: Intelligence, Media Disinformation, US NATO War Agenda

 451 

  124  9 

 

  686

The Islamic State (IS) is portrayed as an Enemy of America and the Western world. 

With the support of America’s indefectible British ally, President Barack Obama has ordered a series of US bombing raids on Iraq allegedly with a view to defeating the rebel army of the Islamic State (IS).

“We will not waver in our determination to confront the Islamic State … If terrorists think we will weaken in the face of their threats they could not be more wrong.” (Barack Obama and David Cameron, Strengthening the NATO alliance, op ed published in the London Times, September 4, 2014, emphasis added)

But Who is behind the Islamic State Project?

In a bitter irony,  until recently the rebels of the Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) were heralded as Syria’s “opposition freedom fighters” committed to “restoring democracy” and unseating the secular government of Bashar al Assad.

And who was behind  the jihadist insurgency in Syria?

Those who ordered the bombing campaign are those who are behind the Caliphate Project.

The Islamic State (IS) militia, which is currently the alleged target of  a US-NATO bombing campaign under a “counter-terrorism” mandate, was and continues to be supported covertly by the United States and its allies.

In other words, the Islamic State (IS) is a creation of US intelligence with the support of Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Presidency (GIP), Ri’āsat Al-Istikhbārāt Al-’Āmah ( رئاسة الاستخبارات العامة‎). Moreover, according to Israeli intelligence sources (Debka) NATO in liaison with the Turkish High Command has been involved in the recruitment of jihadist mercenaries from the outset of the Syrian crisis in March 2011.

In relation to the Syrian insurgency, the Islamic State  fighters together with the Al Qaeda affiliated jihadist forces of the Al Nusrah Front are the foot soldiers of the Western military alliance. They are covertly supported by US-NATO-Israel. Their  mandate is to wage a terrorist insurgency against the government of Bashar al-Assad. The atrocities committed by Islamic State fighters in Iraq are similar to those committed in Syria.

As a result of media disinformation, Western public opinion is unaware that the Islamic State terrorists have from the very outset been supported by the United States and its allies.

The killings of innocent civilians by the Islamic State terrorists in Iraq are used to create a pretext and a justification for US military intervention on humanitarian grounds.  The bombing raids ordered by Obama, however, are not intended to eliminate the Islamic State, which constitutes a US “intelligence asset”. Quite the opposite, the US is targeting the civilian population as well as the Iraqi resistance movement. 

The Role of Saudi Arabia and Qatar

Amply documented, US-NATO support to the Islamic State is channeled covertly through America’s staunchest allies: Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Acknowledged by the Western media, both Riyadh and Doha acting in liaison and on behalf of Washington have played (and continue to play) a central role in the financing the Islamic State (IS) as well as the recruitment, training and religious indoctrination of terrorist mercenary forces deployed in Syria.

According to London’s Daily Express “They [the Islamic State terrorists] had money and arms supplied by Qatar and Saudi Arabia.”

“The most important source of ISIS financing to date has been support coming out of the Gulf states, primarily Saudi Arabia but also Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates,” (According to Dr. Günter Meyer, Director of the Center for Research into the Arabic World at University of Mainz, Germany,  Deutsche Welle)

This money was channeled to ISIS terrorists fighting against government forces in Syria:

“Through allies such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the West [has] supported militant rebel groups which have since mutated into ISIS and other al‑Qaeda connected militias. ( Daily Telegraph, June 12, 2014)

According to Robert Fisk, the IS caliphate project “has been bankrolled by Saudi Arabia”:

…[M]eet Saudi Arabia’s latest monstrous contribution to world history: the Islamist Sunni caliphate of Iraq and the Levant, conquerors of Mosul and Tikrit – and Raqqa in Syria – and possibly Baghdad, and the ultimate humiliators of Bush and Obama.

From Aleppo in northern Syria almost to the Iraqi-Iranian border, the jihadists of Isis and sundry other groupuscules paid by the Saudi Wahhabis – and by Kuwaiti oligarchs – now rule thousands of square miles. (Robert Fisk, The Independent,  June 12, 2014

In 2013, as part of its recruitment of terrorists, Saudi Arabia took the initiative of releasing prisoners on death row in Saudi jails.

A secret memo revealed that the prisoners were being “recruited” to join jihadist militia (including Al Nusrah and ISIS) to fight against government forces in Syria.

Saudi prison

The prisoners had reportedly been offered a deal — stay and be executed or fight against Assad in Syria. As part of the deal the prisoners were offered a “pardon and a monthly stipend for their families, who were allowed to stay in the Sunni Arab kingdom”.

Saudi officials apparently gave them a choice: decapitation or jihad? In total, inmates from Yemen, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Jordan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq, and Kuwait chose to go and fight in Syria.(SeeGlobal Research,  September 11, 2013)

“Volte Face”: About Turn

On September 11, 2014, coinciding with the commemoration of 9/11, the King of Saudi Arabia together with the Monarchs of the Gulf States announced their unbending commitment to support Obama’s holy war against the Islamic State (IS), which has and continues to be funded by Qatari and Saudi money as part of a carefully engineered intelligence operation.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry, left, speaks with Joseph W. Westphal, the U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on his arrival at the King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia on Sept. 11, 2014. (Pool photo by Brendan Smialowski via Associated Press)

Saudi Arabia and the Gulf  States which actively contributed to the financing of the Islamic State, not to mention the recruitment, training of terrorists on behalf of Washington, pledged their unbending support for Obama’s military campaign to “degrade and ultimately destroy” the Islamic State.

The statement of  support contained in the communiqué, commits the “leading Arab states to working with the U.S. to cut off the flow of foreign fighters and funds to the Islamic State.” It also confirms that members discussed  “a strategy to destroy the ISIL wherever it is, including in both Iraq and Syria.”

Saudi Arabia has come to understand the Islamic State group is a serious threat to their country as well– that it isn’t a mainstream Sunni movement.One element of Obama’s IS plan seeks to undermine the ideological and religious claims that the Islamic State militants make to Islam.

The administration hopes Riyadh will use its influence among Islamic religious leaders. (Voice of America, September 11, 2014)

Recruiting “Moderate Terrorists”

As part of the agreement, the House of Saud is to “host a training facility for thousands of Syrian rebel fighters who are combating both the Islamic State and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.” An absurd and fake proposition.  Until September 9th, “officially” Saudi Arabia had been supporting the Islamic State against the government of Bashar al Assad and now it has been entrusted in recruiting jihadists to fight the Islamic State. An  absurd and fake proposition. But the media has failed to connect the dots and uncover the big lie.

We are dealing with a diabolical project:  The architects of the Islamic State have informed the World that they are “going after” their own terrorists as part of a counter-terrorism operation.

While these actions are undertaken under the banner of the “Global War on Terrorism”, the US has no intention to target its IS own terror brigades which are integrated by Western special forces and intelligence operatives. In fact the only meaningful and effective campaign against Islamic State terrorists is being waged by Syrian government forces.

Needless to say, US, NATO, Saudi and Qatari support and funding to the Islamic State will continue. The objective is not to destroy the Islamic State as promised by Obama. What we are dealing with is a US sponsored process of destabilizing and destroying both Iraq and Syria. The campaign against the Islamic State is being used as a justification to bomb both countries, largely targeting civilians.

The endgame is to destabilize Iraq as a nation state and trigger its partition into three separate entities.

The broader US-NATO strategic objective is to destabilize the entire Middle East- North Africa -Central Asia -South Asia region, including Iran, Pakistan and India.