h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Whilst I usually - nay, strictly and at all times - avoid political discussions, I have an uncomfortable feeling about Stockholm and a certain person's recent "What happened in Sweden last night" comment. Did he know about it but get the dates wrong?

Many people are thinking about that.

On the other hand, considering all the ( false) motives to bomb Irak, Lybia, Afganistán… , the modus operandi of CIA and Mossad and many more facts, like a timely viral video, can´t we think that USA ‘needed’ to bomb there?

They are sychopaths, I wouldn´t get much surprised if CIA is also behind that attack in Stocolm , it only adds force to the image of Saviour Trumps needs.

If we subtracted the U.S. form the Middle East, could things be any worse than they are now? Just wondering....

Who knows Paul?
However, history tells that US has a tendency to back up coup d' etats and to drop 'humanitarian-democratizing' bombs wherever there are resources.

The suffocation of arab springs that started in 2011, is a recent prove of their way of acting.

Have there been any confirmed false flag attacks perpetrated by national governments in recent history?

There are oodles of conspiracy theories suggesting false flag attacks, but I don't know of any confirmed. Some people were suggesting the recent chemical attacks in Syria were possibly false flags perpetrated possibly by Syrian rebels, or possibly even by Russia in order to bolster Trump. I think telemetry later confirmed that the attack was launched from the airfield targeted in Trumps retaliatory missile strike, but that doesn't stop the conspiracies.


I know of a few false flag incidents and acts of agent provocateurs in early and mid 20th century, but what about more recently? Are there recent false flags or is it just a meme that has attracted the more conspiracy minded on the interwebs?

Look, I'm the last person to defend the CIA /or/ Drumpf. But they're not terrorists, and he's not a murderer.

Let's not let our imaginations run away from us here.

I don't find myself seeing atrocities as conspiracy driven. People are going to slaughter people, it's what they do. Americans shoot up their own schools, Canadians plot to murder as many of the people that gave them a good life as they can. And I think that on the whole, far more Arabs have been murdered in quantity by other Arabs than by any foreign nation. As for Israel murdering more Arabs than the reverse, I think that is mostly just down to poor aim on the part of the most common attackers.

We are a pretty pathetic species, really.

We certainly are..I'm soo disappointed that since the Berlin Wall came down we seem to have gone to hell in a handcart..I had such high hopes that we were turning a corner as a global entity.

I don't think pathetic is the word. Just violent.

Personally I don't see violence as all that bad really, provided it's properly harnessed and controlled. I recognize most people would disagree, however.



Anyway, as far as the Berlin Wall goes, don't let mass media fool you. This is objectively a MUCH better world we find ourselves in, by EVERY conceivable measure.

Recent political events notwithstanding, that is.

"Look, I'm the last person to defend the CIA /or/ Drumpf. But they're not terrorists, and he's not a murderer."

what defines a terrorist?

The record of CIA/US goverments on terrorism is huge. History tells, facts tell it. But if you want to name those actions as humanitarian, peace, democracy...driven, it´s a peculiar way of naming reality.

it´s funny that Isis are terrorists except when media refers to them in Syria, in that case they are rebels.

There´s not conspiracy, there´s not letting your imagination fly, it´s just reading History and joining the dots.

"what defines a terrorist?" [Maria]

Good post!

Modern terrorism is said to have begun with Sherman's march through Georgia. We yanks would like to think that we spread enlightenment to the rest of the world, but some of what we spread is pretty dark in nature.

"if you want to name those actions as humanitarian, peace, democracy...driven, it´s a peculiar way of naming reality."

I think the person who mentioned bombing for peace, etc., was being sarcastic or ironic. I honestly don't know the full scope of what the CIA does. They keep their operations secret. It isn't until government documents are declassified decades later that the bigger picture takes shape. Or a Daniel Ellsberg or Julian Assange or Snowden releases them to the media.

There was reporting of some of the heinous actions of the CIA in Central and South America in the '80s, but it was mostly ignored by the greater public and mainstream media. I kept track of some of it in weekly magazines like Newsweek, US News and World Report, and occasionally Rolling Stone.

I've always thought that the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is that a terrorist targets innocent civilians. So shooting or bombing soldiers or armed policemen is freedom fighting. Potentially you could even go as far leaving a bomb in a civilian area and then informing the authorities in plenty of time to ensure that no-one is harmed.
Terrorism is deliberately killing or harming unarmed civilians or not caring whether unarmed civilians are killed.
Fortunately terrorism has really declined over the last couple of decades. The Troubles in Northern Ireland killed 3,600 people in the UK in the 1960s-1990s – 1,800 by the IRA alone. This millennium in the UK we've only had the 7/7 bombing which killed 56. (I've not seen any evidence to persuade me that the Westminster Bridge attack was terrorism rather than one individual committing mass murderer).

<BB<

Only after declassification we have known some of the activities of CIA. We may never know what´s going on in Syria. Or in Trump´s mind.

This is a BBC journalist who researched on the "special operations" of Gladio, a project created by the CIA many decades ago but it gives an idea of the level of scruples they have.

http://youtu.be/trGfQREzScY

"I honestly don't know the full scope of what the CIA does. They keep their operations secret."

That's exactly the problem.

I can't be part of the solution, but maybe I can avoid being part of the problem?

No, I mean that their secret-keeping is the problem.

Governments may need discretion, secret... For different reasons.
The problem is the final aim of their actions and the means they use. In the case of the US/CIA, the aim is to protect the interests of a powerful elite.

Chaos, death, devastation... is what is left behind.

Hypocresy is their flag. They not only forget about Hitler gassing people, as that idiot has said, they also forget about the orange agent and napalm they used in Vietnam, or the selling of Sarin to Sadan Houssein. And probably more examples that will remain unknown.

That is terrorism, imperialist terrorism.