[2022] Chaos Agent – Yuri Bezmenov

Yuri Bezmenov defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in the ‘70s, and his warnings about disinformation have made him a posthumous star on social media. Documents obtained by CBC News reveal his toxic relationship with Canada’s intelligence services.

Chaos agent (archived)

Semi-Related:

Call Of Duty Trailer Recklessly Promotes Far-Right Conspiracy Theory (archived)

The person interviewing Bezmenov in the footage is far-right conspiracy theorist G. Edward Griffin, who has since made a name for himself in HIV/AIDS denialism and alt-right recruitment. As a member of the John Birch Society, a famously anti-Communist organization focused on establishing a more conservative government in the United States, it makes sense that Griffin would peddle Bezmenov’s claims about Soviet interference by way of social progress without any critical analysis. In the Call of Duty trailer, Activision presents Bezmenov’s words bereft of this important context.

Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War uses KGB video from 1984. Critics say it’s CIA propaganda

Settler-Colonial Theology: From Lāhainā to Palestine

From grandstanding in the rubble after our fire in Lāhainā to posing on top of a tank in Palestine, Harvest pastor Greg Laurie is the poster boy for white Christianity in occupied lands. I went to Kumulani Chapel for over a decade (through its transition to Harvest). I got my undergraduate degree in religious studies… let me tell you something: this is what settler-colonial theology looks like. The corporate religion espoused by Harvest is performative and littered with internal contradictions; it is quite explicitly a demonstration of Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”. As a friend of mine noted, Laurie “was one of the early Trojan horse pastors that dressed Christofascist bullshit in a hip new package”. His church serves as a superstructure to reproduce Settler-Colonial/Capitalist society.

Settler-Colonial Theology: From Lāhainā to Palestine

Michael Parenti: Mother Teresa, John Paul II, and the Fast-Track Saints

During his 26-year papacy, John Paul II elevated 483 individuals to sainthood, reportedly more saints than any previous pope. One personage he beatified but did not live long enough to canonize was Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun of Albanian origin who had been wined and dined by the world’s rich and famous while hailed as a champion of the poor. The darling of the corporate media and western officialdom, and an object of celebrity adoration, Teresa was for many years the most revered woman on earth, showered with kudos and awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her “humanitarian work” and “spiritual inspiration.”

Michael Parenti: Mother Teresa, John Paul II, and the Fast-Track Saints

Left Anti-Communism: a Trojan Horse That Weakens the Working Class

“The pure socialists’ ideological anticipations remain untainted by existing practice. They do not explain how the manifold functions of a revolutionary society would be organized, how external attack and internal sabotage would be thwarted, how bureaucracy would be avoided, scarce resources allocated, policy differences settled, priorities set, and production and distribution conducted. Instead, they offer vague statements about how the workers themselves will directly own and control the means of production and will arrive at their own solutions through creative struggle. No surprise then that the pure socialists support every revolution except the ones that succeed.”

Left Anti-Communism: a Trojan Horse That Weakens the Working Class – MLToday

MO Republicans reenact Fahrenheit 451 [with cardboard boxes]

MO State Senators Eigel (R) and Schroer (R) burned the “liberal agenda” with flamethrowers in effigy this weekend. Today, Eigel, who is running for governor, vowed to burn books: “Those woke pornographic books … I’ll burn those too – on the front lawn of the gov’s mansion.”

These Republicans weren’t burning books with their flamethrowers

Related:

GOP lawmakers hold symbolic book burning with flamethrowers

Rainer Shea: Why I’m Pro-Russia & Pro-Rage Against the War Machine: Anti-Imperialists Can’t Win With Idealism

By Rainer Shea – May 12, 2023

When somebody rejects all of the practical paths towards fighting imperialism and class exploitation, on the basis that they feel we should be taking a purer path, then you had better make sure this other path is viable. If it’s not viable, and they’re saying this simply to complain rather than to offer a serious alternative, then you shouldn’t even entertain them. Because what’s the point of validating somebody who has nothing constructive to say? Unless an option is practicable, it’s not worth bringing up.

Why I’m Pro-Russia & Pro-Rage Against the War Machine: Anti-Imperialists Can’t Win With Idealism

I find it funny that many of the sectarians had no problems working with The Libertarian Institute and Antiwar.com but they had problems with Libertarians running the Rage Against the War Machine! Egotism?!

Leila Khaled: “This Is Now An Intifada”

Leila Khaled: “This Is Now An Intifada”

THE WESTERN MEDIA ARE CONTROLLED BY A MURDEROUS EMPIRE. IT’S A STRONG MEDIA, THEY JUST HIDE THE FACTS OF WHAT’S GOING ON IN THIS REGION, ESPECIALLY IN PALESTINE.

Leila Khaled

Video backup

Capitalism’s Court Jester: Slavoj Žižek

One of the most prominent intellectuals in the contemporary world was named to the list of the “Top 100 Global Thinkers” in Foreign Policy magazine in 2012. He shares this distinction with the likes of Dick Cheney, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Mossad director Meir Dagan. The theorist’s best idea—according to this well-known publication that is a virtual arm of the U.S. State Department—is that “the big revolution the left is waiting for will never come.”

Capitalism’s Court Jester: Slavoj Žižek

Related:

Upcoming: Gabriel Rockhill | Why Slavoj Žižek is Capitalism’s Court Jester (YouTube)

The Rational Destruction of Yugoslavia

How the POW/MIA flag took over America: Have You Forgotten Him?

THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION PROMISED a return to normalcy, but one of its most telling acts of restoration passed with barely any comment. Early last year, the administration hoisted the POW/MIA flag above the White House, where it had flown for decades until Donald Trump abruptly relocated it to the South Lawn in 2020. In an era when even the most minor symbolic sparks can ignite endless outrage, few Americans noticed Biden’s gesture—and why should they? Reverence for the POW/MIA flag is a truly bipartisan position. Left, right, and center united when Senators Elizabeth Warren, Tom Cotton, and Maggie Hassan penned a letter asking Biden to “restore the flag to its place of honor” just days after his inauguration.

Have You Forgotten Him?