886 Left treated Hillary's war plan against Russia as a non-issue

Left treated Hillary's war plan against Russia as a non-issue

Newsletter published on 10 November 2016

(1) Left treated Hillary's war plan against Russia as a non-issue
(2) Trots no mention of Assange Pilger interview
(3) Trots run the Demonstrations against Trump
(4) ISO Trots call for Overthrow of Assad
(5) Socialist Alternative Trots reject White Working Class
(6) Oligarchy still exists and is still powerful - Paul Craig Roberts

(1) Left treated Hillary's war plan against Russia as a non-issue

Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2016 20:21:19 -0500 From: seth17279@aol.com Subject:
Re: On election eve, NATO announces military buildup against Russia. But
Trump will tear up Brzezinski's Chessboard

Hi Peter,
I had been reading your compilations lately with keen interest. Thanks
I was estranged from most of the left this time.
I wrote
Trump wins, war with Russia averted, ends reign of Clinton crime family

Although I voted for Jill Stein, I felt palpable relief in hearing of
Clinton's defeat by Trump. This whole election ought to have been a
referendum on: "Should we go to war with Putin?" The idea that Clinton ,
determined to force a showdown with Russia, was "the lesser evil" was
insane. Trump, however odious, was the peace candidate.Those who
continued to support Clinton after she announced her support for a
no-fly zone in Syria--an act of war against Russia---should be ashamed
of themselves. That is an act of collective suicide. The radical Left
--Noam Chomsky,Naomi Klein, Michael Moore, the later Tom Hayden etc
etc,--was supporting Dr Strangelove, all the while talking about how
dangerous Trump is. The left treated Clinton's war plan as a non-issue,
or at worst as unimportant.

This is a left that is crippled by its emotional attachments to the
Democratic Party, by its collective fantasies as shaped by corporate
press. True Trump is a wild card, but Hillary Clinton Strangelove was
eager to attack Russia and she had the support of both parties'
establishments. To call her "the lesser evil" shows a profound confusion
of the left in America, if not a collective death wish. Seth Farber, Ph.D.

(2) Trots no mention of Assange Pilger interview
- by Peter Myers, November 11, 2016

As soon as they learned of Trump's win, the Trots organized street
demonstrations in cities across the US.

These are the same people behind Black Lives Matter - that's just a
spinoff, a franchise. After the murder of several policemen, they pulled
the demonstrations, lest disorder on the streets boost Trump. Now
they're back.

Thee demonstrations are mainly run by two militant Trotskyist organizations:
- the International Socialist Organization (ISO):
https://socialistworker.org/
- Socialist Alternative: http://www.socialistalternative.org/

They have some factional differences, but work together. The ISO oppose
all the "dictators" - Castro, Chavez, Assad, Gaddafi & Mugabe - whereas
Socialist Alternative support Castro & Chavez but oppose Assad, Gaddafi,
& Mugabe (calling for their downfall).

The ISO is strong among Left academics at leading universities.

News reports show demonstrators carrying signs such as 'Socialist
Alternative'. Yet the reports never call them 'Communist' or
'Trotskyist'; they are just presented as normal Americans.

At yesterday's demonstrations, a reporter noted the Trump had "some word
to do" to re-unify the country. But these Trots will never change their
spots - they are revolutionaries.

There are major differences between 'Stalinist' and the militant
'Trotskyist' camps. I classify as 'Stalinist' all the Left but
anti-Trotskyist websites. The 'Stalinists', such as Global Research,
oppose the overthrow of Gaddafi and Assad, whereas the militant
Trotskyists support the overthrow.

There is one Trotskyist organization which stands out from the others -
ICFI: https://www.wsws.org/. It does not command demonstrators on the
streets - it is not 'militant' (but it was a major backer of the Tamil
Tigers). WSWS opposes the overthrow of Gaddafi and Assad.

Even so, none of the Trotskyist sites carried the pre-election interview
of Julian Assange by John Pilger. The 'Stalinist' sites, such as Global
Research, did carry it.

This is amazing, because John Pilger is quintessentially Left. I heard
him speak at a Trotskyist conference in Canberra 20 years ago. Yet this
most pertinant interview, exposing Hillary's accepting donations from
the Qatar and Saudi governments even though she knew they were funding
ISIS, was censored by the Trots. They were so anti-Trump that they
turned a blind eye to Hillary's war agenda.

Check yourself. These are the searches:

http://www.socialistalternative.org/?s=assange+pilger

https://socialistworker.org/search/node/assange%20pilger

http://www.wsws.org/en/search.html?maxResults=100&text=assange+pilger&title=&description=&keywords=&author=&year=2016&month=11&search=search

WSWS did cover the NATO military buildup against Russia, announced just
before the election, but the ISO and Socialist Alternative did not
mention it. They think that Gay Marriage matters more than World War III.

That is why it is fitting to classify them in the War camp.

They may well be accepting funds from George Soros, as certain
Trotskyist organizations (such as Partisan review) were accepting
payments from the CIA during the Cold War.

Russians threw a party for Trump, in Moscow, after the election.

(3) Trots run the Demonstrations against Trump
https://socialistworker.org/2016/11/10/protesting-trump-from-day-one

Protesting Trump from day one

Sumaya Awad and Dorian Bon report from New York City as thousands show
their anger with the president-elect on the first day after the
presidential election.

November 10, 2016

EVEN AS rain began to pour down in the evening after Election Night,
thousands of people in New York City turned up to protest Donald Trump
and his rise to the presidency.

Various marches snaked through lower and midtown Manhattan. Every half
hour or so, two marches would collide and erupt in joyous shouts of
solidarity before continuing on together. While some marches began on
the sidewalks, by the end of the night, they had taken over the streets.

When protesters waded into Broadway, they met support from car drivers
honking their horns, bus drivers raising their fists and people shouting
from upper floors of office buildings and apartments. Hundreds of
vehicles were deserted in the streets as drivers joined the march.

As the march went down Sixth Avenue, people came out from retail stores
to watch and film protesters chanting, "We demand impeachment!" and
"Racist, sexist anti-gay! Donald Trump, go away!" Other onlookers
chanted along, at first hesitantly, then confidently, as the
demonstration marched in defiance of the racist, Islamophobic bigot who
will soon become president.

New Yorkers were not alone in rejecting Trump. While Democrats from
Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren were calling on supporters to unite
behind Donald Trump, protests were erupting across the country.

Thousands took over the downtown streets in Chicago, Boston and Los
Angeles, and there were big protests at universities from California to
Massachusetts. There were high school walkouts in Arizona and Iowa--two
states where Trump won a majority--as well as Berkeley High School in
California, where 1,500 students--half the student body--participated.

In Washington, D.C., chants of "No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!" rang
out as an impromptu march of several hundred people met another large
group of people at Trump's new luxury Pennsylvania Avenue hotel. After
such a devastating Election Night, people were inspired to chant, talk
and speak out about what they think happened and what we need to do next.

The anger was directed not just at Trump and everything he stands for,
but the Democratic Party machine whose response to Trump's campaign
slogan of "Make America great again" was "America has always been
great." As one speaker put it, "Donald Trump's white nationalist economy
should have been on the ballot against a social economy. We weren't able
to have that vote because the Democratic Party didn't allow us to have
that choice."

"The GOP was able to split white workers from having any solidarity with
workers of color so here we are," said Melanie from Capitol Heights.
"It's not about Hillary Clinton. It's about the Democratic machine and
the way they ran their candidate of choice through the system. So we see
that the liberal elites were out of touch as we have known." [...]

AT THE New York protests, one of which was called by a coalition of
activists and the other by Socialist Alternative, the atmosphere was
joyful and defiant. People seemed excited to be on the streets again,
unified.

The many dozens of movements that marchers came from were reflected in
the chants: "Black lives matter" led to "Muslim lives matter," then
"Disabled, trans and immigrant lives matter," each one louder than the last.

Often times several chants could be heard at once from different places
in the crowd: "Not my president," "Her body, her choice," "We won't let
Trump spread his hate, We won't let him legislate," "Whose streets? Our
streets!" "From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go!" "We
reject the President-elect!' [...]

(4) ISO Trots call for Overthrow of Assad
https://socialistworker.org/2016/11/01/the-western-left-and-the-syrian-war

The Western left and the Syrian war

Australian socialist Corey Oakley takes up the debates among
anti-imperialist forces over what the left should say about Syria, in an
article for the newspaper Red Flag.

November 1, 2016

THE SYRIAN war is not just a tragedy. It is a crime of immense
proportions. And it is clear as day who is culpable.

First, the Assad regime, which in 2011 met the demands of a protest
movement for social justice and democratization with bullets and torture
cells, and when that failed, and protesters began to call for Bashar
al-Assad's overthrow, decided there was no price in blood it would not
pay to stay in power.

Second, the Iranian regime, which, as the rebellion grew and the
resources of the regime were exhausted in the face of a nationwide
uprising, deployed its own military forces and proxy militias to keep
the government in power and prolong the war.

Third, Russia. While Putin backed Assad from the outset, it was only in
September last year that Russia, fearful the regime was on the brink of
collapse, intervened decisively, unleashing the terrible power of its
air force on rebel-held cities such as Aleppo. John Kerry's assertion
that the Russian plan for Aleppo is modeled on its campaign in Grozny in
1999, when Russian forces laid waste to the entire city in order to
wrest it from rebel hands, is likely to be a correct, if hypocritical,
assessment. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

THEN THERE is the West. It deserves its share of the blame too, but not
for the reasons many claim. The predominant narrative on the left is
that the U.S. and its allies have pursued a strategy of "regime change"
in Syria, and are responsible for fuelling the resistance to Assad.

In fact, the opposite is true. Despite expressing, at various times,
sympathy for rebels and hostility to Assad, the U.S. has at almost every
stage hindered efforts to overthrow the regime. [...]

First published at Red Flag. https://redflag.org.au/node/5559

(5) Socialist Alternative Trots reject White Working Class
http://www.socialistalternative.org/2016/11/09/resistance-trump-party-99/

We Need Mass Resistance to Trump and a New Party of the 99%

November 9, 2016

People in the US and around the world awoke today to one of the most
shocking political upsets in living memory with the election of Donald
Trump as president. It was the culmination of an election cycle when
ordinary Americans rose up against the political establishment and
against the destructive effects of globalization and neo-liberalism.
This was expressed both on the left, with the campaign of Bernie Sanders
which galvanized millions for a "political revolution against the
billionaire class," and, in a distorted way, on the right with Trump’s
campaign.

But Trump did not just run as the alleged defender of the "forgotten men
and women" in working class communities. He also ran the most overtly
bigoted and chauvinist campaign of a major party candidate in modern
times. He created a space for white nationalists and open white
supremacists to come out of their holes and try to reach disaffected
white workers and youth. This is a very dangerous development.

However, we completely reject the notion – relentlessly pushed by
liberal commentators, trying to deflect from the staggering failure of
the Democratic Party – that the outcome demonstrates that the bulk of
the white working class shares Trump’s racism and xenophobia. [...]

It needs to be underlined that the outcome of this election was not just
a shock to tens of millions of progressive workers, women, immigrants,
people of color, and LGBTQ people but also – for quite different reasons
– to the ruling elite of the United States. [...]

(6) Oligarchy still exists and is still powerful - Paul Craig Roberts

    Gary Kohls<ggkohls@gmail.com> 10 November 2016 at 06:23

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/11/09/the-working-class-won-the-election-paul-craig-roberts/


The Working Class Won The Election

Paul Craig Roberts

November 9, 2016 @ 12:29 pm

The US presidential election is historic, because the American people
were able to defeat the oligarchs. Hillary Clinton, an agent for the
Oligarchy, was defeated despite the vicious media campaign against
Donald Trump.  This shows that the media and the political
establishments of the political parties no longer have credibility with
the American people.

It remains to be seen whether Trump can select and appoint a government
that will serve him and his goals to restore American jobs and to
establish friendly and respectful relations with Russia, China, Syria,
and Iran.

It also remains to be seen how the Oligarchy will respond to Trump’s
victory.  Wall Street and the Federal Reserve can cause an economic
crisis in order to put Trump on the defensive, and they can use the
crisis to force Trump to appoint one of their own as Secretary of the
Treasury. Rogue agents in the CIA and Pentagon can cause a false flag
attack that would disrupt friendly relations with Russia.  Trump could
make a mistake and retain neoconservatives in his government.

With Trump there is at least hope.  Unless Trump is obstructed by bad
judgment in his appointments and by obstacles put in his way, we should
expect an end to Washington’s orchestrated conflict with Russia, the
removal of the US missiles on Russia’s border with Poland and Romania,
the end of the conflict in Ukraine, and the end of Washington’s effort
to overthrow the Syrian government.  However, achievements such as these
imply the defeat of the US Oligarchy.  Although Trump defeated Hillary,
the Oligarchy still exists and is still powerful.

Trump said that he no longer sees the point of NATO 25 years after the
Soviet collapse.  If he sticks to his view, it means a big political
change in Washington’s EU vassals.  The hostility toward Russia of the
current EU and NATO officials would have to cease. German Chancellor
Merkel would have to change her spots or be replaced. NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg would have to be dismissed.

We do not know who Trump will select to serve in his government.  It is
likely that Trump is unfamiliar with the various possibilities and their
positions on issues.  It really depends on who is advising Trump and
what advice they give him.  Once we see his government, we will know
whether we can be hopeful for the changes that now have a chance.

If the oligarchy is unable to control Trump and he is actually
successful in curbing the power and budget of the military/security
complex and in holding the financial sector politically accountable,
Trump could be assassinated.

Trump said that he will put Hillary in prison. He should first put her
on trial for treason and war crimes along with all of the
neoconservatives. That would clear the decks for peace with the other
two major nuclear powers over whom the neoconservatives seek hegemony.
Although the neoconservatives would still have contacts in the hidden
deep state, it would make it difficult for the vermin to organize false
flag operations or an assassination. Rogue elements in the
military/security complex could still bring off an assassination, but
without neocons in the government a coverup would be more difficult.

Trump has more understanding and insight than his opponents realize. For
a man such as Trump to risk acquiring so many powerful enemies and to
risk his wealth and reputation, he had to have known that the people’s
dissatisfaction with the ruling establishment meant he could be elected
president.

We won’t know what to expect until we see who are the Secretaries and
Assistant Secretaries. If it is the usual crowd, we will know Trump has
been captured.

A happy lasting result of the election is the complete discrediting of
the US media. The media predicted an easy Hillary victory and even
Democratic Party control of the US Senate. Even more important to the
media’s loss of influence and credibility, despite the vicious media
attack on Trump throughout the presidential primaries and presidential
campaign, the media had no effect outside the Northeast and West coasts,
the stomping grounds of the One Percent. The rest of the country ignored
the media.

I did not think the Oligarchy would allow Trump to win. However, it
seems that the oligarchs were deceived by their own media propaganda.
Assured that Hillary was the sure winner, they were unprepared to put
into effect plans to steal the election.

Hillary is down, but not the Oligarchs. If Trump is advised to be
conciliatory, to hold out his hand, and to take the establishment into
his government, the American people will again be disappointed. In a
country whose institutions have been so completely corrupted by the
Oligarchy, it is difficult to achieve real change without bloodshed.