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The Ukraine issue is important even if the war blows over in the next few days or weeks, because it demonstrates perfectly the precise machinations that led to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria...... etc.

The process being played out by the US is just as before, together with the all-too-familiar reverse logic and self-evident lies. The situation, though, is of enormous significance with regard to possible consequences.

The US accuses Russia of a 20thC Soviet-style invasion, whereas the actual invaders are the US: last week on TV Obama openly confessed, amazingly, the US role in toppling the previous elected leaders in Ukraine and replacing them with US-compliant 'puppets' (my noun).

I imagine it's unlikely while Obama remains president, but what if the US overrides the EU and sends $billions of arms to their puppets?

Answer: Russia will respond in kind.

Outcome: millions of civilians will be killed and the whole of an obliterated Ukraine will once again become part of Russia.

OR there'll be a monumental military conflict between the US and Russia that will involve the splitting of Europe into countries that side with the US and those that side with Russia. This would drag everyone in, which is precisely the intention of US BIG Corp. Think of Hitler, Pol Pot, Kissinger.... that's the kind of monsters who control the US military economy and are itching for some kind of colossal war. No-one ever wins these genocidal conflicts EXCEPT Big Corp. Everyone else loses - most of all indigenous civilians.

Right now, the EU (Germany & France) rejects unequivocally the arming of the Ukraine puppets. By some amazing and unlikely positive quirk the UK supports this, and shares (for the moment at least) this insight that normally eludes politicians. How long, though, before the US brings their wayward UK poodle to heel?

Clearly, any alternative is preferable to arming - and the inevitable bloodbath that would result. What the US is up to is so blatantly obvious that no one can be blind to it, or fail to acknowledge the madness and the horror that would unfold if they got their way... exactly as in Iraq.

If the EU prevails this time, the puppets will remain in place ready for when Obama is succeeded by some insane republican shithead like Bush II. Even so, already one hugely positive step is that Cyprus has offered territory for a Russian base. The US is a predator of lethal proportion (who doesn't know it?), and for Russia to have a security foothold in Europe as well as there being some destabilisation or break-up of NATO as the countries of Europe shuffle into position, is probably our only hope of avoiding WW3. Either way, everything possible should be done to thwart US (Big Corp) greed/aggression.

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MOSSAD & 9/11

This is not altogether a separate issue. Notice the ever-relentless UK media propaganda, for instance - a media almost exclusively sympathetic to Israel. And then yesterday some non-entity vicar announces that he knows "Israel was behind 9/11". So what's new? Many people know this.... for one thing it's common knowledge that loads of rich Israelis made vast profits on the stock market because they had foreknowledge of 9/11.

ie, (see)... plus this youtube (published on 2 Jul 2013):

"Former CIA asset Susan Lindauer speaks about her whistleblowing attempt concerning the 9-11 attacks, where she reveals the US Govt ignored her serious reports that the Twin Towers attacks were imminent, and that the US Govt had allowed the 9-11 attacks to happen and had already planned the pretext to war with Iraq."

And quoting from p268 of George Packer's 'Assassins' Gate':

"The Jews - who had been warned to stay away from the World Trade Center on September 11th, so that not one Jew died - 'want Iraqis to die'."

The topical question, though, is: how does the religious establishment link that vicar's statement with antisemitism? I mean, if someone accuses the UK govt or MI6 of some diabolic act, then why should I feel implicated just because I'm a UK citizen? I shouldn't, of course. The idea is ludicrous. So why should Jews feel implicated if someone accuses Israel of instigating 9/11?

Everyone knows that many brilliant and decent people have been or are Jews: Einstein, Harold Pinter, Jonathan Miller, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky... the list goes on. ALL would be appalled by the brutality and crimes of the Israeli govt, and Zionism. So where's the antisemitism? The term is a shield behind which Jewish murderers & criminals crawl, and by doing so diminish and discredit it.

....which isn't to defend the self-serving elitism associated with tribal or otherwise exclusive set-ups that Freemasons, Jews or the Indian cast system etc., etc., have long established - with their antiquated, often barbaric and absurd, rituals and indoctrination...

see also: Poppycock and Political note (5.1.20)

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I'm running... and I'm late. I have a train to catch: the Alborg express. Henrik has my ticket. He cycles alongside. My backpack is tied to the rack behind his saddle. There's only one express a day and it takes three-and-a-half hours to Randers. Other trains stop at every station and take twice as long. Henrik tells me that in Denmark, unlike other countries, trains always leave precisely on time.

So I keep running. About two miles to go in fifteen minutes. I wonder if I'll make it?

The day is glorious: a bright cool spring morning - just perfect for running, and I feel great. I'm moving at a steady pace; neither jogging nor sprinting, just clicking along like a clockwork toy. Most of the time I don't even think about it; when I do it's like I'm a passenger on automatic legs. As I run, I hold in mind an image of the balance-wheel in a clock I had when I was about 7. I loved to watch the little Y-shaped rocker swing back and forth to the brisk rhythm of the hairspring... its delicate tick.tock-tick.tock exactly matches the tempo of my plimsolls striking the pavement. Henrik somehow keeps to this pace. He glances at me now and then and we grin at one another. What is he thinking? I know he thinks I'm crazy. Breathing deep and easy, not out of breath, nowhere near (despite the occasional roll-up or two); just ticking along... I could keep this up forever. It's intoxicating.

The year is 1992 and I'm 43. I could be 20 again. The running is effortless, the pavement smooth, no cracks, level, dry.... and virtually no traffic. Is it Sunday? Occasionally, trees line the verge and sunshine glints through. Every so often we come to a junction. I slow or speed-up to synchronise with gaps in crossing traffic. Henrik knows the way. And off we go again: pit.pat-pit.pat-pit.pat...

After several days in Copenhagen, I'm expected in Randers later this afternoon. Henrik has been my host for three days. He lives upstairs in a communal flat which is part of a big 19thC building that from outside resembles a castle. The rooms are huge with high ceilings and exposed floorboards. A hint of scented candle pervades. Evening candles are a Danish tradition. The little flame is like a companion, something alive, zestful yet sedate. The flat is very clean but austere and has only one toilet between eight people.

The day after I arrived Henrik showed me around the city. We passed some famous landmarks such as the little mermaid sculpture on a rock just off-shore. Later we sat drinking beer for a while on a wall overlooking the old dock. At one point we ran into the city mayor who Henrik knew and introduced us. For my benefit they spoke English. Then we called at a communal workshop run by the council and open for anyone to use. There were lathes and drilling machines and benches and all kinds of new-looking tools. Nothing ever gets stolen, Henrik told me. In the evening we walked around a park where an open-air concert was being set-up. Cranes were constructing an enormous covered stage, like at pop-festivals.

The Old Harbour (swipe for mermaid)

The other two days I wandered off alone while Henrik went to work. First stop: Carlsberg brewery, which I'd discovered ran free tours. As I joined a motley bunch of international tourists, a big smart looking guy introduced himself as Peter and lucky for me declared that he would speak English during the tour. He then escorted us around the brewery, explaining the processes, telling jokes and answering questions as we went. Very professional he was too. After about an hour we ended up in a large hall set out with long tables and chairs. On the tables were glasses and bottle-openers with many bottles of lager, two kinds: Standard and the stronger Export. I knew which I'd go for. Peter said: "Drink as much as you like. You've got 20-minutes. Taking bottles away is not allowed." For a souvenir, I nicked an opener - I had the impression it was customary.

Henrik continues to cycle steadily as I run along the pavement beside him. He's not into running, and is astonished that I'm enjoying it. His idea was to take a taxi. Unlike me, he has a thickset constitution and although shorter than I am probably weighs 3 or 4 stones more. I'd guess he's about 15-years my junior too.

I can scarcely speak a word of Danish, while Henrik's English is exemplary. We met at a hostel in Launceston, Tasmania in 1991. For some reason he took to me straight away and we swapped addresses. The feeling wasn't mutual, but I went along with it. Although cheerful and friendly, Henrik lacks patience and is inclined to brood. He takes life far too seriously. We spent the evenings in Copenhagen visiting his friends, drinking in bars - where we sometimes met people he knew - or just wandering around attractive or vibrant parts of the city.

Now, at last, we approach the station. "Two minutes!" cries Henrik, panting and leaping off his bike. "You must be knackered." he adds, as we rush through the entrance.

(swipe...)

"I'm fine," I reply. It's true, I feel as good and energetic as when we left the flat. "I could turn around and run back if I had to." I tell him.

"Liar!" he snaps. We pause to check which platform to head for.

"I'm not even out of breath." I say, surprised myself.

With a skeptical frown he hands me the ticket, then dashes forward. "The train hasn't left." he cries, stopping at the platform. He hurriedly removes the backpack "Get on and walk through." he says, handing over the backpack, "Quickly!"

"Thanks." I say, "Thanks for everything. See you in a week."

"Just get on." he shouts.

So I wander through the train to where the ticket says I should sit. I can see Henrik with his bike walking along the platform watching me. It's nearly five minutes past the scheduled leave time. Eventually I find my seat. It faces the wrong way: backwards. The seat opposite is free so I take that instead. I prefer to face forwards. Henrik is the other side of the glass. I ostentatiously glance at my watch. He shrugs then shakes his head and frowns disapprovingly. At about 10-mins after the scheduled start time, a guy in a green jacket walks casually past Henrik and gets on. A moment later he appears in the carriage and stands staring at his ticket then at me. I adopt a pose of indifference, and keep him on the edge of my visual field - avoiding his eyes at all costs. He says something I don't understand and takes the seat opposite me. I look at Henrik again, and again he shrugs. Then the train moves and Henrik waves. It's 15-minutes late. Who gives a stuff?

How long must I avert my eyes from the guy in a green jacket whose seat I nicked and now sits opposite? Lucky for me he gets off at our first stop: Odense, once home of fairy-story genius Hans Andersen.

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I'd almost come to the end of John Baxter’s fat little tome 'A Pound of Paper' (2002) when I was astonished to see him interviewed in a TV documentary on The Surrealists in 1920s Paris (where he now lives). That was a couple of weeks ago.

‘A Pound of Paper’ is autobiography focussed on how Baxter began collecting books then eventually, together with writing articles mainly for Sci Fi magazines, was able to make a living from trading in first editions. He describes how he became part of a network of dealers who constantly search the planet for rare books, principally with inscriptions – the weirder and more personalised the greater the value. He even lived in LA for a couple of years, keeping afloat by writing for literary journals while searching as ever for those exceptional editions. At one point he mentions finding a couple of Horace McCoy first editions at $20 then living for several months on the proceeds.

When I saw the name ‘McCoy’ - whose ‘I Should Have Stayed Home’ (1938) I’d picked-up at a library sale several years back - I dug it out for a second appraisal. I’d read the first couple of chapters, but as often happens got distracted and never finished it. McCoy’s work is essentially fictionalised autobiography and reflects his exposure to the Hollywood myth. The bohemian lifestyle most aspiring writers/artists were forced into during that period is well known. From the existential nature of McCoy’s work, though, I’m a bit surprised not to find reference in Bukowski’s diaries. Bukowski must have been very familiar with the nightmare truth behind the so-called ‘American Dream’, as famously portrayed in hard-boiled 1930s 'Hollywood' literature: ie, Nathanael West’s ‘The Day of the Locust’, Chandler’s ‘The Little Sister’, Scott-Fitzgerald’s ‘The Last Tycoon’, etc., and the work of writers such as Saroyan during the depression. But especially - I’d have thought - those intrepid few like McCoy who experienced its raw downside first hand.

Horace McCoy (1897 - 1955)

(see script history)

After Baxter's analysis, and re-examining ‘I Should Have Stayed Home’, I checked McCoy on wikipedia and read the Amazon reviews. Apparently, he led a pretty hectic life, as so many in those days. Sometimes reporter, occasional actor, he turned to less appealing occupations as need arose, like car-washer, lettuce-picker and, most auspiciously, bouncer, which provided material for what’s regarded as his most significant work ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’

I thought: YES… another tome for these overburdened shelves that surround me - as I ordered a copy from abe books for £2.18, noticing that the supplier in South Wales has a note on their site:

“…. We are located in Wales at the western edge of the Brecon Beacons National park and have been selling books online since October 2004. I have always had a love of books and got to the stage where my own book collection began to take over the family home! I reluctantly decided to sell a few of my own books on Amazon and was astonished at how quickly they sold. I was hooked and so I decided to try buying and selling books as a small part-time business/hobby from my spare bedroom. Since then the business has grown. I acquired a small industrial unit in February 2007 and took the plunge to go full-time in March 2007, closely followed by my wife in September 2007. We have since moved twice again into larger premises and now employ seven members of staff to assist with the ever increasing workload…”

Who’d have thought it in these days of ipods and kindles etc?

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The issue over the Greek 'debt' is classic... and thanks to the insight and skill of Yanis Varoufakis will turn out to be highly revealing - if it isn't already - of the criminal treachery at the heart of the EU project, of the EU (Big Corp) elite in particular: namely THE BANKS!

According to Robert Stevens in his 'Syriza Capitulates to the EU':

'The statement [Syriza signed] asserts the “Greek authorities commit to refrain from any rollback of measures and unilateral changes to the policies and structural reforms that would negatively impact fiscal targets, economic recovery or financial stability, as assessed by the institutions.”... Without Greek compliance with these orders it will not receive billions of euros in further loans it requires in order to avoid defaulting on its debt of €320 billion...

'Varoufakis insisted that the “new government is committed to a broader and deeper reform process aimed at durably improving growth and employment prospects, achieving debt sustainability and financial stability.” In the vaguest terms, it called for “enhancing social fairness and mitigating the significant social cost of the ongoing crisis.”...

'As soon as the text of the proposal from Varoufakis was made public, the German Finance Ministry rejected it.'

That final sentence, it strikes me, tells all anyone needs to know: that the EU elite, who call for austerity come what may and whatever alternative might be found, are not interested in financial solutions but rather in crushing and dominating an entire continent. They aspire above all to re-create the feudalism of a medieval Europe.

Another angle appears in Mike Witney's gripping assessment:

Don't Tell Anyone in Berlin
Ironman Varoufakis’s Revolutionary Plan for Europe

'If you haven’t been following developments in the Greek-EU standoff, you’re really missing out. This might be the best story of the year.'

Here's an outtake:

'Here’s the scoop: About 15 minutes before the confab began, Varoufakis was given a draft communique outlining the provisions of the proposed loan extension. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the document met all his requirements and, so, he was prepared to sign it. Unfortunately, the document was switched shortly before the negotiations began with one that backtracked on all the crucial points.

I’m not making this up. The freaking Eurogroup tried to pull the old switcheroo on Varoufakis to get him to sign something that was different than the original. Can you believe it? And it’s only because Varoufakis studiously combed through the new memo that he was able to notice the discrepancy and jam on the brakes. As it happens, the final copy was just a rehash of the same agreement that Varoufakis has rejected from the onset. The only difference was the underhanded way the Eurogroup tried to slip it by him.

Now you tell me: Would you consider people who do something like that “trustworthy”?

Of course not. This is how people behave when they don’t care about integrity or credibility, when all that matters is winning. If the Eurogroup can trick the Greeks into signing something that’s different than what they think they’re signing; then tough luck for the Greeks. “Caveat emptor”. Buyer beware. The Eurogroup has no problem with that kind of shabby double-dealing. That’s just how they play the game.

But their trickery and bullying hasn’t worked, mainly because Varoufakis is too smart for them.

You might think the task for Varoufakis is simple enough: to outsmart those blinkered half-witted villains who represents the banks. But in past decades banks and associated Big Corp outfits in the west have begun a roller-coaster ride that they're in no hurry to stop. According to an ongoing torrent of reports, from control of the US military economy, the banks/Big Corp now run the EU, are in the process of further destabilising Iraq with the imminent invasion of Syria, taking Africa (from Libya), destabilising Venezuela, and finally Ukraine (with the prospect of taking on Russia): ie, from ICH -

'for American companies like Monsanto, Cargill and Chevron, there’s a gold mine of profits to be made from agri-business and energy exploitation.”

Some European lawmakers view the Ukraine conflict as a smokescreen to allow the IMF/World Bank/European Bank for Reconstruction financed agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology business to steal Ukraine’s highly valued and coveted farmland.

With Yanukovych ousted, the new government in Ukraine has agreed to austerity reforms in exchange for IMF and World Bank “aid.”'

Who knows the truth of these reports? Either way, going by recent history and the puerile trick EU elites tried to pull with Varoufakis, it's pretty certain that the most heinous assumptions anyone can come up with will be nearest the mark.

One thing that's clear as day is that ANY government/ruling-body that presides over - let alone approves of - ongoing austerity for millions of people living on the breadline, while a handful of elites who they actually represent rake-in the continual bonanza so generated, must be well overdue for revolution. Hopefully, if the banks fail to capitulate, then Greece will inspire support for their partners in Spain, Italy, Portugal... etc. The current governments in those countries are conspirators (or may as well be, and like the previous Greek government are traitors to those they pretend to represent).

See this 'in-a-nutshell' 12-min Michael Hudson interview for the truth of what's going on - specifically (if you're pushed for time) 1.30 to 3.05 & 5.00 to 8.00... which is pretty good evidence that some kind of revolution is inevitable - if not in this instance, then probably within the next decade or so, once the truth gets around and has had time to soak in.

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