Reality vs Patriot/Truther Conspiracism

I'll do this in reverse, for once.

Here are some of the facts of the matter (which took all of 10 minutes to find): Gibson Guitars have been raided under suspicion of trading in illegal wood. Again.

This from just one source of many:

Gibson Guitar under federal investigation for alleged use of illegal rainforest timber from Madagascar
mongabay.com
November 19, 2009

Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided Gibson Guitar's factory Tuesday afternoon, due to concerns that the company had been using illegally harvested wood from Madagascar, reports the Nashville Post.

No one from the company was arrested during the raid but agents seized boxes of guitars, wood, computers, and boxes of files. The Fish and Wildlife Service took action under the Lacey Act, which holds U.S. companies to environmental laws in the countries from where they source plant and wildlife products.

Madagascar's rainforests have been plundered in recent months for rosewood and ebony, the woods Gibson Guitar is accused of using. The illicit harvesting to hardwoods in Madagascar has occurred in the aftermath of a coup which disposed the island nation's president. Illegal logging has also been linked with the slaughter of endangered lemurs.

U.S. authorities have recently intensified customs monitoring and inspection of wood products from Madagascar to stem illegal trade.

So it's not the first time they have been investigated. This was the second time Gibson have been investigated for these offences. More on the previous investigation:

In September 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported to a U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agent the import of a shipment of Madagascar ebony wood at the port of Newark, N.J., from a Germany company called Nagel to Gibson Guitars.
Its import declaration package and invoices were for 5,200 pieces of sawn ebony and 2,133 pieces of sawn Madagascar black ebony, with a total value $76,437.
Gibson had placed the order via Nagel GMBH and Co KG of Hamburg, Germany, which exported the ebony through its affiliate Hunter Trading Corp. of Westport, Conn.
When the wood entered the U.S. en route to Gibson, it was missing the plant products declaration required by the Lacey Act. This looks like it's where Gibson got caught.
When the declaration was made a day later, it was listed as ebony harvested from Madagascar.
Madagascar has had rules in place restricting the harvest and export of ebony and rosewood since 2000. From what I've read, it does authorize some shipments of fallen timber. But mostly, that ebony is illegal timber.
Nagel has been Gibson's exclusive supplier of imported Madagascar ebony since 2006 and continued to import from it after the Lacey Act Amendments came into effect on May 22, 2008.
Nagel purchased the timber from its exclusive supplier of Madagascar timber, Roger Thunam, whose business dealt "almost exclusively in sawn wood or logs which at least as of 2006 were illegal to export from Madagascar," court documents said.

How much did Gibson know about this?

"[A] Gibson employee…wrote that '[t]he true Ebony species preferred by Gibson Musical Instruments is found only in Madagascar (Diospryos perrieri). This is a slow-growing tree species with very little conservation protection and supplies are considered to be highly threatened in its native environment due to over exploitation.' In fact, [he] 'spent two and a half weeks in Madagascar this June [2008],’ writing on his return, 'I represented our company along with two other guitar manufacturers.... All legal timber and wood exports are prohibited because of wide spread corruption and theft of valuable woods like rosewood and ebony.'"

The federal prosecutors say that while Gibson knew of the questionable timber, and even acknowledged it as such, the guitar-maker went ahead with buying ebony from Nagel, a supplier in Germany.

"Gibson sourced its unfinished ebony wood in the form of blanks (for use in the manufacture of fingerboards for Gibson guitars) from Nagel (in Germany), which obtained it exclusively from Roger Thunam (a supplier in Madagascar). Madagascar prohibits the harvest of ebony wood as well as the exportation of unfinished ebony wood."

Clearly a case to answer, on the face of it.

But let's look at how the Patriot/Conspiracist movement reports it?

Here's how the story appears at WhatReallyHappened, with a comment by Mike Rivero:

US Department of Justice orders Gibson Guitar to SEND JOBS OVERSEAS!!!!!!!!!
Tags: DICTATORSHIP ECONOMY
It seems that the Department of Justice wasn’t satisfied with merely raiding the law abiding factories of Gibson Guitar with armed agents, shutting down their operation costing them millions, and leaving the American company in the dark as to how to proceed without going out of business.

Now, according to CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, agents of the United States government are bluntly informing them that they’d be better off shipping their manufacturing labor overseas.

Mike Rivero: The government hands Trillions of YOUR dollars to Wall Street with the promise that somehow this will create manufacturing jobs for Americans, and then that same government orders a US company to send their jobs overseas?
WTF????

The link leads to an article in which the CEO of Gibson is interviewed, claiming that:

The Gibson Guitar saga has taken a sinister turn. .... In an interview with KMJ AM’s “The Chris Daniel Show,” Juszkiewicz [Gibson] revealed some startling information.

CHRIS DANIEL: Mr. Juszkiewicz, did an agent of the US government suggest to you that your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of American labor?

HENRY JUSZKIEWICZ: They actually wrote that in a pleading.

CHRIS DANIEL: Excuse me?

HENRY JUSKIEWICZ: They actually wrote that it [sic] a pleading.

CHRIS DANIEL: That your problems would go away if you used Madagascar labor instead of our labor?

HENRY JUSKIEWICZ: Yes

SOURCE

Sinister? It's ridiculous and senseless not sinister. And why say Gibson is "law-abiding"?

Isn't it easy to turn any story into some sinister extension of the police state? Rivero and co include this story so as to suggest just such a creeping Police State, and they thereby completely distort the import of it. Ha - illegally imported wood, from rainforests being plundered in wake of political turmoil and an ABSENCE of government and regulation. Not the point they'd ever seek to make.

The story is filed under "Dictatorship" at WRH.

So, what's Freedom mean then, if not to plunder Madagascar? Freedom is relief from laws preventing the plunder of wood from Madagascar. Right.

Stromfront on Black Dominance in Athletics/Sports - lol

After the BBC article on black dominance in athletics sprinting I thought I'd take a look at Stromfront's view. It's just what one might expect, if not more so. I expected to find what I did, but it's shocking. It's also very funny to consider these people feel so threatened by apparent black athletic success, and how they can turn their own views upside down so as to explain it.

For instance, SF links to a 'pro-white' football website which complains black dominance in American Football is because of.....discrimination against whites. Sure, every football team purposefully neglects whites in their search for victory, no matter how skilful or athletic? That's quite some claim. Here it is:

NationalCrusader14: Another stormfront member brought up this website about racial issues in sports and it turns out whites are discriminated in sports. http://www.castefootball.us

SOURCE - STORMFRONT [NAZIS]

NationalCrusader14? Catchy nym.

The conversation is quite interesting......in a laughing-at-you way. Here's some of the tone:

People in this country need to boycott and stop worshiping these savages...I personally have quit watching professional sports due to the fact that the majority of players are filthy, no good people.

So, an admission that pro sports is dominated by non-whites. Though it makes no difference to whether they are "filthy, no good people" or not, apparently. So in what terms do they judge it? Clearly a supposed dominance in sporting athletics and skill isn't a factor. Jesse Owens all over again? No matter. Pity the poor maligned super-human Aryan, eh? How ridiculous is it?

Another amusing addition - Psychosword (!) says:

All the crazy things these proto-humans do creates drama. And organized professional sports is all about the drama. Even the announcers are fixated on it. It's not as much about winning or losing anymore. That's a side issue. It's all about what color did the buck dye his hair today. Or.. the buck's cousin/brother/father was shot in a drive-by last week and he's playing this game for them..

I don't think many people will be found arguing that pro-sport is no longer about winning and losing. Most people believe the converse instead, obviously. And these 'proto-humans' create drama? Which is now a big thing in sport? I see. And drive-by shootings, even amongst millionaire sportsmen (because they're black/non-white). Incredible. Very funny in ways (to mock it) but very disturbing too.

Some more sage advice on the matter from SF member WaffenSS (!):

"I can conceive of no greater calamity than the assimilation of the Negro into our social and political life as our equal..." -Abraham Lincoln

The whole country is now hopelessly negrified; worship of black athletes, whites loving rap music and acting negro while hating their own culture, Now a black president. All of this is the result of jewish infiltration and domination

What a disciplined and well-taught Nazi. Wow. Crude isn't it?

Another SF member, this time Great White Beast (!) adds a personal touch:

Just recently I was riding back home from a weekend hunting trip with a buddy and his dad. My friends dad was listening to the Cowboys game and began to sing the praises of black ball players, talking of there wonderful, amazing athletic abilities. I tried to explain to him that blacks are not more athletic than white, but that there ability to run fast for a short period of time is greater than most.

HAHA. As if 'running fast for a short period of time' isn't important? Brilliant. Gotta admire someone so self-aware and self-critical. Wow. Hunting trip too.....who'd have guessed?

Great White Twit adds:

"what I also pointed out that whites are discriminated against in professional sports as with many or all professions. Both, my friend and his dad are what I would call racially aware but still so brainwashed by the FREAKIN T.V. Change is in the air though, even they will admit that...

Christ, doesn't that fill one with optimism? Hardly. Notice how racially prejudiced equals racially aware in the commenter's view.

Someone with over 12000 posts at SF says:

It is absolutely amazing what a person can see,(including children), when they are not completely influenced by the television. You should hear my kids talk. They are not disrespectful, and don't talk of hate, but they talk about what they see with their own eyes. I have to say very little.

Very little, daddy? Sure. That's some moral and intellectual giant speaking, obviously - vindicated by the views of his own children. Wow.

At least this one has a sense of humour, laden as it is with prejudice, mind you:

I'll watch tennis if it's men's, since it's guaranteed to be void of the jungle sisters. Almost all white guys in men's pro tennis. I'd rather go fishing or browse Stormfront than watch football. The way I see it, if you want to watch a bunch of sub-saharan primates run across a field, flip to the Discovery channel. At least then you'll learn something.

I might as well stop here. But I can't.....

Here's another 'gem' (they come thick and fast at Stromfront):

US college and professional sports are biased toward black athletes. Every year White high schools dominate state championships, and every year colleges recruit the same black trash and maintain the fiction of the "student athlete." Black athletes are a menace on campus. It's always the same story of drugs, alcohol, shootings, stabbings, rape, and illegitimate pregnancy. Professional sports in the US are the worst. The tickets are over priced. The fans are rude and drunk. The players only care about their paycheck. I wouldn't waste my time or dollar.

I've noticed that Lacrosse is gaining popularity around the country. That's a good White sport.

Yeah, I imagine Lacrosse ain't massive 'in the ghetto'. I've never seen anyone playing Lacrosse. It isn't big in S Wales.

At Stormfront whatever the subject might be all the same things always come tumbling in - the contents of Nazism. It's incredibly intellectually dull but it's as preposterously funny as it is horrifying. I find it hard to imagine such stuff can really catch on, this day and age. But.....who knows?

It's interesting to witness how self-delusion can act...how seemingly complete it can be, whilst the thinker himself is totally unaware of the most obvious contradictions of his thoughts. Funny, but worrying. It's difficult to see these folks as a serious threat......but....

More from SF - all from the same 4 page thread (the stupidity is rich there):

If you watch these "great" black athletes you'll notice that they are constantly botching the plays, making mistakes, and getting called for fouls. It doesn't matter how fast or how strong you have conditioned your body to be (anybody can do that with the time and motivation), if you're too stupid to remember the plays, the formations, and the rules of the game you're not a great athlete. These black athletes are boring to watch because they can only execute on the handful of plays that they have run in practice repeatedly hundreds of times. Ask any coach who works with black players, it takes hundreds of "reps" for those players to get something down where they can run it. I was watching a college game recently with some friends, and someone made the comment "that coach is so conservative." My reply was, the coach isn't conservative the players are too stupid to try and do anything else without having to work on it everyday for two months.

What a great illustration of how racial prejudice is used to make sense of the world.....and how it shapes understanding. Seemingly (for Nazis) black success is because of supposed pro-black/anti-white discrimination (environmental cause) whereas 'white success' is proof of supposed white superiority (a genetic, innate cause).

We could probably find threads at SF highlighting the preponderance of 'whites' in various industries or whatever, and SF'ers touting it as proof of whites' racial superiority.

The same contradiction arises in Nazis view of Jews - they always complain how successful Jews are, how they dominate everything, how they have all the power, rah rah rah. Yet this doesn't prove to the racial Nazi that Jews are a superior race.....rather it shows the opposite. Somehow.

I've put that argument to Nazis before; I suggested if Jews rule the world then likely they deserve to do so.....I don't fancy the job, thanks. And I'd rather Jews did it than Nazis, if it's simple choice. lol. Nazis don't have an answer for it.

Back to the fascinating insights of SF members? Raised By Wolves says:

I just don't think they're athletes. Sports games are built on the premise of team strategies. With blacks it's all about them. Individvual blacks and even teams of blacks can do little compared to a team of whites in any sport.
I can't stand people that even talk about them in a postive way.

So they're not athletes now?

One real true believer adds:

Professional sports teams are owned by Jews and their henchmen. Sports, like entertainment, are used as a means to an end to promote race-mixing.

You cannot cover up the genetics of players from various racial/ethnic backgrounds as 'team' members with artificial uniforms and put them on 'one team' to be united as 'one'. Blood unites the spirit and the spirit is in essence the team, the rest is an well crafted illusion.

Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Football Team. Hmmm. Blood and soil, and football.

Bitter White Man (yes he's called that) says:

I would love to start a NBA and NFL boycott, but I think it would be futile in this liberal, negro loving coutry that is the USA.

HA! Well, good! Some would say that was what the USA was supposed to be about. But there we go, Mr poor maligned Nazi.

The saying goes "White men can't jump." Well, black men can't skate.

OR drive racing cars.....oh but wait.....

Christ it's ridiculous. But fascinating, somewhat too. I'll stop here though, just halfway through page 3 of their 4 page thread. Quite amazing thread, no? I imagine it is typical.....it's the first one I picked to look at. What a crowd.

The amazing thing to me is that all this harsh judgement and hostility making an entire worldview is about....skin colour. As it stands, skin colour is a simple and small genetic component of every human. Beyond coding for skin colour, what's to say about it? The understanding of genetics is primitive atm - single genes can be isolated as related or causal, but they don't work in a simple on/off fashion, and there isn't a black genetics and a white one, there's just human genetics. I've never understood racial prejudice like that. I understand it as an expression of the innate human suspicion of 'difference', something everyone has, I believe. People pile on their own justifications (race 'science', even) but at root-cause it's just suspicion (and distaste) for the unusual and different. So, as humans it's legitimate (in so far as it's almost inevitable) to feel racial prejudice....but that's no justification for racial prejudice as a worldview, rather it means we need be aware of how it colours our view, and how distorted WE are by it, so as to fight it.

Retreating Sea-Ice

The Arctic sea ice has been melting fast this year, and for a while it appeared set to break the 2007 record for the smallest minimum area in the satellite record.

However, in recent weeks it has been running a narrow second to 2007.

"The minimum ice extent is still three to four weeks away, and a lot depends on the weather conditions over the Arctic during those weeks," said Leif Toudal Pedersen, senior scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute.

"Whether we reach an absolute minimum or not, this year again confirms that we are in a new regime with substantially less summer ice than before.

"The last five summers are the five minimum ice extent summers on record."

The volume of sea ice continues to decline annually.
SOURCE

Is it wrong to note 100m winners are always black? [BBC]

Is it wrong to note 100m winners are always black?

The conclusions that are drawn from black athletes dominating the 100m final go a long way to explaining attitudes in wider society, argues Matthew Syed.

The 100m final at the World Athletics Championships this weekend will be won by a black athlete.

Every winner of the 100m since the inaugural event in 1983 has been black, as has every finalist from the last 10 championships with the solitary exception of Matic Osovnikar of Slovenia, who finished seventh in 2007.

Assuming that this success is driven by genes rather than environment, there is a rather obvious inference to make - black people are naturally better sprinters than white people. Indeed, it is an inference that seems obligatory, barring considerations of political correctness.

Logically flawed

But here's the thing. This inference is not merely false - it is logically flawed. And it has big implications not merely for athletics, but for the entire issue of race relations in the 21st Century.

To see how, let us examine success not in the sprints but in distance running, for this is also dominated by black athletes. Kenya has won an astonishing 63 medals at the Olympic Games in races of 800m and above, 21 of them gold, since 1968. Little wonder that one commentator once described distance running as "a Kenyan monopoly".

But it turns out that it is not Kenya as a whole that usually wins these medals, but individuals from a tiny region in the Rift Valley called Nandi. As one writer put it: "Most of Kenya's runners call Nandi home."

Seen in this context, the notion that black people are naturally superior distance runners seems bizarre. Far from being a "black" phenomenon, or even a Kenyan phenomenon, distance running is actually a Nandi phenomenon. Or, to put it another way, "black" distance running success is focused on the tiniest of pinpricks on the map of Africa, with the vast majority of the continent underrepresented.

The same analysis applies to the sprints, where success is focused on Jamaicans and African-Americans. Africa, as a continent, has almost no success at all. Not even West Africans win much.

The combined forces of Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, the Republic of Guinea, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Togo, Niger, Benin, Mali, the Gambia, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Gabon, Senegal, Congo and Angola have not won a single sprinting medal at the Olympics or World Championships.

The fallacy, then, is simple. Just because some black people are good at something does not imply that black people in general will be good at it.

Labelled box

Imagine a similar argument using the Central African Bambuti, a black tribe more commonly known as Pygmies. With an average height of 4ft we could assert that the Bambuti are naturally better at walking under low doors. Would it be legitimate to extrapolate that black people in general have a natural advantage at walking under low doors?

Our tendency to generalise rests on a deeper fallacy - the idea that "black" refers to a genetic type. We put people of dark skin in a box labelled black and assume that a trait shared by some is shared by all.

The truth is rather different. There is far more genetic variation within racial groups (around 85%) than there is between racial groups (just 15%). Indeed, surface appearance is often a highly misleading way of assessing the genetic distance between populations.

This evidence demonstrates how absurd it is to engage in racial generalisations - how crazy it is to witness a tiny group of black people winning at, say, the 10,000m and to infer that all people who share the same skin colour share an aptitude for 10,000m running.

But our subconscious assumptions about race have more than merely sporting implications.

Consider an experiment by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan, two American economists. They drafted 5,000 CVs and placed archetypal "black" names such as Tyrone or Latoya on half of them and "white" names such as Brendan or Alison on the other half. They then divided the white CVs into high and low quality and did the same with the black CVs.

A few weeks later the offers came rolling in from employers, and guess what? The "black" candidates were 50% less likely to be invited to interview. Employers were using skin colour as a marker for employment potential, despite the fact that the candidates' CVs were identical.

But that's not all. The researchers also found that although high-quality "white" candidates were preferred to low-quality "white" candidates, the relative quality of "black" CVs made no difference whatsoever.

It was as if employers saw three categories - high-quality white, low-quality white and black candidates. To put it another way, the subliminal assumption that causes us to think that black people are all the same has powerful real-world consequences.

For many economists, this assumption, which gets under the radar of our conscious thought, explains why black people still lag behind white people in economic development more than four decades after the introduction of race-relations legislation.

Recognising that we have these biases is a good place to start in trying to combat them. And a good way of tracking progress is to watch a 100m final and see whether we fall into the trap, when seeing eight contestants with black skin, of inferring that black people are naturally better sprinters.

Matthew Syed is the author of Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice

SOURCE

Iran supports Rebels - what will Rivero say now?

0847: Iran has expressed its backing for the Libyan rebels, BBC Monitoring reports. A statement by the foreign ministry in Tehran says Iran "supports the people's uprising in Libya and hopes that the Libyan people can decide independently on their future".
-BBC

The people's uprising? Rivero's invariably in lock-step with Tehran, so how will he bridge this divide? Just ignore it?

Fisk writes today asking "And how soon..[]..before the people of Europe demand to know why, if Nato has been so successful in Libya – as Cameron and his mates now claim – it cannot be used against Assad's legions in Syria, using Cyprus as a territorial aircraft-carrier, devastating the regime's 8,000 tanks and armoured vehicles as they besiege the country's cities."

Well, indeed. Rivero isn't very keen on "the people's uprising" in Syria either.

Counter to Rivero, Fisk says of Syria (and Israel): "Or must we heed the neighbours; Israel still secretly hopes (as it shamefully did in the case of Egypt) that the dictator [Assad] will survive to be a friend and make an ultimate peace over Golan."

They surely can't both be right.

Under the heading "Syria" at Rivero's WRH, there is a story posted by Wake up From Your Slumber blaming Israel......surprise surprise!

It quotes some US document before adding its own spin:

After the 1969 coup, Qadhafi closed American and British bases on Libyan territory and partially nationalized all foreign oil and commercial interests in Libya. He also played a key role in promoting the use of oil embargoes as a political weapon for challenging the West, hoping that an oil price rise and embargo in 1973 would persuade the West, especially the United States, to end support for Israel.

No doubt israel stands to gain richly from a more western allied government in tripoli -- willing to sell its oil to israel.

In fact, if you read this Congressional Report from March 2011: Middle East and North Africa Unrest: Implications for Oil and Natural Gas Markets (PDF), paying close attention to the second half which lists each MENA country and its strategic importance (IRAQ, LIBYA, SYRIA, IRAN and EGYPT among others) you will discover the reason for every political and military intervention by the US and Europe in MENA over the past 10 years.

It's been none other than one massive continuous initiative by the Zionist manipulated West to control the flow of oil from MENA countries.

All roads lead to OIL and the country that stands to benefit most from control over MENA oil is ISRAEL.

HAHA - get that? It's all about oil.....and apparently Israel stands to gain "the most" from its control, which it obtains by "Zionist manipulation of the West". Lordy, how ridiculous.

It makes no sense to argue from a position asking "Who stands to gain the most?" And how does Israel stand to gain the most anyway? Oil is a precious resource for everyone - for those who have it and those who don't.

This is all just rationalisation for anti-semitism. The readiness of people to swallow such nonsense is an expression of the same.

Rivero's published results of Guardian poll, asking whether Syria should be "next" for intervention....

MegaPhoney networks....oh, y, that's when other people organise, not Rivero. I see. When Rivero does it, it isn't propaganda - it's setting the record straight!

I'm very averse to military intervention. However, actually supporting Assad and Gadaffi against popular democracy movements is unconscionable. [Are they popular democracy movements? I don't know.] Has it not occurred to Rivero why these places have needed 'democracy movements'? He keeps insisting that the prevention of peaceful revolution makes violent revolution inevitable.....only that doesn't count for Syria...or Iran...and it didn't count in Libya. As 'enemies of Israel' he seeks to protect these awful regimes, nevermind democracy or the will of the people.

Western hostility and aggression towards regimes which loathe it (Syria, Iran, Libya, Iraq, NK etc) drives Rivero to warn his readers (and world leaders! lol) that these nations have mutual defence pacts, and that aggression against Syria and Iran, say, might trigger WW3 by bringing in Russia on the side of Iran. But when considering western/american defence of Israel, against Syria or Iran, say, suddenly things like defence pacts, alliances and mutual aid are symptoms of Zionist manipulation of the West - rather than legitimate acts of self-defence which reasonably should persuade aggressors of caution (which is how Rivero treats them when used against Israel/the West.)

Rivero and Libya

Rivero's had to concede he was completely wrong again - though he doesn't explicitly say it, of course. Seems Gadaffi is done and the rebels managed to depose him without the need for NATO ground troops - something Rivero said was impossible.

This is how he is spinning it:


He says "...no matter how many Libyans have died, Libya's state bank (the one Goldman Sachs screwed over) is destroyed, the gold dinar is dead, and the world is now safe for private central banking and debt-based currencies!"

Err.....ok.

But if we look back at what Rivero was saying a few months ago it was a very different picture - back then he was calling the rebels "the democracy movement" and accusing Gadaffi of being supported by Israeli mercenaries.


Here's Rivero back in March, when he was clearly agitating for intervention against Libya:


What a hypocrite. He agitated for intervention, claiming that Israel was supporting a Gadaffi dictatorship and was crushing the Arab Spring....rah rah rah. Fast forward a few months and we now have Rivero attacking the intervention on behalf of the rebels (because it ...crushes the Arab Spring....and benefits Israel and Bankers. Whereas back in March he was saying not intervening was crushing the Arab Spring, and helping.... Israel.

Rivero agitated for intervention on behalf of "the democracy group" as he called them - the rebels. He said there would be no intervention because Israel would never allow it - Rivero was certain.

But the UN did vote for intervention, and that's the moment Rivero changed tack - suddenly the intervention was a bad and nasty imperialism - a war crime; the rebels were no longer "the democracy movement" and Gadaffi was transformed into some heroic nationalist leader of Arabism and anti-imperialism. What happened to Gadaffi's supposed 50,000 Israeli mercenaries, Mr Rivero? What happened to the Gadaffi tyranny...the dictatorship....the democracy movement? lol.

Here's Rivero from March again, when he promised the USA (on behalf of Israel) would veto any intervention:


Just compare that to his position now? Hilarious.

More on Rivero's hypocritical, opportunist transformation over Libya here and here.

This same thing is happening with Syria - somehow Rivero (and the conspiracists) believe the protests in Syria to be illegitimate, that they aren't part of the Arab Spring, that Assad is actually a very nice chappie....just like they did with Iranian protests.

Clearly, the thing that determines Rivero's view is how hostile to the West (and esp. Israel) any particular nation is. That determines Rivero's entire position. Of course that's so....because his anti-semitism is central to his grand conspiracy, and Gadaffi can be tyrant or hero one day to the next depending entirely on the demands of an anti-semitic narrative - nothing else. Nevermind local conditions, all that matters is the relationship to Israel. Ridiculous.

Rivero's Bullshit edition number 9,382

I had wanted to post this earlier - but didn't get to it, so I'll do it now.

Here's Rivero making some bold claim.

" the absolute catastrophic situation in Libya, which has not a chance of being won by the Western-backed rebels without the introduction of Western ground troops."

Is that so? Right at this moment it looks like being proven very false very quickly.

ETA - from the BBC : 22 August 2011 Last updated at 07:44

Libya conflict: Fighting rages near Gaddafi compound

Libya conflict Live

Heavy fighting is taking place in Tripoli around the compound of embattled Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi after rebels seized control of much of the city on Sunday.

Throughout the night, jubilant crowds remained in central Green Square, previously the scene of nightly pro-Gaddafi demonstrations.

Rebels met little resistance as they swept in from east, south and west.
=====

So much for Rivero's assertions. lol

And what happened to all those mercenaries who were supposed to be fighting for Gadaffi on behalf of the Joooos? And what happened to the Arab Spring? Libya's different? Just like Syria is different? What crazy-arse principle is Rivero applying here? Seemingly, any anti-western (or Islamic) state that gets threatened with the Arab Spring Thing and Rivero thinks it's the evil work of the Jooooos to undermine a legitimate state (a la Syria, Libya and Iran.) But where the government is pro-western, any Arab Spring is then wholly justified in Rivero's eyes - suddenly it's a true expression of the people, liberty! a revolution... blah blah blah. (a la Egypt and Tunisia).

His judgement depends solely upon whether the regime is (A) friendly to USA and (B) Islamic. Or not. That's ridiculous. No assessment of local conditions.....everything judged against position re America (and Israel). Ridiculous. One is good, the other bad. What a binary moron.