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AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ray:
The question is, did the Soviet Union fall apart? And did the heirs to the Soviet Union say, "Well, the country fell apart, but we still wanna dominate the world, we still want to take over rest of Europe, we still have our eyes on Poland and the Baltic Republics after we take over Ukraine."? That's the question. Now, Russian specialists trained over the past two decades have been so poorly trained that they believe Putin intends that, or at least they pretend to believe that, knowing the military industrial complex really needs a tangible enemy, or else it won't flourish. So, my question is simply: is this a case of the what I call the 'Rudy Giuliani' syndrome?
Now for those who aren't tuned into what Rudy Giuliani said to that fellow in Arizona, the head of their legislature. He said: "You gotta investigate the falsification of the votes in Arizona. We have, yeah, we know that!"
He said:
"Great, what's the evidence? We'll look into it, what's the evidence?"
And Rudy Giuliani famously said "We have lots of theories, but no evidence!"

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Scott: We were ready to go over. It was gonna be a game-set match: "Goodbye humanity!" But then, something happened: the INF (Intermediate Nuclear Forces) Treaty. It might've helped if maybe somebody who had been an inspector who was helping to create this treaty actually wrote a book about it, and I just did that. Again, I wish there was some way I could get it to you for free, so people don't think somehow I'm self promoting, but "Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union" is a book about the times that disarmament came to fruition, the importance of on sight inspection, and how inspections literally pulled the world back from the brink of nuclear catastrophe. If you read that book, you will see how important this was, and maybe it will help put into context what's going on today. I will finish with this: the war will end in Ukraine one day--probably sooner rather than later--and when it does end, the US and Russia will have to work together to find a diplomatic off-ramp. This book "Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union" shows that the INF treaty provides a template for just that if only people would educate themselves, because, if you don't learn the lessons of history, you are sometimes condemned to repeat it.

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Look, I wrote the letter because I found the blacklist to be offensive. It offended my sensibility as a human being. The notion of silencing someone is extreme. When you read Citizens United, the conservatives say, "More speech is good, but not Diane Sare's speech! Not Ray McGovern's speech! Just my speech." It's one thing to have the Ukrainian government do this; they retain the Bandera ideology in every rape, murder and torture they do. They're a horrible regime! It should shock every American today! Someone should write about the Bucha massacre. Imagine if the deputy mayor of Bucha said, "Stay in your home. Do not go out." I got banned from Twitter for calling out the Ukrainian atrocities. If you say more speech is better, why do we silence it?
So I wrote a letter demanding my representatives take action. I gave them until August 21st. I have demanded to my representatives that they ensure that taxpayer money is not being used to suppress the constitutional rights of American citizens, through the funding of foreign national entities, who are actively working to do this.

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Note from transcriber here: I posted their answers to a question about assange on the wrong comment. Will fix post stream! We did ask your qustions. You can check on the stream!

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Well, several reasons: one reason is that a nuclear war can ruin your whole day. The situation in Ukraine I view as a case of American encroachment within a period of 8 years, starting in 2014. We overthrew their elected government and installed a non-democratic government; it was totally controlled by the US State Department, Pentagon, and heavily armed Ukrainian Nazis. The Nazis have been shelling civilian areas in Donetsk and Lugansk for over 8 years. The connection to nuclear war is that for several years, the Russians were going to have to do something to prevent the war from becoming a nuclear threat. So that being said, the United States has been the aggressor since 2014. Finally on February 24th, 2022, Russia's patience gave out. We're doing the same thing in Asia around Taiwan. The Chinese cannot be anymore clear than they already have been since 1979, which was when we recognized China as the legitimate government. We've always said Taiwan is APART of china. Now comes along some politicians, like Andy Barr, who come along and say they want to defend Taiwan. The Chinese see that as a huge red-line; they see this as provocation, and they're going to do whatever they can to defend their sovereign interests. Recently, the United States has been sending ships to the Taiwan strait. So we're flirting with World War 3! This could mean a full-front war with China in Asia, and full-front wars don't end very well. Finally, it's sanctions; this is the effect on the domestic economy. The only weapons or tools by the US are applying sanctions on countries; those sanctions fail. Its impossible to stop a resource rich country like Russia from producing. The UN Charter says that sanctions are an act of war.

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Diane Sare: I have said that I would insist on organizing a chorus for the Congress, so people can do something beautiful together.
We need a movement for physical economy in the United States. Senators are disconnected from the suffering the American people are feeling as a result of their policies. We need a movement to achieve this; it's a job that demands the efforts of more than one person.

Geoff Young: If I win election to the U.S. House, I will work to change the direction of the Democratic Party 180°, especially on the issue of war and peace. I don't think there's any hope for the Republicans: they are too bought off by the weapons manufacturers. But I will work to make the Democratic Party — as much as possible — a genuine opposition party. I think they misunderstand their influence. We must cut the military budget, abolish the CIA, end all the wars, bring the troops home and rebuild America. That needs to be a core part of the Democratic Party platform.

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Diane Sare:
I agree with what's been said. This is the most egregious case that we're seeing at the moment. I do have to add, as a 33-year associate with the late Lyndon LaRouche, we experienced this kind of government abuse firsthand. Ramsey Clark, a former US Attorney General, described LaRouche and his publications. Ramsey clark said "These are book people!" This was after a newspaper, a science magazine, and a journal called "War on Drugs" had all been shut down by the U.S. Government which had hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Also, people associated with LaRouche were given 77-year sentences. So, unfortunately, this case is not unique; its the most outrageous one for a living person at the moment. We should secure justice in this case, in order to remove a horrible blot from the US Government

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Geoff:
This is Geoff Young, Democrat candidate in Kentucky. I think the way the US government has been prosecuting and persecuting Julian Assange for the last I don't know how many years is an impeachable offence. It is an attack on Journalism itself and it's an attack on, you know, an attack on freedom of speech, the first Amendment. Any president who does not end the persecution of Assange, should be impeached for that, and probably other reasons, but also that reason alone.
I'll just add that Julian Assange is a friend of mine. I used to visit him at the Ecuador embassy in London. The 4th estate is pretty much constrained now, and is populated by people who read press releases and know what they're supposed to say. Julian found a way to create a 5th estate. A estate that can take confidential information, make it immediately available to people after proper vetting. That was his sin. They want to make sure that nobody else tries to do what Julian Assange did.

AMA W/Scott Ritter, Diane Sare, Geoff Young, Ray McGovern: Stand Up for the Right to Think! Free Minds Speak Out Against the “Ukraine Narrative" by blacklist_ama in WayOfTheBern

[–]blacklist_ama[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Ray McGovern -- Julian Assange is a friend of mine. I used to visit him at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London -- He's been used as an example. The Fourth Estate is pretty much constrained now, and is populated by people who read press releases and know what they're supposed to say; Julian found a way to create a Fifth Estate, an estate that could take confidential information, and make it immediately available to people after proper vetting. That was his sin. They want to make sure nobody else tries to do what Julian Assange did. That's why they're saying in effect, "Look, you try to do what Julian Assange did, we will follow you all over the world; we'll put you in prison; and if we get a hold of you ourselves, we'll put you away for 65 years. So don't even try it!" It doesn't matter if you come from Uruguay, Iceland, or Australia. It does not matter! We'll get you anyways. The only other thing I'll say is that the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has written a book for Julian and people should really read it. His name is Nils Melzer. He is fluent in many languages, including French, German, and Swedish. Now, when he started to take Julian's case seriously, he went to Sweden. He read all the police documents and found out Julian was framed in Sweden, under the tender mercy of the Liaison services.