Globally significant events came fast and furious in 2015 as we witnessed the world enter a near free-fall state towards chaos. While the power centers within the US have been revealing themselves to be as insane as we all feared, those who yearn for truth, decency, and humanity have been provided with some relief in seeing the Russian President Vladimir Putin be a force for good. Join us as we discuss some of the major events of the year and the impact they have had in shaping our present and our future.
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Shane: Hello listeners and welcome to The Truth Perspective. Today is December 19th 2015. I'm your host Shane LaChance and I'm joined today by my co-host Elan Martin.
Elan: Hello everybody.
Shane: And fellow Sott.net editors: Meg McDonald
Meg: Hello!
Shane: Corey Schink.
Corey: Hello everybody.
Shane: And David.
David: Howdy.
Shane: So it's that special time of the year when we gather together and discuss the complete and utter horror of everything that's happened in 2015. It was an intense year, for us at least, major events are occurring pretty much each and every week and it can be overwhelming to witness the depravity, the chaos, the extreme fear and paranoia, and the persistent drive from the power centres in the United States that seem intent on pushing the world over the edge. We can't claim to make sense of it all but we're working on seeing it as best we can and in that, use what we can for something good.
For the alternative, to adapt to the psychopathic reality, to succumb to the base machinations of the movers and shakers of the world, is to sacrifice the things that make us human. In our choice to witness the chaos happening all around us, we make a statement to the universe. The great leaders of our time, and there are far too few of them, we're able to learn, grow and become stronger because of the obstacles we choose to face. And so too, can we grow; we can provide a light to others who don't wish to turn away. We can join together with others who see the insanity to create a new, more humane, reality.
So 2015 saw a number of major trends and themes; the United States became ever more exposed, caused in no small part to the actions of Putin and his actual war on terror. We saw Europe struggle and continued to succumb to the self-defeating pressures of the United States. The world is witnessing a Nazi revival and fervour of attacks against Muslims. The population at large is reading a state of supreme fear and hysteria and are responding to triggers in ways that only benefit those who do not have humanities best interests at heart. And the Earth is responding in kind; Earth Changes continue to mount and present an awesome shock of the power of mother nature and her apparent readiness to - in the words of George Carlin, "Shake us all off like a bad case of fleas."
So, with that, I think we will actually start with a summary of some of the earth changing events of 2015. And I think Meg has something for you all on that.
Meg: I do. Let's see. I pulled some comparisons from three years ago for us. So we have 2012 and it compares to 2015. And in 2012 there were 378 earthquakes, this year there were 724; these numbers are what's reported in Sott - there might be more reported elsewhere. As far as extreme temperature reporting, like extremely cold weather or even extreme heat, in 2012 there were 141 reports and in 2015 there were 516 reports. Flooding or flash flooding was reported in 2012 at 136 for that year and in this year 640. 110 sinkholes were reported in 2012 and this year is 378.
And last but not least, volcanoes, we had reported eruptions in 2012 of 193 and in 2015 455. And there are currently 32 active volcanoes; two-thirds of those are ring of fire volcanoes. As far as fireballs and meteors, we had an escalation from 2012 and I got this as a report from AMF meteors website and in 2012 there were 2,155 fireball reports. And that just means that there was one fireball that had specific reports on it, where there's say 94 reporting on the same fireball. So that's 2000 events they're reporting on. And this year, 4,004, so that's quite a jump.
Shane: Wow.
Meg: We had cold weather records broken all over this year, even in Hawaii; we had snow in places there shouldn't be snow like Mexico, and it shouldn't snow in spring. The Middle East broke cold records; Mexico, Norway, Texas, all over the east coast cold records were broken. Pick a state and it'll be cold. We also had a record setting storm season; 2015 set a new record for category four and category five hurricanes and typhoons. There were a total number of 22 hurricanes or typhoons that reached category four or five. The record was broken with typhoon Koppu.
Let's see, what else do we have on the news desk here. Of course hurricane Patricia which was one of the strongest hurricanes ever on record and which really decimated Mexico, with winds of 165mph. It flooded streets, took down trees, took down buildings, strongest reported in the western hemisphere as far as storms go. Interestingly the government was warning citizens because Kolima had just erupted and the wind and the rain would carry this sludge and this mud to villages and cause landslides and mudslides and all sorts of weird stuff.
We also had that massive Nepal earthquake. And that killed about 1400 people. And there were some signs that came out in May, the earthquake was in April; Mount Everest which is the tallest mountain in the world is 2.8cm smaller than it used to be and they attributed that to the earthquake itself, the Nepal earthquake. So the earth has changed, in that form. Also this year, the Great Lakes apparently froze a lot and they froze very quickly; they had 5000 miles of freeze overnight which is completely unheard of. And -
Elan: Well you know why, that happened Meg?
Meg: Hillary?!
Elan: Yeah apparently Hillary Clinton was seen by the lakes and all she had to do was stare at them.
Meg: Hillary is a lake freezer. Also about the Great Lakes, it's really unusual for three of them to freeze over and just this last year we had four of the five completely frozen over, there's no water anywhere, it's all ice, it hasn't happened before. Ok, and the last thing which is interesting: In Scotland they count snow patches - snow patches are just areas of the ground that linger throughout the year because of the location of the patch and where it is in Scotland - in 2008 they had 34 snow patches. So it's like one little patch of 34 patches that survive to the next winter. And this last year they had 678; so it went from 34 in what, six years ago to 678 this year.
Shane: I guess Hillary's been busy.
Meg: She has, yes. And I'll have more later but that's just the quick recap of the big stuff on Sott.net as far as Earth Changes go.
Shane: Well the interesting thing with these events is that they do seem to - I don't know if carry-over is the right word or not, but their influences extend beyond when they happen. For example the Great Lakes, when those lakes freeze over they have these effects that pass on, continuing throughout the year. So lots of earth changes events. And if people haven't seen Sott's Earth Changes Summary videos they're released each month and I think the most recent one was released last week which you can check out on Sott.net. It's always fascinating to watch these things because you can talk about it - but if you see the visuals, these things are so awesome. I think these provide the necessary shock for what the earth is capable of.
And as I said in the opening, "the Earth is about to shake us off like a bad case of fleas" that really is the strength of the earth. It's just so amazing and intense. It's easy to get consumed by normal everyday stuff but when we witness this stuff, especially first hand - I remember when I was living in Rhode Island I witnessed this massive flood. The streets were all water and going into these valleys. And the valleys weren't valley's anymore they were all water. To see stuff like that first hand it's like, it wakes you up out of your slumber.
Elan: You know, I was just thinking, if you've never been in a situation like you have Shane, and you watch these videos, it's in some way a kind of preparation for the types of things you'll be faced with. You can mentally prepare and sort of anticipate; you can look at certain floods or mudslides or whatever type of environmental conditions presented on those videos and sometimes these videos catch a kind of tipping point where something completely overwhelms a given environment and so just watching them, I sometimes think, I am that much more prepared to be on the lookout for these types of things when they occur, I respect it more and I know to keep clear from the area, for instance.
Shane: I think the thing that can make it so shocking too is we're so sheltered from nature so even everyday - like if you work outside and you witness just the strength of normal weather and the sun and the intensity of it, it's a really powerful force, just in its normal form. And then when you see the stuff that's on the Sott.net video summaries, it's just so intense that; yeah it does wake you up a bit, I think. As the earth is getting crazy so is the political landscape, all around the world. We thought we'd discuss some of the trends and major events - there are so many I don't think we'll be able to capture all of them during the show.
But I think to start off with the beginning of the year, right away we started out with a bang, January 7th I believe (March 7th). So we started off the year with the Charlie Hebdo event. Two masked men approached the Charlie Hebdo offices and killed a total of 17 people which included a Paris kosher supermarket, this occurred afterwards, but this event was significant because it set the stage and tone for the year. The event in itself, we witness things like that happening all the time in the Middle East, in Syria and Iraq. And these are - (Encounters issues with broadcast)
Meg: We can blame that one on Hillary too.
Corey: While Shane is fixing up that issue there, I'll just talk a bit about those Hebdo attacks and the fact that the media immediately launched into...
Shane: We're off the air.
Corey: Shoot.
(Discussion about how to fix the issue)
Shane: Ok everybody! Sorry about that mishap there, I'd like to blame BlogTalkRadio but that was actually a user error on my end, so apologies for that. For any new listeners who are joining us, we had just given a rundown of the earth changing events, that segment will probably be up separately on BlogTalkRadio, we had to create a new show, so you can check that out if you missed it. We had just started to talk about the geopolitical events of 2015 and we were starting off with the Charlie Hebdo event. So the New Year started out with a pretty dramatic bang in terms of 'western terror', as you were saying before the show went offline; these events we seem them all the time in the Middle East, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. But what makes the Charlie Hebdo - and Paris attacks - unique is I think the effect it has on the western mind. Which is one of terror; people become hysterical, you know this term 'hive mind' and it gets really scary.
Just to review what happened with the Charlie Hebdo attacks: March 7th there's two masked men who witnesses report they saw a high degree of military-type training and procedures; hand signals, this type of interaction which is described in a lot of these types of events. It's not amateur-hour; these are professional, military-types. So there were I think 10 or 11 killed at the Charlie Hebdo offices and then additional people killed at the Paris kosher supermarket. And there is so much about that issue that conflicted with the official narrative, as usual that didn't hold up. We saw the traditional I.D or passport found in the vehicle, conveniently - it's amazing how often these things, you know, "Don't forget your I.D guys! And make sure you leave it where the police can find it." But the main thing that came from this event - well, I think there are several; one was just this distortion of what free speech means. There was this alignment with Charlie Hebdo which is just a despicable, racist, disgusting - it's not a satire magazine it's just a despicable, I don't have the words -
Meg: Hate-mongering.
Shane: Yeah, hate-mongering. Vilifying Muslims and others too but their focus has largely been on Muslims. And this, during a time, when so many Muslims are being massacred, slaughtered, killed, their whole societies have been destroyed: Libya, Syria, and Afghanistan. These countries have endured so much suffering at the hands of western imperialism that it reminds you of how when you look at some of the propaganda and the types of cartoons that were created during Nazi Germany about the Jews. And after the Charlie Hebdo event, that's what we saw more of. This rampant hatred and irrational fear of people of the Islamic faith, Muslims, and there was this spike in people attacking Muslims in the street, attacking their mosques. And this was kind of a preliminary event which started to nurture the French spirit, in a way that's really driving them towards this paranoia, this fear and this rampant hatred towards Muslim people.
We've witnessed this on a much larger scale recently with the Paris attacks. So they were kind of primed, from earlier in the year. I don't want to get too ahead of ourselves but they're closely linked, I think. So some of the other political events happening at the time or shortly after, there was also the German Wings crash. I bring up these two events because they're basically attacks on Europe. Now the official story for German Wings is it was deliberately crashed by a co-pilot who had been treated for suicidal tendencies and there was this smear campaign against this man. However, as usual, there were a lot of inconsistencies with that narrative. And when we look at what happened with German Wings; it was a German flight from Barcelona, Spain, to Germany and it crashed in the French Alps. So the Hebdo attack and this event, when we look back at what was going on, it was maybe, I think, about a year after the Russian sanctions had begun, and Europe had been feeling the effects of the sanctions. Now it's easy for the US to put pressure and say, "You know you guys have got to do this." but it's really been Europe that's been feeling the effects - yeah it affected Russia as well, but Russia is in a different place.
It's been working on forging all these different relationships and it has the ability to work through these things. The EU has just been on a downward decline and these sanctions, even to today, are not wanted by many in the business industry and even politicians. If the local politicians don't even have much control over this, this is an EU-thing; where the top officials in the EU are pretty much calling the shots and it doesn't really matter what the individual countries have to say. There's no debate allowed, so much for European democracy, it's all a farce. Hollande, he was making those calls prior to the Hebdo attacks and there's movement and pressure in Germany. With these two events you can see the underpinning of the United States putting pressure on Europe with the way it wanted to go.
Corey: I'd just like to add that with the Hebdo attacks, France was also voting in recognition of the Palestinian state. Which went along with going against Russian sanctions; was just way to out of bounds for the US imperial interests that were at play there. I know that with the media coverage of both German Wings and Hebdo, you just see this spiralling out of control of the rumour mill; the press basically just making things up as they go along. Obviously with the Hebdo attacks you have this outright racist sanctioning of the Charlie Hebdo cartoons. And you have them ignoring the obvious when it comes to the attacks, just running with the story as it was fed to them; in terms of these I.D's that were 'accidentally' left in the car after it crashed. And if I remember, I believe that one of the I.D's belonged to a person that wasn't even involved in the attacks at all; it belonged to the brother-in-law of one of the attackers. And the attackers themselves have been trained in Syria and Yemen. They had been travelling all over the devils-playground that the US had created throughout the Middle East. And they had been doing that for about a decade. And of course no one picks up on any of that; it's kind of leaked out.
But nobody is asking any of those questions about why are these internet or these surveillance practices, of everything, why are they failing us so badly that we have a terrorist attack like this. These brothers that allegedly carry out these attacks, we know they've been under watch, and then they just drop off the radar purposefully and then all of a sudden re-emerge to carry out this heinous attack on our nation. Nobody asks those questions. And they just keep whipping up the hysteria; keep whipping up all of these illusions. And then in the German Wings crash, you see the same rumour-mill press where this pilot is basically just thrown to the wolves as the one who caused the crash - without any real investigation into what caused it. In just the matter of a week, he went from being an enthusiastic young man, a pilot, a good family person, strong willed, a good individual, to being a depressive lunatic, a drunk, who was solely responsible for the crash of a plane.
So I think that both these big events are assaults on the minds of European people, and people everywhere. Because you just can't compute all of this information that is so conflicting. And at the same time you're being whipped up and rallied around the flag and nationalism and sadness - it's just enough to make anybody mad.
Elan: Well this kind of reminds of a recent story that came out about Putin, just a week ago, that really speaks to the way that the media shapes the minds and perceptions of people on a constant basis and their power to do this. And basically, I think it was a Dutch study that came out, several days ago, stating that: 'Putin walks like a gun-slinger because of his training in the KGB. Just look at how he holds his hand to his chest as though he's ready to draw at any time, and look at his gait.' Apparently, only a few hours later, there were several publications in the UK that were parroting this story about 'Putin the gun-slinger'. There's been some analysis about it. Of course the most obvious thing is that it perpetuates this idea that he's this aggressive and violent man. And it just speaks to that if they're having difficulty controlling the narrative, they vilify and attack the person who's destroying their narrative which is what they did in this case with Putin.
We've seen so many different examples of this sort of thing, with the examples you just cited; Charlie Hebdo and most recently with the shootings in San Bernadino. It's almost as though if you just scratch a little bit deeper, the whole story it falls apart. That superficial shell of a narrative has such wide reach and it gets repeated so many times that it gets drilled into the minds of people before they've even had chance to think about. With the San Bernadino shootings in particular, the FBI just came out and said that no, the alleged shooter didn't have an actual Facebook account or wasn't connected to ISIS in anyway. But it reminds you of those small retractions in newspapers that come out five days later on the tenth page in small print; all anyone is going to remember is what they heard blaring about the story several days earlier.
David: And when the media covers that fact, that the FBI has said no, there was no connection; when they cover it they say we know there was a connection to ISIS but the FBI just hasn't found evidence of it yet, or, we know what the truth is we just don't have any proof. And in fact they don't need any proof. But just touching a bit more on the propaganda, I think that was a huge trend that really moved and shaked throughout 2015; the ridiculous headlines and he ridiculous news stories about Russia, Russian athletes, about Vladimir Putin having a gun-slinger gait and even about Russian cheese; there was an article mocking Russian cheese by these professional cheese tasters, that Russia was producing 'fake cheese' - just this crazy, xenophobic attitude towards Russia. They called them the, 'main threat to world peace'. Obama mentioned Russia as one of America's top enemies in the State of the Union address - not mentioning ISIS but Russia. The allegations - we must stress the word allegations - of widespread drug abuse by Russian athletes, which basically amounted to just another trial by the media, to trump up anything to demonise Russia, the Russian people, Russian Efforts.
Then of course we can't forget the Dutch school books with the pictures of Russia eating Europe; the map of Russia devouring Europe and then the question posed to those children, "What is Russia doing and what is Europe doing in this picture?" just the crazy propaganda that's being spread.
Shane: It's interesting to watch the change actually, I think, in the perception of Russia, and Putin. Because when Russia first started getting involved in Syria I remember seeing a lot in the alternative media who were kind of taking on the western narrative that, "he's a strong man", "he's a despot just like the United States has". And I think through his actions, and through Russian actions, in actually taking on terrorism that he has shifted the perception of Russia. And you see more and more in the alternative media, who are looking into the facts and into the history of Putin and what he's done for Russia, and all his accomplishments. There's a change there, in no small point also because the western media isn't covering it; they're not talking about what's going on and people want to know. I think that the Russian involvement in Syria was one of the biggest and most influential things that happened this past year, even in the past decade, it changed the dynamic, it put the United States and the west - it took them by total surprise, and they didn't know how to react and so the media was silent when Russia first got involved. They didn't know what to do besides create another shooting; three of four days later I think there was the shooting in Ohio; those are really all the tools the US has to work with: Distraction and fear.
And so there's this vacuum that is being filled by media outlets like Sputnik and RT and Sott.net. And People are moving towards those venues because it's so lacking in the west. It is also interesting to see the main agencies like AP; they're starting to cover what Russia's doing in Syria, because I'm sure they're losing readership. So I think the narrative is changing, I don't know how influential that'll be because at the same time there is just this massive, massive fear, and it's really terrifying to witness, the people who are terrorised, basically. Laura Knight-Jadcyzk had an article, a focus piece on Sott.net which you should all check out (Knowledge and Freedom: Antidote to the rising fascism). And it talks about trans-marginal inhibition which is how Pavlov did these experiments on dog - Dave did you want to comment on that?
David: I just wanted to comment that when you see these events taking place the pattern that emerges is: fear, just rampant fear. And it creates this sense in you - I was thinking about these events that have been unfolding all year and how it affects my mind. I can't say I'm afraid in the sense of, 'Chicken Little, the sky is falling' but it always keeps you in this state of fight or flight. You can see this propaganda and all this media manipulation and how it affects the minds of people, especially like here in the US and Europe where they're getting crazy right now with 'round up all the Muslims' and it's all this hate. And from a strategic point it's brilliant because they're just keeping people in this state of fear.
Shane: Well I agree with you, on the one hand we have people who are interested with what's going on in the world and want to see the truth, and want to look at reality as it is, and that in itself is stressful. And I'll get back to this in a little bit but there is a contrast with those who are just being terrorised in a reactionary way. Who are basically being moved and manipulated and moulded to accept the narrative of what they're being told, what to believe and what to think. I think the difference would be an active person, as opposed to the passive role, yes it is still stressful and it does affect you but if utilised in such a way for our own development, it creates a drive to understand what's going on in the world. And I don't know if we can always understand - that's kind the thing with pathology and psychopathy, it's so foreign to the human mind that even being subjected to it, looking at it, it's not like you can ever get used to it, it's like this alien thing. We can look at it and try to understand it but it still has this 'otherness' of it.
I think the main thing is: either you do choose to look at it or you choose to deny, and then you basically succumb to the effects of this pathology and you basically become a reactionary machine to reactionary machines.
David: Yeah, you can see that in people who've become hysterical and they're fully willing to give up their rights and freedoms to the powers that be. And the police state just grows and grows every day.
Shane: That's what we've seen in the United States, it's been terrifying - we talk about it at pretty much every show. Every single day there's another murder from this Stasi state police. When we talk about Nazi Germany and how the SS and Brownshirts were bad, I have to think that the Untied States as it is, right now, is just as bad if not worse. The accumulation of stories - it doesn't necessitate an ideology where the Brownshirts are "Rah-rahing" behind this Nazi ideology; it's this behind the scenes pathology that's present, and that's the driving force. Andrew Lobaczewski hit the nail on the head when he talked about how this evil spreads throughout society and it affects everybody right down to the police chief. And the police, we've seen that and we talked about it I think in the last show, what was going on in Chicago ['s secret prisons] and just the deep, deep corruption that was moving throughout the city officials and even up to mayor even, it was going on under his watch.
Elan: What's interesting is that you can't really separate this police-state mentality and violence in the US from the violence and drive for world domination that we see geopolitically. It's like this domesticate mirror for the way that the US has been determining policy abroad and enforcing its will and bullying its way across Europe and other nations. It's all part of the same thing. And you just spoke of ideology and I think that's a very interesting thing because, like you said Shane, these police officers, aside from sharing uniforms that might resemble one another, they're not wearing swastikas on their arms, and while a few of them may be superficially patriotic, there is no obvious, unifying force that people can identify and use as an easy comparison to the most obvious comparison, which you mentioned, which is Nazi Germany; the abuse, the mentality, the Stasi-like control system that's in place could not be any more similar. This is a kind of organic sickness that we're seeing on many different levels here in the US.
Shane: Well, just to return to world events a bit. Just to move forward to the refugee crisis; it seemed to me that when that news became apparent to the mainstream, that's really when things seriously started escalating during 2015; after that it was just one thing after the other and things were intense before that but it seems there was a marked increase in events after that. I think the guys on Behind the Headlines have talked about how the Syrian refugee crisis or the refugee crisis in general, it wasn't a new thing when the media started covering it, it had been going on for years. The tension was building. In part there was the toddler Aslan who was found in Turkey and that really provided a lot of attention and some genuine compassion for what the refugees were enduring. However it seems that there were some machinations going on behind the scenes as well that led to a lot of the attention being given to that story.
And I have to wonder if Russia's involvement at the moment that it did decide, I think there were other factors but it seemed that the west, whatever forces are behind the power centre shaping and moulding things, that they may have been going in a certain direction and then Russia went into Syria, unannounced. Putin made his UN speech and I think that that probably changed the game quite a bit or at least set things back, or caused these powerful types to retreat and think about things or maybe make changes to their plans.
Corey: It's pretty impossible to think that what they didn't know what they were doing would create this gigantic refugee crisis. They've been fighting these secret wars - well, not so secret - they've been lying about these wars in the middle east and north Africa for years and Gaddafi himself said, basically, if you take me out you then you're going to have these refugee crisis from Libya. And of course just today, I think, there was a report on Sott.net published about the huge numbers of refugees from Syria, and from Ukraine too of course; Washington was heavily involved there. They knew what they were doing; they knew that they were creating this huge mess, this catastrophe. And there are reports that Turkey was playing a big part in that too, in housing refugees and spending billions in keeping them there and was using them and the EU, back and forth, as political tools. Erdogan from Turkey was willing to use them as a political tool, to force European concessions and money and political ties and what-not.
They knew that this refugee crisis was going to hit Europe. And it was probably just a matter of time, they were definitely hyping the refugee crisis for a while, for months and then, like you said Shane, once Russia intervened that was when they decided to ramp up the terror, that was when it was time to really let loose and start to hammer home what they wanted all along which was more destabilisation in Europe and more fear of terrorism. If you look at just how things are situated - the comparison earlier with Nazi Germany and America today, and I think that the number one thing, if you're having trouble understanding the comparison between the two, is to compare what they have most in common which is pure evil. This disease of evil that has spread throughout these countries because of these psychopathic individuals who are making these plans, using these peoples as pawns and feeding on their suffering in so many different ways. Because it's just unbelievable to imagine that this kinda thing could be planned or thought out, but that's what it looks like. And they continue to hammer home: Be afraid.
They encircle Russia and all this fear-mongering about Russia including bringing more countries from Europe into NATO, basically a dagger into Russia's heart. And now they have the situation set up where they're already started genocide against another Semitic people and now they're rounding them into camps; this is Hitler's dream come true. That's just the bottom line.
David: I think too, the powers that be have really studied what happened in Nazi Germany and they've learned from that and adjusted their strategy. I think they realised that people wouldn't go for another world war like that so now they're using what they learned from Nazi Germany, to repeat that. And you're seeing that now with the anti-Muslims, they're on the verge of rounding them up; you really see things repeating but in a different way.
Meg: And ISIS, ISL, Daesh, Islamic state, they are in their totality another false flag, they're another Reichstag fire, at least I think so.
Shane: I think you're right Meg. Essentially ISIS is the United States covert army; their true military forces which they use to achieve their geopolitical goals on the global chessboard.
Elan: I think what many people don't understand is that Putin going into Syria, Russia going into Syria, as they have, and attacking the ISIS and Daesh forces, this is something that they were pretty much forced to do. You don't even have to think of him as any kind of a hero in any sense, these are actions that are born of necessity, and people just don't get how threatened the stability of Russia has been in past years with terrorism. The war on Chechnya, right on Russia's doorstep, these are the first volleys of western backed proxy-forces trying to destabilise regions of Russia.
Shane: And, I think, you can call the Chechen war the first real war on terror and it was successful. In the sense that Putin wasn't just coming onto the world scene, this wasn't his first Rodeo, he's accomplished so much and this was at the very beginning of his presidency, and he took on a war on terror in a very real sense, in a real successful way. I think it's remarkable that people can think that Russia's just doing this out of the blue, to prop up Assad and all this nonsense, when there's this whole history to look at, evaluate and include in your assessment of what's going on in modern times.
Corey: And to add to that, I remember - it may have been the beginning of this year or the end of 2014 - media reports celebrating ISIS entering Ukraine to fight against Russia. They said that they had their first signs of terrorists going in to fight Russia. So obviously Russia is well aware of what is really going on and the plans that are being hatched there, so like you said they had to go in and take out the enemy as their source.
Meg: And they're doing a very good job of it; at least in Syria.
Shane: Russia's coalition?
Meg: Yes.
Shane: Yeah they are. You look at the 24-hour reports that places like Fars news agency and RT puts out and it's amazing to see what they're accomplishing everyday; taking out 300 bases they're annihilating their oil fields and their infrastructure; they're having a major, major impact. And where things will move now, I don't want to get too ahead of myself because I think we'll discuss this at the end of the show, but it does seem that the US proxy-forces are changing gears now. But like I said I don't want to get ahead of myself.
Elan: Well, I want to get ahead of myself.
Meg: Go for it!
Shane: Go ahead.
Elan: When we were discussing all that, you can't help but think about the very recent developments with the US coming to Russia, Kerry and Nuland meeting with Lavrov and Putin, and making these concessions and now stating that they'll conceded that Assad is leading for the time being and that maybe there'll be democratic elections down the road. Which I think was an idea that Russia provided. But then, not a few days later, what happens? The US bombs and kills 30 Iraqi's, in Iraq, who were known to be part of a group who was successful in fighting against Daesh. And then when the question is posed to them: "Why did you do this?" they basically reply, "We didn't do it. But we'll investigate." So there is this stark duplicity on the part of the US. They send in these diplomats to put a new face on US policy and just continue, and even ramp up, their strategy for destabilising, and supporting and propping up, the worst elements in Iraq and Syria.
Meg: It makes me wonder if Nuland or Kerry made a decision on behalf of our government, that somebody above them undecided, you know what I mean? They're really not the true authority of what goes on here, in our government. You know what I mean? Somebody higher up made a decision for them, but they're not seen.
Shane: In some part it seems like, to me, that they're just talking out of both sides. And just to get back to Kerry who said publicly that we'll support new elections and this was really big in the news just a few days ago, like you said Elan, when Kerry and Nuland met with Lavrov. What's interesting also, I think, is during - I'm not sure if it was part of the Vienna talks - there was a meeting with Lavrov and Kerry and there was another Italian politician, I don't recall who it was, but the day of the Paris attacks, they all met. The attention was kind of scurried away from these same statements about 'we could support a Syrian election' that basically 'Assad is Ok for now', that, I think, after a year and a half or so they'd be calling for new elections. This was also stated then but it didn't really get into the news because all the things going on in Paris distracted away from all that.
Meg: Coincidentally, of course.
Shane: Yeah. So there are these shifts that appear to be occurring and I think a lot of it is behind the scenes and the US is trying to figure out ways to maintain its support for ISIS and to allow them to continue. When you look at the size of ISIS - and really this has just been driven home for me very recently - and the amount of control they have over Syria. The size of this force, not just in Syria but in Libya - If anybody hasn't listened to Behind the Headlines show with the Moriartys (Behind the Headlines: Libyan 'Islamic State', with James & JoAnne Moriarty) that's a must-listen as well - it speaks to an involvement that is not something that can manifest with the tools Al-Qaeda had before; they've grown so much it's baffling the amount of fire power, the recruitment, the provinces that they've taken over, and Russia is having a major impact on their finances through the obliteration of their oil infrastructure, they've reduced it by half and that's impacting their bottom line and that's impacting their ability to grow like they have. And it's only been - what? - three months that Russia's been involved?
And this is just the beginning. It's like we've entered into a slightly alternate reality really. Because things have moved so fast and things have happened - it has been such a relief to see a true human presence on the world scene. I think anybody who's been paying attention to global events for the last decade; it's been seriously depressing to say the least. It's been a case of pushing through; constantly trying to push through, because you're seeing the depravity over and over and over again, it gnaws on you.
David: It's feels good to see NATO and the US getting their asses whooped in Syria; It feels good to see that. Someone stands up to the bully and takes them down. I think that might be in part why you're seeing this surface change of policy in the US like, "We got to work with Russia." but what's really going on, may be, and is they're regrouping. How you were saying they're taking out the oil income, this illegal trade, and then you're seeing a build up in Afghanistan now; are we going to see an increase in opium and heroin?
Shane: Yeah exactly, Ash Carter, he's visiting Afghanistan, and you see these new reports of this concern about Afghanistan and ISIS infiltrating and taking over areas of Afghanistan; well, what's in Afghanistan? It's been a very strategic location for movement and access to central Asia, up to Russia. And a lot of the regions have to do with the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. The country is in tatters, still, from the American so-called 'intervention' in 2001. It's painful because it's like an open wound and they just keep going in. And the poppy trade, the opium trade, has grown so much since the United States has got involved, prior to this - and I'm not speaking favourable of the Taliban but one of the things they didn't allow was the growth of the heroin trade. And once the US got involved it just sky-rocketed; the number of users in Afghanistan went up something like 1000% between 2005 and 2014. And annually it's like a $7 billion industry.
There have been many rumours that it's basically a CIA black-op run program. We haven't seen the evidence, like the CIA cocaine distribution in LA a number of years ago. But you just put 2 and 2 together. Whether it's the CIA or another alphabet soup agency involved, you can see the footprints there. I agree Afghanistan looks like a battlefield that's being renewed, as well as Libya. And there's all these statements coming out: "The state department is renewing interest in the Libyan government's interest in creating a stable government." and all these things. Well, the Libyan tribes, they've been making these efforts since Libya was destroyed. So there's nothing new in that sense there. But there is something new in terms of a need for more funding for ISIS because their current oil trade is being, like I said, destroyed. An interesting Sott.net article that's up today, that the Libyan national army is asking Russia to basically get involved over there, so we'll see how that develops. But those might be some trends and some new areas that will pop up for 2016.
Corey: And you just watch NATO squirm as Russia has been obliterating the oil trade. You see Turkey bombing Russia's airplane and you see people like Lindsey Graham in the US cheering them on, cheering on the deaths of Russian pilots who are fighting terrorism! They're over there fighting these terrorists and on one side we get these reports of the most heinous crimes committed by these lunatics, these psychopaths, and on the other hand you get these elected officials cheering on the deaths of the only people over there fighting them. Its mind boggling but you just watch them squirm as Russia does this and you see Kerry go over, he has these meetings, they say, "Ok, We'll play ball." but then they're continuing to bomb Iraqi forces. And for some reason it looks like Turkish officials are meeting in Ukraine with the people responsible for the blockade of Crimea that resulted in a lot of massive electrical - not necessarily directly related to that but basically people who want to destabilise Crimea and thereby Russia. And you see that Turkey is acting like a total snake, it's a total snake throughout this whole mess, they're just digging the whole even deeper and anyone with two firing neurons can see what's going on over there but they try to cloud the issue with all of their propaganda; it's just nauseating.
Shane: I think the day's coming for Erdogan. And Lindsey Graham, his statements, he's a terrorist at heart.
Corey: Yeah, he really is! So, many of them are.
Shane: So he's upset that his terrorist brethren are being destroyed and it's only natural that he expresses dissatisfaction with the people who are defeating the terrorists.
Elan: He seems to be one of these politicians who know where his bread is buttered. And knows that if he wants to be in power or be perceived as a 'strong leader' he has to make these kind of statements that appeal to the Military Industrial Complex and the guys who basically plan these wars of aggression long in advance and stand to make many billions of dollars, trillions of dollars actually, as a result. And it's the reason why Hillary Clinton is such a hawk; she has no compunction about her participation in the destruction of Libya or anywhere else. It's all about fitting in with the lowest common denominator of Washington DC, which is: militaristic, xenophobic, US exceptionalism and then they know that all those forces that are tied to becoming president is going to choose or not choose them based on these inclinations and these statements that they make and the actions that they take to back up their hawkishness.
Shane: Corey you had mentioned the Turkish involvement in meeting the Ukrainian leaders and how they basically cut the electricity from Crimea. It looks like Turkey is making some moves to do whatever it can to be this gnat against Russia. And there was a story a few weeks ago that some of the Grey Wolves forces from Turkey were found in Crimea. The Grey Wolves are like this fascist, terrorist-type group that's emerged in Turkey in the past years and you could compare them to, they're similar in nature to the Neo-Nazi's in Ukraine, so there's an alignment there for sure.
I'm sure that will be another development that we'll continue to see for the New Year. And looking back at the past year, at Turkey - I'm not sure if it was the beginning of the year or last year - when the Turkish stream was planned with Russia, so I think Putin did see the potential for trouble and was trying to develop these relationships with Turkey. But Erdogan was playing both sides and ultimately his yield for power aligned him more naturally with NATO. There were the Turkish elections that were being held just several months ago. And just prior to that there was this Ankara bombing which was blamed on ISIS or this terrorist threat, more likely this false-flag type event to put the masses in this state of fear in preparation for the elections which was all very bad news.
The crackdown that we're witnessing in Turkey against reporters and against anybody who expressed some contrary opinion or insults the 'golem' - Erdogan, people are being arrested for this stuff and the United States continues to support Turkey as its ally, "They're our NATO partner and we support them." And it doesn't matter what the evidence is, it doesn't matter that they're an overt totalitarian government; all that matters is that they're a force that can act as a thorn in the side for Russia. I can only see things going badly for Turkey because their policies are so stupid, to align with the US, their position geographically it just makes perfect sense for them to be good neighbours with Russia and Syria and yet they just have this pathology that's running rampant. And that does make them perfect partners for the US. But Putin said that he doesn't see the relationship with Turkey improving, with the current leadership, and you have to agree. There's nothing in the way of sanity when you think about - Erdogan is the archetypical representation of this insane, nut-job leader, so the same things will continue to be chaotic with regards to Turkey.
Corey: He's everything we were told Gaddafi was.
Shane: Exactly. The picture that the west painted of Gaddafi in no way actually represented who the man was. When westerners look at Turkey can they see what this country is? It's appalling!
Elan: All they think about is the bird that they have for Thanksgiving.
Meg: And what's on TV.
Elan: But just to underline that one point you made a few minutes ago Shane, about Erdogan's choice; he had so much to benefit from by maintaining good relations with Russia, establishing the South Stream project with Russia. But instead he went with the ISIS-stream. It's so indicative of the short sightedness of megalomaniacs and psychopaths who can't see the implications of their actions. Even if he wasn't directly responsible for the shoot-down of the Russian bomber, his behaviour afterwards and his lack of responsibility for such aggression, he might as well have been responsible for it. So I think it's just a question of time at this point and this is one projection that we might easily make here, and I think it's safe to also lump Turkey in with the US, it's just a question of time before one of these two countries crosses the line in an even bigger way. And Russia is going to respond in such a way that even further reveals how duplicitous and how manipulative and maniacal these two nations are in trying to get their way in Syria and Iraq.
Corey: I know that Mike Whitney of Counterpunch had published an article about that meeting between Kerry and Putin and Lavrov and other Russian officials, that essentially an emergency meeting was held because the US had air coverage of ISIS and then attacked the Russian coalition; the Syrian Arab army, just blatantly going in and helping ISIS to steal weapons and to do their insanity. So I think you're right, they crossed the line in 2001, but there's this point here where it's like how far are they going to take the mask off. How much of their real face are they going to reveal? And you get this sense that they're really pushing on the information sphere, the strategic communications or the info-war, that they're trying to see how much of the mask that they can reveal. Just back in the US and in Europe you've got the people almost begging for this kind of pathological response, this holocaust-type mentality. It seems that - and this is another projection we can make - it's only going to get worse, it's only going to get uglier, and the people just don't seem to - they're either unaware of what's really going on but some, on some level, seem to have chosen to ally themselves with that kind of mentality.
Shane: And particularly because they've been so terrorised, that paranoia switch has been turned on and it just blocks that capacity to critically think about things. So people are just running on emotions and with that they're tapping into the aggressions and that pathological... (inaudible) that's coming from the US. But I think that this mask is coming off and it is like this revelatory thing; they're revealing themselves more an d more, and that seems to be another trend of 2015, that these glimpses that we're seeing are becoming more and more apparent. There have been so many big events, like with the Greek election, which was only in the fall - it seems like ages ago now - but during that time, it's unfortunate to see how Tsipras reacted after the votes, to basically try and flip off the IMF, he chose otherwise. But it did seem as though Greece had a choice in front of itself, that it could make some smart moves in aligning with Russia, and it would have been beneficial. And if both Turkey and Greece could have gotten on board, I think we would have seen some significant changes within Europe even. But the world didn't go in that direction.
Corey: Yeah I think Europe and the world learned that there would be no way out of these sanctions, of this banker's theft of the nation. It's been happening in Africa and south America, this Shock Doctrine; to privatise the public resources, to load them down with debt, to treat the banks as casinos and then make the people pay the bill, just steal as much money as they can and get away with it, and then lie about it, and then force the people into these crazy austerity measures. I remember reading that after 2010, in Greece, after austerity was reaching its peak, there was a 40% hike in suicides and there was a 40% drop in the number of people driving cars, people started bartering; basically what people were told by the European 'elites', those liberal masters of the universe, was that, "No. There is no solution; you will not get out of this. And you are going to suffer. We are going to crush your will and your spirit."
David: I also find it interesting too that the IMF and these bankers put Greece in this strangle hold and said no but now recently they've forgiven Ukraine's debt to Russia.
Shane: Exactly. How can they do that? Yeah, Putin had that meeting with Christine Lagard and basically put it to her, "If you think the debt is good, you can just pay me for it and we can call it even." she didn't really care for that. But in the same sense, when there are these intense machinations that are being forced upon the people from IMF, they're revealing themselves and the people, especially those most affected by it, within Greece, do see what's going on. It's an unfortunate way of the human condition. I don't know if that's what it takes for people to see what's going on, and I'm sure many American's will still continue to deny what their government stands for until it actually, fully hits them.
Corey: Another thing about the slavery of debt, essentially, and all the frustration that leads to; it reminds me of a school of psychological thought, I think it was the Frankfurt school in the 40's and 50's, they were doing a lot of research on what led to fascism. And they came up with what was called the Frustration-Aggression hypothesis. And I'm sure a lot of secret leader-types are well aware of this. But in this situation like you saw in Greece, it's like that transmarginal-inhibition, you have all of these frustrating factors that are blocking you, everywhere you go you can't get ahead, there's nothing you can do, you're isolated, you're lonely, you're being lied to, you know you're being lied to, you're frustrated and that leads to aggression. Because these people want to break out of the situation, they want to be able to live their life. Well, they don't have an outlet for that.
But here comes these far-right parties, like the Golden Dawn at the time in Greece. And these far-right, Neo-Nazi parties who are known to collude with the police and have intricate ties to the political establishment, they provide this aggression. Here's the outlet for your aggression; let's beat up the immigrants, let's beat up - whatever.
So with one hand they're crushing the people and with the other they're saying, "Just come this way and join the dark side. Just join the dark side and everything will be all right."
David: Yeah, you're seeing that take place now in the US, people are just growing more and more frustrated and that's why people like Trump are becoming more and more popular, they're feeding on that anger.
Shane: I know there is this segment of the population that does support Trump. But when you do boil down the numbers, my guess is it's significantly lower than the overall percentage. But the thing with the authoritarian voice is that it's so loud and it's magnified and it's made to represent the majority. That's just the nature of authoritarian declarations is; it's so firm and without doubt that people who were on the fence, they think, "Well, that must be what most people think so I'll go along with that." But I kind of suspect that it really isn't as popular as the media puts out.
David: I think you're right but I do think that a lot of the average American is angry about what's going on.
Shane: Yeah. It's frustrating to see people who are well intentioned and are rightfully angry, be subverted by people like Donald Trump. You can go to the flip side too; well intentioned liberals with Hillary Clinton; there's a psychopath for everybody!
Elan: Along the lines of this crushing policy that the central banks and the EU might have implemented against Greece, and which only threatens to get much worse, another big story of this year is the TPP, which is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Previously we've had NAFTA, the North American Free-Trade Agreement, which basically was a plan by corporations to export their businesses and their sources of human capital, their employees, abroad, where they can pay people much less and be regulated much less. So this is yet another master stroke - not that it's going to have time, I think, to be fully implemented, because we're going to see a lot more environmental and earth changes happen before we see the full repercussions of the TPP. But the idea here I that all of these corporations got together with the US government, in agreement with a number of other countries around the world, to implement this trade agreement which basically empowers the corporations to sue the governments of the people of other countries, that don't let it get its way.
The TPP was created basically in secrecy. Many legislators were not even permitted to look at it. It's like this absurdist - Obama said he would be the most transparent president that we ever had, and he's turned out to be the most fascistic and totalitarian and secretive of any of them. So they're ramming this TPP agreement down the throats of other nations. It's a joke whenever you hear Obama sending Kerry over to China or somewhere, making overtures for them to sign the TPP. And I'm sure they say very politely, "Oh, no thank you. We have our various Shanghai agreements and our new established relationships with countries in Asia." When a more honest answer would be: "Are you kidding me?! You actually want me to go along with these policies that would effectively destroy our own ability to lead ourselves?" It's sort of like the mafia coming in and saying, "Sign this deal here I'll be good for you. We'll all be very happy." When anybody who has investigated what this is about will know very quickly that it's just another way to infiltrate - it's the Shock Doctrine; it's all the worst things about the IMF and the WTO and what they do.
Shane: On steroids. We have a caller on the line. Caller, are you there?
Caller: Yes. Hello.
Shane: Hi caller, what's your name and where you calling from?
Laurie: My names Laurie and I'm calling from Idaho.
All: Hi Laurie.
Shane: Welcome to the show.
Laurie: Hi. I'm in the scary United States. I just wanted to say I really hope you guys are right about the whole Trump just being the loudest voice and not a lot of people actually backing him because that is very frightening; the stuff that comes out of his mouth and people cheering it on is - it's surreal to me. Its like, is this really happening?
Shane: It is very surreal. And even though, as I was saying, there might not be as large a segment of the population but I do think that he and his supporters - just the perception that they're able to put out there and give voice to, it is a serious and threatening ideology or way of thinking, way of behaving. My personal opinion is I doubt he'll be president -
Laurie: I so hope you're right.
Shane: Even if he's not, I don't see the direction of the country changing for the better -
Laurie: No I don't either.
Shane: - even if he doesn't become president though, the voice that he has and the influence that he can put out there -
Laurie: The ideologies are that popular - it's horrible, it's horrifying. And it is, it is like the beginning of the Nazi Germany. And so many people become so enflamed - I read Sott.net and I listen to you guys and I just - I can't even voice my opinions around anybody anymore, it's just too scary.
Shane: Yeah in the south here, Trump is fairly popular, along with Cruz and it's like this warped, very strange reality to see people - and there are, even if it's not the majority, it is still significant. It is very scary but we'll see. We'll see what 2016 brings. It doesn't look good in any case.
Laurie: No.
Meg: (inaudible)
Laurie: Everything you guys has been talking about today, taken altogether, you almost can't make it anymore, and you just have to hope for something to change drastically. It's hard to know, out here, by ourselves, to know, what we can do besides pay attention and try to live our lives. But i still feel like I need to be in hiding because I can't speak to truth because it's not well received.
Shane: I know what you mean. And it does feel like dark times - when you said that it kind of gave me the shivers a little bit. You can just imagine what those in Nazi Germany were feeling. Those people who could see what was going on. I don't know if you read Sebastian Haffner's description of what happened in Nazi Germany, his memoir, Defying Hitler; seeing the rapid change in environment and the oppressive atmosphere and not really being able to express and to be fearful about talking about your thoughts of what's happening in the world. It's a scary thing.
Laurie: I haven't read that particular one but I feel as though I'm living in some of the things I've read about. And it's like closing in on you when you're out here by yourself, in your own little world and trying to look objectively at the truth; you can't voice it, you can't do anything about it; I'm glad I have you guys to read and listen to. I feel less alone.
Shane: Thank you. I don't know if you were able to catch the intro of the show. But I was mentioning then that the alternative to look away and deny what's going on the world, that in itself is accepting this psychopathic reality, that takes a piece of who we are away from ourselves, it makes us less human. So even though it is hard to look at and truly witness what's going on in the world, I think it does allow us to be a bit more human.
Laurie: Yeah I agree and I'm just not willing to lose that.
Meg: I think it helps to acknowledge what you're seeing even if it's just within yourself. It's like you can see another black man getting beaten by police, you can see the shenanigans the US government pulls on people; I think acknowledging what's going on within you when you see that is just as important as seeing that. Because we are witnessing the decline of the US for one, and probably other countries too, it's pretty horrific in acknowledging that within you even if you can't say it out loud; I think it can help with the gloominess of the whole thing.
Laurie: Yeah because I at least have the presence of mind to go, "This is freaking wrong. This is not right. And there's nothing that you can do to convince me it's the right way to go."
Elan: It may just be that being carriers of information and basing the things you decide to do and say, when there are opportunities to do so Laurie, make all the difference in some way that we can't quantify or measure. Also, doing the work of thinking about all this stuff and suffering the stress and the thoughts of the feelings of looking at it, I think much in the same way as watching the Earth Changes video's we were talking about at the top of the show, it's a kind of a preparation, because we know that things are likely to get a lot worse before they get better.
Laurie: Yes.
Elan: And being prepared -
Laurie: Mentally.
Elan: Yeah mentally prepared, I think, is half the battle.
Laurie: It's like 'If you see it coming'. And the Earth Changes - It's like the book Pierre and Laura wrote (Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection: The Secret History of the World) - all of these things are ramping up all at the same time and it just makes the book make more sense, because you can see it. You can look around you and you can see, "Wow, yeah, this is really happening." Like I said, I'm glad you guys are there because I know I'm not the only one.
Meg: Well, feel free to call and rant any time you like.
Laurie: Oh, right on. I get on the Cassiopaea.org forum too. And that's an awesome, awesome reference as well.
Shane: Well we appreciate your call and your thoughts -
Laurie: I appreciate you guys being there! It's really cool to touch base and call you guys every once in a while, I've done that over the years occasionally but it always feels good, thanks for being there.
David: Take a little comfort that you're not alone out there; we've all be through that and are going through that.
Laurie: And probably will go through some more.
Shane: Step by step. Like Elan, you were saying before, just observing these things as they happen, its part of the preparation. And I can just imagine people who do block this stuff out of awareness - until the point where they no longer can; can you imagine being faced with reality as it is without any foreknowledge or background to understand it?
Laurie: That would be shocking.
Shane: That's got to be a crushing thing.
Meg: It'll disintegrate people.
Laurie: Massive PTSD.
Elan: Actually what you're saying Laurie reminds me of something I was thinking about a little earlier, if we're really faced with all these profound changes which are in the midst of happening and going to happen in the coming times, that people like you and other callers and other people who are really paying as much attention to this as they can, they are really the leaders of the future. I think when we think of ourselves as leaders, "Me? A leader??", it doesn't necessarily computer because we have this idea of what a leader is, what they look like, basically based on authoritarian images that we've been programmed with for a very long time, but we're leaders or can aspire to lead in the ways of just being aware. So don't ever take your place in all this for granted. Don't feel alone. As was mentioned a couple of minutes ago, you are doing something that many people are not doing. And for those people who might be - to sound a little esoteric - putting people on the step behind you, you're leading. So just appreciate your place in the scheme of things. And if at all possible, when there is an opportunity that you're faced with, to share information and insight, you can do that for others and don't underestimate its power and its ability to help in ways which may not seem apparent and may seem non-linear.
Shane: And just the fact that you called in and expressed what you're feeling, we look at the chat room too and people are saying, "Yes, I feel the same way." just putting that information out there and saying how this is effecting you, it allows other people to say, "Yes. I feel the same way. It's awful and frustrating. And I feel alone." In saying that, we can see that we're really not alone. There are others who are feeling the same way and seeing the same things. There is, I think, some solace in that.
Meg: And sometimes, I know it's been my experience, a lot of times I would be afraid to say something if I saw something was wrong, especially in society and schools, but if someone else says something is wrong, I can say something is wrong; it's like there's a validation there. So, acknowledging you're lonely, acknowledging things allows other people to say it too. We have to be careful about whom we say these things to but it gives people permission to talk about it as well, when you talk about it. So there's a flip side to that I think.
Laurie: Cool. I guess I hadn't through about it that way - if you open the conversation carefully.
Meg: "What do you think about Donald Trump?" (Laughter) They might just leave the room.
Laurie: Well I'll leave you guys to get on with the show and I'm going to attend to my little fireplace.
Meg: Keep your chin up Laurie!
Laurie: You guys too.
Shane: Thanks for calling.
Laurie: You're welcome. Ok guys have a good day.
All: Take care.
Laurie: Take care too. Bye.
Shane: Bye. So I think that that is something - people who do want to see the world often feel that loneliness. Really, that's part of the psychopathic reality that wishes to isolate us and keep us separate from others and to keep our troubles to ourselves; to remain the strong person, not really sharing what we're going through, that's a very American thing too I think. That rigid, self dependent -
David: Individualism.
Shane: - Individualism, that's the word. In trying to see the world for what is, there are a lot of different programs that are helpful to look at and to work through. Knowing that we're not really alone helps and in being able to share those things helps. So thank you for your call Laurie. We were talking about the TPP deal and the intensifying of controls that the United States is seeking to establish on an ever-increasing scale; the Trans-Pacific Partnership is just this very draconian measure that they're trying to pave the way to corporate-fascism. And it's really criminal against humanity. We'll see how things develop with that in the New Year, for sure. So for next year, some of the trends; I think we can look at the past year and see that we've been discussing major events and the different power dynamics at play and even though we move from one year to the next, things are always developing, they have a place in history, and I think we can expect more of the same from the United States. One of the things we touched on in terms of the psychopathic control system revealing itself more and more, I think we can expect more of that.
The situation in Syria and Russia's involvement really pushed the power-players against the wall and I think they've been reacting more and more, and in so, they've had to go back to more drastic measures and in doing so revealing their face more and more. The way people respond to that will be different, those who do have some seat of conscience, I think, it will continue to press on them and for others, more people will need to make a choice whether to acknowledge what's really going on in the world or to completely deny reality as it is; and in doing so there are different ecological ramifications, there could be more disintegration happening on a social level. To scroll through the Society's Child category of Sott.net we're seeing more stories of people disintegrating. But I'm hoping that there will be more people who do turn to 'see' what is going on. I think, as we were talking about earlier, the United States may try to change course a bit, if only on the very surface of things in relation to Syria.
Each year, if we look back to 2014, Ukraine was a hot-topic, and while much of the fighting and the chaos there continue, there are always new countries that the US sets its sights on.
Elan: Most recently there was a vote for Montenegro to join NATO. This was something that was implemented by its leadership, much in the same way as you mentioned earlier, that the EU decided to renew its sanctions against Russia but with no discourse among the regular EU parliamentarians. It was all very quick and secretive and a done deal.
Shane: It was automatic. It actually surprised me; countries like France and Germany, there was no real involvement from those countries; it was all EU political leaders, them deciding. There's no discourse with member countries, that's fascinating.
Elan: That's the pattern, these policies get rammed through. Like the TPP, like - what we just read about - the cyber security regulation, that was done in basically secret and was snuck into this big omnibus bill. For many months, actually years this was being contested in congress, even by some democrats. It's like the forces that are pushing through all of this, they know exactly how to do it, what levers to press, what buttons to push, who to blackmail and who to influence, and it just gets rammed down the throats of most people, usually the people who it effects most, detrimentally.
Shane: Well I wonder, how long can that go on? It's not only the people who are against these things. But you're seeing some major influences of power who don't like, for example, Russian sanctions. Many of the German business leaders - it's nuts - because they see what's going on to their own economy - is it going to take the US economy to tank before the EU countries themselves can separate from the US, or will it take an economic collapse of the EU first. It's hard to say what will come first - nobody will know the hour or the day or what specific event, and I'm sure it's not going to be one specific event, things will continue to occur. I can't say gradually anymore because things aren't happening gradually, things are happening very, very fast. These past months have been a whirlwind of world events and I think we'll see many more. 2016 will be an explosive year, looking back at these past months, judging by that, things will continue to escalate. It is becoming a bit of an effort to keep an eye on these things.
But continuing to talk about these issues - that's why we have this show, to talk about it and also to provide a platform where our callers can call in to talk about these things too. That's an important and helpful for others to know that you're not alone, like Laurie was talking about.
So more chaos for the coming year.
David: Maybe some more bully beat-down by Russia.
Shane: That would be great to see, more bully beat-down. And Libya, we'll see if they take a hold there. I tend to think that Russia is already working behind the scenes. And Iran is already very much involved in fighting ISIS. Wouldn't it be nice to see ISIS wiped off the face of the map in 2016?
Meg: That would be awesome. Russia can do it I think.
Shane: So "ra-ra" Putin.
Corey: I think it looks like they've had these plans to conquer, to reshape the middle east, to redraw the mess anew, and they've had these plans for decades. It looks like Russia has stepped in and halted that, essentially. And has really put an end to the super strategic power-plays that they've got going on over there but that's not going to stop them. So I think we have to be prepared for major events as they continue to pursue their plans; they want to topple Syria, they want to topple Iran, they want to destroy those nations, they want to contain Russia, they want to contain China. So I think we can expect more - obviously we're going to see more terrorist attacks. And I imagine, at home, with the lies we believe here, we'll see the ramifications of that here. It's hard to tell with the next elections who the next president could be. But out of the choices that we have I can imagine it will be a lunatic (Laughter). I think that's 100% guaranteed that it's going to be an all-out lunatic if we get to those elections.
But I think it comes down to, what Laura said in an article 'Knowledge and Freedom: Antidote to the rising fascism' up on Sott.net: "The only thing to do is to try to figure out strategies that help us cope with the stress because the psychopaths seeking to become our evil overlords are actually, right now, in the process of making their big move. They are stepping out of the closet and onto the world stage and a lot of people are waking up suddenly and violently and really don't have the resources to know what to make of it all."
People just don't understand it. There are these psychopaths that are in power, they have a lot of money, they have a lot of influence, and they will do anything to control the globe, essentially. As mad as it sounds that is the core of the psychopath mentality. That's why there's madness all around us. And everybody is going to feel that push for that total control. I think that we just need to be able to take care of ourselves, to take care of one another, to stay true to ourselves, to have faith in ourselves, and to choose the path of humanity, instead of this psychopathic domination that we're probably going to see manifest more and more, all around us, but to just try to keep that light inside and keep that light burning bright.
Elan: Well said Corey.
Meg: Indeed.
Shane: I agree. Well I think one other thing; when we opened the show we talked about Earth Changes, that's something that the psychopaths in power - I'm sure some at the top know what's coming, but they're not prepared for the consequences. And once we start seeing the Earth Changes occurring in a way that disrupts the control system, I think that's when things will really start going nuts.
Elan: I think that's a good point. These power-players think they are at the very top of the food chain and they look at things the way they want to look at things. They're oblivious and subjective and subjected to their own wishful thinking about how the world is. And it's going to be a very rude awakening for them for when the playing field is no longer what they're used to. Even more than those who have this 'spark of humanity' in them; they're going to be reaction machines and subjected to trauma in ways relatively more healthy people are not; imagine a child having a tantrum. This will be many of those psychopathic leaders of industry, of government, in media; they're not going to have their kind to set up anymore. I don't know how much solace we can take from that just due to the sheer amount of damaged they've managed to inflict upon a lot of people thus far. But it's not going to be a good day for them when the playing field is levelled.
Meg: Well I have a little, tiny ray of hope from that. It's not a story that I had to talk about in the show but I was thinking about it as you were talking; Oregon has gotten a lot of rain recently. I mean to the point where there's mudslides and sinkholes and it's really bad. And this one little community, their houses literally slid off mountains. And the way that the city and the state had structured them, there was no help to be had; this county said, "We can't help you". And these people, if you looked at the pictures their homes have slid down hill, they have nowhere to go. But when they realised that no help was coming, they pulled together as a community and they built these - I don't know what they're called - I guess they're some sort of sand-baggy things that prevent any more erosion. So they pulled together to help each other and they let the government - although it was local, county government - aside.
So I think there's opportunity too, when we know the government is not going to be there to help us that we can pull together and help each other. And the fact that they did that without being asked - it was a natural thing, it seems, with them; to just help each other through this and worry about the insurance and worry about the county later. And I think that's a bitty ray of hope so...
Shane: That's the natural inclination that people have. We are oriented to being in a group and once this isolating and oppressive thing is removed, this control system is obliterated, I'm sure it will be trying to restructure ourselves, but we can restructure ourselves in a more humane way. So there is some hope in there and it's a mixed bag of emotions but I think, as long as we keep talking about it and keep looking at it and keep looking ahead and just remain steadfast in knowing that we're not along and that what we're seeing is a worthwhile endeavour to work on.
And with that, I think we're going to close the show. I appreciate everybody holding on with our BlogTalkRadio mishap. And we appreciate all the chatters. And thank you Laurie for calling in. And remember to check out the Behind the Headlines show and the Health and Wellness show. And with that, we will talk to you all in two weeks. We're probably taking off next Saturday for the holidays. So everybody enjoy the holidays for what you can, hopefully there's not too much family stress. Enjoy the holidays and thanks for listening!
Meg: Thanks everyone.
Elan: Take care everybody.
Corey: Goodbye.
David: Ahoy-ho!
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