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"which can claim the heartiest allegiance of the fickle crowd; can present itself as most 'in touch' with popular concerns; can anticipate the tides and pulses of public opinion; can, in short, be the least apparently 'elitist.' It is no great distance from Huey Long's robust cry of 'Every man a king' to the insipid 'inclusiveness' of [Bill Clinton's slogan] 'Putting People First,' but the smarter elite managers have learned in the interlude that solid, measurable pledges have to be distinguished by a reserve' tag that earmarks them for the bankrollers and backers. They have also learned that it can be imprudent to promise voters too much."Later in the same chapter, Hitchens noted that "At all times," the Clinton administration's "retreat from egalitarian and even 'progressive' positions has been hedged by a bodyguard of political correctness."
A friend, with good sources in the Israeli government, claims that the head of Israel's Mossad has made several trips to deal with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia—one of the results: an agreement that the Saudis would bankroll the series of assassinations of several of Iran's top nuclear experts that have occurred over the past couple of years. The amount involved, my friend claims, was $1 billion dollars. A sum, he says, the Saudis considered cheap for the damage done to Iran's nuclear program.
Following yesterday's rocket attack against #Israel, #IDF aircraft attacked 4 terrorist locations in southern #Gaza.— Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) May 27, 2015
China and "probably one or two" other countries have the ability to invade and possibly shut down computer systems of U.S. power utilities, aviation networks and financial companiesHow long until these cyber attacks really begin escalating, as geo-political maneuvering intensifies?
Comment: Why are they going after these folks? Because they refused to pull games out of Russia? While Russia is barely mentioned in the above NYT report, it is noteworthy that just yesterday elite hack Sen. John McCain and other senators called for FIFA President Sepp Blatter to be ousted for "supporting Russia's 2018 World Cup despite fighting in Ukraine".
Clearly the Western elites are displeased with FIFA not following the Western charge against Russia and are now playing the corrupt card against them, a card that could have been played at any point in the last 50 years. FIFA corruption has been an open secret for quite a long time, yet the American government was willing to look the other way. Besides, the American government going after FIFA for corruption is very much the pot calling the kettle black. It wasn't until FIFA stepped on the political toes of powerful Western institutions that they were called out for their indiscretions.
It's interesting that the man at the center, Sepp Blatter, has avoided indictment at this time. Perhaps the Americans are waiting to see if Blatter will give in to the political pressure to move the World Cup out of Russia and are offering to drop criminal charges if he acquiesces.