Puppet Masters
Today on MindMatters, we look at the Czech "Dictionary of Totalitarianism", a project by several Czech academics analyzing the vocabulary of propaganda during the socialist period in Czechoslovakia. Using statistical analysis, the researchers were able to identify which words came into prominence and attached with that suggestive, emotional flavor typical of totalitarians and pathocrats, the euphemisms and stereotyped phrases, and the slurs used to demonize political enemies. We also look at a more modern text of revolutionary and potentially totalitarian ideology, The Anti-Fascist Handbook.
Running Time: 01:06:53
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Don't worry, you're not the only one. There have been any number of developments in the last few weeks alone that feed into this narrative.
There was the tit-for-tat tanker seizures between Britain and Iran last month (with the MSM memory holing Britain's tit in the reporting on Iran's tat, of course), which has enabled the always-insightful Russian Foreign Ministry to conclude that the US "is simply looking for a pretext to whip up the situation" in the Persian Gulf (shocking, I know).
There is the still-escalating situation in Hong Kong, where US-backed regime change NGOs and authentically angry Hong Kongers are struggling against Beijing's encroachment on their regional autonomy (with China now warning the US to mind its own beeswax in the matter).
There was the incident over South Korea late last month where, depending on whose side of the story you trust, South Korean forces fired warning shots on Russian military aircraft that violated their airspace or innocent Russian peace planes were totally not violating anybody's airspace and no shots were even fired.
Oh, and there's the breaking news story as I write this article about the US formally withdrawing from the INF nuclear treaty, a Cold War-era arms control deal that had hitherto limited development of mid-range ground based nuclear missiles.
Yes, it's safe to say that the world is beginning to feel like a powder keg and each one of these incidents is a lit match.
But as bad as all of these stories sound, the reality is even worse! Let's take a look at a few recent developments that demonstrate how the world's biggest powers are prepping for something huge.
In the most complete account yet of CTF Partners' outlook and strategy, current and former employees of the campaign consultancy have painted a picture of a business that appears to have professionalised online disinformation, taken on a series of controversial clients and faced incidents of misogynistic bullying in its headquarters.
They said that such was the culture of secrecy within the firm that staff working on online disinformation campaigns, which selectively promoted their clients' viewpoints on anonymised Facebook pages that followed a common formula, used initials rather than full names on internal systems and often relied on personal email accounts to avoid their work being traced back to CTF and its clients.
"We've been speaking with Russia about the pact for nuclear," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Friday, adding that "China is very excited about it" too.
This is not the first time the US president has brought up the ambitious nuclear weapons reduction plan. He first referenced it in April, arguing that the ultimate goal is to "get rid" of as many nuclear weapons as possible.
In practice, however, the Trump administration has poured billions of dollars into modernizing the US nuclear arsenal and Pentagon doctrines on the use of atomic weapons, while scrapping the landmark 1987 INF arms control treaty that kept the peace in Europe for over 20 years.
Despite a Western media deliberately feigning confusion over motives and possible suspects while attempting to depict the capital as "in chaos" and the current Thai government "humiliated" - its image "tarnished" - US-backed opposition groups are the prime suspects, their motives including growing desperation.
Also absent from Western media coverage was any genuine context surrounding Thailand's ongoing political crisis as foreign-backed opposition groups attempt to reverse the nation's growing ties with China, Russia, and developing nations across Eurasia.
The cost of special counsel Robert Mueller's 22-month probe was released in a Justice Department accounting report on Friday. While the last six months of the investigation, which concluded in May with Mueller's resignation, cost "only" $6.5 million as he began sending prosecutors home and writing up the 448-page report, turning the full force of the country's investigative apparatus against a president and his campaign isn't cheap. From May 2017 to September 2018, the special counsel's office spent $25 million digging for Russian infiltrators in the White House.
Some $2.4 million of the last phase's expenses would have been spent anyway on Department salaries, according to the report, but the itemized breakdown provides an interesting window into the bureaucratic swamp that produced the pricey nothingburger. "Transportation of Things" may have cost just $229, but Justice Department employees billed the government for $235,812 to work out of the special counsel's office instead of their own offices (filed under "Travel and Transportation of Persons").
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson forecast the 1.1 million figure during a committee hearing Tuesday based off the number of people arrested for illegally entering between border crossings and those who presented at ports of entry but were deemed ineligible for admittance.
As of June 30, U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel had made contact with 905,926 migrants, including 694,229 who entered the country without permission. The 694,229 figure nine months into fiscal 2019 was more than double the 310,000 who illegally crossed the southern border in all of fiscal 2017.
This year's number has already surpassed the 683,178 encountered both at ports of entry and between ports in fiscal 2018.
Comment: See also:
- Mexico to deploy National Guard forces to southern border to stem flow of Central American migrants
- Despite Obrador's promises, migrants flow through borders with nary a Mexican National Guard trooper in sight
- Leftist open borders Activists are organizing the illegal alien caravan
- Arrests at US southern border skyrocketing: 144,000 apprehensions in May
- Border Patrol Agent: The best way to end to the humanitarian crisis on our southern border is Trump's wall

Jesse Ventura talks to RT's Lee Camp on "Redacted Tonight"
After leaving office in 2003, Ventura began a weekly cable TV show, Jesse Ventura's America, on MSNBC. However, the show was dropped only a few months after it began. For Ventura, the show was canceled for one reason.
"They got rid of me because I opposed the invasion of Iraq," he told Redacted Tonight's Lee Camp. "Our government allowed no media at all to speak out against the invasion of Iraq, you were told it's off limits basically." While dissent may not have gone down well at MSNBC at the time, jingoism did, with host Joe Scarborough calling protesters "leftist stooges for anti-American causes," and pundit Michael Savage suggesting they "are absolutely committing sedition, or treason."
Watch the full video, also featuring corporate journalists finally turning on each other for two years of 'Russiagate' conspiracies and America's need for a viable third party.
Members of the foundation, as well as other individuals "linked to its activities" are suspected of laundering the hefty sum of 1 billion rubles ($15.3 million) over the past three years, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Saturday. The FBK is an opposition NGO, which focuses primarily on open-source 'investigations' into alleged cases of high-profile corruption.
Comment: Not Navalny's first rodeo either:
- Wall Street's man in Moscow - Navalny - charged with fraud
- Russian court gives Putin opponent Aleksey Navalny 5-year suspended sentence in embezzlement case
- Western puppet Aleksey Navalny sentenced to 30 days of civil arrest for breaking law on public protests
- Navalny released from detention to teens demanding their 'hard-earned' 10k euros
- Russian election 2018: The West's 'only' opposition to Putin is Navalny who has a criminal record and 2% support
- Revelation from British intelligence archives - Alexei Navalny is an MI6 & CIA agent
Judicial Watch announced today it received six pages of records from the FBI showing that in June, 2017, a month after FBI Director James Comey was fired by President Donald Trump, FBI agents visited his home and collected "as evidence" four memos that allegedly detail conversations he had with President Trump. One of his memos was written on June 6, a month after he was fired.
Comey was fired by Trump on May 9, 2017. The memos obtained by Judicial Watch were collected from Comey by the FBI on June 7, a month later, and are dated February 14, 2017; March 30, 2017; April 11, 2017; and one is dated "last night at 6:30 pm."
The FBI documents also revealed that Comey recalled writing two other memos after conversations with Trump that he claimed were "missing." The FBI visit and interview took place on June 7, the day before Comey admitted leaking the memos in testimony to Congress.
Comment:
- The lie that Comey's leaks were non-criminal is biting the dust
- Trump's lawyer: Comey should be investigated for admittedly leaking 'privileged communications'
- Comey admits he was aware that Steele dossier was financed by Dems before signing off on FISA warrant to surveil Carter Page
- Comey's memos indicate dossier briefing of Trump was a setup
- Statements from Comey's testimony show Trump was 100% right to fire him














Comment: Additional from RT 3/8/2019: 'No winners' in INF collapse, but Russia 'will never lose an arms race' either! See also: