By Stephen J. Bergstrom
On the surface, American exceptionalism appears to represent a boldly-stated concept but when contrasted to the subtleties of personal experience, the lessons and flow of history and individual geographically-rooted place, horribly small-minded and delusional, conceivable only as a statement by a crazed, power-hungry overlord to an underling.
Synchronized beautifully in 2004 by a senior aide to Bush Jr. to Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ron Suskind writing in the New York Times Magazine, American Exceptionalism is,
”…an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do…” (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/17/magazine/17BUSH.html).
To begin examination, let’s take a closer look at basic definitions (courtesy of Merriam-Webster).
Exceptional:
- not usual
- unusual or uncommon
- unusually good
ism:
- the act, practice, or process of doing something
- behavior like that of a specified kind of person or thing
- unfair treatment of a group of people who have a particular quality
Exceptionalism:
- the condition of being different from the norm; also
- a theory expounding the exceptionalism especially of a nation or region
Combining the above, we realize that exceptionalism equates to perception or a perceiving of self that endows the perceiver with uncommon power.
In the case of the United States, seeming high-level leadership self-perceives that the U.S. is “exceptional” (i.e., unusual or unusually good in possession of the ability to act) and does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles. In worldly terms, the U.S. exits the brotherhood of nations and is empire among middling servant states.
Voicing American Exceptionalism
U.S. President Barack Obama speaking at the 2009 NATO Summit, Strasbourg, France,
“I believe in American exceptionalism…we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional…”
U.S. President Barack Obama speaking to West Point’s graduating class 2014,
“America must always lead on the world stage…The United States is the one indispensable nation…I believe in American exceptionalism with every fabric of my being…”
Then actor and to-be President, Ronald Reagan at the First Conservative Political Action Conference, 1974,
“…We cannot escape our destiny, nor should we try to do so. The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall of Philadelphia. In the days following World War II, when the economic strength and power of America was all that stood between the world and the return to the dark ages, Pope Pius XII said, ‘The American people have a great genius for splendid and unselfish actions. Into the hands of America God has placed the destinies of an afflicted mankind.’
We are indeed, and we are today, the last best hope of man on earth.”
_________
The City on the Hill: Finding the Roots to American Exceptionalism
First Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony John Winthrop (1588-1649) represented early American Puritanical Tradition. Addressing a bevy of puritan emigrants waiting to disembark the Arabella to create the first settlement in what would become the first of the New England states, Winthrop declared,
“…we shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies…for we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us…”
(https://thehistoricpresent.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/the-city-upon-a-hill-and-puritan-hubris/)
That forenamed city destined to be recast time and again by America’s political leadership and undoubtedly favored by those behind that leadership, first by Reagan in his same above speech;
“Standing on the tiny deck of the Arabella in 1630 off the Massachusetts coast, John Winthrop said, ‘We will be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword throughout the world.’ Well, we have not dealt falsely with our God…”
President-elect John F. Kennedy said, in an address to the Massachusetts Legislature on January 9, 1961,
“During the last 60 days I have been engaged in the task of constructing an administration…. I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arabella [sic] 331 years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a government on a new and perilous frontier. ‘We must always consider,’ he said, ‘that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us.’”
From George H. W. Bush’s “thousand points of light” to Bill Clinton’s “America has a special role in the eyes of God” to John Kerry’s “…we have moved closer to the America we can become – for our own people, for the country, and for all the world…”, to lesser weighted John Bolton’s “The most important thing you need is a president who is proud of the United States of America, who believes in American exceptionalism” to Condy Rice’s, “When the world looks to America, they look to us because we are the most successful economic and political experiment in human history. That is the true basis of American exceptionalism…” special effort has been made to convince America she is biblically-blessed and exceptional.
A Truth Hidden, Half Told
But conviction does not always mesh with contradiction nor will those convicted remain so in the face of evidence, direct personal experience and the geography of place.
Alexis de Tocqueville was one. The son of Norman aristocrats, de Tocqueville lives a short life. Born in Paris, July 29th, 1805, he travels to America in 1831 and publishes the tome upon which his fame rests, Democracy in America, in the year of his thirtieth birthday, 1835 and in which he observed that America was creating ”…a distinct species of mankind…(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/american-exceptionalism/).
But in what ways distinct?
In Tocqueville’s eyes, Americans will be birthed first by mindset in the Winthropian, “… Puritanical origin…” and meshed then with “…exclusively commercial habits…”
And in what ways convicted?
The American, this distinct species of mankind, de Tocqueville asserts will become convicted, will become aware of their personal distinctiveness through uniqueness of place, through the,
“…country they inhabit which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, literature, and the arts, the proximity of Europe … to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, his education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward…” (http://www.visionandvalues.org/2011/04/the-roots-of-tocqueville-s-american-exceptionalism/#sthash.CIhYaf5j.dpuf).
And therein lies contradiction and echoes so much of what the world says about America, about despising the policies of a government etched in puritanical righteousness and commercial industry and imported inventiveness that exports war and fiat currency but loving a people contradicted and tempered by place, by the geographical, by the land, by windswept prairies, by three coasts, by 14,000 foot mountaintops, by desert, by waterways, by Great Lakes as big as oceans, by the echo and remaining presence of the country’s native Turtle Island, by the original earth-based inhabitants, by the combined sources of the continent’s non-corporate literature and artistic impulses and the unbidden anti-hero like suspicion, resistance and mockery at the everyday level to technological boondoggle and oversized government.
This Curious Exceptional Dilemma
In the hands of the few, trademarked American Exceptionalism acts as a battering ram, is a corporate brand name front that unites evangelism, militarism and Keynesianism, that installs dictators, that perpetuates privately-owned fiat currencies, that topples the same dictators to create in name-only democracies, that trains militants and insurgents, that funds gladio-styled terrorism, NATO, international banking organizations, the IMF, the World Bank, Export-Import Banks, that emasculates Europe, that fans and funds conflict between installed dictators and in name-only democracies, between insurgents and loyalists, this City on the Hill, these thousand points of light.
But below the surface, this thing about America that is exceptional but not distinct from other cultures, her land, her native roots, her resistance by natives long thought exterminated and to be made extinct by cavalries and cannons, by legislation, by armed men riding trains gunning down millions of bison, acts of terrorism and food and shelter-based genocide, by reservation life, this America inspired by the land, by her earthiness, influences this unexceptional America, is non-corporate artistic, makes small press literature, invents good things, does not war, combats big pharma, forced vaccinations, big ag, big biz, big banks, chemtrails, opposes GMOs, opposes false flags, staged shootings and propagandized media, billion dollar political campaigns and privately-owned, fiat-issuing central banks, hallmarks all of Exceptional Empire, writes songs, sings, dances, drums, shapes pottery, tears down pork barrel, fractionalized fiat currency hydro-electric dams, honors the sacred, loves animals, grows gardens, all as if a secret to celebrity-promoted corporate media but known by the hearts of many, by foreign tourists walking through centuries old Santa Fe, traipsing through Navajo country, watching salmon run, peering at petroglyphs in HOPI land, known by creatives, known by seekers, known by the evidence, becomes human, not exceptional.
About Stephen: Stephen J. Bergstrom possesses a BA in Literature and Philosophy and an MFA in Creative Writing. His Strategic Wealth, a one-time internet best seller, detailed the historical rise of the now entrenched worldwide private banking system. His blog Rue d’Awakening and Literary Fiction can be found at StephenJBergstrom.com
After Khodorkosky, the Donbass and Syria, Putin again pathetically capitulated to the demands of Washington by pardoning Savchenko.
And Putin never took a single step to close the Roshchild-run Russian central bank or sell Russian oil in currencies other than the dollar.
Worse, Russia never stopped buying U.S. bonds.
President Putin: Decision to pardon Savchrenko motivated by humanitarian considerations
https://www.rt.com/news/344310-russians-arrive-savchenko-swap/
See Paul Kindlon’s comment:
“This is a win-win for Russia. Keeping Savchenko in prison only further cements anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine and Europe. Sending this woman back to Ukraine will cause the government in Kiev a big headache. Millions will clamor for her to be part of the Ukrainian government. She is a HUGE liability because she is a ultra-ultra nationalist and may actually have some serious mental problems.”
Watch her speech in Kiev airport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=If_jjQ0-tic
She is a perfect addition to Poroshenko’s Rada, considering that her “colleagues” from “Aidar” death armed group that participated in the murder of Russian journalists are all convicted by the courts in Ukraine and now are in Ukraine prisons.
I think that the problem is that Russians feel the need to imitate the American balance-of-power system, and pretend that the President just cannot give orders to a judge. I am sure President Putin felt quite annoyed about having to give some dumb cops and judges in Voronezh their fifteen minutes of fame. The case against Savchenko was idiotic.
The only thing Donetsk had against Savchenko, was that a priest said she had been mean to him. If from that statement they could have fixed up some possible substantial charge, they should have tried her in Donetsk.
Some not so smart FSB agent thought of putting a feather on his cap, by making a deal with someone in Donetsk. So they brought her in, to exchange for current or future Russian POW’s. In the course of that maneuver, they embarrassed Russia by lying on how she arrived, and by issuing ridiculous charges against her–no POW has ever been tried for being a forward observer.
Matt, putting aside your zoological russophobia…
Do you realize that it’s detrimental to your mind to consume too much of the Ukro- Nazi propaganda? You might start believing in “revolution of dignity” and “innocent Savchenko.”
Considering that Savchenko’s commander and the other fighters from her death squad are convicted by the Ukrainian courts for murder, torture, kidnapping and terror: all what you, matt janovic, call “to be mean to someone.”
Read my article /kiev-juntas-victims-sue-ukraine-for-hundreds-of-millions-in-echr-by-scott/
Pay attention the very last video I posted. What does it tell you, Matt?
Russophobic, just because I don’t like democracy? That’s odd. Anyway, I think that Russians would be better off if they did not try to imitate us with such ardor.
Perhaps the problem is that Scott and Anonymous never met a Nazi-fascist, socially. I did–most of my schoolmates happened to be fascists or aspiring Nazis, in the 40’s. Anyway, I do not need anyone to tell me who my enemies are–you see,my grandparents died in Lviv.
Savchenko should have been tried in Donetsk, for brutality against prisoners–but all they had on her was one witness, who was blindfolded and said she had said mean things. That’s all.
Some some foolish cops embarrassed Russia by faking an extraordinary rendition. It seems that all those who are in the rendition business are liars, whether Americans or Russians.
Many of those nazi death squad members are already convicted criminals that were recruited by the junta from prisons. The Saudi dictatorship also recruited its terrorists for the war against Syria from its prisons.
@ Scott
You are right, Scott, I like your perceptiveness.
(BTW. This “janovic” is a well known troll, tries similar stuff on other topics here, should eventually attract Mod’s attention.)
The difference between U.S. and Russia is that the U.S. are in the war business, while Russia isn’t. The US support terrorist organizations everywhere, Russia doesn’t.
However, professionals in Russia are likely to think like professionals in the U.S. So, cops will be cops, and FSB men may enjoy a little frame-up on the side, just like FBI men.
(BTW. This “Anonymous” is a well known “tough” Putin hater, tries similar stuff on other topics here, should eventually attract Mod’s attention.)
@ Scott
You do know there are several different “Anonymous” on this page. But only one troll, the transparent CIA visitor that habitually goes by label “janovic”. What a shame.
Actions always speak louder than words. The US is standing in an ocean of the blood of innocents that it has slaughtered.
That is not “exceptional”, it is unspeakable.
exceptionalism. noun. The condition of being exceptional or unique. The theory or belief that something, especially a nation, does not conform to a pattern or norm.
American exceptionalism is a variation of Hitler’s Drittes Reich and Deutschland uber alles.
The practice of “spread of Liberal democracy” onto other countries and nations is nothing else but the practice of Lebensraum.
Talk quietly to Americans, 90% of people you talk to will tell you that they believe that they live in a fascist state.
Look at any papers written for the US Academia, they all state that “spread of liberal democracy is the way in which U.S. security and economic interests would be advanced in a world of democracies.” This advance of the US interests is always conducted at the expense of the nations the American interests are advanced upon.
Actually what the history of the USA clearly demonstrates is rather less inspiring and indeed very sobering. Given a complete, virtually unexploited continent – because the Native Americans were relatively few in number and lived in harmony with nature, without scarring or harming their environment – and a population self-selected for energy, self-confidence, determination and practicality, the USA was born with the national equivalent of a platinum spoon in its mouth. It was given every advantage: colossal reserves of minerals, oil, gas, forests, prairies, rivers and lakes rich with sea life, enormous amounts of wildlife of all kinds, no threatening neighbours and east and west flanks protected by wide oceans.
Added to that, it had escaped from the power of one of the strongest monarchies in the world and had set up a constitution and laws that were supposed to be the envy of the world. There was to be no hereditary rank, everyone was as good as everyone else, and the country was ruled by impartial law. The government was democratic, the Constitution ensured that it would be preserved, and there was unlimited space and resources for everyone.
Yet within 250 years the continent was full from coast to coast, and many of the most beautiful and rich areas had been replaced by huge cities, factories, mines, and transport systems. The absence of older systems of rank had merely cleared the way for a hierarchy based purely on wealth and celebrity, and the universal worship of wealth and the wealthy meant that anything that helped to accumulate wealth was automatically deemed virtuous.
So, with every possible advantage and the best of intentions, in a mere 250 years the USA has reached its peak and begun to fall back rapidly into inequality, unfairness, poverty, exploitation, callousness and cruelty. Surely this demonstrates that improvement in the human lot can come only from inside, not from resources or institutions? What we desperately need is better education for everyone and a more ethical outlook – whether inspired by religion or humanism.
What you forgot is that very soon after disembarking, the white men killed most of the natives, and started to import slaves. The glorious economic achievements were all born out of slave labour… How exceptional is that? In fact, hypocrisy and unbelievable violence is what has defined US from the start…. Until today.
Tom and Anon,
A new book is out called Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
Judging just by the New York Times attacks on this book, it’s worth reading. It shows the whole criminality and corruption of “revolutionary” Americans and their leaders. They used General Benedict Arnold’s military talent and his personal wealth to advance their positions. When he got terribly injured they just discarded him and made him into a “traitor.” A cautionary lesson for all who serve the Great parasite.
Anyone else starting to hear rumours that Putin has agreed to allow armed OSCE monitors to patroll Donbass?
Savchrenko should be set loose in the halls of the EU during a high profile meeting. Once in my life I would like to see those lowlifes run in anguish from their own creation.
I think setting her loose is brilliant from Putin. Let the west deal with the problem of a made “hero” who is a stone cold nuts killer. They should give all the addresses of those journalists to her, seems jogging serious miles is better then lying. At least they would have something productive to do in saving their own lives.
american ‘exceptionalism’: exceptionally evil, arrogant, corrupt, murderous, criminal and stupid – pride before the inescapable fall.
they are exceptionally good at making wars all over the world, and murder by stealth through GMO’S and the poisoning of the land sea and air with toxic aerosols, also creating earthquakes and tornado’s and volcano eruption with the HAARP ANTENNA like all those thousands of people they killed three years ago in LEYTE, PHILIPPINES.
what happen to brainstorm? He posted twice here and gone
Exceptionalism may be a blessing for Corporate America, but it’s a curse for the American people. We must pay high taxes which don’t benefit us at all, so our “leaders” can police the world. We must suffer hatred and terrorist reprisals because of our military’s actions overseas. We must allow millions of illegal aliens to overwhelm our communities and social services because to deny them access to our exceptional country would be selfish and racist. We must suffer the loss of our pensions, low wages, horrific medical costs, and the destruction of our industrial base so that our exceptional leaders can continue to be exceptional billionaires.
Being knuckle dragging bum bandits does not make one exceptional…
Here are some quotes to illustrate what is under the cultured facade:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/25/cocky-doody-politics-and-world-affairs/
American ‘exceptionalism’, like another people that thought they were ‘uber alles’.
Obama: ““I believe in American exceptionalism…we have a core set of values that are enshrined in our Constitution, in our body of law, in our democratic practices, in our belief in free speech and equality, that, though imperfect, are exceptional…””
I think I see a new word percolating up: “Imperfectionism”. Of the exceptional variety.
American Exceptionalism is bourgeois ideology on steroids. Violently insane psychobabble fueled by all-out parasitism. American Exceptionalist motto:
It’s easy to be generous with other peoples’ land, labour, and natural resources.
Speaking of Hegemon exceptionalism:
http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160524/1040134996/russia-us-business-sanctions.html
“Toner added that Washington has sent a “clear signal” to Moscow through “combined sanctions, restrictive measures, and reduced diplomatic engagement” that it should fulfill its commitments under the Minsk ceasefire deal and end its “occupation” of Crimea.”
Conflating seperate statements to give the impression that they are connected is an old propaganda meme trick. Minsk II and Crimea having nothing to do with each other.
Deception, yes. Clever, no.
I also understood that Russia is not mentioned in Minsk II so there is nothing for Moscow ‘to fulfill’. Am I wrong on the latter?
You’re absolutely correct, SanctuaryOne
The Minsk ceasefire deal, point by point
https://www.rt.com/news/231667-minsk-ceasefire-deal-breakup/
A very important aspect in keeping and preserving this exceptionalism is the tight control of the MSM by the US. The MSM hides, changes, accomodates, lies, about facts in order to keep with this exceptionalism. Take for instance the destruction of Iraq still lots of Europenas think it was a good thing to get rid of Saddam in spite that they are aware this was made based on the lie of the supposed WMD, they think it was a good thing just because the US did it since they have always “right”. According to this same MSM the US has won just about every war in what it has participated but after a careful analysis one realizes thas it has not been that at all, Not against Germany or Japan in the WWII, not the Korea war, not Iraq, and of course not Vietnam. And now they, the US “won” the cold war. Problem is that most of Americans may think it has been like that and encoureges them (their politicians) to take stupid decisions that eventually may risk the whole planet.
Oscar, do you mean those groveling serfs, the ‘Euro-peons’?
America is almost certainly the “great whore” of the Apocalypse. At any rate its description of the whore fits America to a T. As for the “beast,” which the great whore rides, isn’t it obviously zionist international finance? Recall that presently the beast turns on the whore and destroys it after she has fulfilled her purpose. The vast resources and immunity from outside attacks of the US fit her perfectly to be used for the purposes of the coming reign of antichrist. What is this reign? First of all it is a universal tyranny and secondly it is the destruction of all true religion and the coming of a diabolical counterfeit. In fact the current culture foreshadows it quite well. “Do what thy will shall be the whole of the law.”
Let’s just hold off on labeling all of America as the great whore until after the election shall we.
Even though the first Cold War is over can I as an American defect to Russia? Seems the Russian people are more interested in Russia, her culture and her future unlike Americans whose sole interest is in debasing themselves and worshipping the almighty dollar.
Events in the former U.S. “backyard”. An excellent analysis of the current situation in Venezuela, by a known expert on Latin American affairs, Nil Nikandrov, of Moscow’s Strategic Culture Foundation.
(And one wonders. Can’t Dilma Rousseff do in Brazil something similar to what Nicolás Maduro presently does in Venezuela?)
http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2016/05/25/vtoroe-izdanie-plana-kondor-udar-po-venesuele-40444.html
Nil Nikandrov; 25 May 2016
The second edition of the plan “Condor”. The hit on Venezuela
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in his speeches constantly returns to the theme of the new plan “Condor”, which the US is trying to implement in Latin America and the Caribbean basin. The code name “Condor” was first time used to encrypt the mass repressions organized by the military in South American countries in the 1970-1980 period. Particularly zealous at that time were the American puppets in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay. Now much is known about the active support of these reprisals by the U.S. special services and the U.S. State Department. The action was coordinated by the then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and the incriminating documentation on him is still kept at the International Criminal Tribunal. During operation “Condor” at least 70 thousand people were liquidated – politicians, trade union and public figures, journalists, diplomats, academics…
The main target of subversive operations in the framework of the new plan “Condor” is Venezuela. The Obama administration is doing everything in order to plunge the country into chaos and violence, criminal terror, hunger and looting, creating motives for a direct military intervention. A few days ago the U.S. State Department held a three-hour meeting, which was attended by Secretary General of the OAS Uruguayan Luis Almagro, who is pro-American, and General John Kelly, head of the Southern Command of the U.S. armed forces. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called the meeting “conspiratorial”, stressing that he knew about what the participants talked: “They are obsessed with Venezuela. And do you know why? Because they are unable to curb the Bolivarian revolution”.
Maduro said that Venezuela is subjected to “media, political and diplomatic aggression and the most serious threats in the last ten years”. The scenario is being implemented which would justify foreign intervention. The threat to the independence and sovereignty of Venezuela from the United States has acquired a real shape. The decree of president Obama, in which Venezuela is labelled a country presenting a threat to the U.S. national security, was the alarm for the Bolivarian leadership. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia reacted similarly to this decree: “In fact, this is a direct promotion of violence and external interference into the internal affairs of Venezuela”. The call of the former president of Colombia Alvaro Uribe to bring foreign troops into the territory of Venezuela, is considered by the Bolivarian leadership as the “approved by Washington” information war phase on the eve of the war itself. The U.S. Southern Command plans further development of events in Venezuela following this very scenario.
The air defense system of Venezuela has recorded an increase in the intelligence activities of Pentagon. At a press conference on 17 May President Maduro reported two violations of the state border by Boing 707E3 Sentry aircraft, which is used by the US air force to maintain stable communications with armed groups in the conflict zone or to disable the electronic equipment of the government and the army. A Pentagon spokesman issued a denial: “Our closest plane to Venezuela was about 100 miles from Venezuelan territory”. He said: “American pilots respect internationally recognized state borders”.
In Venezuela they do not believe the brazen lies of the Pentagon about “respect of borders”, remembering the attacks on Yugoslavia, Libya and Iraq. They are not forgetting the CIA special operations either. At least not the attempted insertion into Venezuela of a detachment of paramilitaries from Colombia in 2004 to attack the presidential Palace and murder President Hugo Chavez.
In view of all these circumstances, Venezuela is strengthening its defense capabilities. After the incident with the US spy plane, the country began large-scale exercises Independencia II, involving not only military, but also civil self-defense units. Deputy Carmen Meléndez, who was minister of defence during the Chavez presidency, is direct: “We must be ready for any development of the situation”. The exercises were held in seven regions, 24 zones and 99 points of integral protection. They involved a total of 520 thousand troops and members of the Bolivarian militia. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez was categorical in his assessment of the result of the exercise: “There is no other choice but to turn Venezuela into an impregnable country fortress, and this can be achieved through civil-military alliance”.
Given the dire circumstances prevailing in the country – a worsening economic crisis and the increase of protests of the portion of the population which is under the influence of the opposition – President Maduro signed a decree granting the government emergency powers. The document, covering 60 days, expands opportunities to strengthen security measures. To enforce public order, the army can be brought in. The enterprises, companies, firms and NGOs, which have foreign ties, are subject to enhanced control, in the case of detecting hostile activity their accounts will be frozen, and there is also a provision for the confiscation of property. In the interests of the most vulnerable segments of the population, food will be distributed and energy provided.
The Venezuelan foreign Ministry is taking steps to limit the number of diplomatic personnel of the United States in the country. Venezuelans consider optimal that no more than 17-18 American diplomats stay in the country. And that does not please the U.S. Embassy. The Americans of course will not admit, but the fact is that the interests of the intelligence agencies of the United States require approximately 180-200 diplomatic “covers” at the embassy. The State Department does not wish to negotiate in good faith, hence Venezuelans are curbing the diplomats with visas. As a result, the U.S. Embassy announced in a dramatic tone its stopping of issuing tourist and business visas: “Our staff, working in accordance with the highest standards and serving hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans every year, cannot cope with the load”.
An important place for preparation of the second edition of the US intelligence services’ repressive “plan Condor” for Venezuela, is the implacable domestic opposition, which, as Chavez always said, “serves the US government”. After the parliamentary elections [ http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2015/12/08/venesuela-politicheskie-nasledniki-chavesa-v-aktivnoj-oborone-37284.html ] in Venezuela on 6 December 2015, the opportunities presented to the American intelligence agencies and their affiliated opposition groups to destabilize the country increased.
The opposition, promising to the people that the queues and the trade deficit would disappear after the elections, was for the first time in 17 years able to gain majority in the National Assembly. However, that gave nothing to the country, and the parliamentary tribune now serves the opposition to further fuel the civil conflict.
President Maduro has announced readiness to declare state of emergency, if the subversive work of the opposition continues. So, last March the demonstration of opposition Bloc of Democratic Unity (MUD) in Caracas ended in a mêlée of oppositionists with police. Injured were law enforcement officers, including women, who were mercilessly beaten with metal rods. Some of the attackers were detained after a hot pursuit. It turned out that the “campaign” was organized by Coromoto Rodríguez, chief of security of the President of the Parliament Ramos Allup. In the 1970s Rodríguez was a member of the political police Disip, involved in torture of prisoners, and then served in the protection of President Carlos Andrés Pérez, in parallel collaborating with the CIA. The arrests of the militants allowed SEBIN (Bolivarian Intelligence Service) to clarify the role of Rodriguez in fomenting the unrest in Caracas.
Presently the Venezuelan opposition is preparing to hold a referendum on the issue of early termination of powers of President Maduro. In early May, they handed the National Electoral Council for verification about 1.85 million signatures (instead of the legally required 200 thousand) in support of an application for a revocable referendum. Nevertheless, Vice-President Aristóbulo Istúriz said that in the course of collection of signatures the opposition had made a lot of violations and until all signatures are verified, the referendum will not take place.
The leaders of the MUD are trying to use the situation to provoke “spontaneous protests” with the blocking of roads, arson, sabotage of power lines, of water supply and food supply. To replace the current creeping terror the radicals are building much more ambitious terror. The SEBIN agents and police are increasingly finding in Caracas and other cities arsenals of firearms, grenades and explosives – made in USA.
Thirst for exemplary violence towards Bolivarians has long been brewing in the United States. That started already during the life of Hugo Chavez, who coming to power in 1999, began to pursue an independent policy. His initiatives for the modernization of Latin America in the interests of Latin Americans received the support of Cuba and were picked up by a new generation of Latin American leaders. The dictates of the United States in the Western hemisphere began to wane, the actions of Washington showed insecurity (what do we do with Latin America?). Chavez and his comrades in battle fought for the formation of regional integration blocks, moved to the creation of South American defense union, the use of regional monetary unit, the Sucre, and developed other projects without the participation of the United States.
Now to fierce attacks is exposed Chavez’s successor – President Maduro. Pro-American mass media blame him for the failure of the “Bolivarian economic model”, falsifying figures of “low popularity” of Maduro, dragging into the media the idea of removal of the President from power by force. The leaders of the opposition, many of whom participated in previous adventures to destabilize the regime, explicitly call for the country’s armed forces to “intervene”… Especially active is [ http://www.fondsk.ru/news/2012/03/27/sakralnaya-zhertva-detonator-destabilizacii-v-venesuele-13505.html ] Henrique Capriles Radonski, whose connections with the CIA are an open secret.
Minister of Defence General Padrino Lopez, explained the position of the army: “The President is the Supreme power in the state, and we confirm to him our loyalty and our unconditional support”. The opposition’s attempts to provoke a rebellious mood among the military have been so far unsuccessful. The patriotic ideals of Hugo Chavez in the army are preserved, and it is hoped that “operation Condor” is impossible in Venezuela: the Venezuelan military will remain faithful to the Bolivarian constitution and to the President.
***
[Russian original, my English translation.]
excellent translation, very accurate report that quiet objectively reflects the present situation. I would add that Venezuelan opposition is very similar to the Euromaidan ‘pacific’ supporters and not too different to Syrian opposition, so much that 40 out of 43 fatal casualties during riots in 2014 were either part or sympathized with the chavismo. To be noted as well, again huge resources have been sanctioned by the American Congress to support a regime change and the violent sector.
Additionally, on a diplomatic level the opposition is trying to convince the OEA (Organization for American States, in Spanish), led by Almagro, who is a proven USA informant, to declare an emergency state which would allow US troops to invade, as it was the case in Lybia.
Let’s just hope for the best.
@ Sergey
Excellent article and superb translation ~ muchas gracias!
Stephen Bergstrom, interesting article! Thank you Saker for posting it. I’d like to get a hold of the Strategic Wealth paper.
I recently finished Nicholas Hagger’s 2007 book The Secret Founding of America,The real story of Freemasons, Puritans & the battle for the New World.
As usual the more you look into such things, the more complex they get.
I view the Florentine Renaissance as a very positive development in history and the voyages of Columbus and others as a highly troubled and complicated consequence of the Renaissance. To condemn all of it or to worship any of it, both strike me as equally absurd, for the simple reason that the flowering of the human mind in the networks of DaVinci, Rapheal di Sanzio, Brunelleschi and others was immediately and viciously counterattacked by the dark age forces of European Oligarchy in La Serenissima Republica, Venice, with centuries of religious warfare divide and conquer operations launched to maintain their mind control and financial control.
Within this very, very messy context of struggle between European good vs European evil. the founding of America unfolded in a very much messier and more confusing way than I had ever realized, before reading Hagger. Not only were there failed settlement efforts, but there was diversity and competition among the different elements making the attempts: Pilgrims, Planters, Puritans, French in Canada and parts further south (until driven out), Spanish in Florida. Then, to complicate things further Freemasons of several varieties, operating under the cloak of secrecy in Europe proper under the nose of Empires and Kingdom they sought to subvert (or improve, from their standpoint) extended their influence into the middle of all the confusion in the New World.
Hagger shows that the Pilgrims, Puritans, Planters and all the other early contenders in North America gradually gave way to the better organized and more determined deists such as Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others, who operated and cooperated as Freemasonic republican brothers against the British Empire.
However, much earlier on than I had realized, besides the imperial European struggles on the surface, 66 days before the Declaration of Independence a distinct new Lodge was founded in Bavaria May 1, 1776 by Adam Weishaupt, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, and Charles de Lorraine, calling itself “The Illuminati”. It is evident that these perverters of ancient esoteric freemasonry were an Empire counterattack that was highly successful in hijacking the American Republic, literally almost from its inception. The battle between good and evil ebbed and flowed over the nineteenth century, but it is fairly clear that the decent intentions of earlier men (and there were some, they weren’t all genocidal maniacs) were confounded, and the exceptional opportunity to coopt an economic base of control separated and defended by two oceans (exceptionally good security!) had been stolen for use by the Enemy of Humanity, seeking world-wide rule, not a Republic.
The last gasps of anything fairly good within the halls of power were FDR and JFK.
The point I have been trying to make here is that the occult means by which these pychopaths have gripped this power base Sept 11, 2001 and forward can and must be de-occulted for them to be stopped without world war or their “victory” by other means.
Russia once more is blocking them, but they could use some flanking help. The job here is to seize what may be a brief opportunity to break their occult mind control over US citizens and military who have come under such mind control increasingly decade, by decade and century by century until it is virtually organic in the poisoned world views of Americans who have no idea what has been done to them. And while notable good has been done by many Americans in local areas and such, as cited by Mr Bergstrom, meanwhile the ship was being steered and is still being steered by that May 1, 1776 bunch of Luceferians from Bavaria, and their continuation networks of controllers, dupes, and opportunists down to the present day.
I’m sorry, but it was not possible for me to read the first link on George W Bush from New York Magazine with a straight face. The controllers are certainly not people like that idiot was 2001-2009 or even Cheney or Rumsfeld or the neocons. Or Obama or Kerry, Nuland or anyone like them There is a high priesthood of hidden individuals who have zero desire for fame that run the whole visible puppet show and know mind control like the back of their hand. It works so well, mostly because people are afraid of looking into it, buying the New Age nonsense that to do so empowers it more, gives it energy. The reality is the exact opposite. Mockery in broad daylight of unconscious people is what empowers them.
It is necessary to go back stage, after a brief primer on why Washington, Franklin and other founders used this tool of freemasonry, and how the Empire took it all over, and start cutting the puppet strings. Who will get serious about doing so?? In this day and age, by the way, it would be a complete waste of time to join the hierarchy and control of some masonic lodge somewhere.
For the first time in history this tool, this knowledge, is being put out there without having to go through all that heirarchical control nonsense, only to find out after a decade or two, that the whole lodge of “brothers” was set up by psychopathic occultists, instead of the heirs of Franklin, Washington, Mozart, etc. who don’t have anything to be “joined”. Takes a few weeks to get the gist of it, on the internet. Books are more in depth but take longer.
Examining American Exceptionalism
Very much a Hopey-Changey essay. A justification of a criminal people by showing that there are some less criminal peoples, but who will become just as criminal when their time in power arrives.
Yeah, Creative writing and Literary Fiction.
No one exceptional here, just normal people, the youth of Crimea.
Young Crimea, English subtitles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOUey5NyTzE
I found this analysis deeply depressing, a poem for the greatly failed American state this year 2016.
De Toquuevill was correct. Unnoted in the analysis if the fact de Toqueville noted that integrity in America was a dirty world from one end of the vast country to the other end. Still true.
In fact lack of integrity is now worn as a badge of great pride. Obama, wears one, as does John Brennan, retired General Breedlove, Senator John Mc Cain, Pentagon’s NATO world war club Eurpean leader Jens Stoltenberg does too. His face creates the distinct and false impression the US is a natural part of Europe. Nothing could be more criminally wrong.
US Exceptionalism, in my opinion, grows out of a deranged belief that they are ‘God’s Chosen People’. The UIS Ruling elite believe that they have surpassed the Jews in that state, just as certain English had delusions of the same status during the hey-day of the English Empire in the 19th century. The delusion of the English as a ‘lost tribe of Israel’ saw groups like the British-Israelite Society grow and persist well into the second half of the 20th century.
The First Colonists were religious fanatics who justified their genocides of the Natives by direct reference to the Torah/Old Testament and the Holy Genocides described therein. And ever since murder has been the highest expression of Americanism.
Even from the time of the Founding Fathers, the richest men in the colonies, the ambition was for a new, but global, Empire, based on Rome. US aggression ever since has been relentless and unceasing, aiming for a quasi-Divine ‘Full Spectrum Dominance’ over all humanity, forever. No power, not even world civilizations like China and India, will ever be allowed the privilege of independent action, and the USA is prepared to shed oceans of blood or even extinguish humanity entirely, in pursuit of their Divine mission, ‘under God’.
Interestingly enough, after the MOSSAD et al false flag on 9/11, the ‘New Pearl Harbor’ predicted by the Zionazies of the PNAC as being required to set the scene for a global onslaught by the USA, the Bushites turned to Carl Schmitt, the leading jurist under the Nazis, for legalistic justification for a regime of torture, disappearances, assassination and illegal aggression and genocide. Schmitt’s doctrine of the Leader (in his case Hitler, in the USA’s the rather less charismatic Bush the Lesser)as the Exception to the law, fitted in nicely with the Exceptionalist doctrine. No doubt Schmitt was recommended as a legal authority by one or more of the Jewish neo-conservatives, as many of them were acolytes of the sinister Judaic supremacist, Leo Strauss, an old friend of Schmitt. And, of course, these Messianic, chauvinistic, supremacists really believe this evil imbecility that they are a superior form of humanity in contrast to the rest of the human untermenschen. They represent radical Evil, Evil without precedent, in its depth, intensity and ambition, in human history. And remember, the fury of hatred against Putin really began when he dared publicly criticise this obnoxious doctrine that so belittles and devalues the rest of humanity.
It was occult manipulation of the ancient Hebrews, it was occult manipulation of the British Israelites and it is occult manipulation of Americans at various stages but especially of the right wing so-called “Christians” of today, who are so programmed, like fools, to identify with the earlier forms of feel good mind control.
I have a nice rant for you on the subject, from an awake American. There are a few:
“Some of the biggest idiots out there are people who are absolute “fake-ass” Christians. And they will claim that they are Christians and they don’t know the first thing about real Christianity. They don’t even know one iota of the meaning of the word. You can wrap it in quotes: “Christian” in name only!
They are nothing of the kind, at all. And they are a bunch of know-nothings who know nothing about what is going on in this world because they know absolutely nothing about the occult manipulation that is working on their minds. And then they want to have something to say about someone who actually wants to tell them something about it from first hand experience, who has the game plan of their owners, that has all the manipulation tactics of their owners, and that has laid it all out for them to understand, and they still don’t want to understand how their minds are being owned and ruled.
Now, you’re selling your children into slavery, and you are a bunch of immoral people who Christ would have looked at, and if you want to look at him as an archetypal figure, I don’t care about what people want to say about astro-theology, whether the person is real or not, that’s not the point! Whether the actual man talked about in the New Testament is real, that concept of the Christ, the Christ Consciousness, whatever, that being, the teacher, the group of teachers, the astro-theological allegorical mythos of the Christ, however you want to look at it, I don’t care! That energy would look at somebody like these complete fake-ass Christians and it would spit at them! Because they are doing nothing, nothing to try to actually wage a war against tyranny. Nothing!
Because they don’t understand any causal factors and they have bought into this Salvationist occultism, which is where it comes out of. Salvationism comes directly out of Satanic occultism. And anybody that thinks that you are supposed to sit here and let all the tyranny and evil run completely amok and take over this world, and all you need to do is believe on something, and believe in a concept, or an idea or a person that some externalized power or externalized savior, and you’re not going to actually take any real world action in this world, you are part of the tyranny. You are part of it and that makes you EVIL.
These Christians are Satanists, and think that they are Christians! Salvationism came directly out of the dark occult, folks, directly out of the dark occult! And all the so-called Christian morons out there who think that that’s Christianity, you are a bunch of children, and moreover than that you’re evil tyrant supporters. You are the people that are supporting the tyranny in the world, and they want to say, “God has ordained this government. And it’s giving the authority to the government to reel in all of the evil in the world.
And you know what you are? You are NAZI supporters! That’s what these stupid, right –wing, so-called “Christians” that are, nothing but absolute fake Christians and they believe in Salvationism. I mean, they don’t even understand how owned their minds and souls are, and they would have the nerve to put a label of “Christian” on themselves! You’re garbage, is what you are, garbage! Okay?
And like I said, I’m coming out, no holds barred, because I ‘m done with people. I’m done even talking about it nicely. If people can’t see how completely mind-controlled and ignorant this race of golems called “humanity “ is, in the modern world, you’re sick, if you can’t see it. And you don’t understand how religion has played into that?
And the New Age Movement is no different. All of them out there teaching submission, because of some absolute crazy, false notion of what karma is! And they’ll say, “Oh, well all this tyranny might be going on because of what we did in past lives!” As if this somehow excuses all the evil going on in the world! I mean, you have to be kidding me! These people are children, they have bought into utter nonsense! Complete false, pseudo-spiritual teachings. And I told you where all of that came out of: It comes out of the dark occult. It comes out of Satanism. Dark occultists put out the whole Salvationist belief system, they put out all this nonsense about waiting for extra-terrestrial races that are going to swoop in and save us and there is going to be some big ascension, you know, they are going to come down in their space crafts and save us! They have given us this completely false New Age garbage spirituality that has nothing to do with real spirituality, they put that out through the Lucis Trust Publishing House and other fake publishing houses to spread absolute spiritual garbage into absolute naïve slaves that are willing to buy that crap, and then spit it back out for other people.
I’m just tired of it, people. I’m just tired of it, man. Tired of how ignorant this world is. It feels like an avalanche of ignorance that is out there, an avalanche of ignorance. And it’s just drowning the people that have any semblance of what is really going on in the world .”
Bro Anon:Enjoy your posts. You are definitely hot on the trail. Here’s some links I think you may find some useful info.Paste & copy to your browser. Comments I find are essential. ( http://projectavalon .net/forum4/showthread.php?83382-Mark-Passio-Natural-Law-the-Real-Law-of-Attraction&highlight=mark+passio ) ++ ( http://www.veteranstoday.com/author/jim/ ) ++ ( veteranstoday .com/2014/02/01/black-sun-rising/ ) By the way, the original faith was called Nazarites and worshiped Yehoshua not Rome’s gods.
Thank you, Las Vegas. I’m just trying to combine some new knowledge with some some decades old knowledge and find out what more can be done to wake more people up, given my not exactly ideal age and health constraints.
Your first link did not function. But I watched the entire Passio Natural Law seminar recorded in New Haven, over a year ago if that’s what it is.
Preston James I have heard of. Looks like its all pictures…no videos or articles. Try to post more often. I’ll watch out for you and what you are doing.
Suggestion: I almost missed your reply. you can usually catch up with me at the Saker Moveable Feast Cafe, then copy a link like your own, /examining-american-exceptionalism/comment-page-1/#comment-241127 and reply to one of my posts there with your link to your comment I missed. Then, being fresher, ie, TODAY more often than not, more people can get in on it.
Take Care!
There is no American Exceptionalism, it’s an invention by the crime cabal which is running the American States in toto. Americans are captive slaves, or maybe more like farm animals as Orwell more correctly stated the situation in Animal Farm.
Exceptionalism is a Tetrahedron Worshipers construct sprung from the mind of Zbigniew Brzeziński who changes Obama’s diapers and lives in box under the bed in a leather suit.
As long as the crime cabal doesn’t bother people too much, impose too many taxations, which are already back breaking at nearly 80%, then the people can remain delusionally out of touch with reality.
You have to realize there’s over 300 million Americans so a military with 7 million is not a huge draw, and besides that the US military is now virtually indentured servitude. Americans have not had to concern themselves with anything outside of their small world since the Vietnam War.
Americans are delusional people controlled by a complex system of mind controlling system beginning with indoctrinations in public education which are scientifically designed to disable their
ability to reason properly. See John Taylor Gatto for more on that one, but it’s a truth and it shows.
Everything you said might have once been true of America, but today’s Americans are idiots who don’t care about anything, who reject hearing intrusive matters and become angry when it does happen.
Gambeir, I assume you are responding to Mulga and not me.
I don’t disagree with you point except that it seems to me, there are two things going on at once:
1. More people are more stupid, mind-controlled, and apathetic than ever (so that their waning power can be used for locking down world domination, then they are to be disposed of in one giant ass-wipe, according to the NWO plan.
2. However, there are many thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands??…;.but I don’t think even one million!) that are more aware in more depth than there were at any other time in history. In even the best times, the depth of awareness was limited to much fewer people, the leadership was incredibly thin and subject to decapitation through assassination, etc……but, at the same time, the great majority were never , ever anywhere near as stupid and cowardly and immoral as they are today.
Fight despair, because it doesn’t help the aware ones one bit. If this experiment in consciousness called planet earth, and all its earthlings blow it, I am certain the Universe will keep getting better, after performing a big local flushing action, here. If that’s any consolation! It is for me. So never give up. Cheers!
Very confusing article, with some obscure point that meanders aimlessly between pros and cons, shifting praise and condemnation for this, that and the other. Or is it the translation?
Readers may enjoy my review of Patrick Smith’s 2013 book, “Time No Longer,” that argues that Americans can no longer afford the doctrine of exceptionalism:
http://soul-grammar.blogspot.com/2015/03/book-review.html
American exceptionalism is on the move and it looks like Egypt needs democracy.Seems America the Babylon missed something while “liberating” the Levant.Flight 804 the key? ( https://storify. com/SuaveBel/pharoah ) Of course they could take the scenic route ( zerohedge. com/news/2016-05-25/imminent-intervention-greece-italy-malta-close-airspace-aircraft-libya ) Just can’t make this stuff up.
Harold Pinter’s viciously honest critique of America. It’s damning….
“The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.
I put to you that the United States is without doubt the greatest show on the road. Brutal, indifferent, scornful and ruthless it may be but it is also very clever. As a salesman it is out on its own and its most saleable commodity is self love. It’s a winner.”
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2005/pinter-lecture-e.html
ayy bitter much?
That was a wonderful piece of writing.
To me, Obama’s Exceptionalism is merely a cover to excuse a private agenda to make war, to destroy liberty by finishing what Bush left undone. It was a ploy and many see right through it.
As a ploy, Obama’s exceptionalism speech heralds the dissolution of the Union itself. His speech was a throwback to the past, in reality, an insult to the intelligence of the American People, proving that all their hopes and dreams were yet again unfulfilled by yet another betrayer in the White House.
Instead of DC being the upholder of law, the beacon which protects the Bill of Rights, which protects the Constitution, the message was clear and it was clear that his message was to use complete nonsense as a justification for war making, just like the previous stooges who have fronted for the rich in that corrupt corner of the world.
When Hillary is given the title of President the nation will dissolve. Count on it. Just look at the maps of the electoral college and it’s clear that the minority of states can elect her while the majority of people and states oppose her. That means the end right there for sure.
Frankly, probably the single best thing would be just that. Centralized governments are always the source of corruption and fascism and this nation has been no different.
THE KANSAS CITY TIMES, September 13, 1976:
“He came to town for the Republican National Convention and will stay until the election in November to do God’s bidding: To tell the world, from Kansas City, this country has been found wanting and its days are numbered […] He gestured toward a gleaming church dome. “The gold dome is the symbol of Babylon,” he said.”
These are the first two parts of the three part ‘Writing On The Wall’ recorded in Daniel 5 during the Captivity of Babylon some 2600 years ago. It was not until 9/11 and 7 years later, with the Global Financial Meltdown-Economic Pearl Harbor-Tsunami in the Fall of 2008, the whole world was able to see the Writing on the Wall for the 1st Time at the same Time.
The 3rd part of The Writing on the Wall tells of the decline of this material world’s premier Imperial Economic-Military Super Power, and the rise of Persia-Iran, which happened 29 months after this appeared in THE KANSAS CITY TIMES.
The September 13, 1976 KANSAS CITY TIMES report also records, among other specifics, the warning of an “idea being put out subtly and deceptively” by the government that we have to get prepared for a war with Russia.”
The Revelation of the unfolding events reported by Today’s news media indicate the TIME of the fulfillment of that prophecy is now at hand, unless saner heads prevail!
https://ray032.com/2013/09/01/signs-of-the-times/
Very interesting history and personal story, Ray.
In a quick reading of your post and site, I was not sure what you were up to.
I had the prejudice that most Bible prophesy types in the US put Russia in the “Great Power of the North” category, which Israel would vanquish in the Final Days, but on first glance you may not be in that camp, it seems.
I was never attracted to the idea that we had no free will and were just watching some preset movie unfold.
Still not sure how you think and what you know. But hopefully I’ll get there slowly but surely and notes will be compared. I always liked that Rembrandt. One of my favorite pieces of art.
Rocky is a primary psychopath. You were privileged to draw him out publicly for humanity to just possibly come to its senses and stop being degraded into secondary psychopaths.
American Exceptionalism means that there is one law for Americans and another law for everyone else.
Deep down, Americans believe they are above (international) law, or, worse yet, think they have a God-given right to be the judge and jury of what is the law and who is obeying it.
Just as the Zionists believe that Jews are God’s Chosen People, Americans believe that the United States of America is God’s Chosen Empire.
This idea goes back to the first colonists who invaded the North American continent like Gov. John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony who sought to create a City on a Hill.
This idea resonates with sucessive US regime leaders like Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama, both of whom believed that America is a Shining City on Hill–invoking Winthrop’s original messianic vision.