Understanding why they lie and why they get away with it

[this analysis was written for the Unz Review]

In lieu of an normal introduction: the eternally evolving BDA

Friends, the Pentagon did it again. Through CNN, of course. Here is this “latest news”:

Over 100 US service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries in the wake of the January 8 Iranian missile attack on the al Asad military base in Iraq, according to a US official with knowledge of the latest information?

On his website, Colonel Cassad offered this, shall we say, “evolution” of the truth as reported by the United States:

X stands for “surviving casualties”

Y stands for “dead”

1. X = 0, Y = 0

2. X = 11, Y = 0

3. X = 34, Y = 0

4. X = 50, Y = 0

5. X = 64, Y = 0

6. X=100+?, Y = 0

7. X> 200, Y> 80?

(that last line is, obviously, hypothetical, but at the time of writing, we are already up to 109 casualties!)

Notice that while the number of surviving wounded steadily goes up, there is no corresponding increase in the number of dead. All we have are “aircraft crashes” (all, we are told, accidental). Ask any military specialist (or military historian) and you will be told that this kind of “evolution” is exceedingly unlikely (see here for one discussion). Simply put – these kinds of numbers are pretty obviously impossible, which means that from the moment the Idiot-in-Chief tweeted “so far so good”, the US was already lying:

All is well! Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq. Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good! We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far! I will be making a statement tomorrow morning.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2020

Is there really anybody out there who will deny that the US government lies pretty much about everything and anything?. And it’s not just the Executive Branch, Congress lies possibly even more (both parties, of course). In fact, I would argue that lying is both necessary AND expected from any US politician. When somebody like Tulsi Gabbard or Ron Paul don’t abide by this rule, the media immediately dismisses them as “Putin agents” or something equally insipid.

The truth is that lies have become the norm of the western political discourse.

That is bad enough by itself. But there is worse.

The worst is not that western politicians lie, the worst is that almost nobody cares.

That is really scary.

Why?

Because in a society which expects everybody to lie, facts simply don’t matter any more.

So that is the key question: do we care or don’t we?

Well, some clearly still care. Or we would not have Howard Zinn’s books, or Oliver Stone’s movies as best sellers. Neither would we have a vibrant 9/11 Truth movement. You want more evidence? Sure! How about all the folks who are willing to go into exile (or to jail!) to uphold the rights of historians to freely investigate the history of WWII? How about Ed Snowden, Julian Assange or Bradley Manning? How about the millions of people in the West who took to the streets to protest the various GWOT wars? No, there clearly are a lot of people who care.

The problem is that their impact is minimal, and that is what I want to look into today.

Have facts and truth become redundant?

I doubt that there are many reading these lines who don’t already know for a fact that Kennedy was not killed by one “lone gunman”. Likewise, we all know the truth about the “Gulf of Tonkin” incident. Then there are those who realize that something about the Pearl Harbor attack stinks to high heaven. Some even remember the USS Liberty. Most specialists know about GLADIO. And I could go on and on. The fact is that most of the worst lies of the 20th century have been debunked beyond reasonable doubt, really.

Chris Hedges really nailed it when he spoke of an “Empire of Illusions“. He names the following types of illusions: the illusion of Literacy, the illusion of Love, the illusion of Wisdom, the illusion of Happiness and the illusion of America. The book is most interesting, and I highly recommend it. But I think that there is one crucial aspect of the Empire being an “Empire of Illusions” and that is the illusion of Reality. What do I mean by that?

I mean the following: most people are aware that there is a “reality” of some kind out there. Of course, many people are aware of how difficult it can be to ascertain what the “real reality” really is, thus they prefer to cautiously state that getting to the truth is a very difficult endeavor. These are the folks who know enough to know that they really don’t know much. But then there are also those who misinterpret this caution as to mean that there really is no such thing as reality at all and all there is, is the sum of our subjective perception thereof (of reality that is). Pretty soon we have slipped from:

Reality is often very difficult to establish

Reality is impossible to establish

Reality does not really exist at all (or, if it does, it really doesn’t matter)

Of course, most people won’t directly declare that reality does not exist – they just act as if it didn’t.

It all began centuries ago by a quite formidable indifference to Truth on the part of the leaders of the Papacy. These folks were all about power, so if religion could give it to them, then religion was good, but when religion placed limits on what the Latins could or could not do (say like during the famous “Valladolid debate“), then suddenly religion became a hindrance which had to be “reformed”. And, indeed, once the original Christianity was “reformed” (be it by the Reform or the Counter-Reformation) all hell broke lose for most of mankind and the Age of Imperialism was fully ushered in and the ancient motto “exitus acta probat” became the de facto measure of morality.

Then came the first blow of the scientific revolution of the late Renaissance which left the Papacy with very little credibility left.

The next blow came during WWII when the Papacy saw its very last hurrah come and go, pretty quickly, in fact (it lasted just as long as Hitler’s “1000 year Reich” did: 12 years). By the end of the war, western Christianity was left in shambles and, even worse was the fact that none of the victors of WWII (Reformed Anglos, Atheist Soviets, Jews – secular and not, etc.) had any warm feelings left for the Christianity (truth be told, neither did Hitler or Mussolini). At this point the Papacy decided to commit suicide and organized the Vatican II Council, which must be the most massive surrender of values previously held for sacred in history. This ill-advised attempt to show “Roman Catholicism with a human face” resulted in a total failure. Those who hated the Papacy were unimpressed did not like it any more. As for the confused rank and file “Roman Catholics” (whom I refer to as “Latins”), they were were left with the following conundrum: if the Pope is infallible (which he is as per the First Vatican Council of 1868), how can he so clearly contradict the teachings of his own Church (not to mention the teachings of his putatively infallible predecessors!)? Some declared that the Pope was a heretic, others simply declared that the “Holy See” was unoccupied (“sedevacantism“), but most simply gave up in total disgust (sex scandals did not help!) and simply stopped asking “what is the truth”?

When a Church which had declared itself “The Church” (all in CAPS, and at the exclusion of all others) for 910 years (almost a millennium!) suddenly acts as if all religions were equally “true” (this is logically impossible, but never mind that) and when a once powerful “Holy Father” (and Vicar of Christ, no less!) becomes just another public figure somewhere between Kim Kardashian and Greta Thunberg, you know that something very big has taken place.

Something very bad too.

The truth is not only unwelcome, it does not even exist, right?!

Both world wars were the manifestation of an immense civilizational collapse. WWI saw the collapse of the traditional European monarchies and empires. WWII, and its absolutely unprecedented explosion of hatred (political, class, racial, linguistic, religious, etc.) saw Europe, once the center of our planet, being subjected to a monstrous (but also highly predictable) bloodbath which resulted in two non-European powers splitting the world into two spheres of influence (at least that was the plan). More interestingly, while nominally “Christian” rulers and countries could not openly advocate for mass terror, the “enlightened” secular folks had no such problems at all. Just read Trotsky’s brilliant, if clearly satanic, “Dictatorship versus Democracy” or Hitler’s 5th chapter in Mein Kampf (here in German if you can!).

Both Dostoevskii and Solzhenitsyn predicted what would inevitably happen to a world in which Nihilism prevails. Dostoevskii very simply summarized it all when he wrote (in the Karamazov Brothers) “if there is no God, then everything is allowed“. The Nihilists have simply logically concluded that if there is no God, and everything is allowed, then nothing really exists, most certainly not any “real” (objective) reality. Even the very notions of “good” and “evil” are absolutely meaningless absent an absolute reference system.

Bertrand Russel (and, apparently, also Voltaire) once brilliantly wrote that “God created Man in His image and Man returned Him the favor“. Amazing words, really! If we are not the creation of God, but God is our creation, that makes us very much God-like, does it not? And, as “gods” – don’t we deserve to define for ourselves what is “good” and what is “bad”? Of course we do! Once life/existence has no meaning, how could concepts such as “good” or “evil”? And that is exactly what we have done, especially our post-modern 21 century Nihilists!

Back to where we started – assessing the “so what?” defense

I have already mentioned many times the mind-blowing hypocrisy of the Dems, who all hate on Trump for his alleged “so what?” defense (which, by the way, is a mis-characterization – his defense was much more solid and logical), but have absolutely no problems with people like the Obamas or, even better, the Clintons next to whom Trump almost sounds like a paragon of honesty, integrity and an acute sense of decency. I mean, really, the Clintons made even violent mobsters (Italian or Jewish) look pure and innocent. And when they lie, this is absolutely no big deal. But when Trump lies, then he elicits the kind of blind, impotent, rage which in the Gospel is described by the words “weeping and gnashing of teeth“. Maybe that is what they refer to when they speak of a “Trump derangement syndrome” amongst US liberals?

The truth is simple: we all know that Trump lied. About the Iranian counter-strike and about many other things. We also know that Obama lied. And Baby-Bush too. And the Clinton and his no-sex cigars… And we remember “read my lips, no new taxes” just as well as we remember “We did not, I repeat, did not trade weapons or anything else [to Iran] for hostages, nor will we“. So yes, we remember.

We just don’t care anymore.

We have been completely desensitized not only to truth, but even to reality.

So what, right?

And the consequences are dire indeed!

Conclusion: life in a reality-free world

The fact that we, who live inside the Empire, live in a reality-free world has a huge impact upon the actions of our rulers. After all, if nobody really believes in, or cares about, reality, then why should our rulers bother with making reality any better, especially for us? It is much, much, simpler to simply present a “feelgood” message about how great “America” is (as in “We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!“) and never mind that this most powerful military in the Galaxy could not even protect its own soldiers even though they knew exactly when and where the Iranian counter-strike would come.

Of course, with time, the entire edifice of lies built by US and EU politicians will come crashing down, either as a consequence of a military defeat impossible to hide, or from a major economic shock. This will be totally unexpected for those who choose to live in a reality-free world.

The Saker

PLEASE Tip The Saker Ammunition Chest To HELP Keep The Good Fight Alive!

Help us to hit back against the bombardment of MSM lies costing our communities, economies and livelihoods far, far too much.

Thanks to all those who have donated and continue on a monthly cycle! Your support and faith in Fighting and resisting the Empire’s war with information and analysis is highly motivating and greatly appreciated!

We do not rely on any organizations, but rather private donations. Please give generously! Click link for more info…TQ! The Saker

Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 9:06 pm EST/EDT

“… suddenly acts as if all religions were equally “true” (this is logically impossible, but…” –

Sorry, Bud; … but simple logic says if they are all false, then they are also all “equally true” in the same vein that any number multiplied by zero is zero! Whether the speaker intended it or not, cynically or otherwise, for many the “logical possibility” that all are BS (not true, miss the mark, etc) satisfies the condition. Domains of faith and domains of (rational) logic are highly incommensurate. Different logical types/levels and base assumptions. There is no accounting for taste. If a dogma turns your wheels, then apply it. If not, then why judge others for the dogma that turns their wheels? Is it not the outcome of behavior (fruits of) that is judged in the end according to some who claim to know? Some belief systems may be more useful than others in certain contexts, but that is a utility value, not a “Truth” claim. This is like say English is more true than Russian. Clearly one may be more useful in certain domains than others.

“Have facts and truth become redundant?”

Depending on context, yes and no. I had the ill-fortune of spending a wasted decade in a ‘policy’ domain (not US) at the end of 20th century, and saw the creeping cultures of mendacity seeping into the organisational foundations and eventually walls. Some blame postmodernism. I now know better and see it as a misapplication of such French theory by ignorant and deceitful types with their eyes on power — the greasy pole dance to the top. Soon after my arrival in that office someone lectured me for 30 minutes that there were ‘no facts’ until I eventually ask the obvious question: “Really, … is that a fact?” Paradox works every time. The eventual corporate knife in my back a decade later had her ‘no fact’ finger prints all over it.

As ministerial support types, they are courtiers by nature and “Yes, Minister!” is the only truth of the day that matters. They usually survive quite well as office parasites until something inconveniently unmanageable in the real world turns up like a viral epidemic outbreak, or a 737 Max. Like the Enron mob, they are the smartest guys in the spin-room (until it all tanks). Some lesser rats may take a hit, but the smarter ones have jumped ship way ahead of the wave. Look at the meme in many American films these days. All you have to do is ‘believe’ it hard enough.

Of course, since Nixon (off the gold standard) following the money (facts – gold) has largely entailed little more than a Hollywood ticker-tape parade Federal Reserve bonanza of irrational exuberance, moral hazard, fake news, and “whatever it takes” false ‘facts.’ Just look at how the US university system bends to cater for the rich (in pocket) with consultants writing entry papers. It is who you know and network with that counts; not what you know and honest research. And the ‘fruit’ of this closed system cycle back to perpetuate it in a positive-feed loop. Why is there any surprise? The only essential unknown is the timing of the systemic failure.

As the Saker lives in Florida (I believe) I’ll recount a something I noticed a few years back when researching on Sinkhole policy. The city I live in also sits on karst terrain and Florida’s experiences were useful examples. The only relevance here is that I came to notice a significant shift in USA literature in this area from the 1970’s through to the turn of the century. Reports on this topic from the US Geological Survey etc read as one would expect – factual, scientific and policy recommendations included open public access to relevant scientific information and databases as part of risk mitigation. By the early 2000’s the narrative had changed in style and tone towards closed policy and criticising the 1970’s approach as encouraging gaming of the system. The focus shifted towards the ‘artful dodger’ ways of avoiding government risk of cost and responsibility (not citizen risk of sinkholes) where it seemed ignorance of geological ‘facts’ was the bliss of policy (and those hirelings paid to administer it).

Although the rot set in well before GW Bush (i.e., his old man and Bill Clinton) it was on his watch that a “war on everything” became official US policy. Not only did a “state of war” (on terror will do just fine) activate certain small print in world trade agreements letting the USA off many of the hooks that applied to others, but it also recognised an emerging trend (and soon a driver for it) within US culture (the real American culture of scientists and engineering of the 1970s as expressed in the Geological Survey reports on sinkholes for example) towards the dominance of “strategy” in the values systems. Therefore, in war, whether facts and truth become redundant (or not) is contextual with purpose – and in this case a shift in purpose to war (from peace) has locked in a trend towards a new norm of justifiable mendacity. With paper confetti as new ‘money,’ the cult of exceptionalism expanded to almost nation scale and the little Machiavellian “Prince” became the model to emulate – not just for the traditional 1% but almost down to the doorman and lift boy.

In the pursuit of power, strategy is king — and the epics tell us that the Greeks mastered it before the Trojans. As they say, the rest is history. Nothing can change (in that socio-cultural niche) until they (on mass) shift from war to peace and sit down at the table with the rest of the world (try ye olde UN perhaps) around the table, sign a peace agreement and discuss common-wealth. Until then, it is sinkholes (and sinkhole policy) all the way down.

78 Comments

Anonymous on February 12, 2020 · at 11:45 pm EST/EDT

This is obviously FAKE NEWS!!!

America has the biggest, bestest, bravest military in the whole world, solar system, galaxy, and universe!

We suffered no casualties from the attack on our military outposts in Iraq.

All is Well!

The problem is that you still live in the reality-based community.

But that’s not the way the world really works anymore. We’re 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.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Reality-based_community
- eagle eye on February 13, 2020 · at 12:36 am EST/EDT
  
  The problem with lying is that it drains the well of trust by making a big fat hole in the bottom of it.
  
  The more lies are told the bigger the hole, until eventually no amount of saintly conduct will refill the well and any hope of redemption is lost.
  
  The Catholic Church, most political parties, the US govt, perfidious albion, the zionist cabal, bankers, and the mainstream news media all suffer from this problem.
  - Enaud Snave on February 14, 2020 · at 6:00 pm EST/EDT
    
    Yea, except there is no “suffering” from this problem. They are all profiting from this problem. That’s the effing problem and it is certainly NOT an accident. They’ve had us by the balls for 1000 years and it certainly will not be easy to get them to let go. We’ve been lied to about EVERYTHING. And for some reason, even as we become less and less indoctrinated, we still refuse to see the truth. Time for a complete “RESET” and Not the kind of reset that HRC promoted with Putin. America has been the source of almost every distortion of morality in this entire century. There is NO Justification for the USA’s murderous and sanctimonious bombs and bullets to bring democracy and freedom to anyone. Bombs and bullets don’t bring freedom and democracy. All they bring is death, destruction, delusion and the allusion of superiority. This is the biggest Lie of all. (Please stop using capitals – its like screaming and banned from this site. Mod.)
    
    Human beings are sentient and caring, empathetic, and by all accounts, loving. The very idea that we need to eliminate other human beings to give us any sort of “meaning” is the biggest piece of crap I can imagine. If we all could simply imagine a perfect world, we could have it. It is there for the taking. Peace.
- George Seldes on February 13, 2020 · at 2:43 am EST/EDT
  
  Occam’s Razor is called for here
  
  Our normal ‘Support the Troops’ folks are pushing this narrative that maybe 100 USA soldiers were ‘murdered in their bed’, and we didn’t do anything about it. ZH has been pushing this narrative for weeks, albeit as a straw-dog that Trump is lying.
  
  How about this “Trump decided it was too heavy, being xmas, and New Year and all that”, he decided that for the good of the children (USA public), he would tell a tale that would sooth them. But now Trump has found a new story that’s too ‘evil’ for him to hold. This new story is that Iran made the “Virus”, don’t laugh remember Trump said there were “Dancing Iranians post 911” ( Everybody knowing they were really dancing Israelis at WTC post 911 ). With China all tied up and the PLA fighting the virus, and Trump announcing that him & Xi are best friends, he stands by his friend, but he must destroy Iran, not because of the 100+ dead USA soldiers, but because of the virus that Iran unleashed upon China. Now Xi has no choice but to lay down, but never mind, because Trump offer’s Xi first right to the Iran Oil leases should he not get involved in the US occupation of Iran. China doesn’t really care who holds the Oil, they’re businessmen, they just care about price, and that the concession is ran by good management. This is why China prefers to do business with Israel.
  
  Since this post is about Lies, lets remember all the greatest liars in human history have said “If you must lie, tell a whopper”.
  
  Facts to think about.
  
  1.) China has too many people. The CCP knows they have a population bomb. If it be true that 30% of the infected public dies in the coming months, that could be still less than Mao murdered post WW2.
  
  2.) China&Israel are really best trading partners both having the two ends of the Bridgehead West&East of the Silk-Road.
  
  3.) China would really prefer not to get its hand’s “Dirty” being the “Worlds Policeman”, China has no problem letting the “USA white devils” do this task.
  
  4.) Iranian culture must be wiped off the earth, the tenets of Shia-Islam are incompatible with Greater-Israel.
  
  “Truth is stranger than fiction, Fiction must make sense” – Twain
  - Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 10:00 am EST/EDT
    
    @ George Seldes.
    
    Speaking of insane American lies, your post takes the prize.
    
    America is rapidly degenerating into a madhouse of deceptions and distorted “realities.”
    
    As the very stable genius, Donald Trump, would say, SAD.
    - George Seldes on February 13, 2020 · at 5:45 pm EST/EDT
      
      Can you be more explicit about which of my asserted enumerations are false?
      
      WRT to Trump, he’s a professional liar. That said the USA public are buffoons, as HL Mencken back in the 1930’s wrote extensively, and PT Barnum. Trump knows his audience. Like Trump has said dozens of times, “He could murder an infant on the NYC streets and his base would not drop support”.
      
      Trump’s lies are there
      
      1.) Iranians danced at 911 at WTC site
      
      2.) Iranians were involved in 911, they orchestrated the operation
      
      3.) Iranians have nukes, and plan to incinerate the earth
      
      4.) Iranians created the Wuhan Virus to destroy all that is good on earth.
      
      5.) Shia Islam is incompatible with Hollywood, and Universal Miscegenation
      
      6.) Iran’s #1 customer for their Oil is China, but China doesn’t care who they pay, Israel or Iran.
      
      7.) Israel needs the cash-flow; China sending fiat/gold to Iran is not good Jewish elite in City of London.
      
      8.) Israel to operate the deep ports for China at Ashdod/Haifa, and the new deep-sea ports near Spratly’s offshore of Vietnam.
      
      9.) The Silk-Road will be owned by China, and the “East India Company” franchise will be managed by Israel (Mossad)
      
      10.) Truth is stranger than fiction.
Ulrich von Kafkanien on February 12, 2020 · at 11:49 pm EST/EDT

Thanks for this most important analysis! The West suffers from a cowardly refusal of accepting unpleasant feelings. Truth is impossible if bad feelings are unacceptable.
Larchmonter445 on February 12, 2020 · at 11:53 pm EST/EDT

Sadly, the vast majority of people in the US believe the lies. They studiously avoid the reality, true, and then are pole-smacked when the truth comes out. Often, this is 40 years later, but they can see the history, the chain of lies across their lifetime. As survival to not be the tall straw in the bunch, they lay low. They work at ignoring the truth, the reality. It’s safer that way, they think.

Who wants to believe their government lies? This is because most people conflate government with country.
A Patriot loves his country. A fool loves his government.

Good topic, Saker.
- B.F. on February 13, 2020 · at 4:33 am EST/EDT
  
  Larchmonter445
  Yes, many, if not most people in the US believe their Government. The point is that you cannot really compare the US to Europe, nor any other country in the world. The US is a former colony, or union of former colonies. When it was created in 1776, it was basically heterogeneous, as proven in 1861, when you had the civil war. Europe has more than 2.000 years of history. How much history (and real traditions) does the US have ? Do European politicians lie to their populations ? Yes, they do. However, they still have to chose their words, as Europeans have a rich history and are not so easily fooled, on the whole.
  
  Finally, we have the question of the media. I lived in the US, and never have I seen a corporate media more controlled that the American one, whose duty obviously is to filter what comes into the US, to filter what is reported about the US generally and to concentrate the public’s attention to local matters, ie. to train the public to think locally and thus be easily manipulated. Makes you wonder how all of this will end.
- Amerikanski on February 13, 2020 · at 10:49 am EST/EDT
  
  Larchmonter445,
  
  They studiously avoid the reality, true, and then are pole-smacked when the truth comes out. Often, this is 40 years later, but they can see the history, the chain of lies across their lifetime.
  
  .. An uncanny description of my experience.
  
  Watching WTC7 fall was the key piece of evidence for me. It could no longer be ignored.
  
  This is the modern version of the book-burning emperor. When I was young, I wondered how an emperor could be so stupid as to burn books. Today, we have Graham Phillips being ‘deplatformed’. Six years ago, I followed his Twitter account, and watched as the BBC ripped off his video, relabeling it ‘Russian aggression’.
  
  So now I know.
  
  The next phase of the disinformation campaign has been to propagate various easily-dismissed ‘theories’ to fragment any efforts to get down to reality. ‘Truthers’ could be tarred with these tales, and relabeled ‘lunatics’.
  
  And now, there is nothing but complete fairy tale, The Matrix or a Roadrunner cartoon, take your pick.
  
  Great essay, Saker!
Robert Shule on February 13, 2020 · at 12:31 am EST/EDT

As explained by George Soros in his books on philosophy; what people think and say, whether it is truth or not, is part of reality too.
By the way he got rich on that premise……
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 12:58 am EST/EDT

I’m betting that they (Pentagon, MSM) will start accusing the Iranians of using “novichok” (?) Or “dirty” warheads on the missiles.
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 1:01 am EST/EDT

Great stuff Saker but I must play devil’s advocate: is there any chance these people know something we don’t? Lying incessantly, violating human rights in the name of “pre-emptive” strikes, destroying countries while claiming moral superiority. It all appears illogical, delusional. BUT only if one does not take into account their ultimate goal and what is verifiable about human nature. The reality is, grinding down a group of people all too selfish and without faith appears to be the plan. Bribe each generation of faithless, lost Americans with worthless green rectangles worth more imaginary points than other worthless rectangles of other nations. Eventually the ponzi will crumble, at which point all the lying and immorality will catch up to the people (or the descendants of said people anyways) and things will get really ugly really fast. But at that point these individuals will be completely broken in comparison to the ruling class that lent the people the money, sold them the drugs, sent them to war. Moreover, to the messianic loonies only today is important. They have a long term vision, but what they care for is monitoring the present to make their “vision” manifest. Tomorrow’s vision will come if the action taken today steer the coming day closer to the plan of tomorrow. Pretty shocking contrast of mentality but the question for me is: do they have a point? As animalistic and short-sighted as it appears, is it they that hold the “clearer” view of reality?

I personally believe they don’t have the right grasp of reality – the bible even for the unbeliever is replete with the unintended consequences of doing evil, of sinning against god’s plan. Jesus Christ himself taught a certain tribe this very lesson – but I can never be too sure in the end. No matter how much I wish so. Since reality truly is difficult to grasp.
- Christian J Chuba on February 13, 2020 · at 9:10 am EST/EDT
  
  “the bible even for the unbeliever is replete with the unintended consequences of doing evil”
  
  As a believer I am infuriated by the believers who hold high office and are oblivious to the consequences of doing evil. ‘Iran is evil, Russia / China is evil, the U.S. is a force for good’, they never take a moment to question whether or not their own judgment has been clouded by sin. Pompeo, Rubio, Pence … their expressions swell with self-righteousness and pride, they engage in behavior that is most condemned in Psalms / Proverbs while quoting it against others.
  They cornerstone of Protestantism was the decentralization of authority because of the belief that believers maintain their old propensity to sin, therefore every believer is responsible to know the bible and question authority to prevent on bad lightbulb from making the entire house dark. But now these same people have made the U.S. the Catholic Church of the entire world and they are totally ruthless and without any compassion regarding the people they torment.
  
  I have no power to influence anyone; I wish I did not care. God must be punishing me for killing his favorite cat in a previous lifetime or something.
  - Ed Walsh on February 14, 2020 · at 12:35 am EST/EDT
    
    To Christian J Chuba:
    
    I sympathize with your feelings, but this “truth-reality” business can also be viewed outside the bounds of any religion’s theology. The Creator of the universe gave us cause and effect, also known as karma. It’s functioning is absolutely automatic and unavoidable. We can choose to ignore its lessons in our suffering, or pay wise attention and learn life’s lessons. Each of us is sovereign and free in this one regard.
    
    It even lies within our power to experience real truth — the kind that is eternal and universal. When tempted to hate those who live by lies, reflect on the karmic result of dedicating a life to deception. In my opinion, that dedication places an enormous obstacle on the path to real truth. Absolute dedication to lies probably eventuates in soul death — the loss of all possibility to achieve eternal life.
    
    Quite a heavy punishment, in my view. And likely does not even require a judgement of the Eternal One — so automated are these processes. Sorry if I have offended your theology. But, “If this be error and upon me proved, . . . .”
Patricia Ormsby on February 13, 2020 · at 1:20 am EST/EDT

The pie of reality is launched and well on its trajectory. Even if the Wuhan contagion fizzles out beyond China’s borders, which it could very well do (I suspect environmental and perhaps nutritional factors are involved–has their pork consumption decreased?), the economic waves are going to rock the creaky foundations of America’s shining city on the hill. Be ready for hard times.
Curious about Iran on February 13, 2020 · at 2:18 am EST/EDT

Saker, can you please talk about this post in the “Tehran Times” about the possibility that the Wuhan-Virus is/was a Zionist weapon to take China out of the game when they attack Iran. The thought being if the entire PLA is deployed “Fighting the Virus”, then how can they step up to protect Iran from invasion?

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/445094/Interview-A-Counterintelligence-Perspective-on-the-Wuhan-Virus
jiri on February 13, 2020 · at 2:48 am EST/EDT

“Of course, with time, the entire edifice of lies built by US and EU politicians will come crashing down, either as a consequence of a military defeat impossible to hide, or from a major economic shock. This will be totally unexpected for those who choose to live in a reality-free world.”

Therein lies the danger.

In order to avert this they will (or maybe even already have) convince themselves that there is no alternative but to use nuclear weapons on a massive scale.

The Dr. Strangelove logic is getting more convincing by the day to the rulers of the USA.
- Arioch on February 25, 2020 · at 2:03 pm EST/EDT
  
  Isn’t that what they call Thicydides Trap?
  They already justufied it and warbed they will do it.
  Hopefully they bluffed
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 2:50 am EST/EDT

To be fair to the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, it must be said that at the Valladolid Junta, the defender of the Amerindians, who worked for years to oppose forced conversions and to expose the treatment of natives in the ‘encomiendas’, was the Dominican Friar Bartolomeo de Las Casas, the first Bishop of Chiapas, a man of the Church, speaking from true Christian point of view. His efforts (predating the debate) influenced the papal bull ‘Sublimis Deus’ of 1537 which forbade the enslavement of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and all other people. It goes on to state that the Indians are fully rational human beings who have rights to freedom and private property, even if they are heathen and their bringing to Christianity should be done without force.
His opponent was the Renaissance humanist (a progressive!) Juan Gines de Sepulveda, who argued from the ‘natural law’, Aristotle and affirming the superiority of the Old Testament over the New, the right to conquer, enslave, evangelize by force the ‘barbarian’ Indians. He rejected the standards offered by the New Testament to cope with the novelty of the problem in question. The arguments of the Puritans who colonized America!
Sepulveda was in all likelihood a Marrano and a closet Protestant.
So, the Church of the Inquisition pleaded for the ‘human rights’ of non-Christians, whereas the enlightened reformers for their enslavement.
DZ on February 13, 2020 · at 4:40 am EST/EDT

The USA lies because they have always lied – No disrespect to anyone but the Iranian gov should have known from 300 years of history what we do w treaties.
The bi-partisan applause for Guiedo said it all.
FDR blew it and didnt hang the Butler conspirators. One long line. Americas greatest politician was Huey Long. But then they killed him.
JFK, RFK, MLK and if Bernie wins and tries to do something for the working stifle wont live long either.
Its what the Exceptional Country does.
Joshua on February 13, 2020 · at 4:48 am EST/EDT

This is just a ‘shot in the dark’. But, if I had to guess, I would guess that a whole lot of American families knew that their family members were posted at Ain Al-Assad at the time of the strike. They have probably been trying to get in touch with their loved ones ever since. There are just too many of them to brush off, so the dod has to ‘tell them something’. They will likely try to ‘hang on’ to their coverup for as long as they think that there is even an outside chance that anyone will believe them.
- Nameless on February 13, 2020 · at 11:23 am EST/EDT
  
  That would explain why all the wounded have TBIs. Obviously, they are too concussed to write or call their relatives. At some point, though, the government will have to admit to their deaths. Likely, they’ll try to string it out in time so that individual deaths are not directly linked to the Iranian missile strike, or there will have to be a mass casualty event like a plane crash, or terrorist bombing as a cover-up.
Ric G on February 13, 2020 · at 4:55 am EST/EDT

If you want to stare into the ‘Heart of Darkness’ then forget about philosophy and religion, you need only to stare into the Abyss of Usury, the concept that money is debt, owned by private bankers and burdened with compound interest.

You need only to stare into the ignorance of the human mind which believes, ‘our nation has no money, so we must go to the international debt markets to borrow capital, for these are the laws for money and there is no other way’. Surely this statement should only be hung in the hallways of the criminally insane?

And while we suffer under the endless plagues of Usury, all around us two million species run complex communities, free from the four financial demons, those of debt, interest, taxation, and inflation! Perhaps it is time then for us to consider the economics of the ants and the bees?
- Kapricorn4 on February 13, 2020 · at 7:10 am EST/EDT
  
  The exclusive banking cabal, who own most of the central banks across the world, authorized to create all money ex nihilo with a computer keystroke as interest bearing debt are atop the power pyramid, whether it is the US dollar or the Euro currency. Thus they largely control governments and world events, such as WW1, WW2 and the continual US forever wars to destroy and rob oil rich countries, and subjugate their people to usurious forever debt and austerity.
  
  “The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.”
  
  -Thomas Jefferson
Joshua on February 13, 2020 · at 5:04 am EST/EDT

Also, it is completely natural for us to try to understand and make sense of things. Things like observed behavior in others, for example. We like to be able to explain things to ourselves in a way that we can accept and understand. However there are things which are simply incompatible with our inherent qualities, as human beings. Qualities like understanding, rationality, acceptance, etc. The behaviors exhibited by the subjects mentioned in this article fall into such a category. Most likely because the nature of these behaviors are completely alien to, well honestly, a rational human being and the human spirit itself.
- AncientOrthodoxEcclesia on February 13, 2020 · at 10:55 am EST/EDT
  
  Well said. These people are clever, in fact some are genius at neuro-linguistic programming, masters at persuasion on a mass scale, but since there is no inner spiritual core to these persons nothing they persuade people of is of any real substance itself.
kjell108 on February 13, 2020 · at 5:35 am EST/EDT

Very impressive by the Saker.

Story deserves a debate. As it is, no editable / formattable replies, no avatars, no notification by email, delaying moderation -> debate will be next to nothing for good reasons.
When commentators make their comments a personal manifest – rather than focused.. very confusing
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 5:37 am EST/EDT

1.) China has too many people. The CCP knows they have a population bomb. If it be true that 30% of the infected public dies in the coming months, that could be still less than Mao murdered post WW2.

Wow, please enlighten us how Mao supposedly killed that many peiple. Did he do it all by himself and how did he do it? Machete, guillotine or gas chambers?
I am really curious!!
- Nussiminen on February 13, 2020 · at 11:52 am EST/EDT
  
  And Robert Conquest didn’t delve into the issue either. Suffice it to say that Mao is held in high regard in contemporary China; just like Stalin is in contemporary Russia. Amusing that Westerners who, for the most part, look down upon Chinese and Russians make angry noises about the alleged ”terror” of Mao and Stalin. It is as if the Western stance boils down to Yes, the Chinese and the Russians deserve to be genocided, but by Western forces.
Daniel on February 13, 2020 · at 6:36 am EST/EDT

Dear Saker there seams to be an increase in the number of articles in your site that probe the question of “Reality”. This is a positive development , a worthy of pursuit indeed.

There is an illusion called foreign exchange Sir. The current rates are 1 US $ to about 15 SA R . For a South African farmer it means that about 15 of his cattle are equal to 1 US cow.

Trump’s, inability to play by the dictates of the long established system of governing is a serious liability for the ruling class , but a great opportunity for the rest of mankind.. Tactics that brought him riches in New York Real Estate,, attracted jealousy and hatred from the ruling class. It is difficult to know whether the man is a genius or devil but his tactics at the world stage have brought about interesting results. For instance he challenged the European leaders to stand up and assert their sovereignty , but the latter chose to stick to their role as vassals of the empire. On the Eastern front, his New York tactics brought Russia and China closer together. In the middle east , the New York gangster tactics went overdrive resulting in overt robbery in Palestine, Syria and Iraq. He arm twisted the Saudi pretender ruler. The NY gangster even proved to have a strong chin when he was slapped by the Mullahs of Iran. A few strategic lies here and there are a norm we all engage in, Trump is no exception. On the domestic American politics the NY trickster is a true genius and a master at close quarter fighting. The man is an accomplished opportunist, quick to identify and exploit any available free currency being it political or real money. look how the man manipulates the media space to generate millions of dollars for himself and his adversaries.Look how he managed to win the support of ordinary American people by claiming to be the defender their interest (the main one being creation of jobs). He out boxed his antagonists into publicly exposing their maleficent intentions of using unconstitutional tactics to cut him down. There is no stopping Trump from winning the next elections.
- Bro 93 on February 13, 2020 · at 11:05 am EST/EDT
  
  No stopping him??
  
  I don’t know about that.
  
  two reasons:
  
  1) Even shy of assassination, the life of any human over 74 (he’ll be 74 in June I believe…) exists on borrowed time, with compound interest (heirs in their greedy, unloving moments of sinful fantasy…+ haters…) in accelerating the pay-off the The Principal.
  
  Though I admit that actuarially (from a Life Insurance POV) I would bet on 10 -20 more years ahead of DJT post the Jan/Feb 2025 swearing in of his successor.
  
  2) The EVERYTHING Bubble is truly unprecedented, IMHO…… in world financial history …..and it could very well pop tomorrow………OR enough in advance of Election Day….coupled with WAR so global as to even cancel the coming election…..or finally permit Impeachment 5.0 to succeed. It only takes a few more votes ………..
  
  In consideration of these things, and the benefits Trump has brought into being, which you insightfully enumerate, Daniel….. (Could it be, that there IS intention there….to restore a Republic…through liquidating Karl Rove’s Disgusting Empire of Lies and Deceptions???? I think that IS quite possible!) am I really terribly, terribly upset about Orangeman Lying about “NO Deaths of US Forces” —only scores of wounded …………from Iranian retaliatory missiles??
  
  No, I am not, especially if US forces finally leave the region!
  
  SO Are YOU (plural) upset with his white “no US Deaths” lies??
  
  Well???? Are you???
  
  Lots of people in high office, unfortunately have to lie if not with evil lies, at least with “white” ones….and absolutely constantly with lies of omission of “The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing BUT the Truth” because the stark fact of the matter is that the average adult human being, still today, as the fictional Col at Guantanamo Bay, in the “A Few Good Men” blurted out (truthfully! leading to his conviction…richly ironically….LOL) : “You can’t handle the truth.”
  
  Of course such a person as Jack Nicholson (think Mad Dog Mattis, Bolton, Pompeo, etc) played…….. would never be able to handle the complexity and truth of what caused the two world wars and the Cold War……….Either!
  
  Yet I don’t share the pessimism here, about the human condition.
  
  As always, the question is: Compared to WHAT???
  
  Is it worse today…or the same as it has always been, where when push comes to the slightest nudge…..Truth Is The First Casualty” not only of war, but of practically everything??
  
  I don’t think so!
  
  Post the internet AND Trump (love him or hate him or cautiously like him ….that’s me, fingers crossed, both hands) it IS getting BETTER!
  
  Or we wouldn’t even be sharing this discussion.
  
  AND.furthermore…as with Human History and the Trump Presidency……“It ain’t over til it’s over.”
  
  And neither Humanity nor Trump are over yet, despite millions of pessimists declaring both….to be “over”………..and really wishing , in their heart of hearts…that it ALL…were over!…and that HE.especially..were most definitely over!
  
  So that they could be proven right, to their egoic satisfaction ….and no other benefit.I can see………in their fundamentally far more corrupt pessimism, than DJT is …………in his lying expedient optimism!
  
  There IS a “Greater Good” that justifies such a ……….Whopper White (or Orange!) Lie……to avoid the Collective Suicide Wish ………….for kinetic WWIII.
  - Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 3:04 pm EST/EDT
    
    Already, again, the same people, like Steele above, who did it in 2016, campaigning for The Donald as a lesser evil or on the grounds of a good to arrvie which will never do, as these four years have already demonstrated.
    
    For Trumpsters, we should all wait for Godot so that The Donald does something right, either for Amercia, or, for extension, the world.
    
    The reality is that the world is far a worse place since he is in power. Period.
Anonius on February 13, 2020 · at 8:11 am EST/EDT

@S,
Well said, and I must add that all people should read “Karamazov Brothers”. It’s always best to read things in the original language, unfortunately it’s not always possible.
Otherwise, for people who think that they live in real world. Really? Think of the world of “Matrix”. Then stop sleepwalking with your nose in your “cell phone”. Did anyone ever think why is it called “cell” phone?
The brainwashing machine aka Hollywood is working hard making our world as virtual as it can be.
- Seeker on February 13, 2020 · at 8:53 am EST/EDT
  
  Or perhaps “Demons”, an even bleaker (though marvelous) illustration of the spiritual character of the nihilism we now are awash in.
Observer on February 13, 2020 · at 9:03 am EST/EDT

The “Reality Free World” rests entirely on the principle foundational lie that the US Dollar has value.
Edward on February 13, 2020 · at 10:07 am EST/EDT

For me what the lying translates into is a lack of professionalism; being a professional means subordinating your own biases/desires to whatever job you are trying to perform. Washington can’t even seem to reach this most basic point. Its been on a long journey to reach this sorry place. Liars were promoted over professionals in bureaucracies like the CIA, which needed people to say the U.S.S.R. was a giant menace in the 1980’s or that Iraq had WMD’s. The so-called “Arabists” were purged from the State Department.

I can add an amusing Clinton lie to the list above. When he ran for re-election as governor in 1991 he swore up and down Arkansas that he wouldn’t run for president and would devote his entire attention to the state. That pledge didn’t last too long.
- Dr NG Maroudas on February 13, 2020 · at 12:29 pm EST/EDT
  
  Edward, thank you for reminding us of true professionalists such as Scott Ritter, Dr.David Kelly (RIP) and others who sacrificed career – and even life – in the cause of professional integrity.
  
  “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make ye free”. — New Testament
  
  “The truth rarely if ever convinces its opponents; it simply outlives them”. — Max Planck
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 10:24 am EST/EDT

these 109 + victims are to be pitied cause their condition is worse than dead.,they are in ‘no man’s land’ of total disbelief, shocked to the core they will never serve again.

in 1954 when rice eating yellow charlies kicked frenchie ass in Dien Bien Phu’ in their supposed unfailable strong hold ,in the very first hour of the attack by flip flop wearing natives ,the commanding officer De Castries had a nervous breakdown, on the first day of seige could not handle it and gave up authority to his second in command,by the time it was over some frechie officers killed themselves rather than believe that they were beaten by a rag tag army.Illusion of invincibility in one’s mind or in a group think bubble, can boomerang and destroy such minds when the illusion is broken.

these dudes, from ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’ must have been in a gungo kickass mode when they were ordered into the bunker after the mullahs decided to retaliate,,when they came out …the world has changed,…there is no pancake with coke in the morning,no internet,no pizza for lunch,no playboy mag,no porn show for the evening and worst off all they can’t shoot back…and the mullahs won,this round anyway..these coddled dudes can’t handle it …it blew their mind,they just want to go back to momma and right away.
AncientOrthodoxEcclesia on February 13, 2020 · at 10:37 am EST/EDT

Feckless, vicious, greedy, and stupid, all signs of a declining and degenerate Empire in it’s final stages. It’s sad to see, especially given the alliance the United States had with the Soviet Union and China against the Fascists, but sadly it was an alliance of convenience. And the Fascists have returned and are returning in force.
gottlieb on February 13, 2020 · at 11:00 am EST/EDT

“… and this madness we share is that he, like me, doesn’t think other people are actually real. Really exist. So this makes possible to do any number of awful things; any number of orders to follow because nobody is really real. Isn’t that nuts?” Three Hotels by Jon Robin Baitz (1992)
teranam13 on February 13, 2020 · at 11:08 am EST/EDT

An interesting article:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/02/psychologist-explains-why-economists-and-liberals-get-human-nature-wrong.html

Dostoyevsky in his true prescient manner details the current characters acting on the stage play of Neo liberal
America–the psychotic, the abortionist, the pedophile all hidden under the veil of 19th century conventionality and the need to pass the muster of the censors. The farce of the self-involved Oscar, Emmy ceremony of false fashion, hubris, incompetence are echoed. and the antics of Antifa-type underground meeting with the puerile feminists- shades of Pussy Riot! All there and the distance and style of the 19thC makes one wince much less.
Pamela on February 13, 2020 · at 11:16 am EST/EDT

Excellent piece Saker – interesting and informative. Thank you.
I have more I wish to add, but for now, allow me to say the last part of your thesis was, in many ways, summed up by Ayn Rand [of whom I have mixed feelings incidentally] ;

“you are free to ignore reality and decide it doesn’t exist. You are NOT free to avoid the consequences”.
francis reps on February 13, 2020 · at 11:21 am EST/EDT

Spot on Mr. Saker. I think the true “Core” of the so called “World Leaders” { particularly Trump , Pelosi and others ; including their Zionist Masters} lies in the fact that none ; not one of them have any beliefs “whatsoever” in a Spiritual World…a Human Soul…and Life after Death. If “right now ” is all you have……Take What You Can. This is not Rocket Science…Evil is truly simple and Banal.
- ioan on February 14, 2020 · at 5:20 am EST/EDT
  
  I wrote a reply to you yesterday but never came out, sorry !
Mike from Jersey on February 13, 2020 · at 11:58 am EST/EDT

Excellent and thought provoking article. It was so good, that I read it in pieces – stopping to ponder each passage.

My own observations:

I had long wondered if the rulers in the western world actually knew that they were lying and did it deliberately or if they – as is common with human beings – believed what they were saying since it conveniently fit their purposes.

I have come to the conclusion that it is not a black or white situation. It is much like George Orwell described in 1984. Many of the “people at the top” simultaneously “know” and “don’t know” that they are lying. The live in a world where they continually play a game of three-card-monte with both the truth and themselves. For instance, when Hillary Clinton bemoans the “Russians meddling in our democracy,” I suspect that she knows that “Russiagate” is total nonsense but nonetheless believes that the “manipulation of the public” is not inconsistent with supporting “democracy.” Thus, believing two completely contradictory premises at one and the same time.

Others – I suspect Mike Pompeo is one of them – know very clearly that they are lying and feel that the ends justify the means.

Some – including many rank and file Democrats and Republicans – believe that they are telling the truth since they lost the capacity to recognize logical contradictions and inconsistencies – such as the constantly increasing “American wounded in Iraq.”

Many engage in a combination of all of the above.

This is the hall of mirrors in which we live.

God help us all.
- Anonymous on February 14, 2020 · at 7:04 pm EST/EDT
  
  I don’t think it is a case of knowing or not knowing they are lying. Narcissistic sociopaths (AKA Politicians) don’t even consider their words as true or not true. They simply don’t care.
  
  It is very hard for “normal” people to even comprehend the mind of a Narcopath. There are no rules, shame or honor in their world. Lies only matter those who give a crap about other humans.
Bruce on February 13, 2020 · at 1:20 pm EST/EDT

This is a deeply insightful column. An assumption has been made – that things have changed, that this lying and the building of institutions around lying is somehow worse, more prevalent, than in previous times. The further we go back in time, the less information we have and the less reliable it is believed to become. If we look at events far back in time, isn’t it entirely possible that what we now “know” and even take pride in believing we understand objectively is all fiction built on lies in the first place? Isn’t it entirely possible lying is a natural by-product of the current state of evolution of the human brain and the human mind? Is the solution to this “lying problem” to be found in politics – where it is impossible to sift truth from prevarication – or in a self directed human evolution based on better understanding of and better use of the human brain and the human mind?
Problems with society are not a matter of misguided ideas; such problems are due to diseases of the spirit. – Master Awa Kenzo
There can be only one permanent revolution—a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. – lev tolstoi
It might be a good topic for a podcast.
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 1:24 pm EST/EDT

Saker has pointed out something many of us have considered, how do all the traditional American people NOT NOTICE what is going on. Of course the mainstream media weaves a Big Lie, and the Facebooks, the Googles, the Youtubes are all owned by a certain Tribe. They literally use mind warping. Like Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays did in America, they KNOW how the goyim mind works and they WORK it.
They make sure that the goyim ONLY knows what (((CHOSEN PEOPLE))) want them to know.
Even in Iran the younger people watch the stuff that goyim are meant to watch, to believe.
That is how far the Rulers of the West have gone.

As one of the truly greats, a man who KNEW reality, Solzhenitsyn wrote:
“The fact that most of the world is ignorant of this reality is proof that the global media itself is in the hands of the perpetrators.”

Thomas Kaplan, the billionaire, check him out on Iran and his connections to the US’ assault on Iran and Shia.
Doc Apocalypse on February 13, 2020 · at 1:38 pm EST/EDT

It’s not hopeless. Just need a common morality that doesn’t rely on magic fruit, talking snakes and blood sacrifice. The idea of the common good in socialism would be a decent start, but the rich and those who would be rich have a problem with that because it diminishes their already-obscene profits.

For those who can’t see the miracle in simply living, there are all flavours of mysticism out there, most all of them of more utility than any organized religion and their priesthoods.
Conjecture on February 13, 2020 · at 2:03 pm EST/EDT

A couple of comments on truth and lies:

1) Conjectures Law of Politicians states that ‘all politicians are pathological liars’.

2) A Court Reporter (stenographer) once told me that during court cases the truth would sometimes come out but that it was essentially irrelevent to the proceedings.

These two above sound harsh but are a product of their respective systems. If politicians told the truth we (the people) would never vote for them and the legal system here is an adversarial one by design -the defence advocates for the accused and the prosecution advocates for a guilty verdict. Truth may get in the way of both.
larry, dfh on February 13, 2020 · at 3:12 pm EST/EDT

What a wonderful article! As regards the Iranian retaliation, what happened at the Erbil base? I’ve read that it was a NATO/c.i.a. C&C base, and it was destroyed, along with the assets.
American business, as well as all the other examples mentioned, is totally based on fraud. Lying is de rigeur, and cheating and stealing (non-payment) is expected practice. And of course the courts, with their gate-keepers of the status quo (judges) exist to keep this in perpetuity. Some part of the dishonesty of politicians maybe out of a willful, determined ignorance, which in itself is a form of dishonesty. I remember talking with my U.S. Congresswoman, and someone mentioned that the govt. of Syria didn’t, provably, use chemical weapons in Douma, and she answered (unbelievably!): “Then who did. The Russians?” But then again, if jerry brown and kamala harris had done their jobs, steve mnuchin would be in jail instead of Treasury Secretary. And it’s not like they didn’t know what was going on….
A good friend of mine, who walked through a mine field in 1968 (he had laid the mines) and left Czechoslovakia for Austria, states: “If it isn’t deception, it’s an illusion.” He also told me, 15 or so years ago, that everything that the KGB had told him about the U.S. had become true. He now lives in Canada, having gotten fed-up with the crap in the U.S.
As an aside to the comment about a Deity creating Man, or Man creating a Deity, there is an interesting article from the Journal of the American Medical Ass’n: JAMA, 264(14)1990, p. 1837 which discusses the famous Michelangelo fresco of the Sistine Chapel. The figure of the Deity, with his shroud and all, corresponds to a cross-section of the human brain. So the question must be: who is creating whom?
mundanomaniac on February 13, 2020 · at 3:37 pm EST/EDT

I was a ‘truther’ from the beginning. It started as child with the arrogant adults and went on with brainless teachers and so on – and also, later, single true human gems, female and male, adopting you creating you by making you realize, what is talking within you. Well, I found a lot, much more apparently than the bulk of ours.

Consequence I was a commie I found out and eventually, with 38, realized that the lie without words is swirling around the higher ranks of the common idea/thing.

Consequence realized: the only lever lastly is on yourself and no one is interested in you if not yourself.

Then a journey to Munich, visiting soft crazy radiating new friend in a living community, within one week met my wife and a pocket-book of an Munich-astrologer.

Since then, now 39 years, I feel like Krishnamurti, there’s nothing I have against what is happening.

Now the question at hand: the truth and the lies: I like a civilization, in which it is not necessary to
lie, but only to find out, what your spot is in the range of professionalism. I mean V.V.Putin as radiating prototype. I like what he does with ‘normal people’.

Since 2014 Geopolicy is in the daily school of life and like a big magnet has effects and dramas
descibed as revelation 2000 years ago. And like Saker said 80% psyche, 15% economic, 5% kinetic
is the war, the geostrategic players are in. And my God is with Putin and his God is with me and it makes me happy.

And it’s an inner happyness of a child, ready to share with who wants to share, a child’s truth.

And as an old man and to the power in the clouds of lie, I think, Hannah Ahrendt gave the fitting answer. No own thinking. Everyone has to chose: am I a gem or will I be a good professional. I never thought that I’m a gem. But only with astrology i got the aspiration of a professional from the first day, in the realm of meaning.

To me is essential to follow not only the world around our Vineyard, but also around our planet the celestial family, Sun and her children of which we are one. To be in both worlds,seeing us from within and without. This is a realm where the facts are 100% and the interpretation is a matter of art and discipline. And the lessons of life are free and everyone is invited for heavens sake.
tomo on February 13, 2020 · at 3:44 pm EST/EDT

here is a great book about lies in politics:

“..The problem today is that lying is not an isolated phenomenon but characteristic of a culture where exaggeration and inflated claims are commonplace occurrences. For more than a century the public has been shaped by a relentless culture of advertising and its exaggerations, false claims, and fantasies—all aimed at influencing and directing behavior in the premeditated ways chosen by the advertiser. The techniques developed for the marketplace have been adapted by political consultants and their media experts. The result has been the pollution of the ecology of politics by the inauthentic politics of misrepresentative government, claiming to be what it is not, compassionate and conservative, god-fearing and moral.”

https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism-ebook/dp/B0718Z8LPM/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3P8XA5EJJY2XP&keywords=inverted+totalitarianism&qid=1581451976&s=books&sprefix=inverted+totalit%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C206&sr=1-1&fbclid=IwAR3pBiyFlzEtxobLXwPyBBH-bOR3Nh9DtdE-PL6AxbdcPJmyxVOQn_5Hqd0
Robert on February 13, 2020 · at 4:58 pm EST/EDT

The number who died in the Nazi Holocaust has recently been revised to 20 million………
Purple Library Guy on February 13, 2020 · at 6:20 pm EST/EDT

Half of this was interesting and half of it was philosophically confused and largely irrelevant. The Dems and Republicans do not get away with massive lying because the Catholic church is duplicitous and/or doctrinally confused. Nor do they get away with lying because people are more secular-minded these days. Half of the worst liars involved are religious zealots of one stripe or another.
They get away with lying because they are aligned with the very wealthy (some serve the very wealthy, some ARE the very wealthy), and by an amazing co-incidence nearly all our sources of news are owned by . . . the very wealthy. So far the most perfect case was probably Berlusconi, who was not only very wealthy but personally owned a big chunk of the Italian media and made sure it operated as personal propaganda for him.

As to the impossibility of ethics outside of religion, I’d just like to say that I am always very frightened when I witness religious people who don’t have any ethical or moral intuitions of their own and so just operate on their version of what God said. Those are the kind of people who end up committing mass slaughter in God’s name. And Bertrand Russell’s positions were more ethical than those of nearly all religious leaders I’ve ever heard of. You can grab a quote at random and twist it, but the man was no nihilist, nor a relativist. Moral philosophers have disagreements, but if anything those disagreements are less central or contentious than those between religions.
- Anonymous on February 16, 2020 · at 1:51 pm EST/EDT
  
  Best comment so far, thank you!
Grieved on February 13, 2020 · at 6:54 pm EST/EDT

Nice essay, Saker. You lament the loss of the sacred, I think.

The Buddha taught us to beware both illusions of nihilism on the one hand and eternalism on the other. The famous Middle Way of the Buddhist teachings is to remain between these two absolute extremes.

Nihilism is the belief that there is no higher sacred, and eternalism is the belief that the higher sacred is unchanging (i.e. the fixed Creator). Both concepts miss the mark, which is why the most accurate description of the sacred and the real is “ineffable”.

Personally, I suspect that the majority of ordinary people treat the nihilism all around us with skepticism, and preserve their own notions of sacredness carefully protected and cultivated inside. Neither feeling goes away, it is simply submerged, perhaps for centuries.

When we are immersed in a lying world, we will only see the skepticism of people. When something sacred breaks above the surface, however, the natural love of the sacred that exists in all sentient beings is drawn to the surface also.

So in the end, what we lack are heroes. As the old man in the movie HUD said, “We measure a country by its heroes.”

And we could as easily fall into a trance following a charismatic holy man as a charismatic profane man (such as Trump). This is just the dual illusion at work.

The middle way is that it is possible to be charismatic simply from telling the plain truth, and not falling into the error of either delusion, neither absolutist nor relativist.

And while people may not be able to say in advance what it is that they find good, they will all recognize it if it appears.

If it appears.
force to eliminate Jewish Mafia on February 13, 2020 · at 8:30 pm EST/EDT

{Our normal ‘Support the Troops’ folks are pushing this narrative that maybe 100 USA soldiers were ‘murdered in their bed’, and we didn’t do anything about it.}

You are right. There were more than 100 USA Soldiers DEATHS, where your Mafia president did not tell you because he is a COWARD.
American mass murderers, you call soldiers were killed in Iranian retaliatory attack in Iraq. According to Iranian and non Iranian sources, 139 of these criminals were killed. But the coward and criminal mass murderer, Mafia Trump, did not dare to tell the dummies.
Read the following:

[On January 13, 2020, the Pentagon replied to a FOIA request from US Congressman B. G. Thompson on the casualties and damage sustained by the US in the Iranian missile attack. You can read his reply in the attached photo, but he stated the US military had incurred 139 deceased, 146 injured, and “extensive damage to 15 helicopters, 2 cargo aircraft and 3 MQ-1 Predator drones”. He further outlined “extensive damage” to the base command center, hangars and barracks, the aircraft control tower and the runways.

He said further that “initial assessments indicate mentioned damages will cause “total impairment” … of air base activities for at least 3 weeks.”]

https://www.globalresearch.ca/new-star-wars-trilogy-evil-empire-strikes-back/5702528
Anonymous on February 13, 2020 · at 9:06 pm EST/EDT

“… suddenly acts as if all religions were equally “true” (this is logically impossible, but…” –

Sorry, Bud; … but simple logic says if they are all false, then they are also all “equally true” in the same vein that any number multiplied by zero is zero! Whether the speaker intended it or not, cynically or otherwise, for many the “logical possibility” that all are BS (not true, miss the mark, etc) satisfies the condition. Domains of faith and domains of (rational) logic are highly incommensurate. Different logical types/levels and base assumptions. There is no accounting for taste. If a dogma turns your wheels, then apply it. If not, then why judge others for the dogma that turns their wheels? Is it not the outcome of behavior (fruits of) that is judged in the end according to some who claim to know? Some belief systems may be more useful than others in certain contexts, but that is a utility value, not a “Truth” claim. This is like say English is more true than Russian. Clearly one may be more useful in certain domains than others.

“Have facts and truth become redundant?”

Depending on context, yes and no. I had the ill-fortune of spending a wasted decade in a ‘policy’ domain (not US) at the end of 20th century, and saw the creeping cultures of mendacity seeping into the organisational foundations and eventually walls. Some blame postmodernism. I now know better and see it as a misapplication of such French theory by ignorant and deceitful types with their eyes on power — the greasy pole dance to the top. Soon after my arrival in that office someone lectured me for 30 minutes that there were ‘no facts’ until I eventually ask the obvious question: “Really, … is that a fact?” Paradox works every time. The eventual corporate knife in my back a decade later had her ‘no fact’ finger prints all over it.

As ministerial support types, they are courtiers by nature and “Yes, Minister!” is the only truth of the day that matters. They usually survive quite well as office parasites until something inconveniently unmanageable in the real world turns up like a viral epidemic outbreak, or a 737 Max. Like the Enron mob, they are the smartest guys in the spin-room (until it all tanks). Some lesser rats may take a hit, but the smarter ones have jumped ship way ahead of the wave. Look at the meme in many American films these days. All you have to do is ‘believe’ it hard enough.

Of course, since Nixon (off the gold standard) following the money (facts – gold) has largely entailed little more than a Hollywood ticker-tape parade Federal Reserve bonanza of irrational exuberance, moral hazard, fake news, and “whatever it takes” false ‘facts.’ Just look at how the US university system bends to cater for the rich (in pocket) with consultants writing entry papers. It is who you know and network with that counts; not what you know and honest research. And the ‘fruit’ of this closed system cycle back to perpetuate it in a positive-feed loop. Why is there any surprise? The only essential unknown is the timing of the systemic failure.

As the Saker lives in Florida (I believe) I’ll recount a something I noticed a few years back when researching on Sinkhole policy. The city I live in also sits on karst terrain and Florida’s experiences were useful examples. The only relevance here is that I came to notice a significant shift in USA literature in this area from the 1970’s through to the turn of the century. Reports on this topic from the US Geological Survey etc read as one would expect – factual, scientific and policy recommendations included open public access to relevant scientific information and databases as part of risk mitigation. By the early 2000’s the narrative had changed in style and tone towards closed policy and criticising the 1970’s approach as encouraging gaming of the system. The focus shifted towards the ‘artful dodger’ ways of avoiding government risk of cost and responsibility (not citizen risk of sinkholes) where it seemed ignorance of geological ‘facts’ was the bliss of policy (and those hirelings paid to administer it).

Although the rot set in well before GW Bush (i.e., his old man and Bill Clinton) it was on his watch that a “war on everything” became official US policy. Not only did a “state of war” (on terror will do just fine) activate certain small print in world trade agreements letting the USA off many of the hooks that applied to others, but it also recognised an emerging trend (and soon a driver for it) within US culture (the real American culture of scientists and engineering of the 1970s as expressed in the Geological Survey reports on sinkholes for example) towards the dominance of “strategy” in the values systems. Therefore, in war, whether facts and truth become redundant (or not) is contextual with purpose – and in this case a shift in purpose to war (from peace) has locked in a trend towards a new norm of justifiable mendacity. With paper confetti as new ‘money,’ the cult of exceptionalism expanded to almost nation scale and the little Machiavellian “Prince” became the model to emulate – not just for the traditional 1% but almost down to the doorman and lift boy.

In the pursuit of power, strategy is king — and the epics tell us that the Greeks mastered it before the Trojans. As they say, the rest is history. Nothing can change (in that socio-cultural niche) until they (on mass) shift from war to peace and sit down at the table with the rest of the world (try ye olde UN perhaps) around the table, sign a peace agreement and discuss common-wealth. Until then, it is sinkholes (and sinkhole policy) all the way down.
Srbalj on February 13, 2020 · at 9:45 pm EST/EDT

Official lies & propaganda have very little to do with induced belief & brainwashing, contrary to the great efforts of Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Edward Herman et al. to convince us otherwise. Lies & propaganda are about two factors in power politics, 1. plausible deniability, 2. narrative control. That is it. The powerful do not care what the masses think, they care about keeping them powerless, & this is achieved by a variety of means – the education system for social conditioning, economics/financial dependency induced desperation, distractions such as sports/entertainment – & if all this fails, & some folks get funny ideas about organizing a genuine “peoples” movement, the domestic security services will intercept that endeavor & neutralize it before it gets off the ground. Chomsky made a curious admission in an interview somewhere, when he admitted that media propaganda is not really about brainwashing which he had claimed for decades, but for forming “elite opinion” i.e. my point no. 2. narrative control. So-called power elites in the west function on the basis of criminal law, it is not what you know, it is what you can prove. You may know that 9/11 was an inside job, with a bit of Israeli assistance, but you can not prove it, & because you can not prove it quite frankly Cheney, Wolfovitz, Rumsfeld & co. do not care that you know. I know that many people who are well informed & very well educated take great issue with this point of view, some aggressively reject it. The Anglo-Germanic system of power was well explained in Orwell’s 1984 section where Goldstein’s text is quoted, the mass of people domestically & throughout the world are to be controlled by a variety of forms of subtle coercion, primarily economic, primarily structural poverty. The reason there is poverty in the world is the same as why there is homelessness in a city like London where there are thousands of empty unoccupied properties, it is imposed to keep people desperate. And this is why politicians lie through their teeth & do not give a good God damn whether you know they are lying & what you think about it, their message is: prove it, prove it or suck a d—-. It is that arrogant & brutal. In the end it does result in an explosion, a completely unreported revolution is taking place while we speak in the Montenegro of Europe’s top mafia boss Milo Djukanovic. He pushed too far, his lies & thieving criminality served as a catalyst, but it is when he tried to force the Serbian people of Montenegro to accept by force that they are not what they know they are & can not worship in their (our) ancient church through the imposition of his so-called “freedom of religion” law that the people revolted. And his NATO occupation regime will fall, sooner or later. This is analogous to the rest of the world, when the regime tries to impose the lie as a way of life, that is when the revolt occurs. Never before. The powerful just hope they can maintain induced powerlessness for long enough, & if not, well deny everything & blame the other guy.
Dr.NG Maroudas on February 14, 2020 · at 12:39 am EST/EDT

Third whistleblower reveals OPCW [UN] doctored report on Syria’s Douma:

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/02/12/618455/Syria-OPCW-chemical-attack-Douma

Have you ever wondered why Little Greta Greenberg got to address the UN when she ought to have been at school?
Kestrel on February 14, 2020 · at 2:48 am EST/EDT

I really enjoyed this article. It is a great topic, especially as the mutual lying and finger-pointing of the different political branches keeps getting more and more absurd. I was particularly interested to read about the impact Europe’s religious history had on all of this. The more I study these issues, the more I learn about the deeply damaging effects of Western Christianity. If much of the Western world is now nihilistic and post-Christian, at least one can sympathize with why such a rejection of religion developed.

Sadly, I have heard my illustrious legal colleagues seriously question whether objective reality does or does not exist. Some seem to think that we live in lovely little multiverse worlds, where everyone’s reality is entirely independent of anyone else’s. (I have heard similar comments from philosophy professors teaching ethics courses.) Curiously, though, this does not seem to carry into their professional lives, as they understand defense and prosecution and breached contracts and binding statutes objectively enough. Orwell really was right about doublethink.

Thanks for some great food for though.

kl
Ian Shears on February 14, 2020 · at 3:53 am EST/EDT

A bit weird but reality definitely exists. So who is going to challenge or assent – all those who are the called.
Good luck with the mind games. It really is only luck.
Anonymous on February 14, 2020 · at 4:47 am EST/EDT

I’m betting that those bomb shelters/bunkers were not built to specification. That’s why you are seeing the numbers of injured go up. With all the boondoggles regarding made in the USA (737 Max, F-35 Lighting, various lawsuits over medicines), this takes a toll on the human psyche and/or a nation’s psyche. And since we are “the best military in the world” nobody pulls a fast one on us.
Its also easier to just say “it could be worse” or “something is better than nothing”. The military drills it into peoples heads that ” even the littlest victory is still a victory”. If you don’t espouse these “attitudes” you will be looked at as a pariah and be ostracized.
Hell its getting to the point where you can’t even talk with your coworkers for fear of being overheard and reported to management.
I’ve read the excerpts to the book “Political Ponerology” and looks like america is on its way to full blown pathocacry.
Dissident Israeli on February 14, 2020 · at 7:25 am EST/EDT

It is such a pleasure to read the writings of a sane and moral man. And it is so disheartening that there are so few like the Saker. I live in Palestine that is called Israel and it is nothing but a bubble of lies, illusions and brainwashing. As a result, the Jew simply is unable to distinguish any difference between Good and Evil as moral categories, although they have adopted a social or a community-based
definition of these terms. This derives from the a priori principle of Judaism – non-Jews are not fully human. Non-Jews are chattel and therefore what are deemed to be moral categories at least in Christianity and Islam, do not apply to them. Good then becomes “what is good for the Jews” and evil is “what is bad for the Jews” according to Jewish interpretation. This basic attitude to the world has undoubtedly been spread by secularism, to which a vast majority of “modern” or “enlightened” Jews belong, which adhering to basic Talmudic values at one and the same time. That this attitude to the world may be described as “disassociation” and therefore a form of mental illness seems to me to reflect the attitudes of the vast majority of Western Jews and naturally all of those who are Zionists. Those that are upholders of Talmudic Jewish practices do not suffer from such disassociation because by definition, the non-humanity of the non-Jew or goy is not covered by the moral categories of good and evil.
pdb on February 14, 2020 · at 12:49 pm EST/EDT

Nice article, Saker. Your editor left out the caption to the photo at the top. I believe it reads “This is what liars look like.”
Patrick
ioan on February 14, 2020 · at 3:49 pm EST/EDT

They wouldn’t lie and wouldn’t get away with it if they hadn’t have the backing of someone. Now, I won’t come up again with my thoughts about upper and lower gods but just think yourself. To get closer, once Jesus said : ” give the Caesar what is for him and give God what is His “. What does that mean ?
Pamela on February 14, 2020 · at 5:07 pm EST/EDT

I could have sworn I left a link to another article I found which I thought very complimentary to this one by Saker, and which I thought would be of interest, so I”ll post it again.
https://russia-insider.com/en/crimes-us-elites-have-been-systematic-constant-vicious-and-remorseless-few-people-talk-about-them#comment-4796126938
John Chuckman on February 14, 2020 · at 5:35 pm EST/EDT

I find the article somewhat jumbled, but its author has managed a few powerful truths on an important subject.

This phrase does hit the mark, “life in a reality-free world”

It is indeed a realty-free world when it comes to America’s activities abroad.

But perhaps there should be little surprise at the fact.

Empire is inherently oppressive and anti-democratic.

We have a tiny percentage of the world’s population (America has roughly five percent of world’s population, but America’s establishment, the people who truly count, represent a tiny fraction of one percent) telling everyone else what to do.

And America uses a great deal of violence to enforce its will – bombing, insurgencies, assassinations, wars, and coups. It cannot be otherwise.

In some cases, as with allies, it uses only the pressure of its globally-dominant financial institutions and markets, but that is still coercion, and it is very unwelcome.

Even granting American elections are somewhat democratic, the fact means nothing to those being forced to do what they do not wish to do.

Power is power no matter how granted, as by election, and abuse of that power is abuse no different than abuse by any other kind of government.

From the world’s point of view, America is a form of authoritarian government, and all authoritarian governments lie about what they are doing.

No one likes being openly credited with oppression and killing and theft. That is true even for governments as notorious in our memories as Stalin’s or Hitler’s or the former junta in Argentina, but it is equally true for America in its affairs abroad or for Israel in its affairs with its neighbors.

All that dirty work requires a lot of lying to cover over. America still likes to think of itself as descending from that small group of men pledging their sacred honors, and of course that is an absurd contradiction with today’s reality.

Despite those who work to inform themselves often recognizing the lies, they are a small minority of any society, and I think the lying, on the whole, does work. Much as with the tiresome and threadbare claims of commercial advertising, a sizable part of the population accepts them, or at least does not question them, having no motive for close examination.

And there is no need for guilt on the part of officials doing the lying. If you don’t feel guilty about killing and stealing, why would you feel guilty about some mere lies?

As crimes of empire, lies are just pocket change.

I’ve said many times that you can have an empire or you can have a decent country, but you cannot have both. America long ago chose empire.

You can take that principle a step further: you can have an empire or you can have a democratic state, but you cannot have both.

To say otherwise is as absurd as Israel’s claim to being a democracy while it occupies and abuses millions who enjoy no rights.
Bullwinkle on February 14, 2020 · at 6:08 pm EST/EDT

Governments can not exist without violating every single one of the “Ten Commandments”
Magistrates = gods.
to
They covet everything.
Edgar Palacio on February 14, 2020 · at 9:06 pm EST/EDT

Saker, I think this is the same case when the USSR was as a big power in the east, the lies inside it and abroad were tremendous and in my opinion that was the main cause of his fall.
Davide66 on February 15, 2020 · at 1:10 pm EST/EDT

Conclusion: life in a world devoid of reality.” We still have Gustav Thibon with his “Return to Reality” and he was a Catholic. But the Catholics still love you, dear Holy Falcon
peter mcloughlin on February 17, 2020 · at 9:00 am EST/EDT

Power is reality because it is the cause of war and suffering: but it is an illusion because it is transitory. Every empire thought it offered permanence: every empire has come to pass./
Jack Ponomarev on February 19, 2020 · at 1:53 am EST/EDT

Are there still lies and “damned lies?” Just a question.
GRK on February 19, 2020 · at 5:26 am EST/EDT

Mark Twin, the great American author and poet (Samuel Clemens) phrased “the illusion of Reality” as “grotesque self deception” in the following: “Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing tactics, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.”

As for “exitus acta probat”, he makes a simple statement “No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session” .
- Jack Ponomarev on February 21, 2020 · at 8:14 pm EST/EDT
  
  Appreciated quotes. I despise resorting to Freud who I think is a fraud. When it suited him, a cigar was just a cigar. And doping up was fine and dandy.
Tiu on February 21, 2020 · at 9:28 pm EST/EDT

Truth, as well as lies, are both transitory and subjective.