If anti-war protests made no difference, the US empire wouldn't have completely abandoned full-scale ground invasions after 2003 and switched to sneakier, less effective means of warfare while launching unprecedented narrative management systems to suppress anti-war sentiments. They abandoned Bush-era Hulk Smash ground invasions in favor of drones, proxy warfare, covert ops and sanctions because enough people rose up and said "NO" to make them afraid of the masses beginning to wake up and begin turning against them and their institutions.

And now people are even beginning to protest the proxy warfare. I  guarantee you that's making our rulers nervous about the possibility of losing the ability to effectively dominate the world with violence and coercion, and even losing the ability to continue to rule us.

Reading by Tim Foley.

The Power-Serving Myth That Anti-War Protests Make No Difference

Free speech is meaningless and worthless if you don't use it to oppose real power. In western "democracies" the majority of people are so effectively propagandized into speaking in alignment with the interests of the western empire that they may as well be taking orders on what to say at gunpoint.

In totalitarian regimes you say what your rulers want you to say because they physically coerced you using the threat of violence. In "free democracies" you say what your rulers want you to say because they psychologically coerced you using propaganda. The end result is the same.

Reagan once joked about Soviets thinking they are free because they're allowed to criticize the US government as much as they like, but really that was just projection. Westerners think they have free speech, but they never use that "free speech" to criticize the tyrannical empire they live under. 

Free speech is held as an important human right because it helps the people put a check on power. If you're not using for that, you may as well not have it.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Free Speech Is For Fighting The Empire

In an article published last week titled "US working with 'Five Eyes' nations, Japan on information warfare," a publication on military intelligence and communications technology called C4ISRNET reports that the US and its allies are collaborating "to share and sharpen information-warfare techniques in the Indo-Pacific" with the goal of "countering" the "increasingly aggressive China."

Reading by Tim Foley.

US Power Alliance Says It's Coordinating An "Information War" Against China

Well it's another big day for Democrats doing Democraty things.

Reading by Tim Foley.

Democrats Praise Bush, Want More Small-Business War Profiteers

A recent US Chamber of Commerce InSTEP program hosted three empire managers to talk about Washington's top three enemies, with the US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns discussing the PRC, the odious Victoria Nuland discussing Russia, and the US ambassador to Israel Tom Nides talking about Iran. Toward the end of the hour-long discussion, Burns made the very interesting comment that Beijing must accept that the United States is "the leader" in the region and isn't going anywhere.

Reading by Tim Foley.

US Ambassador To China: "We're The Leader" Of The Indo-Pacific

Readings of all Caitlin Johnstone's articles, usually by her co-writer Tim Foley.

US Power Alliance Says It's Coordinating An "Information War" Against China

Caitlin Johnstone

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