Cynics, Step Aside: There is Genuine Excitement Over a Hillary Clinton Candidacy - The Intercept

It’s easy to strike a pose of cynicism when contemplating Hillary Clinton’s inevitable (and terribly imminent) presidential campaign. As a drearily soulless, principle-free, power-hungry veteran of DC’s game of thrones, she’s about as banal of an American politician as it gets. One of the few unique aspects to her, perhaps the only one, is how the genuinely inspiring gender milestone of her election will (following the Obama model) be exploited to obscure her primary role as guardian of the status quo.

That she’s the beneficiary of dynastic succession – who may very well be pitted against the next heir in line from the regal Bush dynasty (this one, not yet this one) - makes it all the more tempting to regard #HillaryTime with an evenly distributed mix of boredom and contempt. The tens of millions of dollars the Clintons have jointly “earned” off their political celebrity - much of it speaking to the very globalists, industry groups, hedge funds, and other Wall Street appendages who would have among the largest stake in her presidency - make the spectacle that much more depressing (the likely candidate is pictured above with Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein at an event in September).

But one shouldn’t be so jaded. There is genuine and intense excitement over the prospect of (another) Clinton presidency. Many significant American factions regard her elevation to the Oval Office as an opportunity for rejuvenation, as a stirring symbol of hope and change, as the vehicle for vital policy advances. Those increasingly inspired factions include:

Wall Street - <more>

The Israel Lobby - <more>

Interventionists (i.e., war zealots) - <more>

Old school neocons - <more>

Complete story at - Cynics, Step Aside: There is Genuine Excitement Over a Hillary Clinton Candidacy - The Intercept

Hillary Clinton: Make the Russian People Pay for Resistance to Ukraine Junta | Global Research

Former Secretary of State and presumptive presidential candidate Hillary Clinton believes economic sanctions – essentially an act of war – should be “tightened and widened.”

“I think Russia will pay a big price for this,” Clinton said. “But that is an endpoint that we’ve got to get to as peacefully as possible without seeing the total disintegration of Ukraine as a country with territorial integrity and opportunity to have the relationship it wants with the West.”

Approximately half of the population of Ukraine has expressed disapproval of the junta in Kyiv and believe the country should align itself with the Russian Federation, not the European Union.

The charts below, taken from survey results posted on Forbes, reveal the sharp divide in Ukraine by region:

Complete story at - Hillary Clinton: Make the Russian People Pay for Resistance to Ukraine Junta | Global Research



CC Photo by Flickr User donkeyhotey Subject is Hillary Clintoon

From Libya to Ukraine » CounterPunch

On the off-chance you have not been paying attention for the last couple of weeks, the US State Department, led by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland,  embarked on and succeeded in an overthrow of the legitimately elected government in Ukraine.

In considering the US State Department’s participation in the Ukrainian coup, it might have surprised some Americans to realize how deeply embedded the State Department was as a behind-the-scenes player, thoroughly invested in creating a  “spontaneous” rebellion.   So now, the paying-attention segment of the American public has realized that the State Department, the supposed-diplomatic arm of the US government, has been doing less diplomacy and negotiation and more organizing a team of hooligans to disrupt-and-destabilize as it gives a well-timed thumbs-up to the CIA or whoever it is who accomplishes their evil deeds.

Keeping the State Department’s Ukrainian role in mind, you might wonder  what neo-con favorite Hilary Clinton was doing during her four years as Secretary when she traveled to 112 countries, met with 1700 world leaders and racked up 956,733 miles to the kudos of the American press as the most traveled Secretary of State in history.  Well, that’s a lot of …diplomacy.   Some how I don’t think she was  brushing up on her conversational  French or appreciating Hungarian palascinta or learning new dance steps in South Africa.  Having visited an average of 425 leaders a year is some serious sightseeing …so what exactly was she talking about to1700 world leaders?

A review of Clinton’s Official State Department Travel Schedule as Secretary is worth more than a quick scrutiny especially when a series of ambiguous meetings in 2011 with the Libyan Contact Group (LCG) jumps off the page.  Perhaps the LCG were a rag tag group of well-meaning Libyans caught up in the Arab Spring phenomena – but no, they were anything but.  In a nutshell, the LCG was a US sponsored UN-like organization (but without the UN’s democratic principles) to provide the necessary political cover and create the illusion of international acceptance for the US illegal designs on Libya by fomenting a ‘rebellion’ to oust Muammar Qaddafi.  Formed on March 19 in London, the original Libya Contact Group consisted of two dozen self-appointed countries lacking the international authority to make decisions and take action regarding the sovereignty of another country. The LCG had no legal standing, acted outside the standards of international law and was not accountable to anyone.  It is politically noteworthy that the BRICS countries (Brazil, India, Russia, China and South Africa) all either refused to participate or only sent occasional observers.

   

From Libya to Ukraine » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names