The graphic novel “Accidental Czar: The life and lies of Vladimir Putin”.
Note: The excerpts are taken from the French version of “Tsar par accident” and re-translated into English using DeepL.
Author Andrew S. Weiss has worked at the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and so on. He points out: “If someone had told me at the time that a former KGB non-commissioned officer – who had never really shone – a certain Vladimir Putin […] – would be promoted from the back rooms of the Kremlin directly to the head of the country, I would have told you to get yourself treated”. He adds: “What we think we know about him is often a clever mix of counter psychology and misinterpretations of Russia‘s thousand-year-old history “. His staging as a tough guy “allows him to come across as more intelligent – and more competent – than he really is. […] “.
The graphic novel “Accident Czar” tells the story of how Vladimir Putinfound himself in power at a time when his rather lacklustre career was destined for a lesser position. But the same could be said of some of the world’s dictators, presidents, kings and ministers over the ages who have been blessed with good fortune. They too have taken advantage of favorable opportunities to climb the ladder too high for their natural talent. The nation then pays the price until the person’s overthrow, exile or death.
Still, we have to give Putin credit for persisting, for hanging on, despite setbacks and rejections. To join the KGB, he was told to study or join the army. He did so and received his diploma.
In 1975, he joined the KGB. But it wasn’t the big missions he had dreamed of that awaited him, but local fieldwork. He failed to impress his superiors with the results he achieved. Following a brawl in the subway, he was transferred to Dresden in 1985, where his missions were meaningless due to lack of budget. In 1999, President Clinton was told that Putin would be the next Russian president. What had happened between 1985 and 1999 for Putin to suddenly emerge from obscurity and become President of Russia?
Credit must be given to his work ethic, but above all to his loyalty to his bosses in an organization that favors personal ties. Yeltsin, the president at the time, sensed his end was coming and offered Putin a deal. The author writes: “He would make him president if he agreed to protect him and his family“.
Just as Hindenburg believed he could manipulate Hitler by giving him access to the highest echelons of government, so Yeltsin thought he could do the same with Putin. In both cases, it was a costly mistake for Europe and the world.
The book reviews the rise of the Russian oligarchs, and the rapprochement of power for Putin’s friends. Andrew Weiss points out: “One of the points that foreigners don’t always grasp is that Russia is a society that operates on the basis of personal ties, rather than within the framework of institutions or the rule of law.“
In the years following the fall of the Berlin Wall, important sectors of the Russian economy were taken over by corrupt officials and KGB agents, as well as by the mafia. As the author writes: “Vladimir Kumarin, all-powerful boss of the notorious Tambov gang, ruled the country“.
Vladimir Putin’s support for the United States after the attacks of September 11, 2001 brought him closer to George W. Bush and his father George H. W. Bush, with whom he even went fishing in Kennebunkport. He hoped to revive the moribund Russian economy and gain the freedom to control the Russian media.
What’s most astonishing to me is that, during this period, Putin approved the highly controversial establishment of American and NATO bases across the former Soviet Union (Uzbekistan,Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan). With this gesture, he was seeking stabilization with the West. With the causes of the September 11th 2001 attacks still being debated around the world today, especially in the most informed circles, Putin was later forced to reflect on the relevance and consequences of his decision to authorize new American and NATO bases near Russia.
The Russian president quickly realizes that he doesn’t carry much weight in the diplomatic balance against a superpower like the United States. He is not recognized as a player to be reckoned with. With a view to better understanding between the West and Russia, the author stresses the importance of better understanding the grievances of both sides. He points out that this is sorely lacking.
Especially since the Kremlin is convinced that “demands for political change are always the result of Western-backed conspiracies“. All the major nations, by dint of monitoring each other and trying to influence the internal management of other countries, are projecting their intentions and no longer believe that a protest can come from the bottom up, based on a serious desire to improve certain detestable policies.
The author takes a look back at the problems surrounding Russia’s territorial security through the ages, invaded in turn by the Mongols, Napoleon and Hitler: “[Russia] traditionally relies on annexed territories to act as a buffer between the motherland and any external threat“. He also discusses the Chechen conflict, the fight against terrorism, political interference in neighboring states and Russian involvement in the 2016 US elections.
Andrew S. Weiss covers a lot of ground, and other themes find their way into the book: the history of the Cold War, Trump, Snowden, Wikileaks, the Sochi Olympics and the work of Maria Butina, a Russian agent who managed to penetrate the upper circles of the American Republican Party.
It was his belief in the irreversible decline of the West that enabled Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine.
The author concludes with a remark on the invasion of that country and the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets: “The world is beginning to understand that Putin was never the strategist he claimed to be. He is an improviser caught in his own trap”.
Allow me to make a comment about the invasion of Ukraine. This country is to receive fighter planes from the Allied States to protect its territory, which deeply offends Russia. However, I would like to remind you that during the Second World War, the Soviet Union accepted a great deal of outside help for its defense on the Eastern Front. To name just one aircraft and country, the Soviet Union obtained 877 B-25 Mitchell bombers from the USA.
The American President Donald Trump likes to raise doubts and use inexact facts to try to gain advantages. His last invention is to say that the steel and aluminum coming from Canada could endanger the national security of the United States.
Donald Trump knows very well that the United States cannot actually produce all the steel and the aluminum required for the country’s growth. Instead of making irrelevant links between the United States, the national security, steel and Canada, I suggest that Mr Trump concentrate on the United States, national security, steel and the September 11th 2001 attacks.
It seems in fact that the american buildings are quite fragile and would benefit from a lot more steel during their construction. If not, how should we understand the fall of Building 7, known as WTC-7, a 47 floor tower that crashed on itself without having even been touched by a plane during the September 11th 2001 attacks. Medias have barely raised the subject, as they were asked to be « patriots ».
Donald Trump can also diminish the time alloted to his tweets and take more time to understand what happened with the New-York Twin Towers, known as WTC-1 and WTC-2, during the September 11th 2001 attacks. The best steel in the world would not have been able to stand against the nano-thermite that was found in the remnants of the towers.
Not understanding how two planes can destroy three towers, and also questioning the free fall of the towers, some Danish physicists analyzed a few pieces of the World Trade Center’s debris under microscope. They discovered nano-thermite. Nano-thermite liquifies steel (molten steel). The discovery was announced in the Open Physics Journal. Take a few minutes to understand what it is all about (the video quality is good, except for the first five seconds) :
The American President can also request from his associates, before they get fired, to find some pictures of the remains of the Boeing 757 that is said to have hit the Pentagon. Because 17 years later, there are still no credible photos available. Even some high ranking military questioned this lack of proof.
The way steel is used can also have negative consequences on the national security of the United States. There is more than 450 million guns used in the USA. I do not know how many more crazy shooters will show up in american schools before the politicians take their responsability.
Instead of acting on serious internal matters, it is easier to invent new threats coming from outside of the United States.
Turkey presented the case that Fethullah Gulen, an american cleric living in the USA, is behind the 2016 failed coup against President Erdogan of Turkey and it wants M. Gulen extradited.
To explain the USA’s refusal to send Fethullah Gulen over to Turkey, Fareed Zakaria said something along the lines : « My contacts say that there is nothing solid that supports the fact that the 2016 coup against Turkey was organized by the Imam Fethullah Gulen ».
The well-prepared Prime Minister of Turkey then responded : « When you said that Osama Bin Laden was behind the September 9/11 attacks, we did not ask for proof of that. We just supported you ». [And immediately went to war in Afghanistan without proof of Bin Laden’s involvment].
In other words, to stay friends with the United States, Turkey did not ask that the USA prove with any hard facts that Bin Laden was behind the 9/11 attacks, a fact that Bin Laden denied from day one. They knew that the United States had strategic interests in Afghanistan and they supported whatever reason, proven or not, that would justify an invasion of Afghanistan.
Now, Turkey says that the Unites States are not willing to commit themselves to Turkey’s national interests the same way Turkey supported the USA. It is like saying to the United States : « Don’t ask for hard facts, just do it, like we did for you. » In 2016, on the same issue, Erdogan said : « If we are strategic partners or model partners, do what is necessary“.
We can extract two things out of this discussion between Fareed Zakaria and Binari Yildirim:
1) That the cleric Fethullah Gulen has possibly nothing more to do with the coup in Turkey than Bin Laden had to do with the 9/11 attacks. But as Gulen strongly opposes Erdogan, he is considered a threat to Turkey’s national interests (or to Erdogan’s chance to stay indifinitely in power?).
Turkey expects the United States to refrain from looking for hard facts of any wrong doings by Gulen and nonetheless send the cleric to Turkey as a sign of goodwill and friendship between the two countries.
2) That friends of the United States don’t seem to ask a lot of questions and proof when it comes to the 9/11 attacks. They go with the flow and expect a return of favors when comes the time…
Fareed quickly changed subject …
For more explanations on the failed coup in Turkey, click on the following link on CNN : Turkey failed coup explainer
About the September 9/11 attacks, you will find several facts presented in a book written by a former well-known french journalist, Éric Reynaud, in the « controversial issues» section of my blog.
“The Psychopath Test” is a very interesting book for those who want to demystify what lies behind the term “psychopath” or “sociopath”. The author also writes about what leads to a medical misdiagnosis of a mental illness in a person. Despite the fact that writing on psychopaths is a serious task, the text is written with a bit of humor and derision, the author often putting forward his own insecurities and neurosis.
Although the book’s main theme is about psychopathy, the spectrum of subjects is quite large and all the stories are interesting, if not surprising. Numerous cases that have made the news throughout the years are brought back to memory, but with new details that allow a deeper understanding.
Jon Ronson’s “The Psychopath Test” Book Cover
Misdiagnosis
It is quite surprising to realize how easy it is to make mistakes in the diagnosis of mental illnesses. There are also several mental illnesses that can be attributed to individuals who do not have a behavior that is considered as strictly “normal” in our society. But since what is standard and acceptable vary throughout the years and societies, it seems obvious that a mental illness can be attributed to a person who is not really sick.
It is quite troubling to realize that mental illnesses will be attributed to children while the particular symptoms of those illnesses are known to become apparent only when a person becomes an adolescent or adult.
Faking madness to avoid prison time is not particularly wise…
The author shows how different personal interpretations by all kinds of “specialists” on the multiple criteria used to diagnose several mental illnesses sometimes result in a person being sent wrongly to a mental institution where she will be heavily medicated for a very long period.
A particularly interesting story is that of a man who faked madness after having committed a violent crime in order to avoid being sent to jail, thinking that he would instead be sent to a psychiatric institution where life is relatively comfortable. He was sent, like he wanted, to a psychiatric institution, but not the one he expected. He spent more than twelve years at Broadmoor, in England, an institution where serial killers and pedophiles are imprisoned.
In his case, the Robert Hare’s list was used. This is a list which is used to determine if a person is a psychopath. His luck turned when the “specialists” considered that he met most of the criteria on the list. He then had to fight for years to prove that he was victim of a wrong interpretation…
Some particularly weird psychotherapy sessions
The author mentions some of the weird experiments that went on to heal patients, experiments that were destined to fail before they even started. For example, the reader learns of psychotherapies where the patients were nude and under LSD influence. Another experiment involved criminals who had to heal each other: they could not stay away and distant from each other as they were taped together, like this serial killer of three children in Toronto who was taped to a car thief…
The negative effects of psychopaths that are highly placed in society
The author tries to verify, using the Robert Hare’s list, if it is true that psychopaths are ruling the world. He admits he partially failed. This seems reasonable since there is about 1% of the population that is composed of psychopaths, and that percentage grows to 3% with politicians and corporate leaders. So, from 3% to 100%, it seems obvious that this was a tall order to start with.
The author quotes one of his sources, Essi Viding, who studies psychopaths: “Psychopaths don’t change. The best you can hope for is that they’ll eventually get too old and lazy to be bothered to offend. And they can seem impressive. Charismatic. People are dazzled. So, yeah, the real trouble starts when one makes it big in mainstream society” (p.60)
Active psychopaths on the stock market can be as dangerous as psychopaths that are serial killers. As Robert Hare writes it: “Serial killers ruin families. Corporate and political and religious psychopaths ruin economies. They ruin societies” (p.112)
“The Psychopath Test” book back cover by author Jon Ronson
The twenty-point Hare PCL-R Checklist to establish if somebody is a psychopath
Here is a summary of the twenty points included in the Robert Hare’s Checklist. If a person scores 30 or more out of 40, she is considered as a psychopath:
1. Glibness/superficial charm 2. Grandiose sense of self-worth 3. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom 4. Pathological lying 5. Conning/manipulative 6. Lack of remorse or guilt 7. Shallow affect 8. Callous/lack of empathy 9. Parasitic lifestyle 10. Poor behavioral controls 11. Promiscuous sexual behavior 12. Early behavior problems 13. Lack of realistic long-term goals 14. Impulsivity 15. Irresponsibility 16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions 17. Many short-term marital relationships 18. Juvenile delinquency 19. Revocation of conditional release 20. Criminal versatility
The twenty-point Hare PCL-R Checklist applied to a candidate of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, during the 2016 American Presidential elections
At the time I am reading “The Psychopath Test”, American television is reporting on a daily basis the whereabouts of the American candidates competing to lead the Republican Party for the 2016 American Presidential elections. Every day, I am hearing reporters and political analysts complain about the behavior (point 10) and irresponsible speeches (point 15) of one of the candidate, Donald Trump.
On several occasions, what that candidate has said has been found to be inexact when verified (point 4). I regularly notice his impulsivity when faced with unforeseen events or contradictions (point 14).
Moreover, he refuses to accept responsibility for his actions or words (point 16), does not seem to regret anything which makes any excuses pretty hard to formulate clearly (point 6). According to several well-known and respected political analysts, his long-term goals as to what he would realize if he was elected President of the United States are not realistic (point 13).
Similarly, his lack of empathy towards millions of American citizens is regularly making the news (point 8). He sometimes refers to himself at the third person, continually putting forward his own self-worth (point 2). I did not spend more time researching other connections with the remaining points in the checklist; I leave it to you. CNN nonetheless took the time, in September 2016, to mention some details on the personal life of Mr Trump and if I believe what is said, then points 11 and 17 would also apply here. Having no experience in psychoanalysis, I used the Robert Hare checklist for fun only and no serious conclusion should be drawn here.
The psychopath Emmanuel (Toto) Constant and Haiti
Talking of American politics, the reader discovers Emmanuel (Toto) Constant and the consequences of his actions for Haiti. He is a mass murderer, psychopath, who was working for the CIA in Haiti. He was released from jail when he implied that he would reveal secrets on the American foreign policy in Haiti. Emmanuel Constant “profoundly altered Haitian society for three years, set it spiraling frantically in the wrong direction, destroying the lives of thousands, tainting hundreds of thousands more.” (p.129)
Reality TV and selected mental illnesses
The author also develops the reality TV theme, where guests face each other and fight aggressively, verbally or even physically. He interviewed a person who was in charge of finding the appropriate guests for each program. He learned that the candidates were chosen according to the type of drugs they were taking to stabilize their mental illness. This is not done without making some mistakes and he learned that a member of a family killed herself because she felt guilty about the way she behaved in preparation for the TV program.
Are you a psychopath?
Are you a psychopath? “If you’re beginning to feel worried that you may be a psychopath, if you recognize some of those traits in yourself, if you’re feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one” (p.114). The psychopath has no emotions about his own situation: he is not sad about it, does not question himself as to his situation no more than is he happy to be classified as a psychopath.
The financial interests of huge pharmaceutical companies
Obviously, huge financial interests are at play when it comes to prescribing medication to millions of patients susceptible to be diagnosed with a specific mental illness: the role and pressure exerted by pharmaceutical companies are rightly raised in the book:” There are obviously a lot of very ill people out there. But there are also people in the middle, getting overlabeled, becoming more than a big splurge of madness in the minds of the people who benefit from it” (p.267)
Some personal comments
On few occasions, the author’s reasoning surprised me. For example, he founds abnormal to take the time to write articles on a blog since there is no pay to be expected. Should I assume that every act of creativity in society has to be done in exchange for money, otherwise it makes no sense? In another chapter where there is a mention of the 9/11 attacks, he writes: “9/11 obviously wasn’t an inside job”. The word “obviously” replaces what should be an appropriate research on the subject since half of the American population still has unanswered questions about those attacks.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, here is quote that, I think, best resumes the author’s thoughts: “There is no evidence that we’ve been placed on this planet to be especially happy or especially normal. And in fact our unhappiness and our strangeness, our anxieties and compulsions, those least fashionable aspects of our personalities, are quite often what lead us to do rather interesting things” (p.271).
“Patrick Cockburn spotted the emergence of ISIS much earlier than anybody else and wrote about it with a depth of understanding that was in a league of its own.” – Press Gazette Journalist of the Year Judges
The book presents a bigger picture of what is happening in the Middle East than what we are normally allowed to watch in the news. The reader is presented with both sides of several stories and this really helps to get a better understanding of the different conflicts.
Cover of Patrick Cockburn’s book “The Rise of Islamic State”
Of lies and limited accuracy of the news
The author shows how lies are easily fabricated on a battlefield. He also explains the limited accuracy of news reports, such as when a “chosen” reporter is travelling, protected by an army or when reporters use second-hand information (often not verified) to prepare their news reports. It also seems pretty hard for a news channel to refuse to air a story when there are doubts about it, especially when all the competitors are reporting the same news.
I am including quotes (in italic) from the book as they provide excellent summaries. Some are from the author himself, others are from the sources he found to write his book. The author addresses so many subjects that it impossible to cover everything in a small review like the present one. So I’ll be as succinct as possible to present the reader with a broad idea of the book’s content.
Fear
Fear is the main factor behind many irrational political decisions. Fear leads to radical policies, religions and propaganda. It is often related to the fact that a very small group of people leading a country, a state or a region think that they can lose the political power that gives them undue privileges over the rest of their population. The greater the advantages, the greater the fear.
The political “solutions”, most of the time irrational, create tensions or aggravate the existing problems and only help to increase instability.
Saudi Arabia was initially helping ISIS because of fear of Jihadists operating within Saudi Arabia and fear of Shia powers abroad. As for Turkey, it is more afraid of the Kurds than it is of ISIS. So for a long period of time, it kept its border with Syria open: it helped ISIS to maintain a rear base.
The author says: “There is something hysterical and exaggerated about Saudi fear of Shia expansionism, since the Shia are powerful only in the handful of countries where they are in the majority or are a strong minority. Of fifty-seven Muslim countries, just four have a Shia majority” (p.102)
The demonization of religions other than Wahhabism
In the case of Saudi Arabia, the demonization of religions other than Wahhabism and the spreading of hate through social media have created a fertile ground for ISIS to grow.
The author says: “[…] The Saudis need a serious attempt to reform their educational system which currently demonizes Shias, Sufis, Christians, Jews and other sects and religions. They need to stop the preaching of hate from so many satellite stations, and not allow a free ride for their preachers of hate on the social media”.(p.107)
“The “Wahhabization” of mainstream Sunni Islam is one of the most dangerous development of our era” (p.108)
Money helps increase the polarization between Sunni and Shia
ISIS could not have risen without the financial help from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Turkey. Since ISIS thrives on tensions between Sunni and Shia, anything that increase that tension will benefit this terrorist group: “There is no doubt that well-financed Wahhabi propaganda has contributed to the deepening and increasingly violent struggle between Sunni and Shia” (p.99)
“A crucial feature in the rise of Wahhabism is the financial and political might of Saudi Arabia. Dr Allawi says that if, for example, a pious Muslim wants to found a seminary in Bangladesh, there are not many places he can obtain £20,000 other than from Saudi Arabia. But if the same person wants to oppose Wahhabism, then he will have “to fight with limited resources”” (p. 108)
“This polarization between the two religious groups was only intensified by the hot and cold war between the US and Russia. Proxies were at play here with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies, backed by the US, facing off against Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, supported by Russia”(p.71)
Back cover of Patrick Cockburn’s book: “The Rise of Islamic State”
Propaganda that made al-Qaeda look stronger and more effective than it actually was, with reference to the 9/11 attacks
There are multiple sections in the book which relate to the September 11th 2001 attacks. Here are some of the author’s observations (in italic). I have also added some personal comments which are clearly identified as such:
The Pearl Harbour moment of the 9/11 attacks
The author says: “The shock of 9/11 provided a Pearl Harbor moment in the US when public revulsion and fear could be manipulated to implement a pre-existing neo-conservative agendaby targeting Saddam Hussein and invading Iraq”(p.100).
Note: the following four paragraphs are my personal comments on the “Pearl Harbor moment”:
A “Pearl Harbor” moment means that in order for the American public to approve an attack in a foreign country, it needed to see something terrible happening in the United States. For example, before the very obvious destruction of war ships at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, the American population refused to be engaged in World War 2.
During the 9/11 attacks and later on, the Pentagon’s eighty cameras have not captured anything close to a Boeing hitting the building. You had to believe that it happened the way the news told you since there were no pictures and no videos of a Boeing close to or in pieces on the Pentagon property.
The Medias showed instead, over and over, the World Trade Center Twin Towers crashing to the ground after being hit by one aircraft, even though the buildings were built to resist multiple impacts, through a “mesh” design, a lesson learned after what happened on the Empire State Building years ago. Some people believed that the buildings crumbled due to the high temperature, but most neglected the FEMA’s report that got out later on stating that the temperature never rose above 300 or 400 degrees in the buildings, hundreds of degrees short from what was needed to melt steel.
The free-falling towers of the World Trade Center were the Pearl Harbor moment needed to instill fear and facilitate the implementation of a pre-existing neo-conservative agenda. The American voters would not have approved a war abroad if the buildings had been standing after a single impact. It’s almost like the world should believe that the World Trade Center was built using the poorest American engineering possible, while not learning from lessons of the past. For more info on this specific subject:
In 2001, al-Qaeda was an “ineffectual” organization
Mr Cockburn is one of very few reporters who is not afraid to present al-Qaeda as it really was in 2001, an emerging organization that was far from being able to mastermind and execute complex attacks such as the 9/11 attacks. (This also explains why, soon after the attacks, international news reports presented a video of Ben Laden denying responsibility for the attacks. A video that was not shown ever again. But millions of people saw it before it was censored by the main news channels).
“At the time of 9/11, al-Qaeda was a small, generally ineffectual organization” (p.59). The term “ineffectual” refers to the inability to produce a desired effect.
The implementation of the neo-conservative agenda
This really means that the pre-existing American neo-conservative agenda could not rely on Al-Qaeda’s experience. Instead, one or more experienced organizations were needed for the financing, planning and execution of the 9/11 attacks. Only after the facts could the blame be put on Al Qaeda since it was, after all the media propaganda, very well-known to the American public. An artificial link was then made with Iraq, allowing for an invasion that sixty percent of the American voters approved.
Sixty percent of the US voters were misled
“The name al-Qaeda has always been applied flexibly when identifying an enemy. In 2003 and 2004 in Iraq, as armed Iraqi opposition to the American and British-led occupation mounted, US officials attributed most attacks to Al-Qaeda, though many were carried out by nationalist and Baathist groups. Propaganda like this helped to persuade nearly 60 percent of US voters prior to the Iraq invasion that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and those responsible for 9/11, despite the absence of any evidence for this. In Iraq itself, indeed throughout the entire Muslim world, these accusations have benefited al-Qaeda by exaggerating its role in the resistance to the US and British occupation” (p. 53).
The fall of Mosul
ISIS needed only 6000 fighters to win the Battle of Mosul. Yet, they were facing one million Iraqi soldiers. How was that possible? The author sees three reasons:
The cooperation from the Iraqi Sunnis, who were sensing that they would be better off with ISIS than the Shias.
Corruption at all levels in the Iraqi army. “As one former minister put it “the Iraqi government is an institutionalized kleptocracy”. Another politician who does not want to be named says “[…] People pay money to get into the army [so they can get a salary] – but they are investors not soldiers” (p.77)
The fact that the Iraqi army was no longer a national army since the well-trained Iraqi Sunni soldiers were sidelined.
Syria: President Bachar Assad was not as weak as expected
Both the outside world and opposition viewed President Assad as far weaker than he actually was. They both thought that he would be defeated without an organized air campaign.
A major oversight on the war in Syria
“A blind spot for the US and other Western powers has been their failure to see that by supporting the armed uprising in Syria, they would inevitably destabilize Iraq and provoke another round of its sectarian civil war” (p.73)
Five different conflicts within Syria
The Syrian conflict is extremely complicated since there are many different political and religious interests at stake: “The Syrian crisis comprises five different conflicts that cross-infect and exacerbate each other. The war commenced with a genuine popular revolt against a brutal and corrupt dictatorship, but it soon became intertwined between the Sunni against the Alawites, and that fed into the Shia-Sunni conflict in the region as a whole, with a standoff between the US, Saudi Arabia and the Sunni states on the one side, and Iran, Iraq and the Lebanese Shia on the other. In addition to this, there is a revived cold war between Moscow and the West, exacerbated by the conflict in Libya and more recently made even worse by the crisis in the Ukraine” (p.94)
In Syria, it is either Assad or ISIS
ISIS is the strongest opposition force in Syria. If Assad falls, ISIS takes his place: “Syrians have to choose between a violent dictatorship, in which the power is monopolized by the presidency and brutish security services, or an opposition that shoots children in the face for minor blasphemy and sends pictures of decapitated soldiers to the parents of their victims.” (p.81)
The God-given victories
“The appeal of the Islamic State to Sunni Muslims in Syria, Iraq, and across the world comes in part from a sense that its victories are God-given and inevitable, so any failure damages its claim to divine support” (p.159)
The solution to the Syrian conflict will come from outside the country
“Many Syrians now see the outcome of their civil war resting largely with the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. In this, they are probably right”.
Side notes
War is never about “combat” only. There is always an underlying political process going on. So, even if a country seems defeated militarily, enormous political efforts will have to be made in order to create a new stable order.
“Conviction that a toxic government is the root of all evil is the public position of most oppositions, but it is dangerous to trust one’s own propaganda”.
“A government or an army can try to maintain secrecy by banning reporters but they will pay the price as the vacuum of news is filled with information supplied by their enemies”.
One of four F-18s over the National War Memorial in Ottawa on October 22nd 2015
During the September 11th 2001 crisis, the Canadian sky belonged, for a short period, to the military. The latter had taken the decision that every aircraft that had not taken-off yet had to stay on the ground, and those which were airborne had to expedite the landing.
There were a few exceptions for medical evacuations, but those flights were tightly monitored. All air traffic services units communicated with aircrafts in flight and agencies on the ground to advise them of the new rules now in place.
Generally speaking, regardless of the initial surprise, all pilots with whom the Transport Canada flight service specialists (FSS) in Quebec City had talked, through their multiple frequencies, offered no resistance.
But I remember the case of a pilot flying a twin-engine aircraft over the Laurentides region to whom the order of landing as soon as possible had been given. He refused to obey since it was out of the question for him to lose money on already booked charter flights, especially on a beautiful day.
The flight service specialists could understand his frustration. Nonetheless, it was not a good time to debate. It was, for all air traffic services units involved, a particularly busy day and nobody had extra time to argue at length about a request.
The message was repeated one more time. In view of his refusal to obey, NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) was contacted. The reply came back quickly and the pilot was given two choices: either he landed or an CF-18 fighter jet would be launched to take care of the situation.
No need to add anything else. The pilot complied immediately.
Islamic State, Daesh and ISIS: three names that represent the same terrorist group
In order to avoid any confusion, the author, Alexandre Adler, immediately makes clear that three names represent the same group: Islamic State, Daesh and ISIS. He explains what the ultimate goal of ISIS is: to establish a Caliphate on the Levant, a territory that spreads from Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and that includes Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Palestine.
The concept of “caliphate” and the reasons behind the desire to re-establish it are explained clearly.
Changes in the balance of power between Sunnis and Shiites
ISIS uses decomposing zones to settle. The group feeds on very high tensions created by increased inequality between two groups: Sunnis and Shiites. The Sunnis, a more conservative religious group, has lost a lot of influence following Saddam Hussein’s death. Today, there is an effort to ensure that the leaders in charge of Iraq take into consideration the interests of both groups.
Radical movements look for dissatisfied people
Sunnis are aware of the increasing strength of the Shiite axis: Beirut, Damascus, under Bachar Assad, Bagdad under Maniki, and Iran, who is inhabited by a vast majority of Shiites. Acting on the new imbalance of powers, ISIS has managed to recruit military officers as well as dissatisfied Sunnis and Arab tribe’s chiefs.
The author insists on the fact that radical movements basically dig in the dissatisfied crowd, the left aside individuals. He gives another example of a situation that is almost certain to create dissatisfaction: colonization.
Dividing a territory without taking into account the human factor
Colonization modifies the balance of power within a population. The author being French, he writes about the way France intervened in Sahara, dividing the territory without taking into account the human factor. As new boundaries were being drawn, the Touareg tribe was suddenly divided in three. This tribe refusing to obey to a new authority, in this case the Malian government, tensions built up and increased with time, since no acceptable compromise could be found.
From Libya, dictator Gaddafi understood that he could take advantage of the situation. He started supporting the Touareg resistance movement. After Gaddafi was killed, the Touareg looked for support by getting closer to jihadists. Progressively, a historically autonomous tribe became a friendly land for jihadists.
Between Al Qaeda and ISIS, Boko Haram chooses ISIS
The author explains that in Nigeria, Boko Haram was born of internal tensions between the north side of the country, which holds the political power, and the south where the population benefits from revenues generated by vast petroleum resources. In 2014, Boko Haram chose to fight along ISIS. Why? ISIS, contrary to Al Qaeda, wants a total war against the Shiites. Boko Haram picked the most radical movement.
Appearance and disappearance of the caliphal power
The caliphal power establishes a theological and political continuity of the State created in 622 by the Prophet in Medina. The author explains the reasons for the multiple appearances and disappearances of that caliphal power since the year 622. The last change was brought in 1923, when Mustapha Kemal abolished the caliphate.
Which religious group represents the real Islam?
Tensions exist between Sunnis and Shiites about the caliphate and the group which really represents the real Islam. This division dates from centuries ago. Shiites consider that Ali, the fourth successor of the Prophet, was victim of a plot at a time when he was attempting to achieve a moral and state straightening of Islam. Shiites consider that they are the real Islam beholders. They have been defending that point of view for centuries, even through Sunnis persecutions against them.
Shiites are against an early reestablishment of the caliphate
The author explains the profound differences of opinion as for the philosophic, theological and political views between both groups. Because of those reasons, Shiites are against an early reestablishment of the caliphate, which leads the most radical Sunnis, and through them ISIS, to lead a total war against them.
The Sunni axis is represented by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, although there is a degree of rivalry between those two countries.
Saudi Arabia’s fear
Saudis fear the birth of a powerful Shiite political movement on their territory. They estimate that there would be a risk to lose the control on oil installations, which constitute the base of Saudi Arabia’s economic wealth. The author writes that Saudis are financing “[my translation] all the anti-Shiites movement in the Arab world, including the Sunni jihad in Iraq”.
The return of Iran
The return of Iran, a Shiite power, on the world stage, adds to an already complex equation. The reader is told that there are natural tensions between Persian Iran and the Arab world. But there is something else: Iran, as well as few other countries in the region, is now supporting more moderate policies: “[my translation] Iran is radically changing its orientation and now prepares his return on the world stage as a more open country, pluralist, supporting a Shiite democracy. Although this is not a perfect democracy, the country is now living its perestroika”.
A fight between extremism and moderation
The adoption of more moderate positions is far from pleasing an extremist political group like ISIS. The 2013 americano-iranian agreement on nuclear talks, and the continued progress made in 2015, corresponds to a net increase in terrorist acts committed by ISIS.
Atrocities against humanity set in an historical context
The Medias constantly report on the atrocities perpetrated by ISIS. According to the author, all that media attention gives a false impression on the real strength of Islamic State: ISIS would now be down to committing those terrible acts against humanity due to its relative weakness.
The author links ISIS actions with war crimes and atrocities perpetrated by other regimes throughout decades. He situates those actions at a time that always corresponds to a last attempt to survive before being completely defeated and replaced by modern and moderate political parties.
A little reserve
The only reserve I have on the book concerns the passage where the author repeats, without nuances and like other well-known Medias, that Ben Laden is responsible for the New York 9/11 attacks. This version of facts has always been strongly debated, the disagreements starting within hours after the attack. And, contrary to popular belief, it was not brought forward only by what we call the “conspirationists”. But everyone knows that the more you repeat something, the more it becomes a reality, an undisputable truth. Noam Chomsky and other renowned authors have covered this aspect at length.
Title: Le Califat du sang Author: Alexandre Adler Edition: Grasset&Fasquelle, 2014. ISBN : 978-2-246-85457-9
11 Septembre – Les vérités cachées (September 11- The hidden thruth)
11— Septembre : les vérités cachées (September 11 – The Hidden Truth)
For those of you who are bilingual, here is an interesting book analyzing the September 2001 events. Two planes went through the Twin Towers. We have seen those images over and over again. A Boeing 757 crashed into the Pentagon. At least, that is what has been reported since 2001. I knew that I would eventually see live footage of the plane hitting the building, and pictures of Boeing 757 parts, like it is always the case with crashes around the world. With tens of cameras surrounding the Pentagon and the nearby buildings, and reporters on site, there were surprisingly neither credible pictures nor videos showing 757 parts. Years went by, and nothing popped up. That raised my curiosity.
I knew that it was in the American government’s interest to show photos or videos of the plane, like it did for the Twin Towers. But with the Pentagon, there was nothing. We could obviously see a small hole in the building, but nothing else. I wanted to learn more about those attacks and, among all the documents and books that I read, there was this book written by Éric Raynaud.
Éric Raynaud is an investigation journalist who has written about important personalities like Ingrid Betancourt, Benazir Bhutto, Pierre Bérégovoy and others. He has worked for twenty years for daily newspapers before becoming an independent journalist. In his book titled “11-Septembre: les vérités cachées”, the author aligns facts, studies and verifiable testimonies that can be confirmed by the reader. He provides, at the bottom of pages, his sources and original references to all the medias. That includes books, interviews, newspaper articles, TV programs, videos and multiple internet sites.
Here are some of the subjects that the reader will find in the book. I can only present them very briefly here:
Pentagon: identification of the parts found on site
The author says that [my translation]:“the Commission of inquiry established that only part of one engine was found, and that it presented, as a proof, a totally inadequate picture”. It was not a part of a 757 engine but something else. A clue is given through a citation from Barbara Honegger (former advisor in political analysis to the United States President, between 1981 and 1983) during an interview [my translation]: “Some parts found in the Pentagon have been identified as compressor pieces that are part of a turbo JT8D engine, used for the A-3 Sky Warrior fighting aircraft […]”.
Pentagon: where is the Boeing 757?
There are many other sources of concern, like the obvious lack of important pieces. Their absence is noted, without any given explanations. Bob Pugh is a reporter with twenty-five years of experience and he is the first reporter to arrive on site, five minutes after the firemen. When he is interviewed by other medias on what he just saw, he declares [my translation]: “I look for significant parts, for the aircraft’s wreck, I do not see anything that I can recognize…I don’t see the tail. I don’t see the wheels. I don’t see the engines. There are no seats…there is no luggage.” The author writes [my translation]: “nothing has been found that would even look a bit like airliner parts”.
Pentagon: no serial numbers, no landing gear, no 757 engines
George Nelson, a Colonel in the US Air Force, has a direct experience as an investigator in aircrafts accidents. He declares that a fire resulting from an airplane crash cannot destroy every significant piece like the landing gear or the engines; neither can it make all the serial numbers disappear. He says [my translation]: “I repeat: this is impossible […]. Any objective and rational investigator would only be able to conclude the following: no Boeing 757 hit the Pentagon, as opposed to the official statement”.
Pentagon: depleted uranium detected on the site where the building was damaged.
Another surprising discovery was made by two scientists, Leuren Moret and Janette Sherman. Leuren Moret spent her career in the nuclear field, working among other places in California in the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory. She says [my translation]: “What happened at the Pentagon appeared highly suspicious to me. That led me to contemplate the use of a missile fueled by depleted uranium, and to make an immediate research with my colleague and great friend, Dr Janette Sherman. Janette went to take radiation measurements using a Geiger counter, a very short time after the crash. From fifteen kilometers, under prevailing winds from the Pentagon, she detected radiations that were eight to ten times higher than normal…” They learned, only four years later, that other experts had also detected similar levels where the Pentagon had been damaged.
WTC7 (building 7): bombs explode in the lower floors.
Numerous witnesses heard powerful explosions in the basements of the two towers (WTC1 and WTC2) and in the building 7 (WTC7), all while the Twin Towers where still standing.
Barry Jennings, the Assistant Director of the Emergency Services Department of New York was trapped in the superior floors of the building 7: he could no longer go down since the lower floors had been blown away. He declares [my translation]: “Once we arrived on the sixth floor, the level supporting the stairs we were about to use had disappeared! There was an explosion and the floor disappeared…the whole level had given in. I found myself there, suspended in the air! I had to climb back to go up to the eight floor…the explosion happened just beneath us…and when it exploded, we were projected backward…and the two buildings [the Twin Towers] where still standing…we were trapped there for hours. I was still there when the towers went down”.
This capital witness died two days before he was scheduled to testify. His testimony would have contradicted the main version. The Commission of inquiry, across its six hundred page report, does not mention the WTC7 name.
Twin Towers: bombs explode in the basements.
William Rodriguez, an employee with twenty years of experience, was at the B1 level of the WTC1 tower. He says that there were six basements, called B1 to B6. There was such a powerful explosion between B2 and B3 that they were lifted off the floor. Soon after, they heard another BOUM and it was the plane arriving in the tower. Many other testimonies, also visible on videos, show the employees and firemen reacting in surprise toward the series of explosions that they were able to hear.
How were the Twin Towers built?
Nine months before the attacks, one of the designers of the towers, Franck Martini, explains how the Twin Tower’s construction was thought through. He knew that there had already been a crash against the Empire State Building during the Second World War. A bomber, lost in fog, had hit the building straight on (a building that stayed up). Now knowing that a passenger jet could mistakenly hit the new towers that would be built, he explains [my translation]: “the steel networks structure is built as “mosquito screen”. A plane colliding with the towers would have the same effect as a pen going through a mosquito screen: the hole stays, but the global structure around it does not change. The Twin Towers (WTC1 and WTC2) are conceived to resist the impact of an airliner, even many…”
And if the architects had planned the possibility of one or more impacts against their new towers, they also knew that once the crash would occur, the fuel would start burning. There is no surprise here.
The steel’s melting point.
Steel melts at 1538 Celsius degrees. According to Thomas Eagar, teacher of material physics at the renowned MIT, a kerosene fire generates temperatures between 870 and 930 degrees. The author declares [my translation]: “In 2008, an engineer who participated in the FEMA inquiry admitted that even their studies could not demonstrate with absolute certainty that the [Twin Towers] fires had generated temperatures higher than 300 or 400 degrees […]”.
The abnormal falling rate of the buildings
The towers went down at free fall speed. Between 9 and 10 seconds, according to observers; this is totally impossible without the use of accelerators. The most pessimist scenario, applied to the “pancake theory” collapse, requires a minimum of 21 seconds… The author writes [my translation]: “Numerous expert calculations hover around thirty to forty seconds”.
Kevin Ryan, from Underwriter Laboratories, a well-known institution in USA, says this [my translation]: “We tested the floor very well, by means of faithfully reconstituted models, in August 2004”. These tests totally refuted the main theory, the “pancake theory”.[…] Months later, the government published an update on its own conclusions, indicating not only the absence of the floors collapsing but also that examinations of the areas touched by fire proved that the temperatures…were very low”.
We are then back to the unexplained free fall. Or even the multiple unexplained free falls. Such gigantic buildings crashing down 1) totally, without leaving major parts standing 2) in a perfectly vertical way and 3) at free fall speed are sure to attract the attention and comments of experts in controlled demolition. On this subject, there are lots of testimonies.
In 2009, a crucial discovery from Danish scientists radically modified the main version.
2009: Niels Harrit and the nanothermite
In 2009, an internationally renowned scientific researcher, Niels Harrit, writes an article in the Open Chemicals Physics Journal. This magazine’s editorial team is composed of one hundred scientists coming from five continents. The article, which is written in collaboration, is titled: “Active Thermitic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe”. They are nine scientists to announce that they have discovered nanothermite, a new and extremely powerful explosive, in the World Trade Center.
[My translation]: “According to what we choose to do with it, it can be an extremely powerful explosive, or it can melt metal at high speed.” Thermite has been known for a long time, but nanothermite is much more recent. The more the mixture is refined, the more it is powerful [my translation]: “ Activated to melt steel, for example, nanothermite will only take a fraction of a second to pass from the ambient temperature to 2500 degrees…steel, itself, melts at a little above 1500 degrees. I let you conclude…” The author finally understands [my translation] “the pockets of molten metal that were found in the Twin Towers debris and in WTC7, that New-York firemen took two months and a half to definitely neutralize”.
We then learn that nanothermite is [my translation] “made under license, to the exclusive use of the army and under the seal of secret defense”. The author refers to an interview given by Niels Harrit where the scientist says that ten tons of nanothermite are needed to cause the fall of the towers. And how is it possible to bring ten tons of that product in a place with such tight security? He writes that the company in charge of the security had forsociety director the President Bush’s brother and as general director the President Bush’s cousin.
The senator Tom Daschle complained several times, and on many different medias, of obstruction problems he was facing from Dick Cheney and from President Bush, that were asking him no to investigate and even to stop the Congress inquiry.
The money allotted to the new 2004 independent Commission of inquiry.
The author notes that in order to understand everything about the sexual scandal involving Bill Clinton, 100 million dollars were spent. In order to know what happened on September 11 2001, the Commission of inquiry was given 3 million dollars. It is only after multiple complaints that this amount was finally reviewed to 14 million. Three thousand American lost their lives in that tragedy but a battle was necessary to get more than three million dollars…
The facts discarded by the independent Commission of inquiry.
The Commission seems to have found an easy way to deal with the most troubling testimonies: when this happens, instead of writing the details in the report and risk raising even more troubling questions, the subject is simply avoided. There is nothing written. So, in 600 pages, there is no mention of WTC7 whose lower floors were destroyed by explosions even before the planes arrived in the towers.
Nothing can be found about the Minister of Transport Norman Mineta’s testimony as to what he saw and heard with regards to Dick Cheney before the attacks. Mineta was nonetheless a direct witness; he was in the room with Cheney. Éric Raynaud cites what Mineta said and it is obvious that if those words would have found their way in the Commission’s report, this would have created a crisis.
There have been multiple testimonies received by the FBI as to the fact that something smaller than a B757 hit the Pentagon. Nothing can be found on those testimonies in the Commission’s report.
On that subject, you can read a Washington Post article dated from August 2, 2006 and signed by Dan Eggen: “9/11 Panel Suspected Deception by Pentagon Allegations Brought to Inspectors General”. Another book written on the subject in 2009, whose author, John Farmer, is a former General Attorney of the New Jersey State, is available: “The Ground Truth: the story behind America’s Defense on 9/11”. He says [my translation]: “The public has been seriously duped with regards to what happened on the morning of the attacks”.
Cases of insider trading
Numerous cases of insider trading were detected, starting September 6th, which is five days before the attacks. They involved “put option” to sell United Airlines, American Airlines, as well as reinsurance giants like Munich Re and AXA and financial companies that would be impacted within a few days like Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, etc. However, enormous amounts of shares were bought on Raytheon, a military armament producer, just before the attacks. There was an inquiry, but no details were released.
The Osama Ben Laden case
The book’s chapter 8 holds surprising details about Osama Ben Laden. This information, that most of us ignored, brings a new light on what is generally known about him. It is said that Ben Laden rapidly denied being involved with the attacks. Normally, an attack is quickly reclaimed with pride by its mastermind. It is not the case here. I remember having seen Ben Laden on the news at the moment where he was saying that he was not behind the 9/11 attacks. Some details are given in the Éric Raynaud’s book as to why Ben Laden was not behind those attacks.
On this subject, the reader might, for example, take note of Bénazir Bhutto’s testimony, the woman coming back to Pakistan with the intention of running her own country once more [my translation]: “Osama Ben Laden has been killed by a former member of the Pakistani secret services, Omar Sheikh”. This link was available on dailymotion.com. The Omar Sheikh name often surfaces when the 9/11 attacks are concerned.
A few weeks after she confessed what she knew about this delicate subject to Al Jazeera in 2007, Bhutto herself was killed. She was not the only one to have publicly spoken on that subject. A former very high ranking CIA manager, David Baer, also confirms to Persian CNN, in 2009, that [my translation]: “ Ben Laden died many years ago, and videos and sound recordings that are episodically broadcasted are obviously false…” (www.persiancnn.com).
This book reports that the Dalle Molle Artificial Perceptual Intelligence Swiss Institute studied the messages supposedly recorded and sent to medias by Ben Laden throughout the years. The result [my translation]: “None of the recordings provided by the CIA or Al Jazeera correspond to the real voice of Ben Laden”.
United 93
Few pages are dedicated to the United 93 flight, which in itself was an issue that has given rise to many comments. We read about visual witnesses who see an aircraft explode in flight. The official story is also presented, which says that the aircraft crashed in a field. [My translation]: “The big, the huge problem, is that the rescuers, firemen, witnesses, and even the Shanksville mayor, who arrived quite rapidly on the site, effectively found a crater, but…absolutely empty”.
I’ve been interested in aviation all my life. Wanting to understand as soon as possible what had just happened, I had rapidly watched the live news and videos released by the media. At the time, it was not yet a question of conspiracy. News reports were live and journalists were doing their best to describe the scene. It was quite something to see a nearby farmer, who had rapidly gained access to the site. He was certainly anticipating, like everybody, to find many dead people here and there around the site. But he was talking to the camera and saying that there was nobody. He did not understand how it was possible.
It was also something to hear that reporter, on board a news helicopter, trying to describe what he was…not seeing. The helicopter’s camera was pointing to the site where the crash supposedly happened. All the viewers could see the scene at the same time as the reporter. But there was almost nothing to comment about. We could not see anything that would look like something we are used to see when there is a crash. And God knows we’ve seen a lot throughout the years. The reporter was unsure, he was improvising to kill time.
Conclusion
Through all the quotations and references offered in the book, among which some of David Ray Griffin, the author wants the reader to understand the following facts: in order to maintain its global domination, the United States needed to control the vast oil reserves of Central Asia. In 2001, there was a meeting between American and Taliban representatives. The Americans wanted to build an oil pipeline and needed the consent of the Taliban. This project having been refused by the Taliban, the latter were advised that a war would be started against them in October 2001. But a war lead by USA in a foreign country needed the strong support of the American population. In order to gain that kind of support, many neoconservatives like Zbigniew Brzezinski and Philip Zelikow had underlined, over different decades, that a new “Pearl Harbor” would be necessary.
What I understand of the book is that an attack without a very strong visual impact would not mobilize the American population and ensure that the latter would support a war in a foreign territory. Airplanes crashing in the Twin Towers, but more importantly the towers crumbling down would constitute this new “Pearl Harbor”. The freefalling towers would be played and replayed by all the media, reinforcing the desired impact.
But there had to be a certainty that the towers would both completely come down to reach that visual impact. The majority of viewers would certainly not notice that the buildings were all freefalling.
But there was nonetheless a major obstacle: the towers had been built in such a way that many airliners could hit them without destroying them totally, due to the “moustiquaire” design. Added help was required. And this is why there are so many testimonies, from firemen and workers that were present in the buildings, of multiple explosions in the buildings, down to the basements, and this just before the planes hit the buildings. Nobody expected the 2009 discovery of nanothermite in the Twin Towers ashes made by Niels Harrit and his team of scientists. This nanothermite created molten steel. It transformed steel into a metal softer than butter.
To suggest that Ben Laden was still alive, even though his death had been announced by many political personalities and intelligence sources, led the American public to concentrate their attention on a number one public enemy. There was no more moral dilemma to authorize military attacks in Afghanistan, supposedly to kill the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. The promised war against the Taliban was now a reality. They did not support an oil pipeline controlled by the Americans and they paid the price for a while.
The reader has to decide what to make of that information. As a controversial subject, I could not find a better one. If you want to look deeper into the subject, there are many books available. Other than Éric Raynaud’s book, published in French, there is no doubt that David Ray Griffin’s analysis and research, initially published in English, might surprise you. The title is: 9/11 Contradictions – An Open Letter to Congress and the Press (ISBN: 978-1-56656-716-9). There are also many documentaries on the subject, among which the well-known video, available on You Tube: 2014 New Loose Change 3rd Edition.
September-11 attacks are the only event in which it is not acceptable to be curious. Here, there is only black and white. You are either on the government side, or you are an advocate of conspiracy theories. Like Bush would put it: “You are either with us, or against us”.
