PRESIDENT PUTIN AND THE TWO-MINUTE HATE

"The horrible thing about the Two Minutes Hate was not that one was obliged to act a part, but, on the contrary, that it was impossible to avoid joining in. Within thirty seconds any pretence was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge-hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against one's will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic."

(Extract from 1984 by George Orwell.)

And how funny it is to contemplate that this is precisely what has been going on for months.  The US government and its kept media is turning the populace into drooling animals craving for the head of Vladimir Putin, a man who has been standing in the way of the Empire's designs of late.  The more this goes on the more fascinating and ridiculous it becomes.

It does serve as a valuable lesson on how a sleeping populace can be stampeded into a war by propaganda.

Pepe Escobar has his own insights into this and it is to him in his fine article that I express my thanks for reminding me of Orwell's quote above.

But we can sit back and watch this stage-managed operation of demonizing Putin - on no evidence whatsoever - as the triumph of lies over logic.  What troubles this writer, deeply, is the fact that far too many Catholics who should know better are swallowing this bait hook, line and sinker.  Blog after blog joins in the two minute hate ritual directed at Putin without bothering to use their heads - or even their simple logic.  They seem to believe that the same government which pushes abortion and sodomy down our throats suddenly becomes credible when international politics are in the discussion.

Speaking of rituals we are not going to perform the usual ritual of beginning a discussion of Putin by mouthing such cliches as "although Mr Putin can hardly be called a democratic leader",: etc, etc, etc.  No.  We are going to say that because thus far he has proven himself to be one of the few politicians in power with a sense of nobility and right purpose.  Name another current leader who can even come close to him in integrity.  I hope there are one or two others but it is hard to come up with a name just at this moment.

For a fascinating perspective on what all this vindictiveness might lead to we recommend the following piece:

http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/86415/wests-reckless-rush-towards-war-russia

A quote:

Here now in July 2014, there is a rush towards war similar to those that proceeded Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. Important questions are not being asked by the media, our once again missing-in-action fourth estate, and unsubstantiated and unverified political talking points are simply being reprinted as facts.

But this time the war fervor is being directed at a nuclear powerhouse, not a derelict Middle East country. And the stakes could hardly be higher. For Europe, even if things don't progress much further than they already have, economic damage (we don't know how much yet, or how much worse it may get) has already been done to its fragile recovery. The people of Europe really ought to be asking what exactly they're hoping to achieve by attempting to box Putin into a corner.