Edward Curtin: False Flag Operations Will Start New War

Geopolitics & Empire · Edward Curtin: False Flag Operations Will Start New War #075 Professor of Sociology Edward Curtin discusses the attempts by the US, Britain, NATO and Israel to create false pretexts for an invasion of Syria and war with Russia. He discusses how the Deep State has concocted RussiaGate and how media and propaganda make it difficult to tell fact from fiction. Transcript G&E Podcast: We are speaking with Professor Edward Curtin, who teaches sociology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. He has been writing on the precarious situation the world finds itself in, regarding the potential for a new world war emanating from the Middle East. Professor Curtin, you've been writing about the American Empire on your website edwardcurtin.com. Could you tell us a bit about where you're coming from, what prompted you to write on these issues and how you view the American empire? Edward Curtin: Thank you for having me. Yes, I'd be glad to tell you why I write on these things and what my motivation is. It goes back a long time to when I was actually in college, and after the next few years after college. I had the good fortune to have a wonderful college teacher by the name of Bill Frain, who introduced me to, actually one book I remember in particular, it was about a German, a peasant fellow, named Franz Jägerstätter, who defied Hitler and refused to serve in the armed forces in Germany, and was subsequently beheaded. He did this against the advice from his family, from the Catholic Church, from all the authorities. And it really inspired me. [spoiler] And then subsequently I was in the Marines and was introduced to father Daniel Berrigan, a famous anti-war priest who became a mentor to me. I became a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, and so since that time, I've been disturbed by the American empire, which has a long history, which goes back to the founding of this country and what they call manifest destiny, in which Native peoples were slaughtered and people were brought into slavery from Africa. And then over the years, I've been addressing these issues and the American empire has, of course subsequent to World War Two and the formation of the Central Intelligence Agency, taken on a new form and spread further around the world. And it seems to be everywhere these days, trying to conquer nations, instigate and start wars. And so I was very disturbed from a young age by all of this. And I suppose you could say it was my conscience that disturbed me. It has gotten me very mad and ashamed of this country. And so that is why I write about it. G&E Podcast: Did you start your blog not too long ago? Edward Curtin: Yes, I started the blog to post what I write, probably a couple of years ago, at the instigation of my daughter and son-in-law, because they felt that my writing should have one place for it. But I've been writing about these things for a long time. Many of my works were never published by the mainstream press because they were too critical of the establishment and this goes back many years. But with the introduction of the internet and many good alternative websites, my voice has gotten out there more. G&E Podcast: And one of the pieces that became recently very popular and was reposted around the internet and independent news sites and alternative media sites was The Wars to End All War, and in there you discuss how the U.S. and Israel are looking for pretext to start a proper war in Syria, which would spread into Lebanon, Iran and perhaps beyond. Most of America's wars have been based on lies. Some of the most famous are Vietnam's Gulf of Tonkin. Non-incidents, Iraq's non-existent WMDs. At this moment, Russia and Syria are being accused using chemical weapons, when we know they were, a few years ago, they were handed over to the West and gotten rid of, so there are none. We also know that the U.S. supported Jihadis in Syria are the actual culprits and the Russian military has recently openly stated this, and finally, the evidence in the London attack against this double agent Sergei Skripal, continues to support this line. There's no evidence and Britain and the U.S. are just shouting at the top of their lungs and it sounds again like the Iraq, Vietnam, and so on. So how can they keep on getting away with this and can you comment on this? Edward Curtin: I think it all is what John Pilger, the eminent journalist calls a carefully constructed drama, and this drama has been going on a long time. And there have been so many false flag attacks, the list is so long, it goes way back in history. But I would add to what you said, I think perhaps before I get to this recent case of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, one of the most important, if not the most important is the attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the subsequent linked anthrax attacks, which have been documented and analyzed astutely by Graham McQueen, who's a Canadian researcher and writer and who also just wrote a tremendous piece about manufactured war triggers. And I think the Skripal case, sometimes it just makes me laugh, it's so absurd, but because it's so serious, you want to cry. It's just patent propaganda. And where it's leading is in a very dangerous place because there's a massive propaganda campaign to blame Russia, not only for that, but it seems for everything else in the world. I think there's growing evidence that in Syria or in Lebanon, the Russians will be blamed, together with the Syrians, for some kind of gas attack, sarin attack, chemical attack, without any evidence, and this will lead to a greatly expanded Middle East war. G&E Podcast: On this podcast, Geopolitics and Empire, we try to look at things objectively, everybody's biased and we have our own perspectives, but I try not to look at it ideologically. And no one's really a good guy here, we're not trying to say the Russians are good guys, necessarily, because I taught a course at university on 9/11 and terrorism. I was actually asked to teach on that and we looked at everything and you mentioned 9/11, that it looks like a military intelligence operation with elements of the United States government. Anyone who seriously analyzes that. And in 1999, in Moscow, in Russia, there were a series of apartment bombings and there's American academics who have published on this, where the evidence shows that likely too was a state-sponsored terrorist operation. So we're not trying to say that this is something that every state does in history, but in this moment in time what's going on is very serious, and in this moment in time, in this context, Russia just seems to be minding their own business, and if you can just comment on Russia Gate, because to me, Russia Gate looks all concocted. Again, there's no evidence and it seems to be either to start a war or to distract the American public or for some other reasons, there hasn't been evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump and people like Ray McGovern and the veteran intelligence professionals for sanity, WikiLeaks, Kim Dotcom and all these other experts have explained, there was we're no election hacks. What are your thoughts on the whole Russia Gate and making Russia out to be a monster? Edward Curtin: Let me say this, I agree with you about the apartment bombing in Moscow in '99, and none of these countries are innocent little children. We're talking about major states, whether it's Russia or the United States, but in recent days, as you said, Russia has been minding their own business. The Russia Gate affair is again, in Pilger's words, another carefully constructed drama. I believe it was conjured up when Trump, probably as a surprise to him as well, was elected president. Actually, it started before then, and I would call it a plot, a conspiracy, to make sure that if Trump somehow was elected, the Russian connection would be the reason to use to undermine his presidency. And as I wrote a year ago, used the deep state forces to undermine him as best they could. And I think we know now that the Steele dossier, which was paid for by the Hillary Clinton team and the Democratic National Committee was very instrumental in that. And that the FBI, the Obama administration were all involved in this, including the people in the news these days, Comey, McCabe, Mueller, etc. It's simply a false story. G&E Podcast: Looking at the media, one final question that I wanted to ask about the media, which for me, this is very interesting and I'd like to hear what you have to say on this, on the coverage of this, it seems if I'm not mistaken that the right-wing media at least on Russia Gate, seems to have gotten it right, while the mainstream media and left-wing publications have been getting it wrong, except for a few. But you mentioned in your article, what amazes me, are certain publications such as WhoWhatWhy and I'd like to say that I have great respect for Russ Baker. We've interviewed him a couple times and I like the work that WhoWhatWhy does, I've donated to them, but I can't understand ... he buys into the Russia Gate issue and I can't understand how some organizations get things that I think are obvious wrong, and my sense is that individuals or media outlets subject themselves completely to their ideology. If you're right-wing or left-wing, you will find any justification to support, to go against your enemies. Like if your left-wing, Trump, Republican, right-wing, Putin and Russia are your enemy, so you will use any ammunition you can even if it's not true. I think we need to be more nuanced and follow the evidence where it leads, regardless whether if we are right or left. So what's your take on these media organizations that get some things right and then some obvious things wrong? Edward Curtin: I agree with you, some of my writing is published on conservative websites as well as far left, anti-empire websites, which I'm proud of.