Today I had the rare opportunity to watch the music channels on TV, and so I flicked over to Kerrang. The first thing I noticed (after the shocking lack of new music in the past 5 years) was the presence of British Army recruitment ads in the commercial break. It’s extremely naive of me, but I did half-expect alternative music to be somewhat suggestive of anti-war sentiments. (But then again, how alternative can a channel be when its parent company also owns most of the available pop stations?)

The second thing was Metallica’s new video The Day that Never Comes, which ostensibly features US soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan (or maybe Pakistan?).

Immediately I was reminded of this Guardian news piece about US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay (and other sites?) playing certain songs, repeatedly and at deafening volumes, as a form of torture. That Guardian article does a good job of explaining why ‘torture’ is the appropriate word here. Now, one of those songs was Metallica’s Enter Sandman. Did they object? Well, allow me to quote the band’s vocalist James Hetfield:

“If the Iraqis aren’t used to freedom, then I’m glad to be part of their exposure”

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So what are the US special forces up to this week? I’ll give you three guesses. No, go on! What’s that, you say? Killing civilians and causing needless destruction again? Well I don’t know how you did that, but godamnit, you’re right. Have a cookie – or a prozac, whichever gets you through the day.

Yep, democracy is on the rampage again but this time in Pakistan. The ‘smart bombs’ are officially confused. This story first came to my attention way back into The Guardian (in print last Thursday), I believe it was around p. 22. So it’s there if you want to find it (funny how the news works isn’t it?).

Since then, more updates have arrived on The Guardian online to a grand total of four as far as I can tell. We know that it was bound to happen soon, but I will admit I was mildly surprised. It’s being reported as an accidental spill-over from the Taliban hunting festivities in Afghanistan, reports are varied on what actually took place. Speaking generally, it seems as though between 7 -20 civilians were killed in their homes via several helicopters and heavily armed commandos.

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Diego Garcia is a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. These days, it is known as a ‘British Overseas Territory’, though before this it was less euphemistically called a colony. The island has been under British control for over 200 years, having being conceded by France at the end of the Napoleonic Wars. French-owned slaves from West Africa first inhabited the island in the 18th century, developing their own idiosyncratic language and culture, and calling themselves the Ilois (‘islanders’).

But, only a few decades ago, the islanders’ way of life came to an end, following a clandestine political agreement which still influences events today.

In the early 1960s, American officials decided they needed a military base (‘communications facility’) in this strategically important area. Originally they had planned on using the uninhabited Aldabra Atoll, but environmental groups successfully lobbied for the protection of the rare tortoises living there. Plan B was Diego Garcia, which they intended to lease from Harold Wilson’s Labour government as part of a joint military venture.

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Yesterday – Friday, August 22nd – a coaliton airstrike took place in the Herat province of Afghanistan. That is what we do know. And then the fun guessing game begins. You see, once again depending on who you ask, something wildly different actually happened.

Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry is claiming that 76 civilians were killed when the airstrike took place yesterday afternoon (19 women, 7 men, 50 children). Conversely, US forces claim that they took out roughly 25-30 terrorists and Taliban members that had been planning to attack US bases. It’s good to see them really going for this pre-emptive strike thing, isn’t it? (Remember when they did that and managed to wipe out everybody at an entire wedding reception?). Yeah, fighting the good fight for freedom. But I digress – the military is also claiming that the strike occurred in the early hours of the morning and that there were no further attacks that day. Oh yeah, and there were no civilian casualties. Reuters must be full of bullshit, right?

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Today I stumbled across several news stories which sound more like science fiction than fact. (Now there’s an interesting subject – why do we keep fulfilling sci-fi prophecies?) Anyway, onwards with the dystopian scaremongering….

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(Left: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev)

So it seems that the French have brokered a deal between the two countries. For a while there it was looking like it might fall flat on it’s face; Medvedev claimed he would only sign once Saakashvili had. Russian troops are remaining in S.Ossetia for the time being.

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• Russia could strike Poland over U.S. shield (Reuters). See yesterday’s post for more on the missile-hosting agreement Poland signed up to on Thursday.

From what I gather, Col-General Anatoliy Nogovitsyn (who is Russian deputy-chief general of staff), gave an interview in which he stated that under current Russian military doctrine, an attack on Poland would be possible. This doctrine was re-worked in 2000, apparently to allow for a broader spectrum in which nuclear attacks would be acceptable. I will allow Nogovitsyn to further clarify the rationale:

“The USA is engaged in an anti-missile defense for its own government, and not for Poland. And Poland, in deploying (elements of the system) opens itself to a military strike. That is 100 percent[...] It is written clearly: We will use it in instances against governments that have nuclear weapons; against allies of countries with nuclear weapons, if they somehow enable them.”

Sounds a whole lot familiar to me. The US, and even our own country have used this rhetoric again and again – you just need to switch some of the words out for ‘those who harbour terrorists’ / ‘those who hinder freedom’ / ‘those who hate our great country and our allies’.  But of course, when the shoe is on the other foot, Russians are “evil [...] 21st century barbarians.” (Saakashvili)

Above: Polish Foreign Minister, Radoslaw Sikorski.

Reuters:

“The United States has shown that Russia is the true target of its planned missile defense shield by signing a deal with Poland during an international crisis over Georgia, Russia’s NATO envoy told Reuters on Friday.

Poland agreed on Thursday to host elements of a U.S. global anti-missile system after Washington agreed to boost Poland’s own air defenses.

“The fact that this was signed in a period of very difficult crisis in the relations between Russia and the United States over the situation in Georgia shows that, of course, the missile defense system will be deployed not against Iran but against the strategic potential of Russia,” Dmitry Rogozin said in a telephone interview.”

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“Before I say anything else, I just want to say that I was running from Georgian troops bombing our city. Not Russian troops. I want to say thank you to the Russian troops that were helping us out.” – Amanda Kokoeva

Just stumbled across this gem from Fox News, broadcast yesterday. It’s reminiscent of so many other occasions on which Fox has deliberately cut footage to guests in order to prevent alternate discourses from receiving airtime.

A girl who happened to be visiting relatives in S.Ossetia at the time violence broke out along with her aunt, whose house was burnt down as a result of the fighting, talk openly on Fox News about placing the blame at the feet of the Georgian government.

Incidentally, if you would like to learn more about how Fox manipulates its’ audience please watch the excellent documentary, Outfoxed (available online at that link) and visit Brave New Films or subscribe to their YouTube channel.

Source: BBC

“US defence chief Robert Gates has said he sees no prospect of using US military force in Georgia, following its week-long conflict with Russia.

But he warned that US-Russia relations could be adversely affected for years as a result of Moscow’s actions.

His words came as Russia’s foreign minister said Georgia would not regain control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia at the heart of the row.

Meanwhile, Russia has begun handing back the town of Gori to the Georgians.

However, a Russian general in the area said Moscow’s troops would remain nearby for several days to remove weaponry and help restore law and order in Gori, which lies some 15km (10 miles) from South Ossetia.”

The story has also just been picked up here, from which I quote:

“He sees no need to invoke American military force in the war between Russia and Georgia and that U.S.-Russian relations could suffer for years if Moscow doesn’t retreat. The White House said it was ignoring Russian “bluster” about Georgia never regaining disputed border regions.”

Myself, I find it difficult to envisage a more strained relationship between the two. Russian oil production and the rising economy vs. the struggling US economy and peak oil theory has most likely played a big part in fostering what residual hostility was already there. Oh, and the Nationalism. Assuming the references to ‘a new cold war’ that have been rampant in the news over the past 24 hours are just hyperbole (let’s hope).

I do wonder where it’s going to go from here.

Over the past few days, the news media has been full of quotes such as these:

‘The US stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists the territorial sovereignty of Georgia be respected’ – George Bush

The obvious implication is that South Ossetia is a part of Georgia, and the situation is framed as a simple invasion of a smaller country (Georgia) by a much larger one (Russia). And this neatly ties in with Bush’s decision to send ‘humanitarian aid’, (in the form of military forces), to heroically support the little guy. (Never mind the 1000 American troops in Georgia recently for training, or the American funding and equipping of the Georgian military since 2002).

But, as Russian deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov said on BBC’s hardtalk:

“We recognise the sovereignty and independence of Georgia … But territorial integrity, it’s just another matter. South Ossetia and Abkhazia never were part of Georgia as an independent country”.

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Source: Georgiandaily.com

Details can be found here of a joint military training programme known as ‘Immediate Response 2008′, which took place at the Vaziani military base in Georgia only a couple of weeks ago. It involved 1000 US soldiers.

There’s been little to no mention of this in the mainstream coverage of the recent conflict. Searches for Immediate Response 2008 on the BBC website come up blank, as too on ITN news, Sky etc. Most news organisations don’t even seem to return any hits for the Vaziani base. (Though there is this Guardian article from 2002, which refers to US plans to set up a ‘terrorism school’ [sic] at the base. I can only assume they meant ‘anti-terrorism school’, though maybe it was a Freudian slip).

So was there a media blackout? Well, on the morning of July 15, the day the initiative began, Reuters covered it, even being so explicit as to use the term ‘wargames’.

U.S. troops start training exercise in Georgia (Reuters, July 15 2008)

The Associated Press carried it too, on the same day. Maybe we’re a bit strange here at One More Promethean, but we just thought that information might be relevant to understanding current affairs. We could be wrong.

I really am having a hard time finding any mentions of this minor detail in any of the recent news coverage (I’m mainly going on the BBC website here,  but it seems the same goes for ITV, Sky and the rest). The Georgian military bases are just called ‘Georgian military bases’, and the Georgian army is apparently just the ‘Georgian army’. And who’d believe that Georgia would dare attack Russia?

Maybe Joe Public already knows all about the Krtsanisi US military base right next to Tbilisi, but you’d think it’d be worth a quick mention anyway. Y’know, just as a refresher course in any of the Georgian geopolitics we might have missed in school.

Still, at least there’s not a conspiracy to delete the BBC News archives:-

US role in Georgia alarms Russia – BBC  (Feb 2002)

US army trainers land in Georgia – BBC (May 2002)

US army steps up Georgian training – BBC (Sept 2002)

US military will stay in Georgia - BBC (Jan 2004)

See? It even forms an understandable narrative and everything. Shocking.

But that’s not relevant to coverage of a Russia/Georgia conflict, is it? What is worth referring to are such delicious George Bush quotes as…

“Russia’s government must respect Georgia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”. (source: BBC)

We’ll just ignore the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, then. Oh, and how’s this for hypocrisy…

“[Russia] threatens a democratic government elected by its people. Such an action is unacceptable in the 21st century”. (source: Guardian)

I guess this hinges on your particular definition of ‘democratic’, but I don’t think the Bush administration is an authority on the matter. In any case, President Chavez and President Ahmadinejad might take issue with Bush’s position.

I’ll not pretend to know anything much about this situation – I don’t. The point is, however, that the mainstream news is not really helping to alleviate my ignorance.

After what seems like a brief break from all the juicy blogging action (which now dawns on me as almost 3 months!), we return again to bring you some more trials and tribulations of being vigilant.

Without much further ado, I have been reading all across the blogosphere lately of LaVena Johnson’s case – there is a petition doing the rounds which I have already signed and implore you to do the same. Via Shakesville, where the story has been consistently followed:

“She was LaVena Johnson, private first class, and she died near Balad, Iraq, on July 19, 2005, just eight days shy of her twentieth birthday. She was the first woman soldier from Missouri to die while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The tragedy of her story begins there.

An Army representative initially told LaVena’s father, Dr. John Johnson, that his daughter died of “died of self-inflicted, noncombat injuries,” but initially added that it was not a suicide. The subsequent Army investigation reversed this finding and declared LaVena’s death a suicide, a finding refuted by the soldier’s family. In an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dr. Johnson pointed to indications that his daughter had endured a physical struggle before she died – two loose front teeth, a “busted lip” that had to be reconstructed by the funeral home – suggesting that “someone might have punched her in the mouth.”

Aside from the aforementioned injuries, a brief reading around will bring up allegations of rape cover-ups and the theft of money that Johnson may have been carrying on her person at the time. On top of this, it appeared that her murderer(s) had attempted to destroy evidence on her body with iirc, acid. Yes, that definitely sounds like suicide, doesn’t it?

Please also see the transcript/listen to the Democracy Now! interview with her parents,  Dr. John Johnson and Linda Johnson.

Well, I had to give HAARP (High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) a mention. If you haven’t heard of this, ask yourself why, since potential (mis)uses of it include missile defense, affecting climate change, disrupting communication systems, altering human biorhythms and even repairing the hole in the ozone layer. (Although, maybe the latter is a bit optimistic for a U.S. military program in the hands of British Aerospace.

Video: Dr. Nick Begich – Angels Still Don’t Play this HAARP

Also, it’s powered by Alaskan oil which has been untapped for decades. Could that possibly be connected to rising fuel prices and the war in Iraq? Hmm.

RE: Alaskan oil, this video has been doing the rounds.
Video: Lindsey Williams – The Energy Non-Crisis