by Jerry Alatalo
Former Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, founder of U.S. Justice Party, and its 2012 candidate for President of the United States Rocky Anderson gave an astonishing interview recently on “SophieCo” at RT. The astonishing thing about the interview was Mr. Anderson’s complete truthfulness throughout the discussion, leading one to ask: “how did it come to the point where one becomes astonished at hearing someone speak the truth?”
Nowadays, the fact of the matter is that more often than not people watching TV are not astonished or moved when listening to the talking heads on their big screens, making one wonder why the situation hadn’t become reversed a long time ago. Many who pass this way and read these words have a good grasp of the reasons truth is too rare on television, yet finding an interview such as this offers some hope that perhaps good changes are in the air.
One of the aspects of Mr. Anderson’s interview that’s also remarkable is that he’s interviewed on RT (Russia Today), the state-run network which was the topic discussed during recent hearings in the United States Congress, where deep concerns were discussed about countering RT and Russian “propaganda”. This writer was unfamiliar with the views of Mr. Anderson until watching this interview, but it seems safe to say the former Mayor of Salt Lake City and 2012 presidential candidate doesn’t come across as a “godless communist”, traitor to the U.S., or in any observable way calling for Russia’s “takeover of the world”.
For those who get their news of world events from Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and similar corporate media groups, ask yourself to name the last time you saw a mayor or former mayor of a major Russian city interviewed on any of those outlets. Ask yourself why it’s such a rare occurrence (if at all) that leaders of nations around the world – especially now with the Syria crisis, Vladimir Putin – appear for long interviews on any of those outlets.
Wouldn’t prime time hours devoted to discussion and debate on current events among journalists from, say, Fox News and RT, CNN and CCTV, or ABC and teleSUR lead to a better understanding between Americans, Russians, Chinese and Latin Americans, plus clarify facts surrounding important, stressful situations around the world such as those now present in Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, Libya, the South China Sea, and elsewhere?
The answer to that question is obvious: of course such joint media efforts would increase understanding between the people of the world, and very likely would increase the peace. The producers from the various nations could agree to call the program “World Peace Talks”. Yet, sadly, such creative media collaborations have never occurred, and one has to think deeply about why such a potentially powerful, possibly world-changing tool has not been taken “out of the toolbox” and used. All that’s needed is a Skype connection – for media technical wizards, literally a piece of cake.
Returning to the astonishingly straightforward interview of Rocky Anderson, one receives a greater sense about why media organizations from nations around the Earth haven’t collaborated on programs devoted to analyzing major events. Certain media owners have agendas in which investigative journalism – discovery of facts, reporting the truth surrounding vital situations around the planet – is not included. Such as Fox News…:
(Thank you to Brave New Films at YouTube)
Mr. Anderson advocates for the United States working with Russia to bring a peaceful resolution to the devastating five-year war and humanitarian crisis in Syria.
“We have common cause with Russia in defeating ISIS”.
Talking about members of the U.S. Congress opposed to U.S./Russia coordination to defeat ISIS, Rocky Anderson said: “Those people are more concerned about their own political futures and interests than they are about doing the right thing, and we all know that if we are able to align with Russia, and coordinate our efforts against ISIS, we stand a whole lot better chance – in fact, I think it’d be a virtual certainty that we could defeat ISIS in Syria, and in the long run, perhaps find common cause in finding a solution in terms of what’s happening between the President of Syria and the other opposition that the United States has supported”.
“I think working with others with whom we have common cause is the only way we’re going to solve those problems. The United States went into Iraq on a pack of lies from the Bush Administration. It was incredibly destructive to everybody concerned, and we need to recognize that, and stop alienating the Muslim world. We need to stop creating more hatred and hostility with the drone attacks that are not only killing so many civilians with those indiscriminate attacks, but we’re also seeing the destruction, for instance, of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan”.
“That can’t help but create more hatred and hostility for generations to come. So, it’s a very unwise policy for the United States to continue going it alone. We need to join with those who could be our allies, like Iran was our ally in the early days in Afghanistan after 9/11. And what happened? President Bush gave his speech identifying Iran as part of the “axis of evil” and he destroyed this great relationship we’d been building up with Iran, and the very positive effects of working with them in our early efforts in Afghanistan. We should never look at those who we can work with as our enemies. We need to build alliances wherever we can”.
After mentioning U.S. military coups which overthrew democratically elected leaders in Iran (1953) and Guatemala (1954), he noted: “We’ve got to be honest about these things. We’ve got more , the… history of most of civilization has been that those with the most power and wealth have dominated those… and stole the resources from those who didn’t have the power. It’s absolutely so clear that in the long run that’s very self-defeating in this world, and we need to be focusing more on building peaceful relationships”.
The host asked Rocky Anderson what American “exceptionalism” and being the world’s strongest military means for the world’s security today.
“Obviously, it has created a much more dangerous world. The people in the United States are less secure, we’re less safe than we were before the Iraq War – and I think the Iraq War was a product of the neocons, those people who signed off on the “Project for a New American Century”, where the entire plan was premised on the idea that the United States needs to dominate militarily and economically throughout the world. And of course the Middle East was the first place that was in the neocons’ target, and they persuaded President Bush to go into Iraq when there was absolutely no cause for concern, and, even in the words of then Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security advisor Condoleeza Rice, before 9/11 they said Saddam Hussein had not built up his weapons of mass destruction, didn’t even pose a danger with conventional weapons to his neighbors”.
“All of this has created a much more dangerous situation, and it needs to be turned around, with more effort focused on peaceful relationships rather than ripping off people’s resources”.
The host then asked about the “human cost”…
“In the long run, we know that looking out for others, when we’re looking out for the interest of people in other nations, our world’s going to be more safe and secure. But if the thrust is to benefit multinational corporations, it makes for a very dangerous world”.
Mr. Anderson clearly makes the point that U.S. foreign policy needs to change because of the enormous, tragic cost, ever since 2003 and the Iraq War, paid by millions of innocent people in the Middle East, and he includes the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Syria, Libya and other war-ravaged lands to Europe.
The interview then turned to the race for President in the United States, where Mr. Anderson noted that Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, former and current Secretaries of State, both voted to authorize the Bush Administration’s Iraq War. He noted that they “didn’t do their homework” before voting by ignoring intelligence reports that provided evidence showing Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. He also shared with RT’s host and its viewers the disturbing fact that Hillary Clinton received $400,000 for two speeches from the Wall Street giant Goldman-Sachs, Barack Obama’s largest contributions came from Wall Street, and that financial deregulation legislation signed into law by President Bill Clinton led to the world financial crisis of 2007-8.
In recent campaign speeches, Hillary Clinton has said she’d start “jailing bankers” upon becoming President.
Rocky Anderson believes Americans have become fed up with the duopoly of Republican and Democratic politicians who have sold them out to Wall Street banks, multinational corporations, and the 158 wealthiest families in America who control them. He notes that those 158 families have spent $176 million so far on the presidential race, with most of the money going to Republican candidates. From his perspective, Americans are ready for major political change, mentioning that Bernie Sanders is surging past Hillary Clinton in polls and “can win the Democratic nomination”. While Americans are looking for presidential candidates outside the duopoly, the corporate media downplays the chances for Bernie Sanders and outright ignores the probable Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein.
If Green Party candidate Jill Stein’s lawsuit/legal fight for inclusion in the presidential debates succeeds, Americans in the not-too-distant future might find Ms. Stein, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders on their big screen TVs – each presenting, explaining and attempting to prove the wisdom of choosing his/her plans for improving the country.
Those debates will represent a truly historic moment for America.
Finally, Rocky Anderson believes whistleblower Edward Snowden would not get fair legal treatment in America, that Mr. Snowden is a hero for “putting it all on the line” to inform the American people, that statues of him should become erected across the country, and compared him to Daniel Ellsberg, the man who released the Pentagon Papers. Mr. Anderson finds it very ironic that Americans under surveillance have come to experience what in the past was negatively ascribed to Russia’s intelligence branch the KGB.
Judge for yourself. “Propaganda” or truth?…
(Thank you to RT Shows on YouTube)
THE ONENESS of HUMANITY 