Caitlin Johnstone’s post today – Aging Iraq Invaders Keep Accidentally Saying ‘Iraq’ Instead Of ‘Ukraine’– includes this
Asked on Wednesday whether the short-lived Prigozhin rebellion was a sign that Putin was weakening, Biden replied, “It’s hard to tell really. But he’s clearly losing the war in Iraq.”
I’ll be posting soon on the Prigozhin incident. For her part Caitlin passes over the unremarkable fact that the propaganda blitz on Ukraine is no less intense over who has the upper hand than it is over who provoked and is doing all it can to ensure Wall Street’s war on Russia is fought to the last Ukrainian. Instead she zeroes in on that confusion – understandable given Sleepy Joe’s senility, and the fact it’s not easy keeping up to speed on US carnage thousands of miles from its borders – over geographic location.
Except that the confusion isn’t one of geography, but a Freudian slip of the kind the servants of empire – gear turners for genocide – have form on.
Caitlin continues:
During the 2020 presidential race, Current Affairs’ Nathan J Robinson wrote the following about Biden’s pivotal role in manufacturing support for the Iraq invasion:
In 2003, Biden was “a senator bullish about the push to war [in Iraq] who helped sell the Bush administration’s pitch to the American public,” who “voted for — and helped advance — the Bush agenda.” He was the war’s “most crucial” senate supporter. Biden repeated the myth that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, saying that “these weapons must be dislodged from Saddam Hussein, or Saddam Hussein must be dislodged from power.” The resulting war was one of the most deadly catastrophes in the history of U.S. foreign policy — the Iraqi death toll was in the hundreds of thousands or possibly even the millions, and 4,500 American troops died.
That Biden’s decomposing brain would find the word “Iraq” when reaching for the word which means “nation that has been illegally invaded by an evil government” is positively Freudian.
In May last year during a speech in Dallas, George W Bush made a similar Freudian confession, saying, “The result is an absence of checks and balances in Russia, and the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of Ukraine.”
After correcting himself with a nervous chuckle, Bush broke the tension with the words, “Iraq too. Anyway.” He then quipped that he is 75 years old, leaning harder on his “Aw shucks gee willikers I’m such a goofball” persona than he ever has in his entire life.
I defy you to find me anything that is more quintessentially representative of the state of the US empire than these two clips …
Two decaying empire managers fumbling around in their skulls for the name of a nation that’s been invaded by murderous thugs, and coming up with the name of the nation they themselves invaded. It’s truly a thing of beauty.
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In terms of Western gaffes remember wet lettuce premier Liz Truss who in a tense meeting with Lavrov in Moscow asserted that UK did not recognise Russian sovereignty over Russian regions of Voronezh and Rostov. She allegedly confused these border regions with Ukraine but nonetheless Prigozhin’s mutiny must have been like the culmination of a wet dream (or a progenitor of MI6) especially when Western MSM reported that the Russian mercenaries took over the cities of Rostov on Don and Voronezh. Again a puppets gaffe to the embarrassment of the puppeteer!
Yes, I do recall that one Rick. I wonder what Sergey Lavrov, a man of vast experience and gravitas, made of the upstart featherweight’s comment!
The thought occurs that perhaps the Josep Borrell approach to the concept of geography is The Official Narrative on such matters?
This – bit – is – the – Garden.
And – this – bit – is – the – Jungle.
If Dave’s comment went over your head, here’s some context …
Hi all. It’s been a while. Hope you’re all well.
To me it’s simple (excuse the pun) with Biden: he got his wars mixed up because he’s senile. He called his wife his sister or his sister his wife or whatever. He called Obama President My Boss because he couldn’t remember his name, when Obama was still in the White House.
Dubya made the gaffe about Ukraine/Iraq but then brazenly said “Iraq too” ie illegal invasion, while laughing at his own joke, because he’s a psychopath who doesn’t give a shit about a single death he’s responsible for, plus as a huge added bonus for him he got off scot free, and he knows we know he’s a war criminal who got away with his massive crimes against humanity along with Sir Tony fucking Blair.
As you obviously know, most Western premiers of recent decades are unindicted war criminals.
Apart from the impunity which they enjoy, I’m troubled at the prospects of who’ll write the history of these times long after we’re all gone.
With the Mccarthyite and Orwellian times we’re living through now, where truth is lies and lies are truth, aided by the disturbing and increasing levels of censorship, what will “history” look like in 100 years or more? If the planet isn’t destroyed by climate catastrophe or nuclear holocaust.
Take care x
That’s a big IF in your closing sentence, Margaret
Bear with me, nearly done. You’ve probably seen the hard to describe spectacle of George W Bush pretending to search for WMD in the oval office with that insane smirk on his face he always has. Which the White House press corp laughed along with.
And Biden gets handed cards with simple instructions like “walk in room and sit down”. Staggering.
Another Caitlin post that’s super helpful is this one. She never flinches from the darkest truths, but always embraces the incredible, the unbelievable positivity of life. It’s best read in full – ber posts are always short and have the simplicity of genius – but I’ll offer this abridged extract anyway: