The Left - The Party of Warmongers - are back.

The "War On Terror" Comes Home

By Ron Paul

[mises.org]

Last week’s massive social media purges—starting with President Trump’s permanent ban from Twitter and other outlets—was shocking and chilling, particularly to those of us who value free expression and the free exchange of ideas. The justifications given for the silencing of wide swaths of public opinion made no sense and the process was anything but transparent. Nowhere in President Trump’s two “offending” Tweets, for example, was a call for violence expressed explicitly or implicitly. It was a classic example of sentence first, verdict later.

Many Americans viewed this assault on social media accounts as a liberal or Democrat attack on conservatives and Republicans, but they are missing the point. The narrowing of allowable opinion in the virtual public square is no conspiracy against conservatives. As progressives like Glenn Greenwald have pointed out, this is a wider assault on any opinion that veers from the acceptable parameters of the mainstream elite, which is made up of both Democrats and Republicans.

Yes, this is partly an attempt to erase the Trump movement from the pages of history, but it is also an attempt to silence any criticism of the emerging political consensus in the coming Biden era that may come from progressive or antiwar circles.

After all, a look at Biden’s incoming “experts” shows that they will be the same failed neoconservative interventionists who gave us weekly kill lists, endless drone attacks and coups overseas, and even US government killing of American citizens abroad. Progressives who complain about this “back to the future” foreign policy are also sure to find their voices silenced.

Those who continue to argue that the social media companies are purely private ventures acting independent of US government interests are ignoring reality. The corporatist merger of “private” US social media companies with US government foreign policy goals has a long history and is deeply steeped in the hyperinterventionism of the Obama/Biden era. “Big Tech” long ago partnered with the Obama/Biden/Clinton State Department to lend their tools to US “soft power” goals overseas. Whether it was ongoing regime change attempts against Iran, the 2009 coup in Honduras, the disastrous US-led coup in Ukraine, “Arab Spring,” the destruction of Syria and Libya, and so many more, the big US tech firms were happy to partner up with the State Department and US intelligence to provide the tools to empower those the US wanted to seize power and to silence those out of favor.

In short, US government elites have been partnering with “Big Tech” overseas for years to decide who has the right to speak and who must be silenced. What has changed now is that this deployment of “soft power” in the service of Washington’s hard power has come home to roost.

So what is to be done? Even pro–free speech alternative social media outlets are under attack from the Big Tech/government Leviathan. There are no easy solutions. But we must think back to the dissidents in the era of Soviet tyranny. They had no internet. They had no social media. They had no ability to communicate with thousands and millions of like-minded freedom lovers. Yet they used incredible creativity in the face of incredible adversity to continue pushing their ideas. Because no army—not even Big Tech partnered with Big Government—can stop an idea whose time has come. And Liberty is that idea. We must move forward with creativity and confidence!

Also Ron Paul was blocked from Facebook -

Ron Paul baffled at being censored by Facebook: I am 'non-interventionist' and preach 'nonviolence'

'Sometimes if you tell the truth, it is a threat to people,' ex-lawmaker tells 'Your World'

[www.foxnews.com]

Biden is getting credit for pulling all the troops out of Afghanistan, but what's 'the real story' ...

No, Joe Biden is not “ending the war” in Afghanistan.

The media is all abuzz with the US “drawdown”, but does that really mean the war is over?

[off-guardian.org]

But is all this messaging accurate? Is the fighting really over? Did Biden just end a war?

No. Absolutely not. And the official channels are being more than clear about that.

The US acting Air Force Secretary John Roth has already said they have the “Over the Horizon” plan, a 10 billion dollar scheme to fly drone strikes over Afghanistan from airbases in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.

On Tuesday, in a press briefing, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby was asked how the US might assist Afghan National Security Defense Forces in the future, he responded:

the way you’ve seen it being conducted in the past – through airstrikes.

Airstrikes and drone strikes will carry on, the White House and Pentagon have been completely up-front on that (The Institute for Public Accuracy has done great work collating all the quotes.)

So, the “war is over”, but the United States will continue to drop bombs on Afghanistan as and when it feels like it (each and every one of those bombs is an individual war crime, by the way).

It is not going to be limited to bombs either, more evidence of how the war in Afghanistan will continue is available right here in the pages of USA Today, which ran a story headlined: “Here’s how we can save Afghanistan from ruin even as we withdraw American troops”, and suggests:

new ways to sustain several thousand Western contractors in or near Afghanistan are needed

“New ways to sustain contractors”, loosely translated, means “more money and weapons for mercenaries”.

For those who don’t know, “contractors” is almost always media speak for “mercenaries”. And “contractors” in Afghanistan have been in the news a fair amount the last few months.

In May, when the “drawdown” was allegedly beginning, NY Magazine reported:

The US Is Leaving Afghanistan? Tell That to the Contractors. American firms capitalize on the withdrawal, moving in with hundreds of new jobs.

Going on to point out [emphasis added]:

Contractors are a force both the US and Afghan governments have become reliant on, and contracts in the country are big business for the U.S. Since 2002, the Pentagon has spent $107.9 billion on contracted services in Afghanistan, according to a Bloomberg Government analysis. The Department of Defense currently employs more than 16,000 contractors in Afghanistan, of whom 6,147 are U.S. citizens — more than double the remaining US troops.

So, even before the “drawdown”, there were more mercenaries in Afghanistan than actual troops. And they’re not leaving.

Even back in December, it was already rumoured that Blackwater “could replace US soldiers in Afghanistan”.

In short, there WILL be US and NATO ground forces in Afghanistan. They’ll just be there as “civilian contractors” or “military advisors”. Western troops will go over in a “private capacity” working for Blackwater or some other mercenary company which also happens to get contracts from the State Department or the CIA.

So the Warmongers are getting bent out of shape because Biden is withdrawing all the troops from Afghanistan. However, as I said above:

Quote

But is all this messaging accurate? Is the fighting really over? Did Biden just end a war?

No. Absolutely not. And the official channels are being more than clear about that.

The US acting Air Force Secretary John Roth has already said they have the “Over the Horizon” plan, a 10 billion dollar scheme to fly drone strikes over Afghanistan from airbases in Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE.

On Tuesday, in a press briefing, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby was asked how the US might assist Afghan National Security Defense Forces in the future, he responded:

the way you’ve seen it being conducted in the past – through airstrikes.

Airstrikes and drone strikes will carry on, the White House and Pentagon have been completely up-front on that (The Institute for Public Accuracy has done great work collating all the quotes.)

So, the “war is over”, but the United States will continue to drop bombs on Afghanistan as and when it feels like it (each and every one of those bombs is an individual war crime, by the way).

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On July 27, 2021:

US increases airstrikes to help Afghan forces fight Taliban

[thehill.com]

The U.S. military this week has stepped up airstrikes to help Afghan forces in their fight against the Taliban, the Pentagon confirmed Tuesday.

“A number of strikes have occurred over the last several days from both manned and unmanned strike platforms,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Robert Lodewick told The Hill in a statement. No additional details were given.

The strikes follow last week’s two airstrikes against the Taliban targeting captured equipment. The steady stream of strikes has taken place as the militant group has taken over large swaths of Afghanistan since the U.S. military began its withdrawal.

During a visit to Kabul on Sunday, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) head Gen. Frank McKenzie also said the U.S. military had increased airstrikes in support of Afghan forces over the last several days.

“We're prepared to continue this heightened level of support in the coming weeks if the Taliban continue their attacks,” McKenzie, who oversees the U.S. military withdrawal, told reporters following a meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

He added that the U.S. would continue to provide “contract logistics support both here in Kabul and over the horizon in the region, funding for them, intelligence sharing, and advising and assisting through security consultations at the strategic level."

The U.S. troop withdrawal is more than 95 percent finished, according to CENTCOM's latest assessment of the pullout released Tuesday.

The Pentagon still must decide whether it will continue to bolster Afghan government forces with airstrikes after the U.S. military finishes its withdrawal, set for Aug. 31 by Biden administration officials.

McKenzie on Sunday declined to commit to ending airstrikes against the Taliban by the end-of-August deadline.

“For the days and weeks ahead, we will continue with our airstrikes in support of our Afghan partners, and that’s all I’ll be able to give you,” he said.

On 8/7/21:

JUST IN - U.S. sends in B-52 bombers and Spectre gunships in a desperate bid to stop the advance of the Taliban on three key cities in Afghanistan, urges American citizens to immediately leave the country.

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So just because all the troops will be out of Afghanistan at the end of August, doesn't mean the Democrat Warmongers won't be doing their usual killing of citizens.