Stephen Lendman

He was elected on promises to end America's involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, he escalated conflict, maintained a permanent state of direct and proxy wars, and began bombing Iraq for spurious reasons.

For the third time since January 1991, America is at war with Iraq. It's ongoing lawlessly. No nation may attack another except in self-defense. None may do so without Security Council authorization. None exists.

Obama is a war criminal multiple times over. Bombing Iraq adds another crime to his rap sheet. Reasons given don't wash. US involvement has nothing to do with humanitarian intervention or responsibility to protect.

It has everything to do with protecting the interests of ExxonMobil and Chevron operations. It's about Washington wanting unchallenged regional control. It's about making the world safe for war profiteers. It's to benefit their bottom line priorities. It's about stoking fear deceptively. It's about suppressing truth and full disclosure. It's about using ISIL (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) aka ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) as both enemy and ally in different conflict theaters. It's about carving up whole continents for profits and dominance. It's about imperialism's dark side. It's about pillaging nations for profit. It's about disenfranchising populations. It's about turning workers into serfs. It's about prioritizing capital's divine right. It's about profiteering as a be-all-and-end-all. It has nothing to do with external or internal threats.

It not about protecting religious minorities and preventing slaughter as New York Times editors claim. On August 7, they lied saying "it became impossible for the United States and other civilized nations to ignore" a looming humanitarian disaster. Air-dropping modest amounts of food and water is a ploy to enlist public support for naked US aggression against a country posing no threat to America. "Mr. Obama made a wise policy call," claim Times editors. He "showed proper caution." He's "keeping his commitment not to reintroduce American ground troops."

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Paul Craig Roberts

Are Western propagandists fooling anyone but themselves?

The latest absurdity coming out of Ukraine, the EU and Washington is that the humanitarian aid that Russia and the Red Cross are trucking into the former Russian territories that comprise eastern Ukraine is a trick, a deception, a pretext for Russia’s invasion forces. Such a preposterous lie tells us that Western propagandists have no respect whatsoever for the intelligence of Western peoples.

Even a moron should understand that if Russia wants to send military forces into Ukraine, Russia doesn’t need any pretext, much less a joint humanitarian venture with the Red Cross. The eastern Ukraine, following Crimea’s lead, has already voted both independence from Kiev and in favor of rejoining Russia. If Russia needed an excuse, the decisions by the eastern Ukrainians made months ago suffice. But Russia needs no excuse to rescue Russians from being slaughtered by Washington’s stooges like Palestinians in Gaza.

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