Part 1 Government by the Media

Government of the politicians, by the media, for the rich

*This got longer than I expected. So following suggestions from some readers, I cut it into two parts – this one today – Part Two, tomorrow.

What is Democracy?

The Western—or “mainstream” media— a phrase that always reminds me of urinary tests— will have us believe that Russia is not a "democracy".

Which raises the question of what Western “mainstream” scribblers define as "democracy.” Obviously different from secondary flow Substack dribblers. It seems that every country in the world calls itself a “democracy” even when their governments are not representative of the public will. The word has lost its meaning.

Voting

As a Canadian I can vote if I apply to Elections Canada, send them proof of citizenship and am able to receive a ballot and a bunch of other stuff and send it back in time. A little complicated but possible.

This privilege was not available until recently. So, I guess I should be happy at now being enfranchised.

The trouble is that in Canada we have four parties. They are all factions of each other.

The differences are in style: but the core content is the same. Justin Trudeau has good hair; Jagmeet Singh has a pink turban. Ever wonder why the Canadian parliament has so many unanimous votes, honoring Nazi war criminals and so on?

When you vote, you are voting for rubber MPs in a rubberstamp government.

Government of the people. by the people, for the people?

More like:

Governments of the politicians, by the media, for the rich

In Canada being an MP is one of the best jobs you can get, with all sorts of benefits before and after.

It's a great job in the US too. And hugely lucrative. Almost every member of Congress is a millionaire.

That said, the Canadian electoral system is simple compared to the US one with its constant controversy over voting machines, voting lists, and in 2020 the brouhaha over mail-in ballot which resulted in the January 6 unauthorized tour of the capital, which Joseph Biden called an “insurrection”.

No, not that kind of insurrection!

This kind…

Photo-ops can get you 20 years in prison, longer than Navalny in Russia.

Which brings us to the recent Russian election – which went exceptionally smoothly, despite attempts at disruption. Some were carried out by local anti-Putin people who were charged with vandalism rather than insurrection. No 20-year prison terms.

An interesting aspect of this is that many of these people said they had been paid to vandalize election booths, apparently by unknown foreign entities.

Telegram reports say the West spent as much is $20 billion, a sum which no doubt included terrorist attacks on Russia by the Ukraine and others. There also reports of cyber hacking attempts (3.5 million!) to interfere with early online voting. It is difficult to find corroboration for these things of course – but where there's smoke there's probably a forest fire.

One gets the impression that the West really hates democracy. Russia's new online voting system just mentioned is a major step forward since it makes it easy for people to vote anywhere in Russia, streamlines the counting process, reduces cost, and is much easier to validate and verify than mail-in ballots.

It's transparent and absolutely objective, not like in the US with mail-in voting... you can buy a vote for $10. (Vladimir Putin)

Think of all the trouble the US could've avoided if it had implemented something like this before 2020. 467 people would not have gone to jail, adding to America's list of political prisoners, and making “active dissent” a crime.

But Western governments are not really interested in governments "of the people. by the people, for the people". They are not interested in people at all.

As I said, governments of the politicians, by the media, for the rich. As I said, most American politicians are millionaires ….

“Just sayin’”

Thank you Alex Mercouris….

“Anyway”…

In the US, you have the choice of just two candidates, from just two parties that are, as in Canada and now the UK, essentially factions of one another, with voting opinion influenced, if not directed by massive amounts of cash from what FDR called "Organized Money" which has various agendas – as we can see in the case of AIPAC and Zionist billionaires whose agendas now include genocide agendas. The Republicans and Democrats make great efforts to make sure that other parties cannot compete – even get on the ballot.

God told Moses, “Thou shalt not split the vote!”

Russian dictatorship

Okay… Western Liberals – who are Conservatives with different makeup – say: “so, Western democracies have a few problems – they are still democracies – unlike Russia which is a totalitarian, fascist, communist dictatorship – and don’t have LGBTQ+ pride events.

Western response had accordingly been prepared long before – maybe 10 years before— the recent Russian election .

"The results were unsurprising. The elections were obviously not free nor fair given how Mr. Putin has imprisoned political opponents and prevented others from running against him."(NHK)

This verdict is repeated in almost identical language in all of the American Soviet’s satellite countries, not just Japan, with the media elaborating on the Official Narrative.

CNN, for example, referred to Russia’s “stage-managed election”. LOL. I googled out phrase and got 40,500 hits. All about Russia.

Media Groupthink?

Or just Circle Jerk?

CNN. In case you wondered what that stands for it stands for –it’s “CircleJerk —Not News”.

I looked for phrases other than “stage-managed election” which might be relevant to elections in countries like the US.“Media-managed elections”? That got 5 hits.

“Billionaire-managed elections”? Also, a US thing. Zero hits.

Politico opined:

Vladimir Putin tightened his grip on power, claiming another six-year term as Russian president after a brutally distorted election in which all serious challengers were wiped out before voting began.

I googled “Putin tightens his group on power”. 1420 hits. An additional 240 hits using “tightened”.

“Wiped out”? As in put up against a wall and shot. I tried the phrase “Putin’s brutal”. 242,000 hits.

Is this what “manufacturing consent” means?

In psychology. It's called the Illusory Truth Effect, which may be generated through the natural evolution of cultural beliefs – or through education – or by means of media narratives.

Simply put: lies repeated become social truisms.

The Navalny Show—Cui Bono

Of course, the media ranted about Navalny who was about to be traded for Russian in prison in Germany.

A poster boy for illusory truth.

Navalny was originally convicted of fraud and embezzlement—twice, with suspended sentences Then violation of parole. Then, contempt of court. Finally, extremism charges.

He was not just “thrown” in prison. The legal process was long and complicated with appeals and upper courts actually overturning lower courts’ judgments – at times in his favor. In fact, the judicial process that he faced was in many respects fairer than the one that Donald Trump faces in the US— and much more so than the one that Julian Assange has been subjected to.

Wikileaks has since published cables which show he as funded by the CIA through NED. And there is no doubt the man was a racist and extremist whether actually guilty of all the crimes he was accused of.

In addition, it may be said that he ever had much popular support in Russia— and now is now generally regarded as a traitor, betraying his country when it is under attack.

Russian law on extremism and promoting extremism is very clear. He could have, had he wanted to, expressed his opinions without breaking the law. As you will see in Part Two. Others have done that. He chose not to.

"Stage-managed"? What stage? Whose management?

In any case, Navalny was never a political prisoner like Julian Assange or Leonard Peltier or the Cuban Five or Alex Saab or so many others. These are all people I can respect.

But why consecrate a run-of-the-mill jerk as the new Jesus?

In such cases, one must always ask "Cui Bono". The US narrative, of course. Our new Bible.

That's the thing – the Navalny you read about in the Western press is not the real Navalny – but a fictitious character based on a real person — one of many such creations of imagination.

The Nemtsov Story

In regards to Putin's election, the BBC wrote:

The Kremlin has removed any possible challenger from the political landscape. Opponents have either been jailed, or they have fled into exile, or they have lost their lives.

“Lost their lives”?

That presumably applies to this guy who was murdered in 2015 by a Chechen hit squad.

You may notice Boris Nemtsov’s passing resemblance to Navalny….

You may notice Boris Nemtsov’s passing resemblance to Navalny…. The resemblance is not only physical, it is political – insofar as they are both pro Ukrainian, Western-supported, and virulently anti-Putin. The apparent similarity is also one might say theatrical to the extent that the media represents both as heroes.  Kind of like Marvel heroes – different costumes and personalities but heroes all the same.

Blame Central casting. 

More about that tomorrow in Government by the Media Part Two of which will start with Nemtsov.

To be continued

Notes

Coffee buyers

Yes, Part Two of the special article is on the way.

I had to pause briefly to write this two part article on Putin's election, which actually dovetails nicely with the two part special article, which, when it is finished should provide some extra context.

Everyone on the list for Part One, will get Part Two automatically. If are not on the list and you buy me a coffee now before I finish Part Two, you'll get both parts since they are a pair.

Just click on the link here or on the photo of my old friend below.

Zoo Friends

This is a baby seagull.

Seagulls are very smart, very social, and quite trainable although they don't make good pets since, as you probably have noticed, they like large communities of other seagulls to ugly hairless creatures who can't fly. At the zoo, we had a baby seagull. At the time I had a mop of curly hair, which the baby decided was her nest. So, I went around doing my work – literally bird-brained!

By the way, seagulls don't housetrain,