--More on the German Greens
I suppose I should be pleased that my article on the transformation of the German Greens into Atlanticist war mongers was carried five or six times yesterday on Salon.
The reason for this multiple posting was the attack on me which Edward Hughes attached to the article with respect to a question that has nothing whatever to do with the given article on German Greens: namely how many Global South countries supported the US-sponsored resolutions in the UN General Assembly condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Obviously the vote tallies are of great significance to Hughes, who takes his cue from the State Department. Yes, the chaps at State are very efficient up to now in shepherding leaders from the Third World or Developing Countries aka the Global South into voting the American way. No matter that the most crude forms of blackmail are said to be deployed in this effort. These can be at the national level in terms of cut-off of U.S. aid. Or at the personal level, such as threatening this or that head of state or prime minister with ejection of a son or daughter from a US university where they are studying. But the methods of persuasion are another spitting contest I do not want to engage in with Mr Hughes.
I confess that I paid little attention to how each country voted in these UN resolutions because the net result of the votes on Russia was nil. It was primarily the G7 countries which imposed trade and other sanctions on Russia, not the Global South.
Here I have to say thanks to Krishen Mehta who came to my rescue in the Salon debate with very relevant statistics on what the UN voting meant in terms of global population and global GNP. He also presented links to articles published by the Wilson Center that proved his points. Unlike myself, Professor Mehta has devoted time and attention to analyzing the numbers in the votes. He is by nature and professional background numbers minded and this mindset is backed up by his decades of work in top positions at a world leading accountancy firm.Horses for courses. Obviously Professor Mehta was the better horse for the race track Hughes presented. Meanwhile I am running on a different race track, where I think I have a lead position based on my nature and professional background. The article I published on the German Greens was exemplary in this regard, and so I am pleased it got six-fold attention in Salon even if that was so for the wrong reasons.
Unlike all readers who have identified themselves so far by the Comments function on my sites or by direct email to me, I was present in the halls of power, meaning the European Parliament, as an invited observer at conferences by and for MEPs during the course of more than five years starting in 2012, which I identify as a turning point year for the Greens to unleash anti-Russian rhetoric and resolutions in the European Institutions at Brussels headquarters. I was in the audience when the showing of a documentary film exposing the fraud underlying William Browder’s Magnitsky Act campaign in the USA and then in Europe was cancelled at the last minute under pressure from the loudmouth German Greens MEP Rebecca Harms and others from the party.
I welcome criticism of what I write from my readers at the several internet platforms where I publish. Our internet age and self-publishing do not allow for the function of editor or fact checker and speed of publishing can trump accuracy. The version of my article which appeared on Salon has since been corrected to take into account some valid and useful pointers from readers. One, for example, is deletion of the mention of “Rudy the Red” with regard to Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Another improvement which was suggested by readers was mention of 1999 as a decisive year in the “coming out” of the German Greens as NATO-Atlanticist directed, with abandonment of their original pacifist leanings. That was the time when Joschka Fischer gave the blessing of the Greens to the NATO bombardment of Serbia. You will find these and several other improvements or corrections if you go back again and click on the link to my article now.
I mention these details because they demonstrate my openness to well-intentioned criticism. I am in fact delighted with the side discussions I have with readers who write in, since they are often better informed than I am on this or that aspect of the subject of the day, due to their specific training and life experience. Such correspondence makes the exercise of writing educational in two directions.Gilbert Doctorow
Salon mailing list
Salon@listserve.com
https://mlm2.listserve.net/mailman/listinfo/salon