This photo is by Bellboy in Insaneskinarts in Sinapore. The reason I’m posting it is I’d like to raise the following subject for discussion — it’s very common in North America to see communist paraphenalia (the Hammer and Sickle, Stalin and Lenin, and so on) in the backgrounds of photos and no one really bats an eye at it. These days I’m seeing more and more Nazi paraphenalia from South America and Asia, which as far as I can tell is not strongly associated with neo-Nazism.
Each type of image of course represents an ideology that resulted in the needless genocidal deaths of millions of people, yet one tends to generate a knee jerk reaction and the other does not — I’ve gotten many taken-down requests over this photo, but effectively none over pro-Stalinist imagery for example. I assume it all boils down to cultural context?
Comments
180 responses to “Nazi Fetishism”
**NEWS FLASH**
Hilter LOST the war.
Why support losers?
Get your union jacks/flags up!!!!
**NEWS FLASH**
Hilter LOST the war.
Why support losers?
Get your union jacks/flags up!!!!
I think there is no need to discuss all the negative sides this flag stands for.
I think the problem is to accept and spread the sign as something completely acceptable. Others who may be ignorant or not well informed will be accepting toward this sign. I don´t think that it is good to show the sign as something harmless.
That really reminds me of a lot of older people here in Germany. “Hitler may have done a few negative things, but he brought us the autobahn.” They still don´t seem/want to understand that these “few negative things” meant the killing of millions of people. I think that it is stupid and ignorant and I have the feeling that the belittlement of nazi-signs (showing and having) will worsen this ignorance.
I think there is no need to discuss all the negative sides this flag stands for.
I think the problem is to accept and spread the sign as something completely acceptable. Others who may be ignorant or not well informed will be accepting toward this sign. I don´t think that it is good to show the sign as something harmless.
That really reminds me of a lot of older people here in Germany. “Hitler may have done a few negative things, but he brought us the autobahn.” They still don´t seem/want to understand that these “few negative things” meant the killing of millions of people. I think that it is stupid and ignorant and I have the feeling that the belittlement of nazi-signs (showing and having) will worsen this ignorance.
@44: i have noticed it, but hoped that it may stand for other things which i am not aware of.
and the tattoo shown above is great.
BTW: when i see pics of people with this sign i also assume that they share the ideas of the nazis.
@44: i have noticed it, but hoped that it may stand for other things which i am not aware of.
and the tattoo shown above is great.
BTW: when i see pics of people with this sign i also assume that they share the ideas of the nazis.
I remember when Prince Harry wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party…
My my, the contreversy that caused…
I remember when Prince Harry wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party…
My my, the contreversy that caused…
Nevertheless, the swastika, as it’s portraied there, is one of the best looking symbols of all time, according to me. Too bad it was used for that shit, otherwise it would be on my body.
Nevertheless, the swastika, as it’s portraied there, is one of the best looking symbols of all time, according to me. Too bad it was used for that shit, otherwise it would be on my body.
I’ll admit to not reading all of this debate, but i want to comment as someone who studies subculture in asia (Japan), most of the kids I’ve met with swastikas and nazi paraphernalia really have no fucking idea what it means. They see their heroes wearing it or Vivienne Westwood makes a design out of it and they buy it because it looks cool.
Otherwise, the Stalin idea I think is a bad comparison. Compare it more to the dipshit hipsters in America with Chairman Mao kitsch who have no idea what he did to China and you have a better idea.
Naturally, there’s the other end of the spectrum too, where people do know what it and wear and collect it in connection with satanism. But most of the kids you see with it are just really ignorant of that kind of history. And when you confront them on it they really don’t see what the big fuss is between wearing a nazi uniform, a japanese uniform or an american uniform as in their eyes it all promotes the same violence.
It’s distinctly cultural context and I wish people would understand that before they got on soapboxes and ranted on how sick this sort of thing is.
Slightly off the subject, I’ll point out some of these people do use evil dictators and nationalists as forms of political satire and resistance. I’ve got nothing for the nazi’s (sadly most of that is purely fetish here), but there was the infamous punk band the Stalin and in recent years there’s been the extreme rightwing comic Torihada Minoru who definately has a nazi vibe about him.
I’ll admit to not reading all of this debate, but i want to comment as someone who studies subculture in asia (Japan), most of the kids I’ve met with swastikas and nazi paraphernalia really have no fucking idea what it means. They see their heroes wearing it or Vivienne Westwood makes a design out of it and they buy it because it looks cool.
Otherwise, the Stalin idea I think is a bad comparison. Compare it more to the dipshit hipsters in America with Chairman Mao kitsch who have no idea what he did to China and you have a better idea.
Naturally, there’s the other end of the spectrum too, where people do know what it and wear and collect it in connection with satanism. But most of the kids you see with it are just really ignorant of that kind of history. And when you confront them on it they really don’t see what the big fuss is between wearing a nazi uniform, a japanese uniform or an american uniform as in their eyes it all promotes the same violence.
It’s distinctly cultural context and I wish people would understand that before they got on soapboxes and ranted on how sick this sort of thing is.
Slightly off the subject, I’ll point out some of these people do use evil dictators and nationalists as forms of political satire and resistance. I’ve got nothing for the nazi’s (sadly most of that is purely fetish here), but there was the infamous punk band the Stalin and in recent years there’s been the extreme rightwing comic Torihada Minoru who definately has a nazi vibe about him.
Oh — and one more thing on cultural context.
This tattoo and many traditional tattoos in the japanese tattoos section would be interpreted by many Japanese people to be associated with yakuza (criminal organizations) and by extension the extreme rightwing. Although most white people would instantly be absolved of the connection it’s nevertheless important I think to point out that that cultural context is very significant in our interpretation of symbols. A Japanese youth these days rarely considers a traditional Japanese piece due to the stigma associated with it and look a bit strangely at foreigners who make such a choice.
Symbolism within many traditional Japanese tattoos embrace the idea of Japan as one homogenous united nation free of the filth and taint of the outside world (modernization) and the purity of Japanese blood and national spirit. And yet foreigners get them with pride being ignorant of the symbolism contained within.
Oh — and one more thing on cultural context.
This tattoo and many traditional tattoos in the japanese tattoos section would be interpreted by many Japanese people to be associated with yakuza (criminal organizations) and by extension the extreme rightwing. Although most white people would instantly be absolved of the connection it’s nevertheless important I think to point out that that cultural context is very significant in our interpretation of symbols. A Japanese youth these days rarely considers a traditional Japanese piece due to the stigma associated with it and look a bit strangely at foreigners who make such a choice.
Symbolism within many traditional Japanese tattoos embrace the idea of Japan as one homogenous united nation free of the filth and taint of the outside world (modernization) and the purity of Japanese blood and national spirit. And yet foreigners get them with pride being ignorant of the symbolism contained within.
I don’t think that ideology is at the heart of the use of either communist or Nazi symbols. For the mst part I think it is just there to piss people off. I don’t think that very many who use this stuff have any idea what it really means.
I don’t think that ideology is at the heart of the use of either communist or Nazi symbols. For the mst part I think it is just there to piss people off. I don’t think that very many who use this stuff have any idea what it really means.
disgusting.
i suppose i could be more digusted by communist imagery, but im not. however i am just as disgusted when i see people wearing Tshirts of Stalin, Lenin, pol-pot, G.W.Bush, Reagan, etc, etc.
freedom of speech is great, but i think people who wear and display that shit should be have some CONSIDERATION for others. like for those who may have lived thru the Nazis.
i also believe that those who would deny people’s lives and freedoms DONT deserve those same freedoms. fuck that tired, old catch22.
disgusting.
i suppose i could be more digusted by communist imagery, but im not. however i am just as disgusted when i see people wearing Tshirts of Stalin, Lenin, pol-pot, G.W.Bush, Reagan, etc, etc.
freedom of speech is great, but i think people who wear and display that shit should be have some CONSIDERATION for others. like for those who may have lived thru the Nazis.
i also believe that those who would deny people’s lives and freedoms DONT deserve those same freedoms. fuck that tired, old catch22.
In English schools you have it drummed into you about Nazism from about the age of 9.
Socialism only really enters your consciousness when you are all ‘poor’ because you have £5 a week pocket money and you think that wearing a ‘Che’ shirt makes you cool. Very few people know what Stalin did other than sport a pretty rocking moustache.
I own two t-shirts with communist imagery, one from BMEshop. I wore the one with a modified Lenin on in Prague and nobody minded. My friend, whose grandmother was in a gulag, used to make jokes about Stalin and Lenin during our Russian History lessons. I’m not saying that justifies a little English girl like me wearing it, but perhaps its for an individual to decide whether they are offended or not.
In English schools you have it drummed into you about Nazism from about the age of 9.
Socialism only really enters your consciousness when you are all ‘poor’ because you have £5 a week pocket money and you think that wearing a ‘Che’ shirt makes you cool. Very few people know what Stalin did other than sport a pretty rocking moustache.
I own two t-shirts with communist imagery, one from BMEshop. I wore the one with a modified Lenin on in Prague and nobody minded. My friend, whose grandmother was in a gulag, used to make jokes about Stalin and Lenin during our Russian History lessons. I’m not saying that justifies a little English girl like me wearing it, but perhaps its for an individual to decide whether they are offended or not.
Pro-communist imagery is not the same as pro-Stalinist imagery. Stalin was a brutal dictator who corrupted an idea, and it is perfectly possible to believe in communism without supporting the things that Stalin did. Nazism is a different matter. Without the things that Hitler did, there would be no Nazism – ethnic cleansing was a core policy of the Nazi government.
Pro-communist imagery is not the same as pro-Stalinist imagery. Stalin was a brutal dictator who corrupted an idea, and it is perfectly possible to believe in communism without supporting the things that Stalin did. Nazism is a different matter. Without the things that Hitler did, there would be no Nazism – ethnic cleansing was a core policy of the Nazi government.
love this pic, such a nice tattoo. also love the flag, dont like the idea behind what the nazi’s where thinkin but i do love to collect paraphenalia becuase it was crazy, they made a whole Nazi life…either way get off it there is a reason they are not in power and it couldnt happen agian so chill and dont hate….its a crime.
love this pic, such a nice tattoo. also love the flag, dont like the idea behind what the nazi’s where thinkin but i do love to collect paraphenalia becuase it was crazy, they made a whole Nazi life…either way get off it there is a reason they are not in power and it couldnt happen agian so chill and dont hate….its a crime.
#62: “couldnt happen agian”
what dreamworld are you living in? wake up!
#62: “couldnt happen agian”
what dreamworld are you living in? wake up!
I guess there were never many photographs or media coverage of Communist atrocities, no allied soldiers liberating gulags and seeing first hand what went on there, and so on.
The Holocaust is very prominent in western consciousness because many of our grandparents actually SAW the results first-hand; you’ve probably even met a few survivors from the camps. But the closed nature of the USSR meant that those who died there simply disappeared, unnoticed by the West. So there’s a much stronger reaction about the one than the other, even though the communists killed an order of magnitude more people.
I guess there were never many photographs or media coverage of Communist atrocities, no allied soldiers liberating gulags and seeing first hand what went on there, and so on.
The Holocaust is very prominent in western consciousness because many of our grandparents actually SAW the results first-hand; you’ve probably even met a few survivors from the camps. But the closed nature of the USSR meant that those who died there simply disappeared, unnoticed by the West. So there’s a much stronger reaction about the one than the other, even though the communists killed an order of magnitude more people.
At first, I fear people who stands a swastika, cause I automaticaly associate it to nazism. Maybe the person don´t really know what that means, or maybe it´s non-nazi swastika, but I always prefer prudence.
But I really apreciate swastika as a budhist simbol, and I get happy when I see it in modblog. Hope one day many people will know the diference between nazi and non-nazi swastikas, and the holders of the second may show it in peace and without offending people. I don´t fell like holding a swastika, but I suport anyone who works to bring back it´s original meaning.
At first, I fear people who stands a swastika, cause I automaticaly associate it to nazism. Maybe the person don´t really know what that means, or maybe it´s non-nazi swastika, but I always prefer prudence.
But I really apreciate swastika as a budhist simbol, and I get happy when I see it in modblog. Hope one day many people will know the diference between nazi and non-nazi swastikas, and the holders of the second may show it in peace and without offending people. I don´t fell like holding a swastika, but I suport anyone who works to bring back it´s original meaning.
Meh, it’s all about context. Pictures like this, I think it’s just part of an appreciation that the nazis looked cool, and I doubt history comes into it at all for people from non-western cultures. If I see nazi imagery used in the uk, iI just assume it’s either to piss people off by pretending to be hard or simply the wearer is a bit of a bigot, probably both. Still, not something to get upset by. Communist imagery is useful in that it alerts you to the presence of students who’ve read Marx and bitch about capitalism and the military-industrial complex as if they’re experts. Cause you know, they’ve watched the motorcyle diaries. not that i’m judgemental or anything 😉
Meh, it’s all about context. Pictures like this, I think it’s just part of an appreciation that the nazis looked cool, and I doubt history comes into it at all for people from non-western cultures. If I see nazi imagery used in the uk, iI just assume it’s either to piss people off by pretending to be hard or simply the wearer is a bit of a bigot, probably both. Still, not something to get upset by. Communist imagery is useful in that it alerts you to the presence of students who’ve read Marx and bitch about capitalism and the military-industrial complex as if they’re experts. Cause you know, they’ve watched the motorcyle diaries. not that i’m judgemental or anything 😉
most of my family was killed by the Nazis in WW2. i do associate the swastika sign to the Nazi party automatically and i have to take a moment to read some info before usually realizing it is a non-Nazi swastika. this flag however is clearly the Nazi flag and it’s use does offend me even though i have to suck it up because of my belief in freedom of speech. i believe that if a person does not know the history of this flag and hangs it because they think it’s cool – it’s sad (for me, more then them i think). having to see the consequences of the Holocaust on my grandparents and family all my life, and even making a trip to the concentration and death camps in Poland, the subject is very close to me and i would like to see people being more considerate if they could. my issue with the general swastika sign is in progress seeing that the first swastika sign i knew about was related to hatred and mass murder, as hard as it is for me i want to try to be more open minded about it.
most of my family was killed by the Nazis in WW2. i do associate the swastika sign to the Nazi party automatically and i have to take a moment to read some info before usually realizing it is a non-Nazi swastika. this flag however is clearly the Nazi flag and it’s use does offend me even though i have to suck it up because of my belief in freedom of speech. i believe that if a person does not know the history of this flag and hangs it because they think it’s cool – it’s sad (for me, more then them i think). having to see the consequences of the Holocaust on my grandparents and family all my life, and even making a trip to the concentration and death camps in Poland, the subject is very close to me and i would like to see people being more considerate if they could. my issue with the general swastika sign is in progress seeing that the first swastika sign i knew about was related to hatred and mass murder, as hard as it is for me i want to try to be more open minded about it.
Don’t forget what you were thought in history class isn’t always the truth.
Don’t forget what you were thought in history class isn’t always the truth.
“Very few people know what Stalin did other than sport a pretty rocking moustache”
best summary of Stalin ever
“Very few people know what Stalin did other than sport a pretty rocking moustache”
best summary of Stalin ever
This Bloody sily Singaporean guy. Why would he want to put a nazi sign there. Even though i do not really like muslims but i will not put a put up any lame nazi stuff.
This Bloody sily Singaporean guy. Why would he want to put a nazi sign there. Even though i do not really like muslims but i will not put a put up any lame nazi stuff.
i hate it to see nazi swastikas. for a beter world lets destroy all nazi swastikas and save the real sign..
i hate it to see nazi swastikas. for a beter world lets destroy all nazi swastikas and save the real sign..
To #69
Cheers!
To #69
Cheers!
Psyentific, check out this great article on Torihada:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers156.html
Psyentific, check out this great article on Torihada:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rogers/rogers156.html
why focus on nazi and soviet flags? what about the US flag? I know that this is the longest comment ever and will probably be removed, but hell, it’s a long list!
American atrocities started when the nation was first formed with the genocide against Native Americans and torture has been an integral but mostly secret part of US policy since the second world war. After the war the US protected the worst Nazis so that it could learn from them and adopt their torture techniques.
After the CIA was officially formed it made torture part of its policy and exported its use around the world. In 1953 the CIA started Operation Phoenix, a program of torture and murder of civilians in Vietnam. Around the same time the US overthrew Iran’s democratic government and put the Shah in power. The CIA created, trained and managed Iran’s dreaded SAVAK secret police which tortured and murdered countless people. After the country of Chile dared to embrace democracy and elect a President not chosen by the US, the US was quick to install the brutal dictator Pinochet who tortured and murdered tens of thousands. CIA controlled death squads in Central America brutally tortured and murdered over 200,000 people during the 80′s. Millions of others have been killed around the world as a direct result of US policy.
Torture was widely taught in the US School of the Americas to people who came to be known as some of the world’s most monstrous violators of human rights. Amnesty International cites the United States as the largest international supplier of electro-shock weapons to governments that practice electro-shock torture. $3 million worth of electro-shock devices were sold to Saudi Arabia in 1990.
However, it is not only the CIA & military that has been guilty of conducting torture. The Chicago police department used brutal torture techniques against non-white prisoners up until the mid 80′s. Throughout the US prison system, torture and rape are routine. In fact, the situation has been so bad that in 2000 the UN delivered a severe public rebuke to the United States for its record on preventing torture and degrading punishment. Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced U.S. police forces for “a
pattern of unchecked excessive force amounting to torture.”
The so-called ‘War on Terror’ is being used to create a culture of brutality from the highest level. Mass media has suggested that torture is necessary to protect American lives. The January 2001 cover of The Atlantic Monthly asked in large print, “MUST WE TORTURE?” Terrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman from Rand Corporation suggested that torture is necessary to protect American interests. It has been suggested by many Americans that torture be legalized.
The reality is that torture is not a good method of extracting information. Information obtained under torture is not reliable and a person who is tortured will make up whatever information is wanted just to stop the torture. A skilled interrogator can get the information they need without torture. Even the CIA’s own “Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual–1983:” says:
“Intense pain is quite likely to produce false confessions, fabricated to avoid additional punishment. This results in a time-consuming delay while an investigation is conducted and the admissions are proven untrue. During this respite, the subject can pull himself together and may even use the time to devise a more complex confession that takes still longer to disprove.”
The advanced intelligence gathering technique of remote viewing can obtain information from a distance. This technique was used extensively to identify bombing targets in the first attack of Iraq and to probe the plans and intentions of Saddam Hussein in a daily basis. Non-harmful mind control techniques can also be used to extract information. From a technical aspect, torture is simply not necessary.
The brutality against the Iraqis isn’t even about extracting information, it is merely brutality for its own sake. The question is why does the US government allow and promote torture?
Making Enemies
Most people are peaceful and more concerned with their own well-being than with invading another country. Lacking any real enemies, American foreign policy has intentionally created enemies and conflict to support the defense industry and further the goals of the ruling elite for the last 50 years.
Vietnam – The Vietnamese war was a good example of how the US creates enemies to further its own agenda. During WWII , Ho Chi Minh lead the resistant on behalf of the Allied Powers against the Japanese under an agreement that Vietnam be given its freedom from French domination after the war ended. Ho Chi Minh kept his side of the bargain and on August 17, 1945 he broadcast:
“We were fighting Japs on the side of the United Nations. Now Japs Surrendered. We beg the United Nations to realize their solemn promise that all nationalities be given democracy and independence. If United Nations forget their solemn promise and don’t give Indochina full independence, we will keep fighting until we get it.”
On September 2, 1945 a band marched through Hanoi playing the Star Spangled Banner. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese Independence and began his speech with “All men are created equal.” Yet, the dream of Vietnamese democracy was not to be. The country was divided and South Vietnam was given back to the French. The US betrayed the Vietnamese and supported French oppression. The US even offered the French atomic weapons to use against the Vietnamese, which the French fortunately declined. It was only after the betrayal by the US that Ho Chi Minh turned to Russia for the help needed to defeat the French and truly became ‘communist’. The US had effectively turned an ally into an enemy and destroyed democracy in ‘Indo China’.
By 1954 the US was paying for 78% of the French war against the Vietnamese. After the French were defeated in May 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh ceded the North, and French puppet Bao Dai’s regime granted the South. The accords also provided for elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. The US opposed the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh, and refused to sign the Geneva accords – further denying the Vietnamese the possibility of democracy.
As the French left, the US stepped in to control the South. The CIA’s Phoenix Operation began almost immediately after the US takeover in 1954. Under US management the South Vietnamese secret police dished out live burnings, garroting, rape, torture, sabotage – much of which was blamed on the Vietcong. Over 50,000 civilians were tortured and murdered at the hands of the CIA & military intelligence. In all, over a million Vietnamese were killed by US forces. The land mines, unexploded ordinance and death from chemical contamination have killed and crippled countless more. Richard Nixon admitted in his final days that he had escalated the war against Vietnam merely for the defense industry to sell more weapons.
It was in the early days of the fighting in Vietnam that a Vietcong officer said to his American prisoner: “You were our heroes after the War. We read American books and saw American films, and a common phrase in those days was ‘to be as rich and as wise as an American’. What happened?”
Iraq – US involvement in Iraq goes back several decades and parallels British domination of the country early in the century. In 1958 the CIA hired Saddam Hussein to assassinate the President of Iraq – Abdel Karim Qassim. It wasn’t until 1963 that Hussein and the US were successful in overthrowing the Iraqi government. In the process 5,000 were killed. Immediately after the coup Saddam rounded up and murdered another 800 people on a list prepared by the CIA of potentianl opponents. However, the new Ba’athist regime had little popular support and was replaced by rival army officers 9 months later. With more CIA help Saddam regained control and was
kept in power until the US invaded Iraq in 2003.
In his book “October Surprise”, Gary Sick details how Bush-Reagan used arms and cash to bribe the Iranians to keep the American hostages until after the election to prevent Jimmy Carter from being re-elected 1980. The Iranians kept their part of the deal and the hostage’s release was announced the day Reagan was sworn into office. The US continued to clandestinely supply Iran with weapons to help pay for its illegal war against democracy in Nicaragua in what came to be known as Iran-Contra. At the same time it supplied Iraq with its chemical and biological weapons to use against Iran. In 1986 Reagan sent Saddam a secret message telling him that he should step us his bombing of Iran. Iran is suing the US & Germany for supplying Iraq with the illegal
chemical and bio weapons used against them in the CIA directed war of 1980-1988.
Up until Iraq’s US approved invasion of Kuwait, the US Department of Defense training manuals sang the praises of Saddam Hussein, noting how he had vastly improved education, medical care, and the standard of living of his people. His regime was called one of the most enlightened, progressive governments in the region.
As Iraq massed it troops on the Kuwaiti border in preparation for invasion, the US watched on in complete silence. Ever loyal to US interests and his CIA handlers, Saddam invaded Kuwait to support the administration of George Bush and ensure support for long-term military bases in the Middle East. After killing 500,000 Iraqis, the US then setup Saddam’s opponents so that Saddam could eliminate any active opposition to his brutal regime.
To further the suffering of the Iraqi people and set them up for future events, the brutal and meaningless sanctions were imposed. At the International Court On Crimes Against Humanity, US, British and UN officials were charged with ‘causing the deaths of more than 1,500,000 people including 750,000 children under five, and injury to the entire population of Iraq by genocidal sanctions.’ While the Iraqis were suffering and dying
for no good reason, Saddam lived in unimaginable luxury.
The hatred of the Iraqi people towards the US, who put Saddam in power and kept him in power for over 25 years is only being deepened by US actions. There was never any intention of “winning Iraqi hearts and minds”. The ‘revelations’ about the US torturing Iraqis is merely a way to fan the flames of hatred against Americans.
“We have heard that a half million children have died,” said “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl, speaking of US sanctions against Iraq. “I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And — and you know, is the price worth it?” Her guest, in May 1996, U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright, responded: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it.”
Other countries – Throughout the world the US has overthrown democracies, installed dictators, setup brutal secret police and death squads, and created conflict where none existed. Anywhere true democracy might rear its ugly head, the US is there to quickly chop it off and put one of its brutal puppets in place. Wherever brutality and corruption exists the US is usually somewhere behind the scenes manipulating events. In the process, the US has caused unimaginable suffering and deprived the world of hope.
The negative impact of US foreign policy is so great that the path of human evolution has been altered. The covert CIA coups and wars have deprived entire continents of the opportunity to climb out of poverty and eliminated generations of potential humane leaders. The environment is being destroyed with projects approved by US puppet governments with money loaned by the IMF and World Bank and then stolen by US Corporations, leaving the impoverished public to pay off the debt. Global warming is very real and causing billions in damage every year, yet the US continues to suppress alternative energy and worship the dark god of oil.
why focus on nazi and soviet flags? what about the US flag? I know that this is the longest comment ever and will probably be removed, but hell, it’s a long list!
American atrocities started when the nation was first formed with the genocide against Native Americans and torture has been an integral but mostly secret part of US policy since the second world war. After the war the US protected the worst Nazis so that it could learn from them and adopt their torture techniques.
After the CIA was officially formed it made torture part of its policy and exported its use around the world. In 1953 the CIA started Operation Phoenix, a program of torture and murder of civilians in Vietnam. Around the same time the US overthrew Iran’s democratic government and put the Shah in power. The CIA created, trained and managed Iran’s dreaded SAVAK secret police which tortured and murdered countless people. After the country of Chile dared to embrace democracy and elect a President not chosen by the US, the US was quick to install the brutal dictator Pinochet who tortured and murdered tens of thousands. CIA controlled death squads in Central America brutally tortured and murdered over 200,000 people during the 80′s. Millions of others have been killed around the world as a direct result of US policy.
Torture was widely taught in the US School of the Americas to people who came to be known as some of the world’s most monstrous violators of human rights. Amnesty International cites the United States as the largest international supplier of electro-shock weapons to governments that practice electro-shock torture. $3 million worth of electro-shock devices were sold to Saudi Arabia in 1990.
However, it is not only the CIA & military that has been guilty of conducting torture. The Chicago police department used brutal torture techniques against non-white prisoners up until the mid 80′s. Throughout the US prison system, torture and rape are routine. In fact, the situation has been so bad that in 2000 the UN delivered a severe public rebuke to the United States for its record on preventing torture and degrading punishment. Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced U.S. police forces for “a
pattern of unchecked excessive force amounting to torture.”
The so-called ‘War on Terror’ is being used to create a culture of brutality from the highest level. Mass media has suggested that torture is necessary to protect American lives. The January 2001 cover of The Atlantic Monthly asked in large print, “MUST WE TORTURE?” Terrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman from Rand Corporation suggested that torture is necessary to protect American interests. It has been suggested by many Americans that torture be legalized.
The reality is that torture is not a good method of extracting information. Information obtained under torture is not reliable and a person who is tortured will make up whatever information is wanted just to stop the torture. A skilled interrogator can get the information they need without torture. Even the CIA’s own “Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual–1983:” says:
“Intense pain is quite likely to produce false confessions, fabricated to avoid additional punishment. This results in a time-consuming delay while an investigation is conducted and the admissions are proven untrue. During this respite, the subject can pull himself together and may even use the time to devise a more complex confession that takes still longer to disprove.”
The advanced intelligence gathering technique of remote viewing can obtain information from a distance. This technique was used extensively to identify bombing targets in the first attack of Iraq and to probe the plans and intentions of Saddam Hussein in a daily basis. Non-harmful mind control techniques can also be used to extract information. From a technical aspect, torture is simply not necessary.
The brutality against the Iraqis isn’t even about extracting information, it is merely brutality for its own sake. The question is why does the US government allow and promote torture?
Making Enemies
Most people are peaceful and more concerned with their own well-being than with invading another country. Lacking any real enemies, American foreign policy has intentionally created enemies and conflict to support the defense industry and further the goals of the ruling elite for the last 50 years.
Vietnam – The Vietnamese war was a good example of how the US creates enemies to further its own agenda. During WWII , Ho Chi Minh lead the resistant on behalf of the Allied Powers against the Japanese under an agreement that Vietnam be given its freedom from French domination after the war ended. Ho Chi Minh kept his side of the bargain and on August 17, 1945 he broadcast:
“We were fighting Japs on the side of the United Nations. Now Japs Surrendered. We beg the United Nations to realize their solemn promise that all nationalities be given democracy and independence. If United Nations forget their solemn promise and don’t give Indochina full independence, we will keep fighting until we get it.”
On September 2, 1945 a band marched through Hanoi playing the Star Spangled Banner. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese Independence and began his speech with “All men are created equal.” Yet, the dream of Vietnamese democracy was not to be. The country was divided and South Vietnam was given back to the French. The US betrayed the Vietnamese and supported French oppression. The US even offered the French atomic weapons to use against the Vietnamese, which the French fortunately declined. It was only after the betrayal by the US that Ho Chi Minh turned to Russia for the help needed to defeat the French and truly became ‘communist’. The US had effectively turned an ally into an enemy and destroyed democracy in ‘Indo China’.
By 1954 the US was paying for 78% of the French war against the Vietnamese. After the French were defeated in May 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh ceded the North, and French puppet Bao Dai’s regime granted the South. The accords also provided for elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. The US opposed the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh, and refused to sign the Geneva accords – further denying the Vietnamese the possibility of democracy.
As the French left, the US stepped in to control the South. The CIA’s Phoenix Operation began almost immediately after the US takeover in 1954. Under US management the South Vietnamese secret police dished out live burnings, garroting, rape, torture, sabotage – much of which was blamed on the Vietcong. Over 50,000 civilians were tortured and murdered at the hands of the CIA & military intelligence. In all, over a million Vietnamese were killed by US forces. The land mines, unexploded ordinance and death from chemical contamination have killed and crippled countless more. Richard Nixon admitted in his final days that he had escalated the war against Vietnam merely for the defense industry to sell more weapons.
It was in the early days of the fighting in Vietnam that a Vietcong officer said to his American prisoner: “You were our heroes after the War. We read American books and saw American films, and a common phrase in those days was ‘to be as rich and as wise as an American’. What happened?”
Iraq – US involvement in Iraq goes back several decades and parallels British domination of the country early in the century. In 1958 the CIA hired Saddam Hussein to assassinate the President of Iraq – Abdel Karim Qassim. It wasn’t until 1963 that Hussein and the US were successful in overthrowing the Iraqi government. In the process 5,000 were killed. Immediately after the coup Saddam rounded up and murdered another 800 people on a list prepared by the CIA of potentianl opponents. However, the new Ba’athist regime had little popular support and was replaced by rival army officers 9 months later. With more CIA help Saddam regained control and was
kept in power until the US invaded Iraq in 2003.
In his book “October Surprise”, Gary Sick details how Bush-Reagan used arms and cash to bribe the Iranians to keep the American hostages until after the election to prevent Jimmy Carter from being re-elected 1980. The Iranians kept their part of the deal and the hostage’s release was announced the day Reagan was sworn into office. The US continued to clandestinely supply Iran with weapons to help pay for its illegal war against democracy in Nicaragua in what came to be known as Iran-Contra. At the same time it supplied Iraq with its chemical and biological weapons to use against Iran. In 1986 Reagan sent Saddam a secret message telling him that he should step us his bombing of Iran. Iran is suing the US & Germany for supplying Iraq with the illegal
chemical and bio weapons used against them in the CIA directed war of 1980-1988.
Up until Iraq’s US approved invasion of Kuwait, the US Department of Defense training manuals sang the praises of Saddam Hussein, noting how he had vastly improved education, medical care, and the standard of living of his people. His regime was called one of the most enlightened, progressive governments in the region.
As Iraq massed it troops on the Kuwaiti border in preparation for invasion, the US watched on in complete silence. Ever loyal to US interests and his CIA handlers, Saddam invaded Kuwait to support the administration of George Bush and ensure support for long-term military bases in the Middle East. After killing 500,000 Iraqis, the US then setup Saddam’s opponents so that Saddam could eliminate any active opposition to his brutal regime.
To further the suffering of the Iraqi people and set them up for future events, the brutal and meaningless sanctions were imposed. At the International Court On Crimes Against Humanity, US, British and UN officials were charged with ‘causing the deaths of more than 1,500,000 people including 750,000 children under five, and injury to the entire population of Iraq by genocidal sanctions.’ While the Iraqis were suffering and dying
for no good reason, Saddam lived in unimaginable luxury.
The hatred of the Iraqi people towards the US, who put Saddam in power and kept him in power for over 25 years is only being deepened by US actions. There was never any intention of “winning Iraqi hearts and minds”. The ‘revelations’ about the US torturing Iraqis is merely a way to fan the flames of hatred against Americans.
“We have heard that a half million children have died,” said “60 Minutes” reporter Lesley Stahl, speaking of US sanctions against Iraq. “I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And — and you know, is the price worth it?” Her guest, in May 1996, U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright, responded: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price — we think the price is worth it.”
Other countries – Throughout the world the US has overthrown democracies, installed dictators, setup brutal secret police and death squads, and created conflict where none existed. Anywhere true democracy might rear its ugly head, the US is there to quickly chop it off and put one of its brutal puppets in place. Wherever brutality and corruption exists the US is usually somewhere behind the scenes manipulating events. In the process, the US has caused unimaginable suffering and deprived the world of hope.
The negative impact of US foreign policy is so great that the path of human evolution has been altered. The covert CIA coups and wars have deprived entire continents of the opportunity to climb out of poverty and eliminated generations of potential humane leaders. The environment is being destroyed with projects approved by US puppet governments with money loaned by the IMF and World Bank and then stolen by US Corporations, leaving the impoverished public to pay off the debt. Global warming is very real and causing billions in damage every year, yet the US continues to suppress alternative energy and worship the dark god of oil.
n 1967, the Jews took more land than was originally partitioned in the U.N. agreement. As a result, Israel lost international favor. To combat criticism of Israel and it’s racist policies the Zionist Jews created the HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY….. Movies, sensational television dramas, memorials, museums, books, and of course, the mind washing western high school curriculum. Check for yourself, virtually no academic work was done on the Third Reich until the late 60s/early 70s.
The result: Jewish suffering is unique. No group has suffered as much as the poor Jews, so please don’t complain about their racial state or what they do to the Palestinians. And, don’t question the official story of the Holocaust or you’ll go to jail in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and hopefully soon, the U.S.
Read more, a book by a Jewish Professor who was recently denied tenure at his University because of his views. Dr. Norman Finklestein’s, The Holocaust Industry.
and that’s why we in the west are so familiar with that Swastika symbol
n 1967, the Jews took more land than was originally partitioned in the U.N. agreement. As a result, Israel lost international favor. To combat criticism of Israel and it’s racist policies the Zionist Jews created the HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY….. Movies, sensational television dramas, memorials, museums, books, and of course, the mind washing western high school curriculum. Check for yourself, virtually no academic work was done on the Third Reich until the late 60s/early 70s.
The result: Jewish suffering is unique. No group has suffered as much as the poor Jews, so please don’t complain about their racial state or what they do to the Palestinians. And, don’t question the official story of the Holocaust or you’ll go to jail in Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Canada, and hopefully soon, the U.S.
Read more, a book by a Jewish Professor who was recently denied tenure at his University because of his views. Dr. Norman Finklestein’s, The Holocaust Industry.
and that’s why we in the west are so familiar with that Swastika symbol