h/t Cat

America Is on the Road to Becoming a Fascist State | TruthDig |

In a compelling essay for The New York Review of Books this month, Christopher R. Browning, a leading historian of the Holocaust and Nazism, outlines the frightening parallels between the United States and the Weimar Republic. "No matter how and when the Trump presidency ends," he writes, "the specter of illiberalism will continue to haunt American politics."

 
German President Paul von Hindenburg and Chancellor Adolf Hitler on their way to a youth rally at the Lustgarten, Berlin, 1st May 1933 (Photo: Getty Images)

Robert Scheer: Let's begin with that, we are not Germany. Because we are. We are actually the society that is closest to what Germany was, and people forget that.  But the fact is, they were the people most like us, and people like Henry Ford, as you point out in your book, and others, had great admiration for Germany. It was the best educated, most scientific, highest level of music, big economy, and then it all started to fall apart. And the people that were most like us became the most evil barbarians in modern history. And it was very confusing to Americans, and you capture that in your book, that ambiguity about it.

Jason Stanley: That's right, because we have these two traditions. On the one hand, we do have a glorious tradition of liberal democracy that I cherish and venerate, and that is used--the civil rights movement used it, black intellectual leaders all the way back at least to Frederick Douglass, but even David Walker and Martin Delaney would appeal to our tradition of liberty and equality, to point out hypocrisies in American life. And Frederick Douglass used that, for example, in "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" his speech, to say look, you venerate liberty? Well, you know--so we have these ideals, but we also have a long history of incredible hypocrisy among these ideals. And we have a long history of, in addition to anti-black racism and the genocide of Native Americans, both of which deeply affected Hitler, the anti-immigrant laws and sentiment. "Mein Kampf"--"My Struggle", Hitler's main book--is about a call to create a national state, to tear down the state and replace it by a national state based around national ethnic identity, and not democratic norms, not citizenry that is multiethnic, but around the nation. And his model there is the United States. As he writes, "I know that this is unwelcome to hear, but anything crazier and less thought-out than our present laws of state citizenship is hardly possible to conceive."

So he rails against Germany's immigration laws. Very familiar vocabulary to us. "But there is at least one state in which feeble attempts to conceive a better arrangement are apparent. I of course do not mean our German republic, but rather the United States of America, where they are trying, partially at any rate, to include common sense in their councils. They refuse to allow immigration of elements which are bad from the health point of view, and absolutely forbid naturalization of certain defined races, and thus are making a modest start in the direction of something not unlike the conception of the national state." So there, Hitler is praising the United States, and in particular the 1924 Immigration Act, which Jeff Sessions praised in October 2015, called for a return to; he praises it as a basis, he praises the United States anti-Immigration Act of 1924, and the United States, as a model for what he wants to create in Germany.

Related reading ...

○ German Occupation and Destruction of Social Order
○ Global Xenophobia and Historical Amnesia
○ America's Greatness Ended with Arrival of the Statue of Liberty
○ New Fascist Pariah States America and Israel Lashing Out

Minor correction: perhaps I should have left "New" out of the last title!

'Sapere aude'

The powerful were behind the curve as a security detachment of the Saudi monarchy planned and executed the murder of Jamal Khashoggi ... see my earlier reference to Saudi News and Blogs demanding the head of traitors and Saudis not loyal to the Salman monarchy!

Rethinking the plot, rightwing extremist Donald Trump had some time to redo the narrative to safely continue the billion dollars sales of military goods to the Sunni Gulf States: KSA - UAE - Kuwait - Bahrain.

Just spoke to the King of Saudi Arabia who denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened "to our Saudi Arabian citizen." He said that they are working closely with Turkey to find answer. I am immediately sending our Secretary of State to meet with King!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2018

Trump suggests 'rogue killers' in writer case | AP |

President Donald Trump is suggesting that "rogue killers" may be responsible for whatever happened to missing Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump told reporters as he departed the White House en route to Florida Monday that he spoke by phone with Saudi Arabia's King and that "The King firmly denied any knowledge" of the disappearance.

Trump says he doesn't "want to get" into King Salman's mind, but says, "it sounded to me like maybe these could have been rogue killers."

He adds: "We're going to try getting to the bottom of it very soon, but his was a flat denial."  

Turkish police probe `acid' claim on Khashoggi's disappearance | Hürriyet Daily News |

"Police and the MİT [Turkey's National Intelligence Agency] are now probing this claim seriously. They are looking into whether the body of Khashoggi was dissolved using acid," she said.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia are expected to conduct a joint "inspection" on Oct. 15 of the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Separately, Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Oct. 15 ordered an internal probe into the case.

"The King has ordered the Public Prosecutor to open an internal investigation into the Khashoggi matter based on the info from the joint team in Istanbul," a Saudi official, not authorised to speak publicly, told Reuters.

Asked when the public prosecutor could make an announcement about the investigation, the official said: "He was instructed to work quickly."

Of course, he little leaguers France, Germany and the Unite Kingdom will close ranks with the most powerful nation. Never mind Trump and his cohorts run the White House.

○ Disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi: joint statement by foreign ministers from the UK, France and Germany
○ UK, Germany, France press Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi disappearance

'Sapere aude'

Trump and AmericaFirst!

Siemens may have to share big Iraq power contract with GE

ZURICH: Siemens may have to share a multi-billion dollar deal with US rival General Electric to improve Iraq's energy supply system following an intervention by President Donald Trump's administration, The Financial Times reported.

The US government intervened in favour of GE and put pressure on the Baghdad government, the FT said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Although no decision has been made, Siemens had been the favourite to win the contract to supply 11 gigawatts of power generation equipment to Iraq in a deal reported to be worth around $15 billion.

But the Trump administration reminded the Iraqi government that 7,000 US personnel had died since the 2003 invasion which overthrew Saddam Hussein, the people said.

GE, which has been battling a severe downturn in its power division, is now expected to take a substantial part of the sale, which could be included in its figures when it reports its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 30.

...
Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser had traveled to Iraq in September and spoke with outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi about the contract.

Since then Abadi has been replaced by Adel Abdul-Mahdi. Meanwhile US pressure in favour of GE has intensified, the report said.

○ Siemens loses $15bn Iraq power-generation contract to GE

U.S. persuades Iraq to quash Siemens power deal in favor of GE

Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding with GE in recent days after senior U.S. officials warned Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the future of the U.S.-Iraq relationship would be at risk if his government accepted the deal with Siemens, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The Financial Times reported the U.S. move earlier Thursday.

The Trump administration's push supports American efforts to curb Iranian influence in Iraq and the region in the months since President Donald Trump backed out of a 2015 nuclear deal and prepares to re-impose sanctions on Iran next month. The U.S. officials said they want to wean Iraq of its dependence on Iranian natural gas and suspect Iran had spurred Iraqi leaders to pursue the Siemens deal as a way of undercutting ties with the U.S.

"This is part of very strong campaign of engagement in Iraqi government formation and a very targeted effort to support the Iraqi government and minimize Iranian influence," said Garrett Marquis, a National Security Council spokesman. "It's part of our overall effort to evict the Iranians rather than to invite them in."

'Sapere aude'