My "middle-of-the-road" newspaper, the San Jose Mercury News, on October 24, penned an Editorial completely out of character for the newspaper. I was astonished by the Editorial and read it again and again, until, finally, it sunk in that the Editorial was probably ghost written by an external foreign policy establishment person or group. To reinforce my hypothesis, the editorial is not listed in the Mercury News online archive of Editorials, and another Editorial was listed as a substitute. Goofy indeed.
I responded with a Letter to the Editor correcting untruths in the article, but, of course, my Letter was not printed.
Here are a few excerpts from the Editorial:
"Risks with Russia are Escalating
One of the biggest foreign challenges facing the next president is what to do with Russia.
President Barack Obama's unwillingness to meaningful challenge Russia has increased the risk of a global Russian push against our allies and interests. It has made these allies, especially in Europe, very nervous.
But Putin has repeatedly shown Russia cannot be trusted, just recently scuttling a peace plan for Syria within days after a supposed agreement.
Unless we are willing to give up many of the principles we have held for generations, we will have an adversarial relationship with Russia for the foreseeable future. Putin only negotiates when he is forced to -- or when he knows he can buy somebody off, which is possible under Trump."
Here is my Letter to the Editor correcting untruths in the article:
"Propaganda to Start War with Russia Now Underway
The October 24 Mercury News editorial screams out "here we go again". Just as government propaganda and lies preceded the Iraq invasion, the American people are again being propagandized to accept war with Russia.
Let's review facts. Russia is aiding the Syrian government legally, for Russia has an agreement with Syria to assist it in fighting terrorists. On the other hand, a much-discussed US-imposed "no fly zone" would be illegal and would certainly lead to war with Russia.
The editorial mentioned that "Russia scuttled a peace plan for Syria within days after a supposed agreement". Wrong - the peace plan expired, and both sides did not extend it. The breakdown was because the US was unable (or unwilling) to separate so-called "rebels" from al-Qaeda militias. And what is sickening, these so-called "rebels" are armed, trained and funded by the CIA, Pentagon and US allies Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
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