ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS - TALL TALES OF GODS OF SUMERIA

Imagine traveling millions of lightyears just to leave clues for humans that can only be deciphered by conspiracy theorists on Youtube.

Back in late 70s my brother passed me the book 'Chariots Of The Gods' (1968) by Erik von Daniken. It was a book of provocative claims about ancient civilisations and their probable interactions with extraterrestials. The photos presented of archaeological artifacts, structures and artistic depictions to support his theory that alien beings visited Earth in ancient times, were quite compelling in pre-internet days. I saw the Nazca Lines (Peru), ancient astronaut-like statues and figurines (Dogu figures of Japan), petroglyphs that show figures in helmets with antenna protrusions, little metallic toy that looked like an aeroplane (Quimbaya airplanes, Columbia), huge structures that ancient people could not possibly have the technology to construct nor transportl (pyramids of Ginza, Egypt, Maoi statutes of Easter Island), etc. I learnt about the Vinmanas (from Indian texts of Mahabharata and Rayamana) that von Daniken proposed 

were alien spacecrafts observed by ancient 

civilisations. That gave him his title 'Chariots' - the ancient folks had no words for spacecraft so they used flying chariots. With no means of fact checking nor easy access to expert opinions in pre-internet days, 'Chariots' created massive international interest in the subject matter.

The book was an instant hit, but von Daniken had little financial gains. He faced legal and debt issues from misuse of employer's funds to finance his research and travels to write the book. He was managing a hotel at the time and had dipped his pen in company ink. Nevertheless, von Daniken contributed massively to public interest in ETs. He is a legend amongst enthusiasts.

UFOs entered public consciousness around the 1940s. In 1947 pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing flying saucers near Mount Rainer. That same year the Roswell Incident happened. An UFO crashed in Area 51. This has been factually established and is now a cult event. The Space Race of the 50s-60s fueled fascination with advanced technology and possibility of extraterrestrial life. Public interest amplified with a new science fiction genre with productions like 'The Day The Earth Stood Still' (1951), '2001 -A Space Odyssey' (1968), 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' (1977), 'ET' (1982), etc and TV series like 'In Search Of ...' and 'X-Files' etc. The idea of ancient astronauts took hold. Aliens, or ETs, visited Earth in the distant past and ancient civilisation took them for gods. 

In 1976 Zachariah Sitchin (1920-2010) published 'The 12th Planet'. By profession Sitchin was an economist. He claimed to have self-taught the ancient Sumerian language. He was thus able to understand archaeological discoveries written on clay tablets in cuneiform. Sitchin claimed his translation presents a real explanation not told by mainstream academia. If written today, he probably would have titled the book with a click bait conspiracy theory trope like "What They Don't Want You To Know About The Sumerians'. 

Sumeria was the first known civilisation in history. It was a community of city states of which Unruk was prominent. They shared common cultures during the period 4,000 to 2,000 BC in Southern Mesopotamia which is roughly the land mass between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. It is not known if Sumerians were indigenous or where they came from. Sumerian is known as a language-isolate, which means it existed on its own. It shares no similarity of structure with any other language groups. Sargon of Akkad from the Northern Mesopotamia area later dominated the region to create history's first empire known as Akkadian Empire. Their lingua franca was Akkadian which is a Semitic language that shares similarities with Aramaic, Arabic, Hebrew, Phonecian, Thamudic, Moabite, etc. Akkadians and Sumerians co-existed in a bi-lingual society. Eventually Sumerians got assimilated and Akkadian became the dominant language with Sumerian being used in some official and religious functions. Akkadians absorbed Sumerian cultures. In their rich literary works, some Sumerian works were later written in Akkadian. 

Much rich Sumerian and Akkadian literary works written in cuneiform on clay tablets have been discovered in the library in Nineveh. This included poems, epics and myths such as Eridu Genesis, Epic of Gilgamesh, Death of Gilgamesh, Enmerkar, Lord of Aratta, Atrahasis, narratives depicting the gods Enki, Enlil, etc. These archaeological finds allowed historians to put together a good idea of Sumerian culture and religion. The Sumerians believed in pantheons of gods of which Anunnaki is one. An is the god associated with stars in Equatorial sky, Enki the god of wisdom, is associated with stars of the Southern sky, and Enlil, god of the elements, is with the Northern stars. Nimhursag is the Mother goddess. The Igigi are a lower group of dieties whose tasks were to perform mean labour on Earth for the Anunnaki. 

Sitchin's '12th Planet is the genre of literary work best described as Alternative History. He took a mish-mash of known ancient cultures and literary works of Sumeria and re-interpreted them into a seductive narration of interactions between humans and advanced extraterrestrial race called Anunnaki. 

The gist of  '12th Planet' :

Anunnaki ETs came from a mysterious planet Sitchin calls Nibiru, the 12th Planet. According to Sitchin, it is an elongated planet and has an eliptical orbit passing near Earth every 3,600 years. The Anunnaki visited Earth 450,000 years ago in search of gold which they needed to repair their planet's atmosphere. They had a social structure with a class the Igigi, working in the mines. This was tough labour and the Igigi revolted. 

Enki, the scientist in charge of medical matters, proposed to create a slave specie to work in the mines by genetically engineering early humans. This was done by combining Anunnaki DNA with that of homo erectus. Enki was assisted by fellow scientist Ninhursag in their laboratory. Sitchin did not elaborate how the humans were birthed, whether they had artificial wombs, or using Ninhursag's own body as surrogate. The first human Sitchin said was named Adamu. The first humans were obedient but lacked intelligence. Enki had to educate and provide them knowledge and procreation. Soon the humans grew in numbers and worked in the mines as slaves. The Anunnaki taught the humans agriculture, writing and astronomy and helped establish the first human civilisation.

Over time the human population expanded and they were a noisy and boisterous, quarrelsome lot that annoyed Enlil, the leader of the Anunnaki and brother of Enki. He decided managing and governing the big human population had become a problem. The Anunnaki came to see humans as a problem rather than a solution. 

The Anunnaki foresaw a huge flood coming. The gravitational effects of Nibiru passing near Earth will melt the polar caps and cause a massive flood on Earth. The Anunnaki decided to let the flood depopulate Earth of humans and so no warning of the coming natural catastrophe was issued. As the creator of humans, Enki felt moral responsibility to save the specie. He instructed the human Ziusudra to build a vessel and to load it with various animal species to survive the deluge. Enki's disobedience of Enlil's order was seen as a betrayal of their collective decision and it caused conflict amongst the Anunnaki. However, after the flood, the Anunnaki realised the importance of having humans and the re-established human civilisation and restructured their role on Earth. 

Sitchin seems to rely heavily on the Sumerian 'Atrahasis Epic' and the Akkadian 'Epic of Gilgamesh'. He made several changes to build into the ancient astronaut narrative as a pseudohistorical fact san evidence. The Sumerian pantheon of Anunnaki mythological gods became ETs,  in the creation narrative, Sitchin diverted from 'Attahasis' where instead of clay and blood of Igigi, he had it done in a laboratory in some genetic engineering procedure mixing the DNA of the gods with that of homo erectus. It is of course an anachronistic application of technology. It's something the ancient Sumerian scribes did not know how to interpret, right? He goes one step further to suggest Adamu as the name of the first born, just to get you tripped into the 'Adam & Eve ' mindframe. And he leads readers on further with Enki, the god of wisdom, giving knowledge to Adamu and humans. There is no serpent to be seen, but he tickles readers' imagination. 

In the flood story, both 'Atrahasis' and 'Gilgamesh' epics had the gods bringing on the floods because they cannot tolerate the disobedience, the population explosion, and the noise of humans. Sitchin used the same reasons but added the politics of the difficulties of governing an explosive human population. Sitchin has to dismiss the myths of gods divine act of causing the flood and replace it with a scientific explanation. The flood is a natural phenomenon caused by the gravitational pull of the 12th planet Nibiru as it passes close to Earth. 

Sitchin also suggested the Ark could have also carried genetic materials, not just live animals. It wouldn't do if he doesn't thrown some science in to transform Sumerian myths. But of course he didn't explain how Enki refrigerated the Ark to maintain the genetic materials in stable condition, and how the refrigeration was powered. Sitchin postulated that during the flood the Anunnakin could have gone to their orbiting Motherships in outerspace, or retreated to mountain tops where the flood do not reach. Ah see, that's how the motif of gods dwelling on mountains pervade in many traditions. Mt Olympus for the Grecian Olympians, Mt Slieve Donard for Celtic gods of Tuatha De Danann, Haleakala for the Hawaiian gods like Maui, Mt Shasta (California) which native Wintu Indians believe the Great Spirit deells, Kun Lun mountains where the gods of Taoism live, the Mount Zion of Judaism, for Hindus and Jains, Lord Shiva lives on the Kailash Mountain, in Gilgash epic, it is Mount Mashu, etc. It's tying up in knots here. If there were motherships, why not bring the genetic materials with them since it obviously could be kept in a few boxes. If they had transportation to mountain tops, why not ferry Diusudra and the animals there instead of bothering with the ark.

For the Biblical Noah, Sitchin uses the human Diusudra, clearly adopting the 'Atrahasis' storyline. Both Diusudra in the Sumerian 'Atrahasis' and Utnapistim in the Akkadian 'Gilgamesh' epic were righteous humans selected by the gods who were saved. After the flood, the goods rewarded the two humans with humanity. Sitchin's Diusudra did not achieve immortality. But of course, Sitchin was writing history, not mythology, so no immortality for Sitchin's Diusudra. Sitchin, 'Atrahasis' and 'Gilgamesh' never revealed the number of humans in the Ark, unlike the Bible. 

We live on planet Earth, in the Solar System of the Milky Way Galaxy. There are millions of galaxies in the Universe. Nibiru is Sitchin's 12th planet in our Solar System. 12th because he considered the Moon, Sun and 9 planets. Actually there are now just 8 planets. Don't worry the 9th planet didn't disappear or explode. Pluto has been reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union, bet you didn't know that. Dwarf planets are planets that do not dominate their own orbit. They have not gotten rid of the debris in their orbital path. Besides Pluto, there are several other dwarf planets in our Solar System - Eris (almost same size as Pluto), Haumea, Makemake, and Ceres. Except for Ceres which is in the Asteroid Belt (between Mars and Jupiter), the others are in the Kuiper Belt (beyond Jupiter).

Planets are spherical in shape due to two reasons. (1) It has the mass for its own gravity to pull inward uniformly thus taking on a spherical shape, and (2) it has hydrostatic equivalence, which means its gravity is strong enough to overcome whatever material strength of the composition of its mass, to shape the body into a sphere. If its speed is too fast (like Saturn and Jupiter) the shape might become oblated, ie flattened at the poles. This is a minor elongation, its shape remains spherical. A sphere presents the lease gravitational potential energy (GPE) thus making it the mose stable shape. 

According to Sitchin, Nibiru is an elongated planet. This shape is problematic at many levels. It has very high GPE thus making it unstable. GPE increases the kinetic energy of an object when it moves or fall thus making it very unstable in its rotation and orbit that leads to its destruction over a long time. A celestial mass gets its elongated shape in two ways.  (1) Due to the gravitational pull of other big celestial mass nearby, which eventually leads to its destruction.  (2) Due to its rigid composition. Such dense mass of material would have made life impossible. Elongated shapes are only seen in smaller objects like asteroids or comets. The only reason why Sitchin says Nibiru has an elongated shape is either he misinterpreted ancient texts or it is simply sexy to have an unusual shaped planet to appeal to the Unknown. 

Sitchin claims Nibiru has a 3,600 year orbit. This is also problematic and easily shows up '12th Planet' is hogwash. We can use Kepler's Third Law to estimate Nibiru's aphelion, its furthest distance from the sun in its orbital path. This distance is measured in AU (Astronomical Unit) taking Earth as reference with 1AU. Earth's aphelion is 149,597,870 km. Nibiru's aphelion works out to 443 AU. By comparison Neptune is 30 AU and Jupiter is 39 AU. Whilst Nibiru orbit would still be within the Solar System, the Sun's heliosphere (the region of the Sun's influence) extends only to 100-200 AU. That means for much of its orbit, Nibiru lies in the region known as the Oort Cloud which is an extremely icy part. Life is impossible. The only reason Sitchin gives Nibiru the 3,600 year orbit is to make it so far away you cannot see it. Sitchin couldn't see the development of Hubble and James Webb telescopes. Astrologers with today's technology can see way beyond the Milky Way Galaxy, and they see no signs of Nibiru. 

Actually there is no need for any astronomical refutation for the 3,600 year orbit. Just using common sense will do. The 3,600 time frame means between the Sumerian era and our present day, there should have been a Nibiru passing near Earth bringing cataclysmic events. Nothing of the sort happened or we won't be standing here. 

A large planet such as Nibiru orbiting round the Sun would have considerable gravitational impact on the other 8 planets. Although unseen, scientists would have detected the gravitational disturbance. Nothing of this sort has been detected. 

According to Sitchin, Nibiru's passing close to Earth cased the ice cap to melt which caused the great flood. Actually the huge gravitational disturbance of a large planet would most likely cause a cataclysmic event of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, huge tidal waves causing massive floods. But after Nibiru's passing through, the debris and cosmic dust that it brought in its tail, together with the volcanic dust, would have blocked out the sun for years, causing an ice age on Earth. 

As Sitchin would have it, ET settled in the Mesopotamia region on their quest to find gold. That region is not known to have gold deposits. The countries with high gold deposits are China, Russia, US, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Seems ET had poor technology detecting gold deposits. 

Sitchin claimed to have self-taught himself the Sumerian language thus he was able to interpret the ancient texts. Let's examine this. The cuneiform tablets were in both Sumerian and Akkadian. Sumerian is a language isolate and Akkadian is Semitic.The two are entirely different and Sitchin never mentioned if he knew Akkadian. Which means he never understood a good deal of the ancient Akkadian literature. Technically it is possible for one to self-taught any language today. But for an ancient language no longer in use, particularly a language isolate, it is extremely rare. The fact Sitchin had no background in Assyriology, linguistics, Near East history, and archaeology, makes it almost impossible. To make it really impossible, in the 20th century there was no data bases, there was no resource for him to refer to. All resources were in universities available only to specialist alumni. In short, Sitchin had no tools. As an analogy, because someone created the html codes, I have the tool to write some simple programmes. I would not know how to create the codes myself. Since Sumerian is a language isolate, it is even more difficult. Linguists took 30 years to understand Akkadian building their knowledge from archaeological records from places like Iran, Syria and Iraq. Fortunately, because Akkadian culture assimilated Sumerian, there were a lot of cross-over references. Akkadian is just like the Rosetta Stone which had triple inscriptions - Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic script (Eqyptians use this for official admin purposes) and Greek. This helped linguists to finally decipher hieroglyphics. In the same way, Akkadian helped in the deciphering of Sumerian, a task that took decades. There is no way Sitchin can just dive into Sumerian text and taught himself.  In any case learning ancient languages is a very restrictive and corroborative field. Sitchin was never in that kind of community. 

No scholar, archaeologist, historian, astrologer or linguist take Sitchin's works seriously. Critics argue Sitchin's theory is based on misinterpretation, pseudoscience and speculative story telling rather than factual evidence. They pointed out :

* There are numerous inaccuracies in his translation of ancient texts, often deviated wildly from accepted scholarly readings.

* Sitchin refers to Nibiru as an elongated planet. In Mesopotamian astrology, Nibiru is a term refering to celestial bodies, often Jupiter or Mercury, not as the name of a planet.

* There are no archaeological evidence whatsoever of Sitchin's claim of advanced technology, ET visitations, or a 12 planet system. 

* Anunnaki is a pantheon of mythological gods prevalent in Sumerian and Akkadian literature. Pantheon of gods are to be found in various other traditions. 

* There is no archaeological findings or ancient records to support his theory.

* The astronomical inaccuracies in his theory do not stand up to scrutiny.

* Genetic engineering by combining DNA of 2 species is pure pseudoscience.

* His work lacks peer review and do not conform to the methodologies used by historians, archaeologists or linguists. 

* He assumed Sumerian myths as facts and re-interpreted them through a sci-fi technology lens.

'12th Planet' was a huge commercial success in a world hungry for ET revelations. Sitchin understood he had hit the motherlode in a goldmine and went on to write further 11 books in his Earth's Chronicles series, with each book a blockbuster once it hit the shelves. Then of course followed the paid primetime TV interviews and talk circuits. He developed a cult following of sorts. There are probably more people who have read his books than the Bible. 

The Sumerian texts and poems are myths emphasising humanity's dependence on divine will, the fragility of life, and the cyclical nature of existence. These are themes that pervade cultures all over the world. Sitchin re-interprets the narrative into historical events in the distant past of alien intervention, presenting humans as part of a broader cosmic drama involving advanced beings. 

In the face of vast numbers of ancient structures all over the world that seem to point to the impossibility of civilisations past to have the technology, tools nor capability to construct them, ancient astronauts is a quick fix solution. It may well be we have not yet found the real answers to how the ancient folks completed the tasks. I am leaving the question open. But as to Zacharia Sitchin's theory, seems to me a case of pseudo-history sensationalised for book sales. 

Of course sensationalisation is always a rich bandwagon of queers including the contactee Nancy Lieder who claimed she received a message from ET in the Zeta Recticuli Star system who warned her of doomsday on May 2003 when a Planet X will pass Earth. When it didn't happen she flipped to 21 December 2012 the end of a 5,126 year cycle of the Mayan Long Calendar. Mayan's have long epoch changing calendars but they never talk of doomsday. Then there is David Icke who propagated the shape-shifting Reptilian ETs who are sitting in the corridors of power. Some suggest this is a trope for anti-Semiticism of a secretive cabal controlling the world. Then abductees (people who claimed they were abducted by ET) Betty and Barney Hill (1961) started the 'Grays' craze - the gray skins, large heads, slanted eyes, small bodies. I am sure you too have seen them - in some movies. And not to forget George Adamski the earliest contactee who in 1952 met in the California desert, the friendly Orthon, a humanoid ET from Venus.  In 1955 Adamski boarded spaceships of friendly ETs from Venus. He took photos with his modified telescopes which were later called out as hoax. 

Lieber's Planet X and Sitchin's Nibiru are now in public consciousness. Each time a significant comet is projected to be in the vicinity, Planet X and Nibiru get frontpage coverage, despite the fact astrologers for years have been saying there is no Planet X or Nibiru.

I cover Zachariah Sitchin here FIRSTLY as a personal release from the many times I have seen atheists and humanists pushing the 'science', and SECONDLY as a precursor to my next blog on Sumerian flood stories which are explosive to those who hear for the first time. It may cause some crisis of faith in Christians. I believe in addressing such inconvenient issues face on. I present the facts, suggest apologetic explanations, and show how faith may be strengthened under such circumstances. Follow me if you like to find out more. 

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PRE-JUDGING TRUMP PRESIDENTIAL PARDONS

One local Facebook contributor I follow is Michael Han, a practicing lawyer. He discusses random events and topics, sharing his thoughts, often with originality, and almost always imparting moral, ethical and righteous motivational vibes. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says but I can wager it all comes from a good heart. 

Michael is the kind of Singaporean that I have always clamoured for. The brilliant, wiser, privileged Singaporeans with whatever expertise, should come to the digital Grecian Agora of social media to share their views and help generate healthy meaningful discussions on issues of interest. The Agora was the space for free speech that underlined Greek democracy from which rich knowledge and wisdom spreaded.

Recently Michael wrote a bit on US presidential pardon and Trump. Unfortunately I disagree with much of his views. What stupifies me to no end is the vast number of very educated folks who are sticky to mainstream media biased narratives particularly on some controversial headings such as Trump, election fraud, Ukraine, Israel, pandemic, etc. This is not a hit piece on Michael, but in the spirit of the Agora, I like to share what I know. To be clear, I have no problems with a writer's opinions which are well-argued, which Michael often does. My focus is on the facts upon which the opinions were drawn from.  

Michael:

"You know in the Bible, there is what is unpardonable sin. Christians will know what it is. 

However, in America, with MAGA fever raging on like wild fire, nothing is unpardonable. And this is unprecedented. 

Trump, the President-elect, vows to pardon Jan 6 (“J6”) defendants on his inauguration. “I’m going to be acting very quickly, first day,” Trump said at an interview with NBC news.

He said there would be “some exceptions” to the rule, whom he described as “radical” or “crazy” during the Capitol attack, but the rest of them will be released from punishment."

Michael negatively associates MAGA with "fever", "raging", "wild fire" and "unprecedented". But really, if you had observed Trump's rallies, real political analysts will say it's the enthusiasm and energy of Trump's base. There has been no single incident of MAGA violence. The Democrat-allied partisan DOJ, FBI and media had prepped the public for years to expect outbreak of violence, mass shootings from white MAGA. This mind conditioning had been at a level that caused mass psychosis on the Left. In reality, violence, and threats have been from the Left, Black Lives Matter and Antifa. The Biden regime has done nothing with criminality of these groups. With each mass shooting incident, the Liberals had hoped to see a MAGA shooter. But it has turned out to be transgenders who had their minds messed up by psychotic drugs. 

Unpardonable sin in the Bible is about the rejection of the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet MAGA is diagonally at odds with Michael's view. MAGA is the side of the US divide that believes in the Judeo-Christian values of family, country, law (Constitution), personal responsibility, pro-life, meritocracy, etc. Trump and MAGA are bringing Christianity back to the US. Americans don't necessarily need to be Christians to be MAGA, they just needed common sense and share the same good values. 

The alternative Left wants the cultural chaos, divisiveness of DEI, destroy the country economically and militarily, defund police and lawlessness, break the judicial system, get rid of the Church, etc. Divide and conquer to retain powet. Obama is the original Grinch who stole Christmas, the role then passed on to Jill Biden. At a recent US Marine Corps Toys for Tots party at the White House, Jill Biden cut the ribbon and wished everyone "Happy Holiday". A MAGA child immediately corrected her shouting "Happy Christmas!". Merry Christmas would have been better, but nevertheless, Happy is acceptable. It's now OK once again to extend Christmas greetings. Michael should celebrate.

Michael wants to sparse the "pardonability" relating to the breaking of man-made laws, specifically the J6 incident, in the framework of Biblical sin, which is spiritual. 

There is a difference between Absalom's revolt against David, or Korah's uprising against Moses, versus Jehu's revolt against the House of King Ahab, or the revolt of the Maccabees against the Seleucid King Epiphanes. The first two were against righteous leaders, the last two were revolts against tyrants. Biblical justice punished the former two rebels, and rewarded the latter two.

The right to a peaceful protest is an American Constitutional guarantee and they used to be very proud of this that differentiates the US from other forms of government. MAGA was protesting about their claims of a stolen election. Whether their claim is fact or not is irrelevant to their right to protest. They were at the Capitol to demand Congress to stop certification of the electoral votes. 

Electoral votes will have to be certified to declare who is the elected president. This is nothing new. Certification has been challenged 3 times in the past. When challenged, Congress must then vote on whether to pass the certification. The MAGA protest was to support a Congressional vote. Whether Congress will vote depends on whether the GOP thinks they have the numbers. If they don't have the numbers, it would be futile. It seems the GOP was confident they had the numbers and that's why Congress chair Nancy Pelosi must have her "insurrection" to interrupt the session. After the "insurrection" and session reconvened, no lawmaker was ever going for a vote, and Biden had his certification. The point made is the MAGA protest is nothing about insurrection, however breaking any laws in the process is a different matter. 

In the context of J6, the unwavering scale of justice must weigh the unlawful acts of demonstrators against the severity of charges framed.

Trump has made it clear in various interviews that many committed trespass and mischief in the Capitol, some acted with violence, and these have to account for their actions. But many more were simply waved into the Capitol by guards. Some were not even present at the Capitol, eg Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and MAGA Jeremy Rogers.

I'm amazed Michael makes no mention of dual standards of law under the Biden regime. The George Floyd riots and Trump 2017 inauguration were far more violent with massive damage to properties than J6, yet there was not a single arrest and prosecution. Simply because these were privileged non-MAGAs. 

Michael : 

If you want to know who are less radical and/or crazy, there are at least 1,572 defendants charged over the J6 assault on the Capitol, which has led to more than 140 police officers injured and several deaths. 

Michael is being partisan by failing to mention malice on the part of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. As Speaker, Pelosi is in charge of the affairs of Washington DC. She intentionally rejected Trump's offer of 10,000 National Guards to beef up security. When it was known 1 million MAGA will attend the protest rally, Pelosi by design, threw the small Capitol force to the crowd. The Dems want the optics of a wild crowd destroying everything in its path, including police officers, so Pelosi et al can have their insurrection. Pelosi had scan concern for the safety of police officers. 

Five police officers died. One on J6 others subsequently by suicide, whether directly from the mental trauma of the event is a matter of opinion. 

No MAGA assaulted police officers directly. In the mad jostling and pushing escalated by police use of tear gas, concussion grenades and rubber bullets fired into a peaceful crowd, people get hurt, including police officers. On the other hand, there is video evidence of police brutality.

Liz Cheney panel called up 4 officers in the hearing who cried giving evidence and became media stars and J6 heroes. These were Sgt Aquilino Gonell, Michael Fanone, Harry Dunn, and Daniel Hodges. The Commission had 14,000 hours of video but released only selective snippets. Eventually after Congress chair Mike Johnson released the full videos, which understandably freaked out the Commission members, the public saw untold tales. There was demand for a new inquiry and the four J6 heroes be grilled because their false testimonies destroyed lives and sent MAGA to 20 years jail.    

There were five deaths that day, one police officer and four MAGA. The truth of the circumstances were never told. The details change minds on who were the good guys and who were the bad. 

Officer Brian Sicknick - Media spun the story the way the government wanted it out. It was first reported Sicknick was bludgeoned on the head by MAGA with a fire extinguisher. His head was smashed. They wanted the ugliest killing to hang on Trump and the news flashed for 24 hours. Then he died of heart attack. Later was sprayed with a chemical which caused a heart attacked and he died 7 hrs 40 minutes later. That last bit was released by Chief of DC Medical Examiner Roger Mitchell. According to media, Sicknick died before his actual death at 10 pm on Jan 7.

Evidence shows a different story. At about 3pm MAGA Rod Taylor noticed Sicknick looked like having a stroke and helped him to a police area asking them to help him. At 7.30 pm MAGA Chris Alberts, a trained medic worker, realised Sicknick's dire conditions and begged police to get help. Police refused to let Alberts to attend to Sicknick. They basically told Alberts to mind his own business. Sicknick collapsed at about 10 pm and died 24 hours later. Dr Les Schwamm, a stroke expert at Harvard, said a chemical spray could not have caused a stroke. A private investigation showed Mitchell's work as ME has some concerns. Mitchell is the ME who examined the body of George Floyd and determined death was due to the chokehold by Officer Chauvin who is now serving long jail term for second degree murder. Latest autopsy report says Floyd died due fentanyl overdose. 

What this means? It's just an opinion here. They had to attribute to chemical spray as cause of death to pin Sicknick's death on MAGA.

Ashli Babbitt - MAGA Taylor Hansen videoed everything. He was with Babbitt when they moved to the Speaker's door. Everything was peaceful. You could hear their casual conversation with a Capitol security employee and Hansen offering Officer Yetter water. There were 3 cops stationed outside the door. One MAGA Zachary Alam was trying to break a side window to the door. Babbitt sounded impatient at police for not restraining Alam. She said to officer Yetter protesters have a right to be there, better go get more cops. Yetter moved out of Alam's way and the MAGA smashed the window. That gave an opening for Lieutenant Michael Byrd to shoot from the inside. Yetter must have seen Byrd raise his gun. He ducked and at the same time pushed his colleagues back as they were in the line of fire. Babbitt grabbed Alam's backpack to restrain him. That's when Bird fired. 

The video shows what transpired - Babbitt was trying to de-escalate the situation, Byrd fired like a clumsy sloppy cop straight into a group of people which included colleagues. Standing behind the secure door, Byrd was not in any imminent danger personally to justify use of firearms. Byrd's sloppiness is well known in the story of how he once left his service handgun in a public toilet. Babbitt was not an insurrectionist but a peaceful protester killed by a trigger-happy cop. In our local NS parlance, Byrd was gabra (prone to irrational panic-stricken reactions).

Rosanne Boyland - she was down on the ground due to the gas. Phillip Andelson got to her to try to help but was himself tramppled almost to death and fortunately was dragged to safety by others. Police refused to assist. Washing DC Chief Examiner Dr Francisco Diaz said death was due to acute amphetamine intoxication. Yes, she was under Aderall medication so traces of drug may be in her body which the ME could see. Actual cause of death? Video shows Officer Lila Morris repeatedly hitting her savagely with something like a walking stick while Boyland was lying unconscious on the ground. It's strange Dr Diaz can see traces of drugs but not the contusions from the blows by Officer Morris.

Benjamin Phillips - The protest had been peaceful. Protestors were telling police not to shoot them and chanting "USA, USA". Then suddenly a concussion grenade (flashbang) was thrown into the crowd. Another 3 then followed straight into the middle of the crowd. The first hit Phillips and he was burnt. He died that day. Police then charged into the crowd to push them back.

Curiously, all five were cremated.

Demonstration was basically peaceful up to that point. Inspector General Michael A. Bolton said the Civil Disturbance Unit were told concussion grenades were not to be used that day. Even if they were to be used, standard safety procedures were not followed. 

There must be a warning announcement that basically say OK it is no longer a protest, it is now a riot. The crowd then must be asked to disperse peacefully. None of this happened. Concussion grenades, Tear Gas and rubber bullets are only used in situations when crowd is out of control. When used, it has to be done in certain ways, not indiscriminately lobbing into the middle of the crowd. All normal safety protocols were not followed. Instead of correctly using it to disperse crowds, police escalated a peaceful protest into a riot as protestors fight to get out of the way. 

(In my national service I trained in the SPF Riot Squad once. In SAF we had riot control drills. I know the basics in crowd control and safety procedures).

Kevin Gleeson - He died under more or less same circumstances as Phillips - hit by a concussion grenade. 

Concussion grenades produce an instant bright flash and a deafening sound. They are meant to shock and momentarily stun. However, it can be fatal for a person placed near to where a concussion grenade explodes. 

One of Liz Cheyney's 4 hero cops of the day Sgt Aquilino Gonell gave evidence in the trial of J6er Kyle Fitzsimons. Unlike the House Commission where witnesses were given softball questions, in the courtroom the defence counsel showed no mercy. Gonell was shown to have committed perjury in the Commission. Amongst his various actions, his claim of concern for demonstrators by baton hitting them only on the limbs was a lie. Fritzsimons suffered a broken skull. 

Were provocateurs amongst the crowd? Throughout the event, video shows suspicious characters egging the crowd to violence and  MAGA shouting "Fed, Fed" when they spotted a provocateur, warning others not to enter the Capitol. Inspector General Horrowitz has recently released his J6 report. He disclosed 26 FBI agents were in the crowd. This has placed several FBI executives on the chopping board for lying under oath in various congressional enquiries when they denied they had agents working in the crowd. 

FBI agents hatched, funded, and led the plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (so they can have their white supremacist terrorists narrative). Hmmm wonder what they were doing amongst the MAGA crowd.

Two prominent provocateurs are persons of great interest for the umbrella  provided to them by FBI.. 

John Sullivan - He claimed to be press taking documentaries. He was seen actively instigating the crowd forward. He was inside the Capitol. CNN paid him for US$90,000 for his film. J6ers identified were immediately arrested and thrown into the gulag for years without trial. Unlike J6ers who kept low profile to avoid arrest, Sullivan went the media interview rounds getting paid and his 6 minutes of fame. FBI resisted arrest of Sullivan for years. Despite Sullivan had on a MAGA cap, FBI didn't think he was MAGA, and left him alone. The evidence is impossible to deny and FBI had no choice but to charge him eventually. Unlike MAGA who rotted in jail pending trial, Sullivan remained free until his April 2024 hearing when he was sentenced to 6 years jail, compared to MAGA that received 20+ years for far lesser roles. 

The court described Sullivan as a "chaos agent", not insurrectionist like MAGA. There is no mention Sullivan is a Black Lives Matter leader of the Utah BLM chapter and that he trains others how to organise violent protests. He has participated in BLM and Antifa riots. The fact is, under the dual judicial system of Biden regime, BLM and Antifa gets the soft touch, MAGA gets the whole book thrown at them and more. 

Ray Ebbs - If anyone were to make a movie of the J6, Ebbs would be the central character. He was in fact on the grounds on J5 instigating people to enter the Capitol. On J6 itself, Ebbs popped up everywhere in countless videos, playing an active roll instigating the crowd to move forward, take down barriers. He was in fact a director and a cheorographer at the scene. 

Just like Sullivan, FBI did not see Ebbs as MAGA despite him with the hat on in every second of videos available. Just like Sullivan, the evidence against Ebbs is impossible to deny and finally FBI had no choice but to charge him. Again, just like Sullivan, Ebbs served no time in jail pending his trial. Every MAGA except Ebbs that touched the banner that was hurled at police are rotting in jail. In Jan 2024 Ebbs was given 1 year probation which re-ignited the conspiracy theory he is an FBI agent. 

The bomber - Finally, another mystery one needs to look at before coming to a good cop/bad cop decision. A mysterious character placed 2 bombs, one each near Republican and Democrat convention office. There are many questions FBI needs to come clean -- who was the man who alighted from a police car carrying a bag and headed towards the area near DNC office where the bomb was found 12 minutes later; why after the bomb was discovered VP Harris was allowed entry to the DNC barely 10 yards away; why after the bomb was discovered at DNC the place was not cordoned off - some police officers were chatting idly at their car parked there and kids were walking the street; why did the Secret Service wipe out all mobile data on J6 (systems update claimed, same reason given in the Trump assassination attempt at Butler); why is it impossible to ID the man in hood carrying a bag caught on camera in the bomb vicinity; why geoposition technology is able to track grandmas who entered the Capitol but cannot pick out the bomber; why did FBI Washington DC Field Office director Steve D'Antuoro tell House Judicial Committee the bombs were inoperable when FBI lab report said they were in fact operable; why did D'Artuoro also said some of the cellular data they received were corrupted so FBI could not track everyone, but Cellular Carriers said all data they provided were not corrupted. 

Nothing is black and white. It is hoped incoming FBI director Kash Patel will preside over a more thorough, unbiased and transparent investigation.

Michael:

Of that total (1,572), more than 1,251 have been convicted or pleaded guilty. 645 have been sentenced to prison, “with punishment ranging from a few days to 22 years.” And Trump has vowed on his first day to pardon most of them, that is, those charged, had pleaded guilty and/or is now serving time. Whether he will carry them out is another thing altogether. 

Majority of those who entered the Capitol were waved in by security. A couple of windows were broken. None of the special tampered glass doors were broken. They were auto-locked and controlled from inside. So who ordered the doors be opened?  

Those who committed no other crimes inside the Capitol were guilty of trespass, a misdemeanor but ended up with the serious charge of insurrection.

Many ended up with the serious 18 USC2383 Rebellion and Resurrection, it is a curious case of participation in such an enterprise without organization, arms or even a pitchfork. Others like Proud Boys faced 18 USC 2384 Seditious Conspiracy. Proud Boys were actually there to provide security. It was a good thing they decided not to carry arms that day. These 2 serious charges are about acts to overthrow the government. When you look at 80 year old grandmas and grandpas and the Qanon Shaman wandering in the building, and everyone taking selfies with Capitol cops, it was more a tourist scene than an insurrection. 

The heavy jail terms belie the atrocities of the criminal acts. One would think they must have been extremely violent (Michael says "radical") to receive those harsh sentences. Many received in excess of 10 years simply by strolling inside the Capitol. The fact is DOJ used the most serious charge they can find to inflict the most painful consequences on MAGA. That is 18 USC1512(c)(2) Obstruction of an official proceeding. That proceeding of course was the certification of the 2020 election. The spectacle of mass incarceration with heavy jail time is Stalinsque and meant for only one purpose - to break the back of the MAGA movement.

In June 2024 SCOTUS ruled in the case of J6er Joseph Fischer v United States. The Supreme Court basically narrowed the interpretation of this section of the Sarbans Oxley Act. The ruling is 1512(c)(2) prohibits only acts that impair the integrity or availability of evidence in an official congressional proceeding. This means that many J6ers rotting in jail have been wrongfully convicted under this charge which carries a hefty jail penalty.

What's more important is SCOTUS ruling is terrible bad news for Liz Cheney and the J6 Congressional Committee which I explain later. The court rules :

* This law cannot be used for prosecuting obstructive conduct unrelated to destroying evidence intended in an official inquiry. 

* It is still possible to violate 1512(c)(2) by creating false evidence, impairing witness testimony, or tampering with intangible information. 

Michael:

Tbh, looking at the globe today, a world heading towards some existential climate judgment, I can’t tell who are radical and/or crazy and who are not anymore.

It's very easy Michael. Every demonstration which have been violent have been on the Left. There were no MAGA in the George Floyd riots, no MAGA in the anti-semite rallies, no MAGA in "from the River to the Sea" demonstrations, no MAGA in various riots of BLM and Antifa, such as in Portland, or Kenosha, or Trump's inauguration 2017. 

Michael:

The most powerful nation whose founding fathers had created a supposedly resilient constitution that is founded on life, liberty, equality and the pursuit of happiness is now struggling to balance all that with the pursuit of power, self-preservation and the protection of the ultra-rich. And it seems like the balance is skewed towards the latter with ominous developments unfolding.

An observation that is true in most countries, including Singapore. I am not sure if the "ominous developments unfolding" is an opinion on the general or specific to the ascend of Trump. If for the latter, I am bewildered. How is it not possible to see the GOP is now the party of the People. Major part of the old neocon warmonger party dynasties have been forced out by Trump - the Bush, McCain, Cheneys, Romney. There are still some neocons lurking, like Lindsey Graham. The GOP promises the freedom, safety and economic wellbeing of US citizens first. It seeks world peace. It promises accountability and justice. How can these things to look forward to be ominous? 

Michael:

With the offer for presidential pardons being tossed around like free petals, starting with Biden pardoning his son, which he had vowed not to do, it’s free for all for the excitable Trump to do as thou pleases. Alas, a popular President cannot help but be a diehard populist.

Why do Trump-haters believe in lies about the man and prejudges on every assumption. Trump has said J6ers who broke laws will have to bear the consequences. But those with minor offences will be pardoned. Taking into consideration SCOTUS' decision on non-applicability of 18 USC1512(c)(2), J6ers should have at least 10 years knocked off their sentence. 

Michael implies Trump will free everyone. Pardons apply only to Federal Offences. The Constitution provides the president with powers to pardon for specific reasons - to balance the authority of the Judiciary, promote national unity, correct judicial errors, mercy and compassion

In his first term Trump pardoned 143. Obama over 2 terms pardoned 212 and commuted 1,700 sentences.  With J6ers, Trump second term pardons are likely to be between 500-1,000. Compare to Roosevelt -3,689; Wilson - 3,480; Coolidge - 1,545; Truman - 1,914; Eisenhower -1,110. Trump won't be so excitable after all. 

The term populist is bandied as some vile disease. Trump is a president of the people. What is wrong with that. Does Republican Abraham Lincoln's ".. government of the people, by the people and for the people.."  make him a populist? Republican Ronald Reagan was a populist, but he made American great again after the disastrous Democrat Jimmy Carter. The issue is not being a populist, it is does a populist renege on his promises to the people. Will  Republican Trump make America great again after the disastrous 4 years of Democrat Biden?

Years of globalist elitist overlord has brought Western countries cultural chaos and economic disarray and tempting a nuclear world war. Populist leaders are clawing back. Marine Le Pen, Victor Orban , Georgia  Meloni, Geart Wilders, Jarislaw Kaczynski, Matteo Salvini, Robert Fico, now Ttump, and soon Brexit King Nigel Farage, will lead the world back to sanity. All these are populist leaders. 

Michael:

And it doesn’t stop there. Trump also threatened to imprison the former Republican Liz Cheney and other members of the congressional committee who have been investigating the J6 Capitol attack. 

Trump promises accountability - prosecution, not persecution. In his first term, Trump neither persecuted nor prosecuted Hillary Clinton for election interference with the "Russian" hoax. He said it does not look good for a president to prosecute a political opponent. On the other hand, Trump faced insurmountable persecution under the Biden regime. 

In Trump term 2, expect a different president. All politicians and the Swamp creatures who broke laws will have the new DOJ and FBI coming after them. It is not retribution or revenge, but for far too long, Democrats have gotten away breaking laws. It's about to change. 

Liz Cheney and J6 Commission panel have much to fear. SCOTUS clearly set out in June 2024 in the Joseph Fisher v United States  ruling that creating false evidence, impairing witness testimony, or tampering with intangible information is violation of 18 USC 1512(c)(2), a very serious felony. Panel members went extensively into editing textual and video evidences, presenting only one-sided views, denying witnesses who can offer different accounts to be called, and coaching witnesses. And the most unforgivable - all transcripts and evidence gathered have been destroyed. If they are so sure they have done a great job and revealed the truth of J6, why are these not archived the way it is supposed to be legally, so that it may aid follow-up prosecution?  Only evil needs to hide. Truth lives in bright sunshine. 

To list other criminal acts apart from destroying all evidence gathered would require several pages. For illustration I will just mention the one nail into Liz Cheney' coffin.

This relates to their so-called star witness, White House employee Cassidy Hutchinson. She was represented by attorney Stefan Passantino at the time when Liz Cheney communicated with her both directly and through Hutchinson's friend Alyssa Griffin. This was unethical and a complaint has been lodged against Cheney with the Bar Council in October. 

Hutchinson's evidence included 9 lies under oath. I will just mention the sensational lie. She said Trump was in "the Beast" (presidential limousine) when he insisted on going back to Capitol Hill after hearing there was violence. The Secret Service refused. He was angry and shouted "I'm the f..king President!" and tried to grab the steering wheel. When restrained he, grabbed the neck of Agent Bobby Engel. This was a lie because Trump was not in the Beast on J6 and Agent Engel wanted to testify against the lie but the Commission did not call him. Don't need a law degree to think the first person Liz Cheney would call to verify would be the driver Hill Billy Hecker. Hill's attorney Julie Kelly said Cheney never called. 

Cheney coached Hutchinson what to say, thus committed suborned perjury. 

Justice, not retribution, is coming for hundreds of Liberals in the Swamp. Some of the crimes committed have been very serious. Chair of Joint Chief of Staff Gen Mark Milley committed treason when he told the CCP he will inform the Chinese of any pre-emptive US strikes. He also blocked Trump's orders for use of National Guards for J6. The 51 ex- and sitting heads of various intelligence agencies interfered with the 2020 election by signing off the advertorial that Hunter's laptop story is a Russian propaganda. AG Bill Barr said he had investigated complaints of 2020 vote fraud and found no evidence to substantiate it when in fact he did nothing. On the other hand, DOJ official Jeff Clark disclosed in a Congressional hearing Barr shut down 3 invrstigations when he was presented evidence. Who in FBI authorised the Whitmer kidnap plot? These are just tip of the iceberg. 

Liz Cheney and the J6 Commission panel's inquiry was not searching for truth, but simply to damage Trump politically and find a way to bar him from public office forever. 

Michael:

This is not surprising because Trump is the main suspect as their so-called ring leader and is facing multiple charges. If not for his electoral victory, he would have been tried for instigating the J6 attack. You can say that he had dodged more than one bullet, or in this case, a cannon ball? 

Absolutely not. There was no evidence to tie Trump or anyone to any organized uprising. There was a rally, Trump and many others were speakers. After the speeches, some of the crowd moved to the nearby Capitol to protest the electoral vote certification.  This is stone cold fact. 

The Congressional Committee's investigation is for the purpose of assisting in legislation. It is not a prosecutorial investigation. It may refer to the DOJ for possible action and the AG may or may not act on it. 

If the AG is as sure as Michael that Trump instigated a what, riot or insurrection?, trigger-happy AG Garland would have jumped on it ahead of the Commission to bask in the Liberal glory. The fact is, and which Liz Cheney and the Commission refused to show the public, evidence points to Trump (1) advising MAGA who wanted to protest at the Capitol after the rally to go do so peacefully, (2) when violence broke out Trump called on to supporters over Twitter to stand down and go home peacefully. 

There is also the claims and counter claims the Commission was constituted illegally.  If so, it follows the findings will have no bearings on any follow through legal proceedings. This fight of illegal constitution will have to go all the way to the Supreme Court. 

The Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight investigating into the J6 Committee's investigation has just released its interim report. And it does not look good for Liz Cheney et al. It contains serious condemnations on the process and criminal behaviour. The panel members all need to lawyer up because the incoming no-nonsense AG Pam Bondi is nothing like the slippery lawless AG Garland.. 

Michael:

It is therefore human nature of self-preservation to go for the jugular on the first day, or the many days after his crowning. I suspect that that would be of the foremost priority in his term of office - to be declared innocent by fiat even before the ink on the jury’s verdict slip dries. 

Nice rhetoric. Trump has lot's of priorities to save a drowning country. Personally, I think his top of the top item is deportation of illegal immigrants. 

Michael:

All said, Trump is the luckiest man alive at 79 when he ascends to the power seat of mercy tossing and loyalty rewarding. 

He is the luckiest man alive not because of the power to toss mercy and loyalty, but because he survived two assassination attempts. He humbly acknowledged his survival by the providence of God. There must be something very powerful to drive a very successful billionaire, advanced in age, to want to volunteer for public service where his life is under such constant threats no other US president before him, nay all other world leaders, ever faced, instead of enjoying his final years. Michael thinks it is for the prize of the seat of mercy tossing and loyalty rewarding. I think it is something that goes back some 40 years ago where he told Oprah Winfrey he had no interest in politics but may consider a presidential run when he feels the country is going off the rails. The way I see it, the US had gone off the rails under Obama, almost hitting the apex of insanity under Biden. 

Michael:

Trump is therefore turning the tide on his prosecutors by first announcing his broad-brush pardon for the foot soldiers, that is, the less crazy ones of course. 

That is the first step, to discredit and crush the investigation committee by labelling them as corrupt. This will naturally create a tsunamis of populist support, dividing the nation further, before they start to clamour for the perceived innocence of their presidential messiah. 

When that day comes, and it will, Trump will be elevated even more, as the Great America become his very own judge, jury and executioner. 

Great rhetoric again. But silent on the fact the  Subcommittee interim report on the J6 Committee Investigation under current Biden regime is already out. And it's damning on Liz Cheney et al.

Michael:

Plato has warned us about this aeons ago, but we are just too caught up with the tyranny of the now to bother to look out for the warning signs. If we had been the frog in the pot, its boiling time. 

Michael refers to the "tyranny of now"? Last time I checked "now" is still the Biden admin. If not for Elon Musk taking over Twitter, Americans by now would have lost their cherished freedom of expression. Americans would not have seen how government intel agencies tightened the noose for information by coercing Big Media to shut down contrarian conservative views. Americans by now have seen how FBI and DOJ have been weaponised against conservatives, especially MAGA and Christians. We see Christians praying in front of Planned Motherhood clinics get thrown into jail; how Churches were put under surveillance; how mothers who stood up at school board meetings to criticise the sex-obsessed curriculum faced legal suits; we see how prosecutorial teams made unprecedented visits to the White House for corroboration, consultation and possibly for instructions, in those Trump cases; we see how J6er grandmas and grandpas were arrested by full-blown turnout of SWAT teams, assault weapons drawn, all for full optic effect and obliging some leftist media reporter who somehow always got the scoop to turn up for such occasions, when all that prosecutors needed to do was despatch a summon to report to a police station; small business operators get arrested for fighting off thieves, etc. On the other hand we see murderers set free for being on the correct ideological side; race-hate activist Jussie Smollett got-off jail for his fake hate crime lynching stunt; aliens who rape and murder get released back into sanctuary cities, etc.  

American liberals are still the frogs in the pot.  MAGA has gotten off the pot long ago and frustrated a communist takeover of the country.

Michael:

Maybe it is more complicated, because any human system is bound to be exploited, and soon as the cracks open up, voters’ trust is lost, and mutinies are bound to rise up. It’s the ad nausam recycling of history. His or her story repeated with no end. 

Couldn't agree more. The pendulum swings Left for liberals' march to Communism, it swings Right to conservatism for families, personal responsibilities, the right to free speech, association and religion. The sun shines brighter on the Right. 

Michael:

Desperation empowers desperation, and sanity, balance and the rule of law are sacrificed at the altar of the lust for power, greed and self-exaltation. This drama has been played out in Athenian democracy, and dramatised in movies, as a celebration of human creativity and ingenuity. 

But we never learnt; that should be the main theme of our story. And that is also what makes us the unenviable humankind, that is, the kind that screws herself up on the never-arriving destination towards perfection.

Great closing rhetoric. But I think it's missing the big picture. 

Michael's article centres on the presidential pardons issue that he broadens to dig into the ethics and morals on a man he clearly finds detestable. What I have done to counter Michael's views is presenting a lot of facts which are mostly unknown to people who do not have skin in the game and whose views are coloured by mainstream media biased narratives. 

I think everyone sees the cultural and political chaos in the Western countries and don't understand why. The great White race seems to be committing suicide. It is not a natural evolution of human interactions, but by ideological design. 

I explained in an older blog "Trump Stopped The Elites March To The End of History" that tectonic shifts in the social / political world in modern history always has causation in some ideological developments. The big picture in our lifetime is the alignment of neoliberalism and globalist elitism to whom the "End of History" is the Global Reset.  Cutting out all the WEF summits, papers, and mumbo jumbos, the Great Reset in the most basic way that I can put it, is a new borderless world where everyone has basic needs cared for but at the sacrifice of substantial personal rights, freedom and individualism, where everything about the individual is in some digital database so not towing the line will never be an option. The world will be better managed by AI-enabled technological elites who control the Earth's resources and ....you. 

To redesign a new society, one must first destroy the old. Just like Communism went on its destructive path. How can one make sense of the atrocities Lenin, Mao and Pol Pot took in the path to destroy hundreds of millions of lives? 

It fascinates me why the very intelligent class in Western countries, and Singapore, cannot comprehend this ideological shift is the only sensible explanation for the insanity going on. But of course they do ... they only happen to think they belong to the ruling class for whom the Great Reset is Michael's destination of "perfection" or Freidrich Hegel and Francis Fukuyama's "end of history". 

Addendum:

In scrutinising Trump on the pardons, Michael kept his eyes away from Biden. The news is now out Biden has pardoned 37 out of 40 prisoners in the Federal Death row. These are people who have committed the worst dastardly of crimes. Biden is not crazy. He is burning the Democrat house down for their  betrayal in the coup to replace him with Kamala Harris. This act would have made many Liberal frogs now realise the water is boiling. 

Some mercy tossing, that. 

 

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SYRIAN CIVIL WAR HAS RE-IGNITED - ANOTHER COMPLICATED MIDDLE EAST MESS AND WHO'S WHO EXPLAINED

The Syrian civil war broke out in 2011 and has never been resolved. Several truce agreements were signed by various parties and fighting simmered down, but localised violence breaks out occasionally. This week, the opposition coalition mounted a strong offensive and has taken control of a major part of Aleppo covering 9 districts. It was a rout as Russian and Syrian forces pulled out without much of a fight.

Aleppo is the largest city of Syria. It's an important economic hub of Syria, and a cultural centre. Loosing Aleppo has serious economic consequences for the government and more importantly it has lost control on the northern part of the country which is claimed by Kurdish separatists. 

Events are moving rapidly as rebel forces are racing south towards Damascus at 50 mph. Before I can publish this blog the Syrian Salvation Army were already in Hama and advancing towards Homs, the third largest Syrian city and an industrial base. From Homs they are half the way to Damascus.

Like Aleppo, Syrian and Russian forces pulled out of Hama without a fight. Rebels now control the military airport in Hama used by the Russians. Moscow was obviously infuriated and has recalled the Russian chief of operations.

The rebels' advance into Aleppo and Hama was a replay of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in the speed and the collapse of Assad's forces and quick withdrawal of the Russians. It took four days after the fall of Aleppo before Russian planes began bombing the rebel forces. .

Meanwhile in Damascus. Bashar Ashad has gone awol. He has not been seen since the fighting began and rumour is swirling a coup is underway, quite possibly led by his brother who controls the Fourth Division of Syrian Army. There is fighting going on in the capital.

Like most conflicts in the Middle East, this one is a clusterfuck of complexities involving multi-state and non-state actors making it a cauldron of violence with potential for more disastrous outcomes. The map below is a visualisation of the complicated situation.

The civil war in brief : In 2010, "Arab Spring" which is a popular uprising fueled by demands for political freedoms, economic reforms, and an end to corruption and authoritarianism, started in Tunisia. It soon spread to many countries in the Middle East and erupted in Syria 2011. Assad's government was dominated by Alawites, a minority Sunni sect, which alienated and marginalised the majority Sunni population and persecuted the minority Kurds. Poverty and great disparity of wealth fueled social discontent which was exacerbated by a severe drought from 2006-2010. This devastated agriculture and rural folks flocked to urban centres. Municipal and social services collapsed. Syrians demonstrated and the Assad government came down hard on the people. Violence erupted and patriotic forces formed, reinforced by Syrian army defections. It soon attracted outside Islamist fighters and terrorists. The opposition forces is a mix of nationalists, Islamists, terrorists and Kurdish separatists.

The state players:

* Assad regime which is Alawite, a minority sect of Sunni Islam. It is corrupt, oppressive and authoritarian.

* Russia's purpose in Syria is to project their power in the Middle East. It has 83 bases and outposts in Syria and has to prop up the Assad regime to maintain these installations. Russian presence enhances its military and intelligence capabilities, to counter the influence of Western and regional powers, particularly the US, and Iran. Although both Russia and Iran support Syria, they are wary of each other's influence expansionism plans. This has generated suspicion and non-cooperation, for example, Russia held back on any action against Israel when it attacked Iran's interest. This rivalry and non-cooperation probably was a contributing factor in the hasty recapture of Aleppo by the rebels.

* Iran's interest in Syria is generally to expand Shite influence in the Arab world, and specifically to protect their ground corridor supply route of weapons delivery to the Lebanon theatre for their proxy Hezbollah's war against Israel. That supply route uses the M5 Highway which is now cut off by the rebels. Iran's indiscriminate use of civilian planes to carry military weaponries use Aleppo as a staging area which will now likely fall into rebel hands.

* Turkey has an ongoing war with minority Kurds on the East led by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who has plans for an independent Kurdistan. PKK operates in Turkey and have historical and ideological ties with Kurds in NE Syria and Northern Iraq. In Syria, Turkey supports the rebel faction Syrian National Army (SNA) as its proxy against the Kurdish led Syrian Democratic Forces. It also has Turkish troops to maintain security at the borders. Turkey does not support the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) due to its terrorist links, but is tolerated to stabilise the border region which prevents inflow of refugees into Turkey.. Turkey's goals are twofold - support a rebel group as proxy against Assad to counter Shite Iran's influence, and build a buffer zone along the Turkey-Syria border to prevent the union of Kurds from the two countries.

* Saudi, Qatar and UAE, all Sunni countries, support various Sunni Islamist factions. most of which are terrorist organisations, to counter the Iranian Shite influence in Syria.

* The US objective in Syria is counter-international terrorism, counter the spread of Russian and Iranian influence, training and support the Kurds and non-radical rebel forces, intelligence gathering, and generally to protect its economic interest in the region. The US used to have a massive military base southeast of Damascus, known as Al-Tanf, which remains a key strategic location in the Syrian conflict. Established in 2016, Al-Tanf served as a hub for counter-ISIS operations and the training of Syrian opposition factions like the Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT). The base is located near the tri-border area with Jordan and Iraq, along the Baghdad-Damascus M5 highway. US supports the Kurdish forces in northern Iraq and northern Syria. In this, the US has to be sensitive of its relation with Turkey because the Kurds are aligned with the Turkish PKK which is a designated terrorist force by Turkey and EU. The US used to have 32 bases and outposts in Syria but no longer. However it is still actively operating alongside local partners, especially the Kurds who have proven to be loyal allies.

The rebel forces:

Comprise of various Islamist nationalists, terrorists groups, and Kurdish separatists. They are of different ideological factions of Sunnis, Shites, Salafis, and minority Christians and Yazadis. All are intent on kicking out the Assad Regime who are minority Alawites which has governed the only secular state in the Middle East for decades, and to replace it with same authoritarian Islamist state. Main groups are :

1. Syrian Salvation Government (SSG):

The SSG is the civilian administrative and political wing of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which evolved from al-Nusra Front, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda. Few minor independent factions include remnants of groups like Hurras al-Din (linked to al-Qaeda). HTS is a hardline Islamist group with vision of governance under Sharia law. It operates primarily in northwest Syria, focusing on maintaining control over Idlib and resisting both the Assad regime and other opposition groups, particular the Kurdish factions.

The SSG was established in 2017 to centralize governance in opposition-held areas, aiming to shift focus from military rule to civil administration. It controls various services such as education, justice, and infrastructure in the regions it administers. It has no backers, surviving on fees and tax revenue from the area it controls. It is questionable how it can fund its arms built-up.

Turkey does not directly support the HTS because of its links to terrorist group al-Qaeda. However, it tolerates and depends on HTS to maintain stability in the area to prevent a flood of refugees into Turkey.

It was the HTS that launched the offensive to retake Aleppo and with that all various factions had to react and throw Syria into violent turmoil again.

2. Free Syrian Army (FSA):

Factions include Syrian Liberation Front (SLF) known for being a coalition of moderate Islamist groups, including Suquor al-Sham and the Farouq Battalions; Syrian Islamic Front (SIF) previously an alliance of several Islamist brigades, the SIF included Ahrar al-Sham, one of the most prominent groups in the Syrian Civil War; Syrian National Army (SNA).

The FSA was formed in 2011 by defectors from the Syrian Arab Army who opposed President Bashar al-Assad’s government during the early stages of the Syrian Civil War. It aimed to unify various opposition groups into a centralized force. Initially secular and nationalist, advocating for democracy and the overthrow of Assad.

Over time, the FSA fragmented into smaller factions which shifted allegiance to the Turkey-backed militias under the umbrella of the Syrian National Army (SNA). As a Turkish proxy, it battles Kurdish groups like the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF); and some smaller independent groups.

Backers are the United States, Turkey, and Gulf Arab states at various points, though support has waned due to factionalism and limited success against Assad’s forces.

3. Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF):

Established in 2015, the SDF is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious coalition dominated by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). smaller factions are Women's Protection Units (YPJ) – A Kurdish women-led military force closely aligned with the YPG; Syriac Military Council (MFS) – Representing Christian Syriac-Assyrians; Euphrates Liberation Brigade – An Arab faction; Manbij Military Council – Includes groups like the Liwa Tahrir al-Furat, Free Officers Union; Al-Sanadid Forces – A tribal force mainly from the Shammar tribe and Deir ez-Zor Military Council – Comprising Arab fighters from the Deir ez-Zor region. SDF is secular and left-leaning, with a strong focus on regional autonomy and democratic governance in the areas it controls. It governs the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, a self-declared autonomous region.

SDF has the toughest jobs amongst the rebel groups. It battles Assad's army; as a US ally, it battles ISIS; it battles Turkish army which has a small force in the Turkey-Syria borders; and it battles Turkey's proxy the Syrian National Army (SNA) of the Free Syrian Army coalition.

The Kurdish factions YPG and YPJ are supported by the US. Kurdish fighters have proven to be loyal and reliable allies of the US in the wars in Iraq. The image here shows Turkish forces entering Aleppo with US-supplied hardware. After HTS first advanced into Aleppo, the SDF moved quickly to take control of other provinces not yet taken over by HTS.

4. Maghawir al-Thawra (MaT):

Also known as the Revolutionary Comman Army, this is a nationalist Syrian rebel group that seeks to establish governance free from Assad regime. It is aligned with the Free Syrian Army (FSA). It is supported by the US. It operates primarily from the US-controlled al-Tanf military base and helps maintain the area's security as a strategic buffer against threats from ISIS and Iranian-backed militias covering an area that straddles South-Eastern Syria, Iraq and Jordan borders. MaT focuses on countering the presence and resurgence of the Islamic State (ISIS) in eastern Syria. It is heavily influenced by its dependence on U.S. support, which includes training, logistics, and air support.

5. Other factions:

ISIS is no longer the force it was. It has remnants operating in the norther regions.
Al-Qaeda - like ISIS, it has remnants operating within Syria.

Other players:

Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s in Lebanon, following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It is a Shiite political and militant organization.based in Lebanon. It's goal is to resist Israeli occupation and advocating for the rights of Lebanon's Shiite population. It is aligned with the Palestinians against Israel.

The majority of Hezbollah's members are predominantly Lebanese Shiites, but it has also attracted members form other regions. Its ideology is strongly influenced by the Iranian revolution and the teachings of Ayatollah Khomeini, who promoted the idea of a Shiite Islamic state. It is funded and fully supported by Iran and operates as a proxy of Iranian interests in Lebanon and the broader Middle East.

In the Iranian civil war it fought for the Assad regime against rebel forces. In the past few months, it's leadership has been decimated by Israel Defence Forces. The IDF has also destroyed much of its infrastructure and weaponry in Lebanon and Syria. Hezbollah has been significantly weakened by Israeli offensive actions. It is likely Hezbollah's cache of arms hidden all over Aleppo would fall into rebel hands.

What the bloody hell happened?

Tensions are heightened and the situation is extremely fragile with so many players acting on different goals and different rebel groups seizing the weakening and collapsing Assad regime to seize as much real estate as possible. It is difficulty how the geopolitics will be played out. Anything can happen. Watch this short clip of an Iranian F14 that entered Turkish air space and Turkish F4 jets scrambled to escort it away. It was a crazy dance of jet fighters. What was Iran's fighter jet doing in Turkey?

The big question is why now? The rebels seized on the opportunity after weeks of Israeli offensive both in Lebanon and Syria weakened the Hezbollah, Iran and Syrian forces, and Russia is distracted by their war in Ukraine and had pulled resources back home.

Will Assad, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah be able to re-assert themselves? It may not be so easy this time as rebel forces had eight years to train and arm themselves. Will another humanitarian tragedy unfold as innocent population gets in the way. Unfortunately for the innocent collateral damages, they will not get the same amount of international support from liberals of the world as they lack the propaganda reach of the Palestinians.

Like all issues in the Middle East, ezzy bezzy, blame it on Israel. Then again, as the blame game goes, Israel's offensives were all reactions to the October 7 barbaric attacks by Hamas. In turn Hamas can blame it on another popular scapegoat, Donald Trump. The US peace initiative Abraham's Accord had already normalised relations between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Saudi Arabia was close to signing up. Egypt already has a long standing peace treaty with Israel. The Abraham Accord threatens to marginalise the Palestinians. Hamas had to do something so dastardly and on a large scale as to draw Israel to do its best to do its worst. And that's exactly what happened. Hamas got what it wanted, its place back again on the world's attention and conscience.

Who would have thought peace initiatives can cause wars thousands of miles away? Then again, the saying "No good deed goes unpunished" holds true. It's the notion that well-intentioned actions can lead to unintended negative consequences or be taken advantage of by others.

As Israel takes the blame, it can now sit back and reap the reward. The outcome of Syrian Civil War 2.0 will be a very weakened Hezbollah and Iran.


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