…the Deep State
Over in the US, no one other than General Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower, who moved from being the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in WWII to running the White House and supposedly the country, complained about the “military industrial complex” (MIC). They were the ones who really called the shots as to what really went down in the land of the free and the home of the brave. While Ike worked on his golf swing!!
There are those who still swear it was members of this group that took out Kennedy when he tried to buck the tide. But that was dismissed as the rantings of the foaming-at-the-mouth conspiracy fringe. While your Eyewitness isn’t a card carrying member of that union, he’s got to concede the phrase “deep state”- which was what the MIC had morphed into – hasn’t become so popular in the US by happenstance. Truth will out!!
Back in 2013, the New York Times (NYT) defined the deep state as “a hard-to-perceive level of government or super-control that exists regardless of elections and that may thwart popular movements or radical change. Some have said that Egypt is being manipulated by its deep state.” This, of course, after the deep state had been unmasked in Turkey in 1995.
But as a bona fide member of the US deep state, you would notice the NYT carefully suggested that the deep state existed in foreign climes. That was to be expected, but it didn’t mean that the misdirection wasn’t based on reality. In fact, by the nature of dictatorial regimes – including those in the Third World, the institutions intended to keep the dictator in power were tailor-made for the creation of ‘deep states”. It wasn’t even ironic that the leaders of the central institution that kept these dictators in power – the army – were often trained in the US. By the US operatives in the US deep State!
And so it was in Guyana. The Burnhamite dictatorship created its deep state explicitly in Guyana. The revelations of the Rodney Commission of Inquiry were simply scratching the surface. Not everyone in the army, for instance, knew which officer had just returned from the US when the bomb literally blew up in Rodney’s face. Why was anyone surprised that the PPP couldn’t govern effectively throughout its twenty-three years? And had to resort to “buying out” some? Or worse?
Today, with the PNC back in power – was APNU even a fig leaf? – some elements of the deep state are simply rising to the surface. But don’t be fooled. Just like an iceberg, more than three quarters lie beneath the surface.
And you thought Hamilton Green was being rewarded for his boyish good looks?
…the Putin mystique
There are a lot of folks who’re quite flummoxed by the nexus between the white Christian right wing in the US, Donald Trump and Putin in Russia. What’s going on? Some have pointed to possible business interests of Trump in Russia and the need to stay on the good side of Putin. The CEO of ExxonMobil Tillerson – tipped to be Secretary of State in the Trump administration – has been cited as an example of this relationship with Putin that’s already paid off handsomely.
Well, the business links might be there – but where does the alt-right evangelicals fit in? A little-known fact is that Putin had radically moved to shore up relations with the Russian Christian Orthodox Church that he’s practically the patron saint of that Church in the post-Communist era. Over 25,000 churches were restored during Putin’s regime.
But it’s not just the Christian faith that holds the alt-right in thrall to Putin and the Russian Church – it’s the latter’s very conservative stance on a host of issues – homosexuality and nationalism.
White nationalism.
…self-interests
There’s an interesting – if personal – debate going on between Tacuma Ogunseye of the WPA and Sase Singh, recently of the AFC – both partners of APNU.
What a change a year can bring!
