by Stephen Lendman

Washington bears full responsibility. Obama officials elevated fascist putschists to power. Neocon Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland was lead instigator.

US-installed thugs rule lawlessly. They have no legitimacy whatever. They make mafia bosses look saintly by comparison.

Obama's new friends include a rogue's gallery of societal misfits. They represent mob rule. They're militantly anti-democratic.

They tolerate no opposition. They're polar opposite what Ukrainians deserve. Washington offers full support.

One fascist regime backs another. Both operate the same way.

Merriam-Webster calls fascism "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

Mussolini called his version corporatism. It reflects "the merger of state and corporate power," he said. "The twentieth century will be known in history as the century of fascism."

"The keystone of the fascist doctrine is its conception of the State, of its essence, its functions, and its aims. For fascism, the State is absolute, individuals and groups relative."

Today's version is no different. It combines police state harshness, disdain for fundamental rights, and brazen brutality with unbridled corporate power. It's ideologically over-the-top.

It's all take and no give. Monied interests control things. Ordinary people have no say. They're used. They're ruthlessly exploited. Resisters aren't tolerated.

They're targeted, marginalized and eliminated altogether. Thousands of political prisoners languish in America's gulag.

It's the world's largest by far. It's the most ruthless. It's supplemented by dozens of global torture prisons. Guantanamo is the tip of the iceberg.

Torture is official US policy. Rule of law principles don't matter. Police state laws substitute. Constitutional protections don't apply. Post-9/11 legislation and presidential diktats reflect official policy.

Fascist regimes rule this way. America's human rights record is by far the worst in world history. No other nation matches its sordid rap sheet.

Crimes of war, against humanity and genocide reflect longstanding policy. They continue globally.

They're unprecedented. America is guilty of virtually every crime imaginable and then some. Atrocities repeat one after another.

Political scientist Lawrence W. Britt explained 14 fascist elements.

"These basic characteristics are more prevalent and intense in some regimes than in others, but they all share some level of similarity," he said.

They're present in America. They infest Ukraine. They threaten fundamental freedoms. They want them eliminated altogether.

Elements Britt explained are as follows:

(1) "Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism." They include flags, lapel pins, and other patriotic nationalist expressions. They rally people for a common cause.

(2) "Disdain for the importance of human (and civil) rights." They hinder elitist power.

(3) "Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause." They shift blame for failures. They "channel frustration in controlled directions." They vilify targeted groups and individuals for political advantage.

(4) "The supremacy of the military/avid militarism." They direct a disproportionate share of national wealth and resources for them.

(5) "Rampant sexism." Women are considered second-class citizens.

(6) "A controlled mass media." In public and/or private hands, power elite policies are supported. Popular ones are disdained.

(7) "Obsession with national security." It's use as an instrument of belligerence and oppression.

(8) "Religion and ruling elite tied together." They call themselves military defenders of the nation's dominant religion. They disparage others. They consider them inferior or threatening.

(9) "Power of corporations defended." It's done for economic power, military production, and social control.

(10) "Power of labor suppressed or eliminated." It's to assure unchallenged political and corporate dominance.

(11) "Disdain and suppression of intellectuals and the arts." They represent intellectual and academic freedom. They're considered threats to national security and political control.

(12) "Obsession with crime and punishment." Draconian criminal justice measures and practices are instituted.

(13) "Rampant cronyism and corruption." Power elites enrich themselves at the expense of ordinary people.

(14) "Fraudulent elections." They're manipulated to maintain control.

In her book "The Origins of Totalitarianism," Hannah Arendt said it's "never content to rule by external means, namely, through the state and a machinery of violence."

"(T)hanks to its peculiar ideology and the role assigned to it in this apparatus of coercion, totalitarianism has discovered a means of dominating and terrorizing human beings from within."

She called it dictatorship based on:

"(1) an elaborate ideology;

(2) a single mass party;

(3) (state) terror;

(4) a technologically conditioned monopoly of communication;

(5) a monopoly of weapons; (and)

(6) a centrally controlled economy."

Today's America qualifies. Duopoly power rules. Monied interests run things. Voters have no say.

Wealth and power are unprecedented. They're more concentrated than ever. They make policy. What they say goes.

America is the world's leading purveyor of state terrorism. Opposition isn't tolerated. Unchallenged global dominance is sought. War on humanity is waged to achieve it.

Major media managed news misinformation supports what demands condemnation. Freedom is being systematically destroyed.

Corporate bottom line priorities exclude popular ones. Ordinary people are pawns to be exploited.

Neocons infest Washington. They hugely influence decision-making. Permanent war is official policy. Police state laws target non-believers.

New world order extremism explains things. Obama is America's latest in a long line of warrior presidents.

Today's stakes are far greater than earlier. Weapons used in past global conflicts look like toys compared to today's.

Plans include militarizing space for future wars. Doing so alone means all bets are off.

The January 2001 General Assembly's Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space Resolution A/55/32 was ignored.

Over 140 nations endorsed it. America and Israel alone declined. It said:

"The exploration and use of outer space...shall be for peaceful purposes and be carried out for the benefit and in the interest of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development."

"(The) prevention of an arms race in outer space would avert a grave danger for international peace and security."

Independent experts agree. Weaponizing space undermines world security. It threatens humanity's survival.

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space co-founder, Bruce Gagnon, warned earlier:

"If the US is allowed to move the arms race into space, there will be no return. We have this one chance, this one moment in history, to stop" it.

Failure means all bets are off. Longstanding US policy prioritizes it. Imagine future wars fought from space.

Imagine first-strike nuclear weapons launched this way. Imagine mutually assured destruction (MAD) for real.

Imagine shock and awe on steroids. Imagine the end of history. Imagine war ending future ones.

Imagine destroying planet earth to control it. Imagine allies and enemies perishing together.

In their joint July 1955 Manifesto, Albert Einstein and Bertrand Russell explained the nuclear threat no punches pulled:

"Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable," they said.

"Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war? (The) best authorities are unanimous that a war with H-bombs (or similar weapons) might possibly put an end to the human race."

For some, instant death is certain. Most others will experience "slow torture of disease and disintegration."

Imagine the leader of the world's most powerful nation risking this type denouement. Imagine mushroom shaped cloud finality.

Imagine the world ending with a bang, not a whimper. Imagine destroying humanity to control it. Imagine no coming back if tried.

Imagine Ukrainian flashpoint conditions launching East/West confrontation. Imagine possible global war following.

Fascist regimes operate this way. Stopping them matters most. Resisting tyranny is a moral imperative.

Washington threatens world peace. Permanent wars reflect longstanding US policy. Mass slaughter, destruction and human misery follow everywhere America shows up.

Rule of law principles don't matter. Nor fundamental human and civil right. Nor government of, by and for equitably and just.

Nor peace prioritized over war. Nor stopping its madness before it's too late. Obama has lots more warmaking in mind.

He wants freedom destroyed. He wants dissent silenced. America already is unfit to live in. It's heading toward becoming intolerable.

Gangsterism rules. Morally depraved officials run things. Personal freedoms are dying. Democracy is pure fantasy.

George Bernard Shaw once called it "a form of government that substitutes elections by the incompetent many for the appointment of the corrupt few."

Perhaps he had America in mind. Maybe today's Ukraine. Fascism operates this way. It bites hard. It causes unspeakable human misery. It denies fundamental rights.

It risks the worst of all possible outcomes. Peace in our time doesn't exist. Doing the right thing is punished. Today is the most perilous time in world history.

Daily events should scare everyone. War-makers win peace prizes. Peace supporters are scorned.

So are social democrats. Fascism works this way. People power alone can save us. The only solution is nonviolent revolution.

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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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