by Stephen Lendman

America's run by sociopaths. They're out-of-control criminals. They're traitors. They menace humanity. They violate their sacred oaths of office.

Presidents "do solemnly swear (or affirm to) faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of (their) Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Congressional members "do solemnly swear (or affirm to) support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; (to) bear true faith and allegiance to the same; (to) this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and (to) well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which (they are) about to enter: So help (them) God."

Straightaway in office they spurn them. Presidents do most of all. Wealth, power and privilege alone matter. It shows in how they govern.

Thomas Jefferson said "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty."

He also said "Experience hath shewn (sic), that even under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."

Thomas Paine said "The duty of a true patriot is to protect his country from its government."

According to James Madison, "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy."

America's "war on terror" explains. When nations have no enemies, they invent them. Washington does so in the extreme.

Benjamin Franklin warned that sacrificing freedom for security assures losing both.

New administrations and congressional members exceed the worst of their predecessors. Governance today is out-of-control. Rogue state extremism explains it. War on humanity's institutionalized.

It's shocking how bad things are. Ahead expect worse. Obama's already fighting multiple direct and proxy wars. He's got more death and destruction in mind.

He's escalating war on Syria. He intends doing more than already. He bears full responsibility for tens of thousands of deaths. Assad's wrongfully blamed for his crimes. Rogue states operate this way.

Shameless pretexts are invented. John Kerry's more mad bomber than diplomat. He replicated Madeleine Albright's moment.

"What's the point of having this superb military that you're always talking about," she asked then Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell, "if we can't use it?" Her comment urged war on Yugoslavia.

Kerry wants Syria bombed. He wants Joint Chiefs Chairman General Martin Dempsey launching it. Doing so requires taking out Assad's sophisticated air defense systems. It involves neutralizing his command and control capability.

It means Yugoslavia or Libya 2.0. Take your pick. It assures destroying another country. It's doing so for power and profit. It doing it by hundreds of sorties.

It means unconscionable mass killing and destruction. It risks genocide. It assures destroying essential infrastructure. It guarantees longterm environmental contamination.

It ensures vast numbers of birth defects, cancer and other diseases. It means potentially millions displaced on their own.

Albright told 60 Minutes' viewers that half a million dead Iraqi children was a small price to pay. She referred to lawless sanctions responsible for killing them.

Kerry matches her roguishness. Power-hungry officials ignore horrific consequences. Mass killing and destruction don't matter.

Crimes of war and against humanity reflect business as usual. Imperial priorities count most. Another country will be entirely destroyed.

Albright got what she wished for. So may Kerry. Events seem headed that way. Replacing Assad remains policy. Western-sponsored death squads alone can't do it. They need air support. They need round-the-clock terror bombing.

US policymakers understand. Replicating Yugoslavia and Libya looks likely. Pretexts are in place to do it. Others will be invented if needed. War winds blow more strongly. They're heading toward gale force strength.

What will freedom loving people tolerate before they react. Rogue states have no legitimacy. America's by far the worst. War on Syria risks embroiling the region. Doing so risks WW III.

Putin drew Russia's red line. He sent Assad sophisticated air defenses. He promises more. He supplied other weapons. He'll ship what's needed. He's aiding a valued ally. He's got every right to do so. Friends in need are friends indeed.

Russian warships patrol the Mediterranean. They're delivering needed supplies. They're protecting Moscow's regional interests. Doing so leaves no ambiguity. Imperial madness must be stopped.

Washington positioned Patriot missiles, F-16s, and US troops inside Jordan. They're on Syria border. Israel has its Golan forces mobilized. They're not for defense.

Their presence is menacing. Perhaps they'll be used aggressively. Syria and Russia have no illusions. AP cited Interfax saying Moscow's planning to send marine units to Syria.

Ostensibly it's to protect Russian citizens and remove property from Tartus. It's Moscow's sole Mediterranean naval facility. It's strategically important to protect. Showing the flag supports Assad.

Putin opposes no-fly zone imposition. He won't tolerate one. He committed to protect Syria. He wants conflict ended diplomatically. He wants Syrian sovereignty respected. He wants Syrians alone to decide who'll lead them. He wants rule of law principles observed.

He knows who's friend and foe. Diplomats choose words carefully. Putin's more outspoken than most. He's concerned about reckless US belligerence. If regional allies fall, Russia and China are next.

He not on the sidelines idle. He's acting in Moscow's best interests. He may have more aggressive measures in mind. Deterring America demands confrontation. Hopefully it stops short of greater conflict.

Best to prevent it before initiated. Perhaps it's Putin's plan. Events going forward bear watching. They'll unfold in the fullness of time. Hopefully a clear red line will explain best. Drawing it may get Washington to back off. It's time to go all out and see.

At issue is lots more than Syria. It's New World Order harshness. It's state-sponsored terrorism writ large. It's globalized central control. It's madness instead of sanity.

It's claiming war is peace. It's monied interests pushing conflicts. It's manufactured crises and permanent ones. It's profiteering from human carnage. It's living with the threat of mushroom-shaped cloud destruction.

It's plundering the earth for profit. It's exploiting people the same way. It's neoliberalism on steroids. It's giving capital divine rights. It's money power in private hands used destructively. It's out-of-control corporate power.

It's giving corporations the same rights as people. It's freeing them from equal responsibilities. It's letting them become private tyrannies. It's government of, by and for privileged elites alone.

It's popular needs gone begging. It's social America on the rocks and dying. It's holding farcical elections. It's back room deal making in charge. It's duopoly power running things.

It's preventing democracy by doing so. It's mocking rule of law principles. It's consigning them to history's dustbin.

It's ignoring growing poverty, unemployment, hunger, homelessness and human misery. It's sacrificing healthcare, education, clean air and water, safe food, social safety net protections, and other vital services and needs.

It's leaving worker rights unprotected. It's creating ruler-serf societies. It's militarizing them for control. It's substituting managed news misinformation for truth and full disclosure.

It's transferring wealth disproportionately to corporations and rich elites already with too much. It's entrapping people and nations in debt. It's sacrificing civil and human rights. It's substituting wage for chattel slavery.

It's filling prisons with societies' unwanted. It's institutionalizing torture as official policy. It's power without accountability. It's heading America and other Western societies toward tyranny. It's making them unfit to live in.

It's ignoring deep-seated corruption, special interests over common ones, failed families, basic needs, ecocide, and global injustice. It's letting unconscionable wrongdoing metastasize beyond control.

It's making wrong choices. It's living in a world unsafe to be in. It's heading down a path toward oblivion. It risks destroying ourselves in the process.

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

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity"

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

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com

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