We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, September 25, 2017

The CIA: 70 Years of Organized Crime

Click here to access this interview with Douglas Valentine conducted by Lars Schall and posted on CounterPunch. (Edited at 7:35 PM Seattle time for clarity.)

Although it begs belief (def.) that Valentine was able to completely fool the then CIA Director William Colby about his mission to study the CIA, nearly everything he's written in his book The CIA as Organized Crime is corroborated by many other independent sources. But his entrée (def. 1b) provided by Colby allowed Valentine to interview many other CIA officers.  This access enabled him to become probably the foremost expert outside of the Deep State on this nefarious organization due to the compartmentalization that usually occurs among their officers. And the knowledgeable Lars Schall makes this a top-notch interview.
LS: How important is mainstream media for the public perception of the CIA?

DV: It’s the most critical feature. Guy Debord said that secrecy dominates the world, foremost as secret of domination. The media prevents you from knowing how you’re being dominated, by keeping the CIA’s secrets. The media and the CIA are same thing.