Paris, April 18, 2024, Socrates George Kazolias

French authorities are having second thoughts on their ambitious plan to hold the Olympic opening ceremony on the river Seine. “There are Plans B and C which we are preparing in parallel,” the French president, Emanuel Macron, said on April 15. Macron said he was working for an “Olympic truce” for Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan… and that he would “ask” Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to help achieve it.

From the beginning, those in charge of Olympic security have been hostile to the idea of an opening ceremony, originally planned with over 200 boats sailing six kilometers down the Seine while more than 600,000 people stand along the quays watching the athletes and the artists.

Western criticism of Russia’s presidential election is false-hearted at best. But coming from the United States with its recent history of election fiascos it is astounding. There are very good reasons why Russians would want Putin, even if they did have a ‘Western’ style electoral rodeo.

Creative Commons Image

Americans are given the illusion of choice with a Pepsi-Cola/Coca-Cola two-party circus where the AIPAC financed politicians (The Grayzone here and Al Jazeera here) agree on everything except who should run the show in America’s imperial interests. What doesn’t change is the 1% in whose interests the 9% of the cream work.

It appears harder for a third-party candidate to get into a US presidential election debate than it does in Russia. Only Ross Perot in 1994 comes to mind. The Oligarchs and their scribes in the two major American parties get to pick and choose who gets into the televised debates.

A journalist who exposes Israel’s Apartheid regime is labeled an anti-semite. When he calls Israel’s intent “Genocide,” the reporter might as well change professions if he ever wants to work again. They will make sure your reputation is ruined.

I have not been creative since Biden lied to the world by saying he saw the photos of an event which never happened: the beheading of 40 Israeli babies in the daring and successful Palestinian military operation on October 7. This was the first of many Israeli lies to come to justify the unbearable.

Paris, October 12, 2023, by Socrates George Kazolias:

A Bouquiniste near le Pont Neuf who will be dismantled before the games. (Kazolias)

Who can imagine Paris without those green boxes fixed to the walls on both banks of the river Seine where vendors, called Bouquinistes, sell rare and old books, ancient periodicals, and posters? They are as iconic to Paris as Notre Dame, the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower. To the dismay of the Bouquinistes, the book stalls must go before the Olympic Opening Ceremony next July.

by Socrates George Kazolias:

Like every Summer, we went hiking in the Dolomites and each year since UNESCO declared the Dolomites a World Heritage Site in 2009, we have watched our beloved mountains take a turn for the worse.

Along with UNESCO, Covid and electric mountain bikes added to the decline. Now global Capital is moving in to take over the tourist business.

The UNESCO FIASCO

When UNESCO classified nine regions of the Dolomites, the UN put the mountain ranges on the world map for package tours.

In anticipation of increased tourism, especially from the United States, valley hotels began building extensions to their establishments, despite UNESCO criteria against new constructions. How was this possible? Local, corrupt, officials backdated the building permits, Sud Tirol friends tell us. Yellow cranes  went up throughout the valleys.

Paris, April 4, 2023, by Socrates George Kazolias

On March 28, the French National Assembly enacted a law recognizing the 1931-1932 famine that hit the Soviet Union as a “Genocide” against the Ukrainians through a “planned famine” known as “Holodomor.”  The law means anybody who denies it was a genocide against the Ukrainians, or excuses it in any form, now faces up to one year in prison and €45,000 in fines.

Similar legislation had been voted on the genocides of the Jews by the Nazis in 1990 and of the Armenians by the Turks in 2001.

Qualifying the Soviet famine as a genocide against Ukraine is very problematic on several fronts and guts the word “Genocide” of its true meaning. Jewish Frenchmen and Armenian descendants who support the anti-negationism law, known as ‘Loi Gayssot,’ should be outraged. Or has the definition of “Genocide” changed? More on the famine below but first the law itself.

By Socrates George Kazolias–Paris, March 14, 2023:

The New York Times has used anonymous sources to discredit Seymour Hersh for using anonymous sources when he blamed the US for blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines. The question is who has a better track record: Hersh or the Gray Lady of WMD fame? (1) I have come under criticism for my previous article insisting that the press fulfill its role of filtering the spin, or even worse, I am accused of encouraging the censorship of those in power.

“If his lips are moving you know he is fibbing.”
photo Wikimedia Commons

Separating fact from fiction and sifting through the fluff to bring out the important, is the very definition of journalism. That journalists have lost their honor and professionalism may be true, but it is none-the-less their job. They are not paid to just hold an open microphone for spin-doctors.

Socrates George Kazolias–Paris, 11 March 2023:

Seymour Hersh’s latest bombshell alleging the United States blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in September, 2022, once again raises the question of anonymous sources and how can they be trusted?

Everything is being done to try to discredit Hersh, or better yet, just ignore his story. The Mainstream Media (MSM) hide behind what they practice every day, that is quote anonymous government sources, in order to censor Hersh and keep his reporting from reaching the public. The controllers of what you have a right to know, ask how can we believe accusations coming from people who refuse to be identified?

Paris, February 24, 2023: Socrates George Kazolias– The Collective West are dead wrong to be jubilating over the UN vote calling on Russia to withdraw behind the “internationally recognized borders” of Ukraine.

Image FLIKR

But before the jingoists in the West celebrate too loudly that the imperialist powers of the US and Europe got a majority of countries to vote in favor of Germany’s proposed resolution, let me remind you that these are the same countries the ‘Collective West’ bullied, threatened, and bribed into backing the invasion of Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, the brutal aggressions of Yemen, Serbia, Libya, Syria, just to mention a few.