Showing posts with label New World Order. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New World Order. Show all posts

Friday, September 20, 2013

Broken Foundations and the Fall of Western Society


By: Stewart Brennan
World United News

At the end of World War II and as a result of the Nuremberg Trials, the shattered Foundations of Civilization were rebuilt by the adoption of Human Rights, and laws put in place to end Aggressive War. Both of these initiatives empowered a new United Nations assembly which embraced the promise of all nations being treated as equals. These were key points in building a World free of war and would be enforced through mutual agreement and International law by a United Nations body.

We owe our thanks in large part to the principals, ideals, and values expressed by US Chief Justice “Robert H. Jackson” as witnessed in his opening statement as the US Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945. 

Mr Jackson’s statement was believed by the worlds population at that time to be on behalf of the western establishment as to the way in which western society was going to stand, from that day forth. Indeed the war weary populations of the world believed these words to be true because in them they found hope, truth, and justice.

Even though many of us awake today are aware that the crimes committed by the Allied forces during World War II went unpunished, we still believed, at least before the internet came into being, that the monstrous crimes committed during World War II would never be committed again simply because we believed there was a moral overseer called the United Nations that pledged to take the lead in the name of Peace, Justice and the guiding principals of Human Rights. At least that was the general feeling between 1945 to 2001 by most of the people in the West. I for one, believed that my government had taken an oath to uphold these foundations while representing the will and needs of their own people at home.

Today, we find the economic victors of WWII pushing their greedy interests all over the world through sanctions, war and terrorism, while at home they push national governments to apply austerity measures on their own people. The United Nations is now a place to make war on other nations legal, which is in complete contrast as to what our belief was in this institution and the establishment that runs the worlds economy.

Looking back in history, I see that nothing has changed in over 2,000 years. Now instead of a single nation driving for empire by an economic elite, we have a collective of nations driving for empire by an economic elite that is intent on growing their empire through hostile takeovers of victim nations to maintain their economic growth and drive to global domination…

Nothing has changed with regards to Information Control, Propaganda and the suppression of Alternative News either. Control of information is an important tool by the elites to hold their plans together.

Before the availability of the Internet, the population within each and every nation was controlled and held captive in a bubble of propaganda that was fed by mediums of Newsprint, TV and Radio.

Since the days of the Roman Empire, people the World over have been subject to the established news mediums that have always controlled the narrative for a handful of extremely wealthy people.

During the Roman Empire, “Criers” would take up their positions in towns and villages across the land to report the news and views of the Patrician’s to the people that would gather in the squares to hear them. There were no alternative news criers. Any differing views were quickly silenced and their originators put to death for daring to speak out against the authority of those times. The Patricians greed and lust for power ruled and did not stand for any challenges to their rule.

Here we are 2,000 years later and nothing has changed. I don’t see any difference today, as free speech is under attack in every OECD member nation. Anyone that tries to expose government lies, corporate corruption, or military crimes are quickly silenced, Imprisoned or put six feet under, because it gets in the way of the overall plans of those that control the economics behind the scenes.

Lately there has been an exponential increase in the number of attacks on free speech, freedom of the press, and human rights by the establishment on those that speak out. What is also evident is the exponential rise in O.E.C.D. Terrorism and military aggression, something which the United Nations was empowered to stop after the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials.

The sentencing of Bradley Manning to 35 years in prison for doing what he was supposed to do under International law by reporting war crimes is a return to darker times. The manhunt for Edward Snowdon and the grounding and search of Presidential planes also breaks International law. Not to mention the Arming of terrorists to overthrow leaders of sovereign nations is also considered a war crime yet Western Governments continue to get away with these crimes without penalty or the force of International law.

Both Israel and Egypt are guilty of crimes against humanity for the blockade on the people of Gaza. Israel is guilty of committing war crimes in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria and continues to make the people in the West Bank and Gaza suffer by committing the most heinous of crimes. The USA and Great Britain are Guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity by an aggressive war on Iraq, which was started by their own fabrication. The NATO countries that took part in the War on Libya committed war crimes and crimes against humanity from the total destruction of that country including using depleted uranium and targeting civilian centers and infrastructure. Today western nations are arming terrorists and supporting the most vile and ruthless scum ever to emerge from under Saudi Arabian Petro dollars.

The list of crimes committed by Western Countries goes on and on with more frequency everyday, millions have died and tens of millions more have been displaced by their crimes…

I am reminded of the words in Robert H. Jackson’s opening speech during the Nuremberg trials after WWII...and through all the years leading up to 911 and the Internet I actually believed my Country stood up to enforce the International laws handed down as a result of the Nuremberg trials. What’s even worse is that in some twisted way our government leaders actually believe they are upholding International law, but I don’t see how…do you?

 

Opening Statement by US Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson at Nuremberg
“The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrong’s which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.

This Tribunal, while it is novel and experimental, is not the product of abstract speculations nor is it created to vindicate legalistic theories. This inquest represents the practical effort of four of the most mighty of nations, with the support of 17 more, to utilize international law to meet the greatest menace of our times, aggressive war. The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils which leave no home in the world untouched. It is a cause of that magnitude that the United Nations will lay before Your Honors.

In the prisoners' dock sit twenty-odd broken men. Reproached by the humiliation of those they have led almost as bitterly as by the desolation of those they have attacked, their personal capacity for evil is forever past. It is hard now to perceive in these men as captives the power by which as Nazi leaders they once dominated much of the world and terrified most of it. Merely as individuals their fate is of little consequence to the world.

What makes this inquest significant is that these prisoners represent sinister influences that will lurk in the world long after their bodies have returned to dust. We will show them to be living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism and violence, and of the arrogance and cruelty of power. They are symbols of fierce nationalisms and of militarism, of intrigue and war- making which have embroiled Europe generation after generation, crushing its manhood, destroying its homes, and impoverishing its life. They have so identified themselves with the philosophies they conceived and with the forces they directed that any tenderness to them is a victory and an encouragement to all the evils which are attached to their names. Civilization can afford no compromise with the social forces which would gain renewed strength if we deal ambiguously or indecisively With the men in whom those forces now precariously survive.

What these men stand for we will patiently and temperately disclose. We will give you undeniable proofs of incredible events. The catalog of crimes will omit nothing that could be conceived by a pathological pride, cruelty, and lust for power. These men created in Germany, under the "Fuehrerprinzip", a National Socialist despotism equalled only by the dynasties of the ancient East. They took from the German people all those dignities and freedoms that we hold natural and inalienable rights in every human being. The people were compensated by inflaming and gratifying hatreds towards those who were marked as "scapegoats". Against their opponents, including Jews, Catholics, and free labor, the Nazis directed such a campaign of arrogance, brutality, and annihilation as the world has not witnessed since the pre-Christian ages. They excited the German ambition to be a "master race", which of course implies serfdom for others. They led their people on a mad gamble for domination. They diverted social energies and resources to the creation of what they thought to be an invincible war machine They overran their neighbors. To sustain the "master race" in its war-making, they enslaved millions of human beings and brought them into Germany, where these hapless creatures now wander as "displaced persons". At length bestiality and bad faith reached such excess that they aroused the sleeping strength of imperiled Civilization. Its united efforts have ground the German war machine to fragments. But the struggle has left Europe a liberated yet prostrate land where a demoralized society struggles to survive. These are the fruits of the sinister forces that sit with these defendants in the prisoners' dock.

In justice to the nations and the men associated in this prosecution, I must remind you of certain difficulties which may leave their mark on this case. Never before in legal history has an effort been made to bring within the scope of a single litigation the developments of a decade, covering a whole continent, and involving a score of nations, countless individuals, and innumerable events. Despite the magnitude of the task, the world has demanded immediate action. This demand has had to be met, though perhaps at the cost of finished craftsmanship. In my country, established courts, following familiar procedures, applying well-thumbed precedents, and dealing with the legal consequences of local and limited events seldom commence a trial within a year of the event in litigation. Yet less than 8 months ago today the courtroom in which you sit was an enemy fortress in the hands of German SS troops. Less than 8 months ago nearly all our witnesses and documents were in enemy hands. The law had not been codified, no procedures had been established, no tribunal was in existence, no usable courthouse stood here, none of the hundreds of tons of official German documents had been examined, no prosecuting staff had been assembled, nearly all of the present defendants were at large, and the four prosecuting powers had not yet joined in common cause to try them. I should be the last to deny that the case may well suffer from incomplete researches and quite likely will not be the example of professional work which any of the prosecuting nations would normally wish to sponsor. It is, however, a completely adequate case to the judgment we shall ask you to render and its full development we shall be obliged to leave to historians.

Before I discuss particulars of evidence, some general considerations which may affect the credit of this trial in the eyes of the world should be candidly faced. There is a dramatic disparity between the circumstances of the accusers and of the accused that might discredit our work if we should falter, in even minor matters, in being fair and temperate.

Unfortunately the nature of these crimes is such that both prosecution and judgment must be by victor nations over vanquished foes. The worldwide scope of the aggressions carried out by these men has left but few real neutrals. Either the victors must judge the vanquished or we must leave the defeated to judge themselves. After the first World War, we learned the futility of the latter course. The former high station of these defendants, the notoriety of their acts, and the adaptability of their conduct to provoke retaliation make it hard to distinguish between the demand for a just and measured retribution, and the unthinking cry for vengeance which arises from the anguish of war. It is our task, so far as humanly possible, to draw the line between the two. We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well. We must summon such detachment and intellectual integrity to our task that this Trial will commend itself to posterity as fulfilling humanity's aspirations to do justice.

At the very outset, let us dispose of the contention that to put these men to trial is to do them an injustice entitling them to some special consideration These defendants may be hard pressed but they are not ill used. Let us see what alternative they would have to being tried.

More than a majority of these prisoners surrendered to or were tracked down by the forces of the United States. Could they expect us to make American custody a shelter for our enemies against the just wrath of our Allies? Did we spend American lives to capture them only to save them from punishment? Under the principles of the Moscow Declaration, those suspected war criminals who are not to be tried internationally must be turned over to individual governments for trial at the scene of their outrages. Many less responsible and less culpable American-held prisoners have been and will continue to be turned over to other United Nations for local trial. If these defendants should succeed, for any reason, in escaping the condemnation of this Tribunal, or if they obstruct or abort the trial, those who are American-held prisoners will be delivered to our continental Allies. For these defendants, however, we have set up an International Tribunal and have undertaken the burden of participating in a complicated effort to give them fair and dispassionate hearings. That is the best- known protection to any man with a defense worthy of being heard.”
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These were not just mere words Robert H Jackson spoke, but Ideals that led to the basis and foundation of a future world built by moral guiding principals, respect and International Law. We were all sold on the idea that a United Nations would bring together the people of the World as equals and embrace a set of values and principals in an international framework of mutual respect…ideals that most people still believe in today.
However, it is abundantly clear that the Governments of today within the collective of the OECD nations or as a collective of Western Nations have completely ignored their oath to uphold International Law. Instead they have made the clear choice to repeat history on a larger scale by using aggressive war and the use of terrorists to achieve the gains and interests of those weaving webs behind the economic and power lust scenes.
In the days of the Roman Empire at least, those that owned all the land, money and power also held office as senators so they were in the open. In today’s Western Empire, the owners stay in the shadows while buying the politicians to represent them. Elections have always been an illusion when it comes to democratic representation and economics. All you need to do is follow the money to find the truth and the criminals.
The founding, Principals and Ideals for a Moral and Just Society referred to by Robert H. Jackson at the Nuremberg Trials have been destroyed by elitist arrogance, greed, and lust for power. The assimilation of nations into their economic control and collective is not new…however it has become news in the last 12 years since the free flow of information on the internet which challenges the elitist controlled mainstream and state propaganda news corporations. 
It is my belief that the establishment who own all the land that we pay taxes on, and who own the majority of corporations and wealth, including and direction of most countries through puppet dictatorships, never intended to abide by the laws set down at Nuremberg even though they pretend that they stand on these guiding principals.
Our Western Governments are out of control and well on their way to destroying the planet. Only an awakened citizenry can change the course or direction the world is heading in so that means we need to connect in defiance of our governments wishes and become the alternative news, and town criers of today…but we must also mobilize in our masses and hold these tyrants accountable for the crimes they have committed because there are no nations coming to your rescue this time. We simply will not survive the elitist’s end game if we do not stand up…the Foundations of civilization that we believe in, are broken and the fall of Western society is at hand...I’m tired of the Western Governments double standards, aren’t you?
~ Stewart Brennan ~
Links:
Robert H. Jackson – US Chief Prosecutor during the Nuremberg Trials
Crimes Against Humanity Yesterday & Today
The Globalists are losing Control of their System (2011 Still Relevant)


Thursday, August 8, 2013

Corruption, Fraud and Thuggery by an Out of Control Montreal STM

UPDATE: 2014 August 03 (See bottom of story for update)

 


Is the Montreal Transit Authority’s Claim of “OPUS Card Fraud” a Fraud itself and a Pretext to More Draconian Legislation in the Near Future? A look at Montreal’s STM (RFID) OPUS Cards, Fraud Claims, STM Security, and What Comes Next.

By: Stewart Brennan
World United News

In 2008, the Montreal Transit Commission (STM) adopted a new system for their monthly bus passes and single fare ticketing from European corporation “Calypso Networks Association” (C.N.A.) with, the integration corporation “Spirtech” assisting in the implementation and engineering of C.N.A. software. 

Montreal had jumped into the RFID OPUS technology for monthly bus passes while also using a magnetic strip card reader for single transit fares. We were told then that the reason they were moving to this new $219 Million dollar system was to prevent Bus pass fraud in the old system.

On the surface it seemed that there wouldn’t be too many problems associated with this new technology, with the exception of the STM’S South Shore “Longueuil Metro Station” which did not, and still does not accept STM Magnetic cards bought anywhere else but in the Longueuil metro station. Not good if you prepaid all your STM trips somewhere else and do not have any money left to pay for an additional one…which did happen to me the first time I used the system going home from the South Shore. It was a very frustrating experience that I wont get into here.

The STM, Fraud, & OPUS Cards

Since 2009, Michele Labrecque has been the chairman and the primary representative of the STM. He oversees the performance and execution of the STM’s functions and powers…and, in agreement with other board members, sets corporate orientations. He also chairs the Board’s public meetings and approves the agenda in collaboration with the STM’s Chief executive officer and is the Transit Users’ Representative…

Recently, Michele Labrecque estimated that the STM saves $12 million a year on fraud by using the OPUS Card technology but did not give any details on how they do this exactly. His statement raised a lot of unanswered questions to say the least.

When you invest 219 million dollars of taxpayers money into a NEW system that is supposed to be Fraud proof and a benefit to the citizens, you certainly wouldn’t want to skip out on purchasing the Fraud Detection Option when purchasing this system…especially when stopping Fraud is the reason they bought the system in the first place. So it is very strange and disturbing to see more and more STM Security Inspectors harassing passengers for their tickets and bus passes in the name of Fraud.

These STM directives and security actions clearly state that either the system they bought is totally useless in detecting Fraud, that someone grossly incompetent is responsible for not acquiring the proper equipment and programming, or there is corruption happening inside the STM.

Regardless of the answer, the people of Montreal and the surrounding communities should not have to be shoulder the Orwellian directives by Government & Corporate decisions that harass the public, especially when the STM are to blame in the first place.

“Spirtech” an OPUS Technology engineering firm and partner with Calypso Networks claims that their system is virtually Fraud proof. Who am I to believe? (http://www.spirtech.com/products/fraud-detector)

If Fraud is not a problem with this new technology, then why do we need STM Security checking everyone’s Monthly OPUS Bus passes and Magnetic Strip single fare tickets?

If indeed the STM has reduced Fraud by 12 million dollars as per MICHEL LABRECQUE, why is the STM giving themselves huge pay raises as stated in an article by the Montreal Gazette on July 25th, 2013 to the tune of millions of dollars? And WHY have they hired an army of bus pass inspectors?

Does this 12 million dollar savings at the STM mean that STM management get to pocket this money? Are the STM Security Army, who also received big raises, becoming the cash cow tool of the STM’s corporate management? (See Gazette Report for security personnel salaries)

Court Orders STM to pay $123,000.00 in back pay to STM Security Officers
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Court+orders+back+security+officers/7840875/story.html

Failure to show these STM Inspectors your ticket will land you a huge fine and in the hospital if you refuse to budge, as was the case with me on August 03rd, 2013. One might look at it as strong-armed tactics by the STM to ensure every passenger obays whatever they are told by STM Security or face being roughed up and fined without any recourse to challenge them…because the STM Board of Directors, who are also municipal legislators, passed a municipal law that grants this corporation police powers.

As stated in the Montreal Gazette on July 25th, 2013 the STM gave themselves big pay raises. I wonder where they got the money to inflate their already massive salaries?

STM Got Big Pay Raises
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/managers+raises/8703628/story.html

When the size of your STM Salary is dependent on growth and there are no other means to create that growth how exactly does one create growth and give themselves large pay increases?  All the pay increases of the STM payroll have to come from somewhere…and a job needs to be a benefit to the corporation for profitability. So I wonder why they have hired more people in the STM Security department?

The STM’s Michel Labrecque also stated that they want a 40% increase in rider-ship by 2020…in my opinion, harassing and beating up their customers is certainly not the way to go. If they keep up their current pace by treating everyone as a potential criminal, more people will stop using their system.

Coming to Montreal by 2015 OPUS 2.0

During his opening remarks for AQTR’s conference on Urban mobility in the age of electronic payment (Feb 25, 2012), the president of the STM’S governing board Michel Labrecque stated, “We transport millions of people…soon we will get to know who they are.” What Mr. Lebreque was referring to was the implementation of OPUS 2.0 and having access to all your personal information in the future on the Montreal Transit Bus Pass. Security related? Fraud free?

OPUS Background Info

The OPUS card uses RFID(Radio-frequency identification) technology which can be read by anyone with an RFID transmitter / receiver. The OPUS card technology is owned by “Calypso Networks Association”; this European company’s primary goal is to use this technology on all digital transactions worldwide and to eventually replace the worlds currencies to become the Global technology and system for all monetary transactions. We are already seeing this technology being used by the Banks through Debit Cards, and Credit Cards, but we are also seeing this technology on Medicare cards, Drivers Licenses, passports, and soon there will be an upgrade to the Transit Authority’s OPUS 2 Cards.

Is there OPUS Card Fraud in Montreal?

So if this OPUS card fraud is real then what makes the Bankcards safe and the Bus Pass not safe? The bigger question is, of course, why are we allowing our governments to bully us into this RFID technology if it isn’t reliable? On a larger scale, We are talking about a massive corporation merger interconnected with many national governments, banks, and powerful shareholders that have the potential to end all national sovereignty by economic merger when financial controls of this technology are in place. “Spirtech” is the company being used to help engineer the OPUS RFID technology merger between corporations, banks, and governments. So their claim to be a safe system certainly needs to be proven since it conflicts with the STM’s assessment…but then it’s all about control, money and security isn’t it; but security for who?

Is it really necessary for Montreal’s STM Security to harass transit passengers because THEY SAY there is fraud in the OPUS system? If the answer is yes, then what about debit cards, credit cards, and Medicare Cards? Are these same technology cards at risk of fraud as well? And if so are we to expect a future where security people threaten debit and credit card holders to show ID and threaten us with arrest if we do not show them what they want?

As far as “Spirtech” is concerned, programming is all that is required to secure the cards…If that is so, why is Montreal’s STM spending Millions of Taxpayers dollars to hire an army of security inspectors to harass the public, instead of fixing the system?

The South Shore Transit System (RTL)

The South Shore of Montreal has a different Transit System (RTL), which also adopted the OPUS card and has a combination OPUS card with the STM for passengers requiring both transportation systems. However the RTL did not choose to adopt the single transit fare magnetic strip cards, so there is no proof of payments or transfers for single use. Even still there doesn’t seem to be a breach of security with their OPUS cards nor do they employ an army of security people to harass their passengers.

The RTL does have an OPUS card for occasional RTL riders who can’t purchase a monthly rechargeable OPUS card. The commuter can choose to load 6, 12, 18 or 24 RTL trips on a Solo card at the regular rate ($3.25 each x number of trips). Valid on all RTL buses, where a transfer is automatically issued on the Solo card. But they do not have a single fare proof of purchase to issue a passenger when they pay $3.25 on the bus.

Although the Quebec Government represents both transit systems (RTL & STM) together for a better price when approaching corporations for retrofits or Spare Parts such as implementing the new OPUS technology, the “South Shore Transit Commission” (RTL), chose not to use the exact same system as the STM. The only difference is the magnetic strip single fare cards…and the number of security personnel hired…

RTL & Municipal Governments

I’ve learned that at the municipal council level of government on the South Shore there are Paid RTL representatives that receive a minimum $15,000.00 just for being an RTL corporate representative. In my opinion there is a huge conflict of interest here since the money comes from the citizen’s taxes to pay them this bonus over and above the salary they receive for being on the council. Those chosen to represent the RTL are usually favoured by the Mayor of the specific community, if, of course, they do not claim the bonus for themselves.

This got me to thinking, “Does the STM also Pay the City Councillors in Montreal and the West Island a Bonus”?

If we take a look at who is on the STM Corporate Board of Directors and the STM Committees the answer is “YES”. The same people are on both Corporate and government posts. My question is how much are these municipal government reps being paid just to rubber stamp their STM corporate directives? Am I wrong to think this is corruption?

STM – Members of the Board of Directors
https://www2.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-ca_membres.htm

Attacked By STM Security Agents

On Saturday August 3rd, 2013, STM Security attacked me for not showing them the magnetic strip bus pass I received after paying for a single fare on Bus #204 in the West Island of Montreal. They put me in the hospital. The incident is an ongoing nightmare for me now because I will not take public transport for fear of a repeat performance by the STM Security. It also stops me from visiting my 87-year-old mother on the South Shore who needs help because of her complications from dementia. I don’t have a car nor do I know anyone here that can take me to the South Shore once a week so I will need to find a way to rectify this. I will not bow to this authoritarian minded corporation, nor will I allow my dignity as a human being to be trampled on.

One of my fears is based on being singled out by STM security personnel with the Security software programs the STM have installed with all of the security cameras throughout the transit system. “Facial Recognition Technology” allows the STM Security Inspectors to profile passengers at will and is reason enough for me to stay away from ever taking the bus again simply because I feel I will be targeted and because my plea for justice has fallen on deaf ears by the STM, Municipal Governments, Gazette, CBC, CTV and other mainstream media. The NEWS mediums simply have not done their jobs in investigating and bringing the public’s attention to the ongoing conflicts of interest, corruption, and unjust laws that enable thuggery by the STM and its security apparatus.

According to Calypso Network Association, the creators of the OPUS technology and the engineering group Spirtech that works with C.N.A., there is no Fraud with their system…but the STM hires security to run around all day long harassing passengers by insisting on checking everyone’s OPUS cards and magnetic strip single fare cards…In my opinion, the STM, which is a merger of government and corporation is a completely corrupt organization operating as a parasite on the tax payers of Montreal and the citizens of the surrounding service area’s. The STM and all it’s Board members need to be investigated through a public inquiry including a forensic audit investigation of their books. The Harassment by STM Security on the population using public transit has to stop!  

My Personal Request to the STM

I want an apology from the STM for their security personnel roughing me up and putting me in the hospital because I wouldn’t show them the ticket I had just paid for. I want a complete stop to the STM security’s harassment of the public. I want the $333.00 fine they imposed on me for not showing them my ticket to be dropped, and I want the STM to pay for the damages inflicted on me by their security personnel.

Stewart Brennan
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UPDATE: 2014 August 03

It has been one year to the day since the violent incident involving the STM and their belligerent security thugs who accosted me on Bus number 204 and put me in the hospital. Here’s what I hope will be my final update on this matter:

I challenged the ticket issued to me by the STM in court and won, in fact the judge shook her finger at the STM representatives for their brutality and warned that she hopes there will not be anymore incidents like this in the future by the STM and its security…not long afterwards the STM security blended into the background and stopped pulling busses over; this is a “Victory” for the citizens who use public transport in Montreal. We all win when a bully is put in its place. Stand up and don’t back down when you have been wronged. There are still some credible people within the justice system that know the difference between right and wrong. Peace!

Links:

Calypso Networks Association
http://www.calypsonet-asso.org/
Spirtech
http://www.spirtech.com/spirtech-consulting/calypso-networks-association
OPUS 2.0 Urban Mobility in the Age of Electronic Payment
http://spacing.ca/montreal/2012/02/23/opus-2-0-urban-mobility-in-the-age-of-electronic-payment/
Court Orders STM to pay $123,000.00 in back pay to STM Security Officiers
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Court+orders+back+security+officers/7840875/story.html
STM Got Big Pay Raises
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/managers+raises/8703628/story.html
STM – Members of the Board of Directors
https://www2.stm.info/English/en-bref/a-ca_membres.htm
Calypso Networks Association & STM – (PDF File)
http://www.calypsonet-asso.org/downloads/open_session_2012/2012%2011%20STM.pdf
NOVA Bus
http://www.novabus.com/transit-solutions/service.html
RFID
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification
Metro Security think they are Policemen
http://archemdis.com/2010/04/08/montreal-metro-security-thinks-they-are-policemen/
Woman Fined $219.00 for not paying bus fare with exact change
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/08/02/montreal-stm-verdun-pauline-tantost-fine.html
Montreal’s STM Transit Security is Violently Out of Control
http://worldunitednews.blogspot.ca/2013/08/montreals-stm-transit-security-are.html

 

Monday, May 13, 2013

Psychopathy, Politics and The New World Order


 
Photo By: Stewart Brennan - http://sfbrennanart.blogspot.ca/

By: Colin Todhunter

Source: Global Research
http://www.globalresearch.ca/psychopathy-politics-and-the-new-world-order/5334458

When attempting to analyse what is happening in the world, it is important to appreciate past economic, social and political processes that led us to where we are today. Understanding the tectonic plates of history that led certain countries towards fascism, communism or capitalist liberal democracy, for example, is essential (1) (2).

At the same time, however, it can become easy for us to push aside the individual as we focus on theoretical perspectives that refer to the ‘underlying logic of capitalism’ or some other notion that draws heavily on theory. It can get to the point where individual motive or intent (agency) is airbrushed from the narrative because human action is deemed to have been shaped by the dead weight of history or forces beyond our control.

While not wishing to understate the role that such constraints have on human action, I wish to draw attention to researcher Stefan Verstappen who provides valuable insight into how individual agency has shaped and continues to shape society (3).

While Machiavellianism has long been associated with politics and public conduct, Verstappen shifts focus somewhat by arguing that people with psychopathic personalities have for thousands of years tended to grasp power and impose their views and deeds on the rest of us. In order to get power, he concludes that people cheat, kill or lie their way to the top. Whether it has been due to the butchery or lies of royalty, religious leaders, politicians or corporate oligarchs, nice guys have tended to finish last.

What leads him to conclude this?

Psychopathy is a personality disorder identified by characteristics such as a lack of empathy and remorse, criminality, anti-social behaviour, egocentricity, superficial charm, manipulativeness, irresponsibility, impulsivity and a parasitic lifestyle (4).

With that definition in mind, look around: the criminal, parasitic activities by bankers that have plunged millions into poverty; the destruction, war and death brought to countries in order that corporations profit by stealing resources; the dropping of atom bombs on innocent civilians in 1945 or the use of depleted uranium which again impacts innocent civilians; and the many other acts, from the use of death squads to false flag terror, that have brought untold misery to countless others just because powerholders wanted to hold onto power or to gain more power, or the wealthy wanted to hold onto their wealth or gain even more.

Based on these terrible deeds, it becomes easy to argue that the people ultimately responsible for them do not adhere to the same values as ordinary people. It may be even easier to conclude that it’s not the cream that rises to the top, but, in many cases, the scum.

Now such a scenario might seem awful enough, but the people who tend to control the world, the ones responsible for these acts, try to impose their warped world view and twisted values on everyone else. Hollywood films, commercials and political ideology are all engaged in forwarding the belief that it’s a dog eat dog world, war and violence abroad is necessary, competition and not cooperative is what counts, aggression and not passivity is the key to ‘success’ and that success equates with amassing huge amounts of personal wealth and lavish displays of conspicuous consumption.

“A person with a psychopathic personality, which manifests as amoral and antisocial behavior, lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, extreme egocentricity, failure to learn from experience, etc.” - definition of a psychopath from Dictionary.com

Again, bearing this definition in mind too, the acts mentioned above are not those of properly functioning social beings that contribute to a sense of communality, altruism, love or morality; quite the opposite in fact.

Yet this is the type of stuff that is rammed down our throats as constituting normality every day. Whether it’s the ‘Big Brother’ TV show or ‘The Apprentice’ show, these values are promoted day and night. The ‘Big Brother’ winner is the one who can survive and outdo the competition in terms of the duplicity and backstabbing involved along the way. The winner of ‘The Apprentice’ must be more aggressive, more duplicitous, more devious and cunning and more willing to trample over everyone else. And the winner is judged as such by a multi-millionaire who himself was cunning and ruthless enough to have made it to the top of the pile and has amassed millions for his own personal benefit. These are the role models to be admired and emulated!

These are the measures of success, of sanity, of normality.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Apprentice competitors are highly driven individuals: not driven by a need to help humanity, but by egocentricity and greed. And, ultimately, these are the values that many mainstream opinion leaders, senior politicians and their corporate masters hold dear.

These values of egocentricity, aggression, competitiveness, duplicity and greed are not confined to some TV show. There are part of a much more sinister process. They are inextricably linked to and underpin the actions that resulted in the killing of half a million children in Iraq for geo-political gain (5) and the sending in of military forces into the jungles of India to beat, rape and dispose of a nation’s poorest people because they stand in the way of profit and greed (6). From Congo and Libya to Syria and beyond, we witness the outcome of a terrifying mindset that is nurtured and encouraged throughout society.

Too many people have become “well adjusted to the values of a profoundly sick society,” whether residing in middle England, middle America or the gated communities of south Delhi or Mumbai. Humanity is being beaten down to be neurotic, vicious and to regard these traits as constituting normal, acceptable behaviour. Thanks to the media, this becomes engrained from an early age as comprising ‘common sense’, and those who question it are merely sneered at or ridiculed by a system that promotes a mass mindset immune to its own lies.

Whether this is all due to psychopathy, narcissism or ‘Machiavellian personalities’ is open to debate. Moreover, as implied at the outset, historical and sociological factors often compel usually decent people to act in terrible ways. The debate within academic sociology between structure and human agency is after all a very long one (7). Whatever the underlying reason, however, as a global community we are being force fed a diet of perverse values and destructive actions, all spuriously justified on the basis that ‘there is no alternative’ and ‘needs must’.

Corporate capitalism, consumerism, the new world order, a war on terror (or drugs or poverty, take your pick), neo-liberalism – call it what you will, but it’s all based on the filthy lie that those in control have wider humanity’s interests at heart. They don’t. By any means possible – war, murder, torture or propaganda, they seek to convince people otherwise. What price human life? None whatsoever for such people.

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About the author:

Originally from the northwest of England, Colin Todhunter has spent many years in India. He has written extensively for the Bangalore-based Deccan Herald, New Indian Express and Morning Star (Britain). His articles have also appeared in many other newspapers, journals and books. His East by Northwest site is at: http://colintodhunter.blogspot.com/


Notes

1) Robert Brenner (1976), “Agrarian Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-industrial Europe”.Past and Present 70

2) Barrington Moore (1993) [First published 1966]. Social origins of dictatorship and democracy: lord and peasant in the making of the modern world (with a new foreword by Edward Friedman and James C. Scott ed.). Boston: Beacon Press.

3) Defense Against the Psychopath (2013): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQkDvO3hz1w

4) Polaschek, D. L. L., Patrick, C. J., Lilienfeld, S. O. (15 December 2011). “Psychopathic Personality: Bridging the Gap Between Scientific Evidence and Public Policy”. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 12 (3): 95–162.

5) Reuters report (2000), UN Says Sanctions Have Killed Some 500,000 Iraqi Children: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines/072100-03.htm

6) BBC Newsnight interview with Arundhati Roy (2011): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrYQmRBdMPQ

7) Colin Hay (2001), What Place for Ideas in the Structure-Agency Debate? Globalisation as a ‘Process Without a Subject’: http://www.criticalrealism.com/archive/cshay_wpisad.html