Seymour Hersh

Column #399 April 21, 2023

If you don’t recognize his name, you’re not paying attention. Seymour Hersh was born April 8, 1937. He’s an American investigative journalist and political writer who, in 1969, exposed the Vietnam War My Lai massacre and cover-up. For that he received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. During the 1970s, Hersh covered the Watergate scandal, reported on the secret U.S. bombing of Cambodia, and the CIA's domestic spying program. In 2004, he wrote about the U.S. military's torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.¹

Obviously Hersh has sources our government would love to capture and put behind bars forever without a trial. Amazingly, at 86 years of age Hersh and his anonymous sources continue to stir up controversy and criticism from not only our government but its complicit MSM. Obviously, if our lying government hates Hersh, he must be on target.²

"Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied." That is a quote supposedly from Otto von Bismarck who died in 1898. I first heard it in the mid 1960s. Obviously, our government, along with most other governments, lies as a matter of course. Lying may be the norm in countries where citizens are subjects. But here in America, where the bureaucrats and elected representatives are supposedly public servants, the extent of lying and secrecy we’re subjected to seems out of place.

Hersh has a blog on substack.com where he says, “Substack simply means reporting is back . . . unfiltered and unprogrammed—just the way I like it.” If you pull up his page, you don’t have to subscribe, just click on the first page to get to Home where you can view a few of his many stories. I strongly recommend that you subscribe to at least his free service by giving him your email address.³

There’s a couple of recent Seymour Hersh articles that every American needs to be familiar with. The first describes the destruction of the Nord Stream Pipeline that the Russians built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. Hersh reported that the Biden Administration made plans to blow up that pipeline in 2021 and during the first few months of 2022. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. On 26 September 26, 2022, both pipelines were blown up. On February 8, 2023, Hersh’s article explained in detail how the USA pulled it off and there has been plenty of official denials since then.⁴

In 2014 the United States masterminded the overthrow of Ukraine’s pro Russian, democratically elected government. Then, as Putin complained about NATO moving closer to Russia’s borders, America refused to negotiate a solution that might have avoided a conflict. Instead, America ignored Putin’s red lines while planning the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline many European citizens depended on for energy. By ignoring him, Putin had only two options. Either Russia should tuck tail and suck its thumb or invade Ukraine in order to protect Russians in western Ukraine and seize Ukraine’s western oblasts. Needless to say, that’s how wars start.

Last week Hersh came out with another blockbuster: “Trading with the Enemy.” On this topic Hersh asked the question, “Amid rampant corruption in Kiev and as US troops gather at the Ukrainian border, does the Biden administration have an endgame to the conflict?” Then his lead-in sentence stated that, “The Ukraine government, headed by Volodymyr Zelensky, has been using American taxpayers’ funds to pay dearly for the vitally needed diesel fuel that is keeping the Ukrainian army on the move in its war with Russia.”^{5 6 7}

Then Hersh explained that Zelensky has been buying fuel from Russia, and that Zelensky and many in his entourage had skimmed untold millions of American dollars that were earmarked for diesel fuel payments. He stated that the CIA estimated the embezzled funds at $400 million last year—at least! He said another expert compared the level of corruption in Kiev as approaching that of the Afghan war.

Ukraine is a notoriously corrupt country. Yet for some reason the American political machine is vitally interested in messing around in the affairs of that tiny European country while ignoring the history of the region. In so doing the United States is engaged in a proxy war with a nuclear power. Vladimir Putin knows all too well the history of Ukraine and Russia and last year he spelled it out in detail in an article he wrote from the Kremlin. But the USA continues to ignore him.⁸

Why is the United States continuing to instigate and support conflict in that region? Why has Russophobia become so over the top? What is Russophobia?⁹

The Biden administration, bureaucrats, neocons, and RINOs supporting the war have so far failed to offer a strategic argument on behalf of the costs and risks to U.S. policy for the war. Clearly, how U.S. efforts in Ukraine contribute to overarching U.S. national objectives and interests are broadly lacking. Therefore no one knows what the United States’ strategic interests are in Ukraine.10

Is the war a diversion away from the many woke policies being pushed by America’s deep state? Will the war become a reason for “postponing” the 2024 election? Do the powers that be want a hot war to buffer the negative impact of an economic depression? Does our government want more spending and a larger government to offset the Fed’s efforts to slow price inflation? Recent security leaks indicate that our government does not expect Ukraine to prevail in this war. If so, why not negotiate and stop the slaughter of Ukrainians?¹¹

After Russia invaded Ukraine, the United States issued numerous, worldwide economic sanctions on Russia with the goal of destroying its economy. That effort mostly backfired as many countries around the world realized the sanctions included dollar weaponization. Consequently, during the past year many countries, including NATO members, started using different currencies in their trades with nations other than the United States. So now, for the first time in 70 years the dollar is slowly losing its reserve currency status. This is hurting America’s standing in the world while it is boosting the respect many foreigners have for China and Russia.12

Americans have got to get a grip on their representatives and convince them to work FOR the American people. What we have now in Washington, D.C. is worse than a gaggle of geese. And all of the “news” outlets are behind this war including FOX and Newsmax. John Bolton, the raging neocon, along with idiots such as Lindsey Graham are super stars. Are there any grownups in DC?

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

1. Seymour Hersh from Wikipedia

2. The Media Exposed Its Allegiance to the Government by Doing the FBI's Work for Them by Tucker Carlson

3. Seymour Hersh on substack.com

4. How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline by Seymour Hersh

5. Trading with the Enemy by Seymour Hersh

6. Before We Send Any More Money To Ukraine—Can We Find Out Where The Rest Of Our Cash Went? by Sam Faddis from And Magazine

7. Vladimir Putin and Russia are Isolated—Only Not in the Way You Think by Phil Butler from New Eastern Outlook

8. The Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians by Vladimir Putin July 12, 2021 from Kremlin.ru

9. The Paradox of American Russophobia by Sean Guillory from The Moscow Times

10. What is America's interest in the Ukraine war? by Joshua Shifrinson from The National Interest

11. Leaks Spelling the End for Ukraine by Joe Lauria from Consortium News