“Threat Inflation” Leading to War, or a Joint Mission for Mankind? EIR – Executive Intelligence Review Founder and Editor-in-Chief Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. Dec. 7, 2021 Even at a distance of 200 years—he passed away in 1828—the immortal painter Francisco Goya still likes to comment, as the occasion demands, on “current events” that, no matter how “contemporary” or “cyber” they may appear to be, still reflect the time-worn folly of brinkmanship, of war, and of “strategies of tension” that can lead to war. This folly appears to arise from an almost-genetic stupidity on the part of a financial oligarchy that is so ideologically inbred, that it is constitutionally incapable of learning anything from its mistakes. On such a full sea of folly is the world now afloat, in the mounting tensions seen instigated by the “Queen’s Navy,” the United States/NATO “ship of fools”, against Russia and China, and the allies of the Belt and Road Initiative. Ever hear of the idea of “threat inflation?” For example, accusing the Russians of plotting to invade Ukraine, based on the same reliable “yellowcake” intelligence method used for the 2003 Iraq War, and for “Russiagate,”—and then, if/when they don’t invade, claiming “a strategic-military victory for the forces of democracy?” Francisco Goya knew all about this flim-flam 200 years ago. Goya illustrates the “threat inflation” fraud in his engraving “disparate conocido”—, “well-known folly.” A crowd cowers before two figures, one of whom brandishes a saber and appears to be shouting. The other, behind him, may actually only be a scarecrow, made up to look human, which the “soldier” seems to be defending. One lone figure in the cowering crowd, who stands out, has one hand on his ass, (which is prominently turned toward the face of the threatening soldier,) and one on his mouth. He isn’t fooled by the fraud, so he says to the threatening soldier-figure, in a graphic language that all viewers can understand, “Kiss my ass.”
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You may wonder how Francisco Goya knew 200 years ago, the appropriate response to the braying of U.S. Senator Roger Wicker from Mississippi: “I would not rule out military action. I think we start making a mistake when we take options off the table, so I would hope the President keeps that option on the table.” It includes “that we stand off with our ships in the Black Sea and we rain destruction on Russian military capability. I would not rule out American troops on the ground.” And the US shouldn’t “rule out first-use nuclear action.” The Belt and Road Initiative, or New Silk Road courtesy of the LaRouches and Xi Jinping
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