Fourth Estate. Media-induced Prejudices

In the following 11-point article, I expose the media-induced prejudices that are in most people's mind and the danger that they represent as causative of present and future political and social events.

1- Did you know that Charles Manson, criminal and founder of a cult, once said, during an interview in jail, while being tried, that if at daybreak someone starts stating a fallacy repeatedly, persevering in asserting it over and over again during the day, without giving in one inch, when the sun has set, such lie will have become a truth? The dogmatic truth; the psychological truth; and the sheep will live and die by such truth. The nine hundred and eighty people who committed suicide in Guyana in 1978 by order of their religious leader, Jim Jones, is a big example. At the beginning of the sixties, the Chinese thought that they were catching up with the western world in industrial and technological capacity as many of their peasants left their rice paddies and wheat fields to cast steel in their home back yards just because Mao Tse-tung's State propaganda apparatus unrelentingly told them so in his misconceived Great Leap Forward government policy. But the chimera took its toll; it was a leap down into the abyss of starvation as millions of Chinese died during the 1960's famines.

2- Did you know that the press sometimes is called the fourth estate for its capacity to form opinions, that is to say, it has the power to shape patterns of thinking, feeling and reacting before certain circumstances, events and famous people, setting up prejudices in the people's minds? [from Latin pre: before; judiciare: judge] psychological verdict without due reflective and analytical process, which can only be done through experience and knowledge of the facts and evidence; piles of evidence lie in history which contradict these prejudices.

3- Did you know that the abuse of this power to form opinions, distorting facts, portraying the wrong political tableau and an illusory view of reality can have ominous consequences for a country and perhaps a civilization? Have you ever wondered about the ideological tendencies and business interests of most of the newspapers and tv channels in United States, Latin America, and European countries? They are either socialists or anarchists, or mercenary of the word or just one hundred percent anti-Americans.

4- Did you know that billions of dollars coming from the Middle East is perhaps being channeled through some media sources to subvert the way people have traditionally seen things, undermining the fabric of the western culture, seeping slowly and subtly through television, newspapers, movies industry (Hollywood), forging facts about the war against terror, and even about history, here and there buying a few journalists, and space in cable cultural channels, through third parties?

5- Did you know that globalization started in ancient times when the Phoenicians, Egyptians, and Greeks made a free trade zone of the Mediterranean, then the Romans imposed an only currency; the Ceasar's.

6- Did you know that the pyramids of Cheops, Chephren, and Myserinus, which took more than 100 years to build each one of them and that cost thousands of slaves’s lives, were not for the living, but for the dead and their belongings, and did not have any practical use? For centuries they had been stacking up stones into the desert clear blue sky, but one day the Hittites, who did not pile up stones for the dead, sprang up and invaded Egypt just because they had iron swords which were wielded by their warriors who were alive. Piling up stones for a corps was an awry State policy in ancient Egypt, and a strategy of survival that failed, just as communism would in the late 20th century.

7- Did you know that the Romans built bridges and roads for trading and securing their borders, aqueducts for carrying water supply and irrigating their farm fields; public baths and sewer systems for public hygiene; theaters and amphitheaters for the entertainmaint of the Roman citizen; steel gladii, jabalines, and war machines for the efectivity of their legions? The Roman built for the living, for the citizens of Rome. Rome as well as Greece, which built and created for the living, not for the dead, left behind a legacy for the Western World, for mankind. By the way, legacy, aqueduct, create, effectivity, public, citizen, entertainment, as well as street, cement, column, concrete, future, republican, honor, liberty, peace, and hundreds of other words derive from Latin, the language of Rome.

8- Did you know that today's Egyptians not even speak the language of their ancient ancestors? Whereas Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian are Latin languages. Today's Egyptians speak Arabic, because they were invaded and subjugated in 642 AD by an Islamic army from the Arabic peninsula as part of the jihad against the infidels (Christians, Jews, and polytheists). The Muslim invasion of the territories of what is today Syria, Lebanon Israel, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, more than half of Spain and southern France took place between the 7th and 8th centuries, that is to say, three centuries earlier than the first Christian crusades. So, it was the Islamic invasions and their atrocities that were being committed against the Latin and Greek speaking Christians of the Middle East that provoked the crusades and NOT the other way around as some Hollywood writers and directors try to wrongly convince us.

9- The Roman civilization survived for more than a thousand years because the Romans used reason, not ideology and emotion, and fought for their survival. Their actions were not inhibited by ideological reflections about the human rights of those who wanted to destroy them. The Visigoths in Spain and the Franks in France, under Charles Martel, also fought for their survival. Thanks God that the New York Times, Hollywood, the Democratic Party and the liberal labors and French socialists did not exist in those days. Homo sapiens evolved fighting for survival in a rough environment; the only and first vestiges found by anthropologists, and which confirm his ancient presence, are not collections of poetry, but spearheads, arrowheads, axes, stone war hammer, etc, which they used in the fighting for survival.

10- Did you know that when you see the sun come up and then climb up in the heavens, and finally set at twilight, in fact, it does not come up, nor does it go up, nor does it set; it is the Earth that spins around its axis. Galileo Galilei was prosecuted by a biased Catholic church for saying the contrary to the seeming, to what is apparent. As this article and my site might be censored by a pro-Democrat, socialist-oriented Google.

11- Did you know that during the Mesozoic era, about 150 million years ago, the Earth average global temperature and the sea levels were much higher than today's, as there were regions near the Arctic and Antarctic with tropical and subtropical weather, making it possible for the existence of big lizards, and that during the Cenozoic there were four glacial and interglacial periods? Who caused those green house effects if man had not come into existence yet? Rain forests are being depleted in developing and underdeveloped countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Paraguay, Mexico, Argentina, China, India, Nigeria, etc, mostly by local lumber companies which are allowed by their local, lax governments and their loophole-ridden laws. And the emission of lead-containing carbon monoxide through fossil fuel combustion and acid-containing industrial gas is three times higher in those developing countries than it is in the United States and European nations. It was an American government between 1901 and 1908 – Theodore Roosevelt's administration, Republican - which pioneered the preservation of forests as he set aside 148 million acres of fiscal land as timber reserves, setting up the National Conservation Commission and supporting the drive for the establishment of national parks.

by Carl Blitz

German Troops Deployment for Operation Barbarossa

To attack and conquer Russia, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941. It was one of the biggest military operations in World War II. In order to carry it out successfully and fast, the German High Command organized the offensive around three Army Groups; AG North, AG Center, and AG South. Each one of them included both armored units and mechanized infantry divisions. They quickly assailed the different enemy targets in unison with the Luftwaffe's fighter and dive-bomber wings, in a new kind of warfare known as Blitzkrieg or Lightning War. When the attack on the Soviet Union began, the German and Axis forces totaled 166 divisions and more than 4 millions and 200 thousand men.

Army Group North

Assigned with the mission to attack Leningrad (St Petersburg), AG North was composed of the 16th Army, under Ernst Busch, the 18th Army, commanded by Georg von Kuchler, and 4th Panzer Group, under Erich Hoepner; this armored unit would spearhead the attack. AGN was under the overall command of Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb. Each one of the two Armies was made up of twenty divisions, both regular and mechanized, while the Panzer Group was formed by three armored and three motorized divisions. Air support would be provided by Air Fleet 1, which was led by Alfred Keller.

Army Group Center

Its main target was Moscow, sweeping across central Russia as they moved eastward in a lightning war. Led by Fedor von Bock, AG Center was made up of the 4th Army, under Gunther von Kluge, the 9th Army, under Adolf Strauss, the 2nd Panzer Group, commanded by Heinz Guderian (the creator of the Lightning War concept), and 3rd Panzer Group, led by Hermann Hoth. The Guderian's Panzer Group would lead the attack towards Moscow. All these ground forces would be supported by Air Fleet 2, directed by Albert Kesselring.

Army Group South

Heading eastwards towards Ukraine, AG South was made up of the 6th Army (Walther von Reichenau), the 11th Army (Eugen Ritter von Schobert), 17th Army (Carl Heinrich von Stulpnagel), and the 1st Panzer Group (Ewald von Kleist). These forces were reinforced by two Romanian Armies and received air support from Air Fleet 4. The AG South was under the command of Gerd von Rundstedt.

Map of German Army Groups positions and the lines of attack

Best antitank gun of WW2. Pak 43 (88mm)

The 8.8 cm Pak 43 (Panzerabwehrkanone 43) was the most powerful anti-tank gun of WW2. It utilized a hydro-pneumatic recoil system and fired 10.4-kg, high-explosive shells. Every Wehrmacht mechanized infantry unit was equipped with this lethal tank killer during this armed conflict. Manufactured by Krupp, it was in service from 1943 until the end of the war and was fielded on all three Fronts of the European theater of operation. The 8.8 cm Pak 43 was an effective and powerful anti-tank gun capable of destroying and putting out of action any Soviet and Allied tank and armored vehicle at 4,000 meters away.

Although the main version was set on an effective, 4-wheeled, cruciform mount, a simplified variant was mounted on a two-weeled split-trail carriage, being hauled to the battlefield by trucks or tracked military vehicles. With a 6.61m-long rifled barrel, it had an effective range of 4,000 m, being able to punch holes in a 140mm-thick steel plate, with a 30º inclination, located at 2,000 m away. This tank-buster gun was also mounted on the chassis of tank destroyers, such the Nashorn, Elefant, and Jagdpanther, as well as in the Tiger II tank's turret.

Specifications

Type: anti-tank gun
Caliber: 88mm
Barrel length: 6.61 m
Weight: 4.4 tons
Breech type: horizontal sliding block
Elevation: -5º to +38º
Rate of fire: 15 rpm
Muzzle velocity: 1,130 m/s - 1,000 m/s
Shell: 7.3 kg Panzergranate 40/43 armor-piercing round or 10.2 kg PzGr 39 APR

Down below, pic of Pak 43 8.8 cm gun deployed on the Eastern Front

8.8 cm (88mm) Pak 43 in Action (footage)

British Expeditionary Force Composition (WW1)

At the start of World War I, in 1914, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) that fought in Europe was composed of six divisions of all arms (infantry, artillery, engineer) and one cavalry divisions; seven altogether. Each of the six divisions was made up of three infantry brigades, and each one of these brigades was comprised four battalions, totaling twelve battalions, with divisional mounted troops, signal service, supply and transport train, and field ambulance.

Each division of the BEF was composed of 18,000 men of all ranks, of whom 12,000 were infantry soldiers, equipped with 24 machine guns, and 4,000 artillery men, fitted out with 76 artillery pieces of all calibers (fifty four 18-pdrs, eighteen 4.5-in howitzers, and four 60-pdrs). The cavalry division included four brigades of three regiments each, and cavalry divisional troops. They totaled 9,000 men of all ranks, and 10,000 horses.

All these troops had been very well trained before being shipped to the continent. They were also very well equipped, with machine guns, grenades, heavy guns and howitzers.

To summarize, at the beginning of the Great War, the British Expeditionary Force was roughly composed of 140,000 men, but by November 11, 1918, when the conflict ended, more than 2 million British soldiers had served and fought on the Western Front.

Battle of Lys of 1918 (Summary)

The Battle of Lys was a World War I military engagement between the German Imperial Army and the Allied forces. It took place near Ypres, Belgium, from April 9 to April 29, 1918. The battle began with a German attack on the Portuguese-held positions on April 9, during Operation Georgette, which was part of the German Spring Offensive.

Summary

The German 6th Army, under Ludwig von Falkenhausen, punched a hole in the Portuguese lines and penetrated five miles into Allied territory, pushing north the next day, attacking the British positions. As a result, the British 19th Division and other units were forced to fall back as the German broke through and advanced one and a half mile on the Lys River. Nevertheless, after more than two weeks of fierce battle, the German offensive ground to a halt as their supply lines had outstretched and the logistics could not keep up with the German advance. When Ludendorff and Falkenhausen called off Operation Georgette on April 29, the German forces had conquered Massines Ridge and the town of Scherpenberg.

Pacific Theater of WW2 (Summary)

Until 1942, Japan had achieved full mastery of the seas and skies in the Pacific Theater of Operation, expanding eastwards and southwards. In 1937 Japan had invaded China. In the summer of 1941 the United States began an oil embargo against Japan to put pressure on this country, which was had invaded China and made incursion into French Indo-China. As a result, and in order to have a free way for its unrelenting expansion and the acquisition of the much needed natural resources for its industry and population, Japan planned a powerful attack on Pearl Harbor to permanently damage and cripple the US Pacific fleet.

Thus, on December 7, 1941, a Japanese carrier fleet launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During the raid two US battleships were sunk and six damaged. But the raid failed to find any US aircraft carriers and did not damage Pearl Harbor's usefulness as a naval base. The Japanese attack united public opinion in the United States against Japan. The next day, December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. And Germany declared war on the United States on December 11. Hitler expected that Japan would support Germany by attacking the Soviet Union opening a new front for the Soviets. Japan did not oblige. This diplomatic move was a big mistake, for declaring the war on the United States unified the American public's support for the war.

By April, 1942, Japan had invaded the Philippines and the British colonies of Hong Kong, Malaya, Borneo, and Burma, with the intention of seizing of the oil fields of the Dutch East Indies. The Japanese also obtained more victories in the South China Sea, Java Sea and Indian Ocean, bombing the Allied naval base at Darwin, Australia. In a matter of months, all these territories capitulated to the Japanese as thousands of British, American, and Indian forces surrendered to the invading army.

In April, 1942, Major General James Doolittle conducted an air raid on Tokyo, dropping bombs in industrial areas. Although Doolittle Raid was a small operation that did little actual damage, it boosted morale in the US, causing Japan to shift resources to homeland defense.

In May, 1942, Japan began operations to capture Port Moresby to sever the line of communications between the United States and Australia. Nevertheless Allies intercepted and threw back the Japanese naval forces at the Battle of the Coral Sea. Japan's next plan was to take Midway Atoll and lure the American carriers into battle to definitely eliminate it. In early June, Japan put their operations into action but the Americans broke Japanese naval codes in late May, and were fully aware of the plans and force dispositions. Using this knowledge, the US Navy achieved a decisive victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway on June 5, 1942, sinking four Japanese aircraft carrier.

After American and Australian troops took back the occupied parts of Solomon Islands, New Guinea, and the Dutch East Indies, in November 1943, the US marines won the Battle of Tarawa, which was the first heavily opposed amphibious assault in the Pacific theater. The American offensive continued in the southwest Pacific with the capture of the Marshall Islands before the end of February, 1944. The next American objective was the Mariana Islands, especially Saipan and Guam, in which the Japanese were strongly entrenched. But, by July 9, 1944, after a month of heavy fighting, Saipan was taken. With these islands in the Allied hands, Tokyo was within range of the American bombers.

In order to thwart the American invasion of Saipan and Guam, the Japanese committed much of their declining naval strength in the Battle of the Philippine Sea but suffered heavy losses in both ships and aircraft, with more than 600 Japanese aircraft wiped out of the sky and two carriers being sunk.

Then the American forces landed on the Philippine island of Luzon in January 1945, and Mindanao in March. Meanwhile, British, American and Chinese forces obtained a victory over the Imperial Japanese Army in Burma from October to March, then the British pushed on to Rangoon by May 3, 1945. American forces also moved toward Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by June. American B-29 bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities as American submarines cut off Japanese imports.

Finally, on August 15, 1945, the Japanese Emperor, Hirohito, announced by Tokyo public radio the surrender of Japan, which was formally signed on September 2, 1945.

Footage of the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, which turned the tide of the war

Air Superiority in the Pacific Theater (Summary)

When the United States of America entered World War II in December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy had full control of the skies over the Pacific Ocean and the far eastern Asian coasts. Japan was able to exert air superiority thanks to its fleet of aircraft carriers (at the beginning of the war, the Asian country had more carriers than the United States), and its carrier-based aircraft, which included the A6M Zero fighter. The Zero (Zeke) was the fastest and the most maneuverable aircraft in the Pacific Theater of Operation until 1943, when the USN F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair were introduced. However, with the US Navy victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway in June 1942, the tide of the war began to turn, and with it, the control of the skies switched hands, because the Japanese lost four big carriers at this naval confrontation.

Thanks to its industrial capacity, the United States was able to produce more carriers and new and fastest naval aircraft, such as the two US fighters mentioned above. The American air superiority in the Pacific was evident and definitely secured at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, when the US Navy's F6F and F4U destroyed more than 500 Japanese aircraft. At this naval clash, Japan also lost three more carriers.

Until June 1942, Japan had eight aircraft carriers, which allowed it to exert full control of the Pacific waters; Soryu, Kaga, Akagi, Zuikaku, Zokaku, Shokaku, Chuyo, and Un'yo, from which four were used to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Meanwhile, the US Navy Pacific fleet had only three carriers; the US Enterprise, Saratoga, and Lexington.