It happened…Pandora’s Box was torn open, and out came Russia-gate, the Syrian Crisis, The Ukraine Crisis, and so much more, including the Russian Olympic doping scandal. By an odd turn of fate, however, it may be the resolution of the doping scandal, which brings hope for the other greater issues. Evidence for the Russian Olympic doping scandal, including the key testimony of Grigory Rodchenkov, was finally tried with fire – and found severely lacking. According to RT:
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has published two reasoned awards in the matter of 39 Russian athletes accused of doping, describing Grigory Rodchenkov’s evidence as “hearsay with limited probative value.”
Grigory Rodchenkov was, of course, the erstwhile head of Russia’s anti-doping lab, before resigning under shame, and fleeing to the US, where he made his accusations of “state-sponsored doping” against the Russian Olympic committee.
Pandora’s Box
It is ironic that the Olympics began in Ancient Greece, because the Doping scandal – along with the rest of Russia-gate, and many events going back to Maidan in Ukraine, opened Pandora’s box. It is fitting in more ways than one, to draw this analogy, because Pandora’s box, was in fact, more accurately a jar, which contained the evils of the world, perhaps not unlike the vials that contained the doping samples.
Rodchenkov (left) with his…samples…yeah…I…I want Pandora back
When Pandora’s box was opened, according to myth and song, all the evils were released, but they were not the only thing contained within. There was also hope, which was sealed back inside, but as the Russian saying goes “Hope dies last”. If that is true, let’s hope it can outlast evil.
Never the less, the resolution of the Rodchenkov case may just have reopened Pandora’s box, releasing hope that Russia will have her justice, even if this is a story the corporate media will never tell.
Rodchenkov’s slander came crumbling down, and he even withdrew a major part of his testimony against Russian athletes. Russian officials and people are now hoping this will begin to change rulings made against athletes based on false evidence. Sputnik quoted Putin’s Press Secretary Peskov as saying:
“Now the fact that the man [Rodchenkov] is confused in his testimony is obvious. The fact that he actually confirms that he lied and that his previous words were groundless. Of course, we hope that this situation will force various organizations to very seriously look at the all reasons behind the decisions taken against our athletes again,” Peskov said.
RT further quoted Peskov as saying:
“It’s clear Rodchenkov is mixing up his stories, and his new testimony is evidence that the previous ones were fabrications,” said Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s press secretary.
RT also quoted Igor Lebedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Duma, speaking in a similar light saying:
“Rodchenkov lied about doping in our country, which was to be proved. I recommend that a commission is assembled that would gather all false publications about Russian athletes in the Western media, and sue them for defamation.”
It’s clear Russians have been roused by the court’s just ruling. RT has a great in-depth article about Rodchenkov, and the doping case here, which goes into further detail than I, because this article is dedicated to something far bigger than Rodchenkov. Still, the RT article spoke on how this story was received in the West with a media blackout:
A polite silence. Aside from specialist websites writing about Olympic sport, no major Western outlet has covered the story.
This is particularly telling in view of the fact that the entire doping scandal was not started by investigators, but German documentary makers from ARD, who managed to create the biggest Olympics upheaval since the fall of the Soviet Union with the help of little more than interviews with two other runaway Russian insiders, the Stepanovs.
Since then, there has been a consistent barrage of accusations, all of them reported without question within the wider context of Moscow’s new image of an international rogue state, from Crimea to the US voting booths to the running track.
It is that media silence, which is worth our discussion. We should be happy that the court revealed the truth, but this story is bigger than just doping.
It’s time to ask a major question.
What if all slander was tried by such fire?
The Rodchenkov case, Dear Reader, represents a precedent, a microcosm, but microcosms are important models. It allows us to pose a powerful rhetorical question, but one with an even greater and more scandalous suggestion.
If the Rodchenkov case was the West’s strongest evidence against Russia in the doping scandal, and it not only failed to stand up in court, but was utterly demolished, what would happen if all accusations against Russia were put under the same judicial scrutiny, and tried beneath such a titanic tribunal.
What would happen if Russia-gate, The Ukraine Crisis, Maidan, and MH17, along with the Skripal case, and all the scandals against Russia were examined, cross-examined, and tried in a court of law by the same Promethean flame?
What would happen if Russia was finally given the due-process afforded to every human being according to the basic international law – would all the false narratives from Russia-gate to Maidan melt like wax before the fire, like dew before the sun?
The accusations against Russia are never based on evidence
Russia is never afforded such justice, but it only further proves the lies of the stories against her. It is interesting that in the Old Slavic language, is it is difficult to make a distinction between the words “Truth”, “Law” and “Right”, hence why the ancient 11th century Russian code of laws, which were more progressive than those in some countries today, which even banned capital punishment was called Russkaya Pravda.
This can be translated either as Russian law, The Russian Right, or Russian truth, as unlike in the west, it is difficult for the Russian soul to imagine a law can be false, and if something is not Right, it can not possibly be the law, and must be based on lies.
But accusations against Russia, such as Russia-gate are not only based on lies, they are based on the belief that people will accept the testimony of western officials without any real, irrefutable evidence.
Think of most major western accusations, and controversial actions, even beyond the scope of Russia, including the invasion of Iraq, the Vietnam War, the events in modern Syria including the chemical attacks.
Whenever the West presents “evidence” – if at all – what actually is this evidence? Actually think about it, aside from what they claim, or you heard on TV, how can you independently varify?
Is the evidence presented to an international body, an unbiased court in which chain of custody is observed, and the highest standards of fair scrutiny are applied to all evidence? No. Never!
In many cases, the evidence is based on “anonymous sources” or the testimony of “intelligence agencies” (part of whose job is literally subterfuge). Sometimes the evidence is simply “We said so. Trust us.” and those journalists, lawyers, or citizens who question more are treated like unpatriotic criminals, traitors, or foreign agents. Evidence samples are never given to a third party, much less the accused party, to test, just like when the UK refused to give Russia a sample of the Skripal nerve agent.
It does not matter the case, whatever the situation, the answer, and narrative is the same, and looks something like this:
“Russia/Assad/Iraq/China/[insert victem] did it.”
Reporter: “Can you present some evidence?”
“Evidence! Of course we have evidence, don’t worry, our experts proved it.”
Reporter: And those experts would be who? How can we reach them?
“Well, they’re mostly annonymous to protect them…you know, from [insert accused party], because they totally did it. But don’t worry, 17 different intelgence agencies proved they did it. And this lab in an allied country.”
Reporter: We are unable to independently verify that, is it possible you can share a sample of the evidence with several of these highly respected international bodies, accepted by all parties as being unbiased? We really need a clear, transparent investigation to prove guilt.
What do you mean? Didn’t you just hear? They did it! We said so!
That is essentially the level of evidence presented in these situations – and once again – that’s even if you consider the testimony of the accusing parties intelligence agencies to be substantial evidence. From Iraq WMDs, to Syria, and the Ukraine Crisis, to this doping scandal, whatever the situation, we hear the same anonymous sources present evidence that amounts to “They did it because we said so.”
For those who don’t remember, Colin Powell is actually holding up a vial they claimed was anthrax. The Mythical Iraq WMDs. From Pandora’s Box to the Doping Scandal, what is it with vials containing the vile evils of the world
What is even worse, is this ridiculous standard of evidence was even understood to be a logical fallacy in the classical world!
Ipse Dixit
The Great Roman Writer Cicero himself coined the Latin term Ipse Dixit, which essentially means “He said it himself”, but has come to mean when someone defends an argument, or event as being fact, purely on the basis of the dogmatic opinion of the “expert testimony”. Ipse Dixit is essentially saying “It’s true because X said so. It’s a fact, and it’s not up for negotiation.”
Ipse Dixit is exactly the core argument the West uses in all these examples against Russia, but US law has on two separate occasions set a clear precedent, upholding the understanding that Ipse Dixit alone is NOT conclusive. In National Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association, Inc. v. Brinegar, 491 F.2d 31, 40 (D.C. Cir. 1974), Circuit Judge Wilkey found that the US Secretary of Transportation’s:
“Statement of the reasons for his conclusion that the requirements are practicable is not so inherently plausible that the court can accept it on the agency’s mere ipse dixit“
Moreover, according to this log from Cornell University, the Supreme Court of the United States clearly stated in 1997 that:
“Nothing in either Daubert or the Federal Rules of Evidence requires a district court to admit opinion evidence which is connected to existing data only by the ipse dixit of the expert.”
What must be understood here is that no one is saying the testimony of an expert means nothing, only that the testimony of one expert alone is not enough to substantiate such serious accusations. When we are dealing with States, and their Intelligence Agencies, we must recognize that it does not matter if 6 or 66 of them gave testimony, the agents of a state actor are obviously biased towards their own state.
It’s actually not unreasonable to accept this. World leaders, military and state officials, and civil servants take oaths to their nations. Because of this, however, it is also not unreasonable to require additional third-party expert testimony, or call into scrutiny what was heard, if all the “experts” are agents of the same country, or its allies, accusing another country.
The Media Blackout – The Main Stream Media must also be questioned
Of course, a key requirement of ipse dixit to work, is for the general populous to NOT be experts, able to examine the evidence, or at the very least, to not be well informed, as there is so much misinformation and fake news out there.
Just as we can’t assume agents of the accusing country are unbiased, even if 17 intelligence agencies say the same thing, we can likewise not assume that just because 17 news agencies say the same thing, it makes it true.
The reality is people don’t realize how much news organizations from the highest echelons to the smallest websites rely on one another’s reporting. Sometimes even if it isn’t copied, if the same story is broken at once place, it will simply be mirrored by other agencies relying on the same original sources. So you can have 50 stories, but all backed by the same evidence. That is not completely bad, provided the evidence was solid, but it can give the illusion that all 50 stories were based on 50 separate sources.
For example, one news agency can say “Assad is doing x”, and then another says “According to [origonal source] Assad just did x” and then like a massive game of telephone, an uncorroborated story, possibly based on complete lies, becomes accepted as fact.
Even well-intentioned people who are not informed can believe it, simply because of the volume (in every sense of the word) of the reporting. If you hear it one hundred times, it must be correct, right? Inexperienced people can also simply assume that the “reputation” of these “established” news sources and Intelligence agencies is proof alone. They’d be surprised how very amateurish and unprofessional the mainstream media can be. Case in point, major MSM sources actually thought that acclaimed Syrian Journalist #SyrianGirl is a robot.
No, they did not mean they think she is lying, they actually thought her social media accounts were simply bots, and she was not real. In other words, they did not perform any professional fact checking such as the secret art of sending her a private message or an email, or noticing her account had the “verified” checkmark. These are the “experts”, Dear Readers.
This is the danger of Ipse Dixit, misinformed or possibly misleading “expert testimony” can be passed off and circulated to the extent it seems like a fact, especially to untrained eyes.
But you don’t have to be an expert to notice an obvious truth before your eyes, it simply needs to get past the media blackout.
A perfect example is this video, in which the White Helmets, a UK/UK backed group in Syria touted by the West as being heroes, use children in false flag attacks.
The White Helmets, know that the only thing that can save their terrorist allies losing the war in Syria, is a Western-backed intervention, the kind which a chemical attack committed by the Government could trigger. As a result, they despicably train children who can’t even understand what is happening, to help them fake chemical attacks, which they blame on the Government.
UK behind false flag chemical attack in Syria, evidence shows
These false flag attacks provide very weak evidence – the only kind needed or wanted for that matter, in order for the West to justify attacking Syria. There is never any critical examination of evidence, neither of the chemical attack itself, or of this video demonstrating the White Helmets faking chemical attacks. Instead, they simply say “There was a chemical attack. Assad did it. Ipse Dixit, the White Helmets said so, and our intelligence – which we won’t share – proved it.”
There is no response to refutation – no accountability
The West seldom even responds to evidence such as that video. Take note, this is not to say they respond and claim it is fake, but very often, they simply don’t respond at all. Real evidence never makes it past the media blackout, and the narrative continues onward as if no evidence to the contrary was ever presented. When it is presented, it is most often ignored, as if it doesn’t exist.
This insanity can inspire in a reasonable individual the incredible frustration which men like Galileo must have felt, when he was desperately trying to explain the world was NOT flat. It is maddening having to explain to so-called experts, that two plus two does NOT equal 17 intelligence agencies.
The sad thing is, it does not even matter to the West when clear as day evidence is brought forward. There is no accountability. Even when videos like the one above come forward, or when someone actually goes boots on the ground, and speaks to the real people on the scene, it does not change anything. They keep peddling the same narrative, and no one is held responsible even if it is revealed, and becomes accepted as mainstream knowledge that the narrative is false.
In the link above, you will find accounts of actual Syrians which don’t matter to the West. Likewise, the fact that Russia is not even one of the top five countries known for doping also is ignored.
That is why this issue is bigger than just the Doping, or even Russia-gate, the Syrian War, and the Ukraine Crisis, because this issue – the lack of accountability and evidence is what allows for all of this.
How many people are actually discussing this issue? The sad truth is, for all this discussion, the west will soon forget about this, about all of this. All evidence will be ignored, and new “evidence” will be invented. Most people won’t even be aware of this. To this sad and cynical reality of our world, RT quoted Nikolay Durmanov, the ex-chief of the Russian anti-doping agency, regarding the Rodchenkov case saying:
“This will change nothing.Yes we can enjoy some moral satisfaction, but in the eyes of the world Russian sport has been painted a rich black color, and there is nothing we can do to wash that reputational stain off this generation. This was an information war waged against us.”
If that upsets you, then spread the word. The reality of life is often different than what should be, but it does not mean that this grim fate is what must be, for the future. That is up to all humanity to purpose a better future, and God to dispose in his own season.
The Tide is Changing
This is the world we live in, we can not change the past, but it is within our power to leave our children a world in which truth and human life matters.
We have seen from the Rodchenkov doping case that it is possible for the truth to prevail. All that is necessary, is for the truth to be presented to stand on its own merits. Too often the issue is not a lack of clear truth, merely that there is never any actual debate. Accusations are made, and actions are taken extra-judicially.
In the Rodchenkov case, we have seen that it’s easy to make unsubstantiated claims in the court of public opinion, but such delusions fall apart quickly under actual investigation. Just imagine what would happen if a serious investigation was opened into Russia-gate, The Ukrainian Crisis, and the events in Syria alone.
In all of those situations, it was those who lied, who opened Pandora’s box, releasing evil upon the world and allowing millions to die. The Box has already been opened. Now, we can only hope that Pandora’s Box will be reopened…but this time…in place of evil…something good will come out.
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