Media Roots is proud to present the followup to American Anthrax, A VERY HEAVY AGENDA by Robbie Martin.

A VERY HEAVY AGENDA follows the trajectory of neoconservative ideologues behind George W. Bush’s foreign policy and who continue to influence the Obama presidency.

The documentary will be released in three parts, starting with Part 1: A Catalyzing Event which comes out Thursday October 15th on DVD & Video on Demand

Post-9/11, the War on Terror had outlived its usefulness.

          
the U.S. needed a new enemy, so they chose an old one – Russia.

Part 1: A Catalyzing Event  10.15.15

Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld were ubiquitous in the news media as they took every opportunity to market an aggressive preemptive war policy to America. But from where did their ideas originate? A tightly knit and eminently well placed group of neoconservative thought leaders, chief among them Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan.

Part 1 begins in the panicked weeks after 9/11, as Kagan et al. seized upon the hysteria surrounding the anthrax letter attacks to further shape America’s perception of reality, planting the seeds for endless future military engagements. George W. Bush may have been understandably perceived as an idiot, but watching these wonks and academics drive the ideological engine for his administration belies a much more sophisticated strategy.

Part 2: How We Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The New Neocons  11.1.15


After the Cold War, the US-NATO reach expanded significantly to take in most of the old Soviet Union clients in the Warsaw pact. Neoconservative darling Robert Kagan and his diplomat wife Victoria Nuland played key roles inside and out of various administrations and think tanks as they greased the skids for a US-sponsored coup in Ukraine.

Part 2 shows the resurrection of old cold warriors from beltway depths to deliver blatant propaganda with techniques reminiscent of a Red Scare era that had only just faded from memory. US-funded outfits like Radio Free Liberty are pitted against Russia Today as each nation accuses the other of waging an ever more desperate and transparent “Information War.”

Part 3: Maintaining the World Order 11.15.15

“When the Berlin wall fell, our work wasn’t finished.” – Victoria Nuland, November 2013

“Fuck the EU.” – Victoria Nuland, February 2014

While stage managing the American empire has undoubtedly proved to be a more difficult task now than in the bipolar world of the Cold War, it is not for lack of greed or hubris that the Kagans and others continue to sell their vision. Did they create these ideas because they truly believe in America’s right to be the dominant force in the world? Or, do these ideas help sell weapons and control resources like oil and rare minerals?

Part 3 shows footage of an obscure PNAC member (Thomas Donnelly) taking credit for the ominous “New Pearl Harbor” phrasing in the notorious ‘Rebuilding America’s Defenses’ document. But the evidence shows the genesis of the concept to be patriarch Don Kagan, in conjunction with his son Fred, in prior writings that call for ‘a catalyzing event’. Other newly sourced footage shows the pair advocating for a US military ground invasion of Palestine on September 12th, 2001 and displaying an unnerving prescience about the 9/11 attacks and subsequent anthrax letter attacks.

“We’re an empire now and when we act we create our own reality, and while you’re studying that reality—we’ll act again, creating other new realities which you can study too. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do” – Karl Rove

When you take stock of the mindset of people who not only have access to the nexuses of power, but who trade in forming and widely disseminating arguments that justify bringing America closer to a potential nuclear confrontation with Russia, it shows something more plainly Machiavellian at work, with an aim ultimately much more sinister than simply spin.

Produced/Edited/Created by: Robbie Martin
Scored by Empire Files theme song composer: Fluorescent Grey 

A Very Heavy Agenda is a joint production between Media Roots & RecordLabelRecords
More information, Video On Demand/DVDs of A Very Heavy Agenda here

Follow Robbie Martin on Twitter @FluorescentGrey

American exceptionalism is the bedrock of US expansion—casting a shadow across much of the world in the form of hyper-militarism and political interventionism. The US, as a global superpower, has drenched the globe in military bases and worked tirelessly to undermine native resistance by way of massacres, occupation, coups, and sanctions.

The United States has long been able to disguise occupation of foreign territories, and the pillaging of their resources, under the pretense of humanitarianism, all while at the same time bolstering horrifically abusive and repressive regimes in the regions it occupies. The establishment media has been able to camouflage colonial rhetoric by creating a more subdued, less threatening narrative so as to hide the true nature of warfare and to in turn fabricate a history that erases the Empire’s victims.

As much of the world moves forward in providing social benefits, including health care benefits and expanding education programs, while in turn making cuts to military budgets, the United States spends nearly $600 billion annually on its defense budget. Uncovering the hidden costs, military expenditures make up over 50% of American tax dollars. By institutionalizing the collusion between government and big business a permanent war economy in indisputably maintained, and lobbying for war becomes a necessity for those wishing to turn a quick profit. 

Watch Abby Martin’s inaugural Empire Files episode, where she goes deep inside the rise of history’s largest, ever expanding Empire.

The Rise of History’s Biggest Empire

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FOLLOW // @EmpireFiles and @AbbyMartin

WATCH // YouTube.com/EmpireFiles

Lawmakers pushing through the next bloated war budget have received millions in campaign contributions from defense contractors, according to Open Secrets.

While the military industrial complex churns unabated and bombs drop across the Middle East in our names, citizens in America continue to be victimized by economic warfare and terrorized by militarized police forces.

On this episode of Media Roots Radio, Eugene Puryear, organizer with the ANSWER coalition and author of Shackled and Chained, connects the war at home and abroad on a systems level while deconstructing the toxic neoliberal ideology that dominates global policy in the 21st century.

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This Media Roots podcast is the product of many long hours of hard work and love. If you want to encourage our voice, please consider supporting us as we continue to speak from outside party lines. Even the smallest donations help us with operating costs.

Listen to all previous episodes of Media Roots Radio here.

Follow @AbbyMartin and @EugenePuryear

Photo by flickr user Moyan Brent

Two weeks ago, Obama made a bizarre announcement that Venezuela is an “extraordinary threat” to US national security and that he is “deeply concerned” about its human rights abuses – a declaration necessary to justify a new round of harsh sanctions.

The measure comes on the heels of another round of US sanctions against the Venezuelan government, allegedly for violating protesters rights during demonstrations last year.

In this episode of Media Roots Radio, Abby Martin talks to Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research and president of Just Foreign Policy about the hidden agenda behind this latest move of aggression and why the country really poses a threat to the US establishment.

US vs. Venezeula: Regime Change and Resilience

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In fact, the US has never stopped trying to undermine the Bolivarian Revolution. Eva Golinger, author of the Chavez Code, talks about the Western backed coup happening in real time in the form of paid opposition forces, propaganda and economic warfare.

Why the CIA Won’t Give Up on Venezeula

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has launched a global signature-gathering campaign to pressure Obama to repeal the sanctions. The letter reads “sanctions, blockades and armed aggressions are no substitute for genuine dialogue.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Abby Martin | @AbbyMartin

Photo by flickr user Dan Brickley