Sample Letter Of Agreement For Camp Use: Fill & Download for Free

I tried my best, I got more ammos if you are not convinced. Happy reading!Lets begin…The First ProofThe Universe Concerning His MakerIn the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The seven heavens and the earth and all that is in them extol and glorify Him, and there is nothing but glorifies Him with praise, but you understand not their glorifying; indeed, He is Most Forebearing, Most Forgiving.1. Degree: Heavens and all They Contain(Since this sublime verse, like many other Qur’anic verses, mentions first the heavens — that brilliant page proclaiming God’s unity, gazed on at all times and by all men with wonder and joy — in its pronouncement of the Creator of this cosmos, let us too begin with a mention of the heavens.)Every voyager who comes to the hospice and the realm of this world, opens his eyes and wonders who is the master of this fine hospice, which resembles a most generous banquet, a most ingenious exhibition, a most impressive camp and training ground, a most amazing and wondrous place of recreation, a most profound and wise place of instruction. He asks himself too who is the author of this great book, and who is the monarch of this lofty realm. There first presents itself to him the beautiful face of the heavens, inscribed with the gilt lettering of the stars. That face calls him saying, “Look at me, and I shall guide you to what you seek.”He looks then and sees a manifestation of dominicality performing various tasks in the heavens: it holds aloft in the heavens, without any supporting pillar, hundreds of thousands of heavenly bodies, some of which are a thousand times heavier than the earth and revolve seventy times faster than a cannon-ball; it causes them to move in harmony and swiftly without colliding with each other; it causes innumerable lamps to burn constantly, without the use of any oil; it disposes of these great masses without any disturbance or disorder; it sets sun and moon to work at their respective tasks, without those great bodies ever rebelling; it administers withininfinite space — the magnitude of which cannot be measured in figures should they stretch from pole to pole — all that exists, at the same time, with the same strength, in the same fashion, manner and mould, without the least deficiency; it reduces to submissive obedience to its law all the aggressive powers inherent in those bodies; it cleanses and lustrates the face of the heavens, removing all the sweepings and refuse of that vast assembly; it causes those bodies to manoeuvre like a disciplined army; and then, making the earth revolve, it shows the heavens each night and each year in a different form, like a cinema screen displaying true and imaginative scenes to the audience of creation.There is within this dominical activity a truth consisting of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment.This truth, with its grandeur and comprehensiveness, bears witness to the necessary existence and unity of the Creator of the Heavens and testifies to that Existence being more manifest than that of the heavens. Hence it was said in the First Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to whose necessary existence in unity the heavens and all they contain testify, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, administration, revolution, ordering, cleansing, and employment, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.2. Degree: Atmosphere {2}Then that wondrous place of gathering known as space or the atmosphere begins thunderously to proclaim to that traveller come as a guest to the world, “Look at me! You can discover and find through me the object of your search, the one who sent you here!” The traveller looks at the sour but kind face of the atmosphere, and listening to the awesome but joyous thunderclaps perceives the following.The clouds, suspended between the sky and the earth, water the garden of the world in the most wise and merciful fashion, furnish the inhabitants of the earth with the water of life, modify the natural heat of life, and has- ten to bestow aid wherever it is http://needed.In addition to fulfilling these and other duties, the vast clouds, capable of filling the heavens sometimes hide themselves, with their parts retiring to rest so that not a trace can be seen, just like a well-disciplined army showing and hiding itself in accordance with sudden orders.Then, the very instant the command is given to pour down rain, the clouds gather in one hour, or rather in a few minutes; they fill the sky and await further orders from their commander.Next the traveller looks at the wind in the atmosphere and sees that the air is employed wisely and generously in such numerous tasks that it is as if each of the inanimate atoms of that unconscious air were hearing and noting the orders coming from that monarch of the universe; without neglecting a single one of them, it performs them in ordered fashion and through the power of the monarch.Thereby it gives breath to all beings and conveys to all living things the heat, light, and electricty they need, and transmits sound, as well as aiding in the pollination of plants.The traveller then looks at the rain and sees that within those delicate, glistening sweet drops, sent from a hidden treasury of mercy, there are so many compassionate gifts and functions contained that it is as if mercy itself were assuming shape and flowing forth from the dominical treasury in the form of drops. It is for this reason that rain has been called “mercy.” Next the traveller looks at the lightning and listens to the thunder and ses that both of these, too, are employed in wondrous tasks.Then taking his eyes off these, he looks to his own intellect and says:“The inanimate, lifeless cloud that resembles carded cotton has of course no knowledge of us; when it comes to our aid, it is not because it takes pity on us. It cannot appear and disappear without receiving orders. Rather it acts in accordance with the orders of a most powerful and compassionate commander. First it diasppears without leaving a trace, then suddenly reap- pears in order to begin its work. By the command and power of a most active and exalted, a most magnificent and splendid, monarch, it fills and then empties the atmosphere. Inscribing the sky with wisdom and erasing the pattern, it makes of the sky a tablet of effacement and affirmation, a depiction of the gathering and the http://resurrection.By the contriving of a most generous and bountiful, a most munificent and solicitous sustainer, a ruler who regulates and disposes, it mounts the wind and taking with it treasuries of rain each as heavy as a mountain, hastens to the aid of the needy. It is as if it were weeping over them in pity, with its tears causing the flowers to smile, tempering the heat of the sun, spraying gardens with water, and washing and cleansing the face of the earth.”That wondering traveller then tells his own intellect: "These hundreds of thousands of wise, merciful and ingenious tasks and acts of generosity and mercy that arise from the veil and outer form of this inanimate, lifeless, unconscious, volatile, unstable, stormy, unsettled, and inconstant air, clearly establish that this diligent wind, this tireless servant, never acts of itself, but rather in accordance with the orders of a most powerful and knowing, a most wise and generous commander. It is as if each particle were aware of every single task, like a soldier understanding and hearkening to every order of its commander, for it hears and obeys every dominical command that courses through the AIR - Associazione Italiana Rugbysti - Ex unitate vires aids all animals to breathe and to live, all plants to pollinate and grow, and cultivates all the matter necessary for their survival. It directs and administers the clouds, makes possible the voyaging of sailing ships, and enables sounds to be conveyed, particularly by means of wireless, telephone, telegraph and radio, as well as numerous other universal functions."Now these atoms, each composed of two such simple materials as hydrogen and oxygen and each resembling the other, exist in hundreds of thousands of different fashions all over the globe; I conclude therefore that they are being employed and set to work in the utmost orderliness by a hand of wisdom."As the verse makes clear,And the disposition of the winds and the clouds, held in disciplined order between the heavens and the earth,the one who through the disposition of the winds employs them in countless dominical functions, who through the ordering of the clouds uses them in infinite tasks of mercy, and who creates the air in this fashion — such a one can only be the Possessor of Necessary Existence, the One Empowered over All Things and Knowledgeable of All Things, the Sustainer endowed with Glory and Generosity.; This is the conclusion our traveller now draws.Then he looks at the rain and sees that within it are contained benefits as numerous as the raindrops, and dominical manifestations as multiple as the particles of rain, and instances of wisdom as plentiful as its atoms. Those sweet, delicate and blessed drops are moreover created in so beautiful and ordered a fashion, that particularly the rain sent in the summertime, is despatched and caused to fall with such balance and regularity that not even stormy winds that cause large objects to collide can destroy its equilibrium and order; the drops do not collide with each other or merge in such fashion as to become harmful masses of water.Water, composed of two simple elements like hydrogen and oxygen, is employed in hundreds of thousands of other wise, purposeful tasks and arts, particularly in animate beings; although it is itself inanimate and unconscious.Rain which is then the very embodiment of divine mercy can only be manufactured in the unseen treasury of mercy of One Most Compassionate and Merciful, and on its descent expounds in physical form the verse: “And He it is who sends down rain after men have despaired, and thus spreads out His Mercy. “The traveller next listens to the thunder and watches the lightning. He understands that these two wondrous events in the atmosphere are like a material demonstration of the verse,The thunder glorifies His praise,∗ The brilliance of His lightning almost robs them of their sight.They also announce the coming of rain, and thus give glad tidings to the needy.Yes, this sudden utterance of a miraculous sound by the atmosphere;the filling of the dark sky with the flash and fire of lightning; the setting alight of the clouds that resemble mountains of cotton or pipes bursting with water and snow — these and similar phenomena are like a blow struck on the head of the negligent man whose gaze is directed down at the earth. They tell him:“Lift up your head, look at the miraculous deeds of the most active and powerful being who wishes to make himself known. In the same way that you are not left to your own devices, so too, these phenomena and events have a master and a purpose.Each of them is caused to fulfil a particular task, and each is employed by a Most Wise Disposer.”The wondering traveller hears then the lofty and manifest testimony to the truth that is composed of the disposition of the winds, the descent of the rains and the administration of the events of the atmosphere, and says: “I believe in God.” That which was stated in the Second Degree of the First Station expresses the observations of the traveller concerning the atmosphere:There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to whose necessary existence in unity the atmosphere and all its contains testifies, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, disposal, causing to descend, and regulation, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.3. Degree: Earth and Its Pages {3}Next the globe addresses that thoughtful traveller, now growing accustomed to his reflective journey:"Why are you wandering through the heavens, through space and the sky? Come, I will make known to you what you are seeking. Look at the functions that I perform and read my pages; He looks and sees that the globe, like an ecstatic Mevlevi dervish with its twofold motion, is tracing out around the field of the Supreme Gathering a circle that determines the succession of days, years, and seasons. It is a most magnificent dominical ship, loaded with the hundreds of thousands of different forms of food and equipment needed for all animate beings, floating with the utmost equilibrium in the ocean of space and circling the sun.He then looks at the pages of the earth and sees that each page of each of its chapters proclaims the Sustainer of the Earth in thousands of verses.Being unable to read the whole of it, he looks at the page dealing with the creation and deployment of animate beings in the spring, and observes the following:The forms of the countless members of hundreds of thousands of species emerge, in the utmost precision, from a simple material and are then nurtured in most merciful fashion.Then, in miraculous manner, wings are given to some of the seeds; they take to flight and are thus dispersed. They are most effectively distributed, most carefully fed and nurtured. Countless tasty and delicious forms of food, in the most merciful and tender fashion, are brought forth from dry clay, and from roots, seeds and drops of liquid that differ little among each other. Every spring, a hundred thousand kinds of food and equipment are loaded on it from an unseen treasury, as if onto a railway waggon, and are despatched in utmost orderliness to animate beings.The sending to infants of canned milk in those food packages, and pumps of sugared milk in the form of their mothers’ affectionate breasts, is in particular such an instance of solicitousness, mercy and wisdom that it immediately establishes itself as a most tender manifestation of the mercy and generosity of the Merciful and Compassionate One.In Short: this living page of spring displays a hundred thousand examples and samples of the Supreme Gathering, and is a tangible demonstration of this verse,So look to the signs of God’s mercy:how He gives life to the earth after its death, for verily He it is Who gives life to the dead, and He has power over all things.Moreover, this verse may be said to express in miraculous fashion the meanings of the page that is spring.The traveller thus understood that the earth proclaims through all its pages, in fashion proportionate to their size:“There is no god but He.” In expression of the meaning beheld by the traveller through the brief testimony of one of the twenty aspects of a single page out of the more than twenty pages of the globe, it was said in the Third Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, the Necessary Being, to whose necessary existence in unity the earth with all that is in it and upon it testifies, through the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, disposition, nurturing, opening, distribution of seeds, protection, administration, the giving of life to all animate beings, compassion and mercy universal and general, a truth vast and perfect, and to be observed.4. Degree: The Seas and Rivers {4}Then that reflective traveller read each page of the cosmos, and as he did so his faith, that key to felicity, strengthened; his gnosis, that key to spiritual progress, increased; his belief in God, the source and foundation of all perfection, developed one degree more; his joy and pleasure augmented and aroused his eagerness; and while listening to the perfect and convincing lessons given by the sky, by space and the earth, he cried out for more. Then he heard the rapturous invocation of God made by the tumult of the seas and the great rivers, and listened to their sad yet pleasant sounds. In numerous ways they were saying to him: "Look at us, read also our signs Looking, our traveller saw the following:The seas, constantly and vitally surging, merging and pouring forth with an inclination to conquest inherent in their very nature, surrounded the earth, and together with the earth, revolved, extremely swiftly, in a circle of twenty-five thousand years in a single year. Yet the seas did not disperse, did not overflow or encroach on the land contiguous to them. They moved and stood still, and were protected by the command and power of a most powerful and magnificent being.Then looking to the depths of the sea, the traveller saw that apart from the most beautiful, well-adorned and symmetrical jewels, there were thousands of different kinds of animal, sustained and ordered, brought to life and caused to die, in so disciplined a fashion, their provision coming from mere sand and salt water, that it established irresistibly the existence of a Powerful and Glorious, a Merciful and Beauteous Being administering and giving life to them.The traveller then looks at the rivers and sees that the benefits inherent in them, the functions they perform, and their continual replenishment, are inspired by such wisdom and mercy as indisputably to prove that all rivers, springs, streams and great waterways flow forth from the treasury of mercy of the Compassionate One, the Lord of Glory and Generosity. They are preserved and dispensed, indeed, in so extraordinary a fashion that it is said “Four rivers flow forth from Paradise.” That is, they transcend by far apparent causes, and flow forth instead from the treasury of a non-material Paradise, from the superabundance of an unseen and inexhaustible source.For example, the blessed Nile, that turns the sandy land of Egypt into a paradise, flows from the Mountains of the Moon in the south without ever being exhausted, as if it were a small sea. If the water that flowed down the river in six months were gathered together in the form of a mountain and then frozen, it would be larger than those mountains. But the place in the mountains where the water is lodged and stored is less than a sixth of their mass. As for the water that replenishes the river, the rain that enters the reservoir of the river is very sparse in that torrid region and is quickly swallowed up by the thirsty soil; hence it is incapable of maintaining the equilibrium of the river. A tradition has thus grown up that the blessed Nile springs, in miraculous fashion, from an unseen Paradise. This tradition has profound meaning and expresses a beautiful truth.The traveller saw, then, a thousandth part of the truths and affirmations contained in the oceans and rivers. The seas proclaim unanimously with a power proportionate to their extent, “There is no god but He,” and produce as witnesses to their testimony all the creatures that inhabit them. This, our traveller preceived.Expressing and conveying the testimony of the seas and the rivers, we said, in the Fourth Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, to the necessity of whose existence in unity point all the seas and the rivers, together with all they contain, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of subjugation, preservation, storing up, and administration, vast and well-ordered, and to be observed.5. Degree: The Mountains and Plains {5}Then the traveller is summoned, on his meditative journey, by the mountains and the plains. “Read too our pages,” they say. Looking he sees that the universal function and duty of mountains is of such grandeur and wisdom as to stupefy the intelligence.The mountains emerge from the earth by the command of their Sustainer, thereby palliating the turmoil, anger, and rancour that arise from disturbances within the earth. As the mountains surge upward, the earth begins to breathe; it is delivered from harmful tremors and upheavals, and its tranquillity as it pursues its duty of rotation is no longer disturbed. In the same way that masts are planted in ships to protect them from turbulence and preserve their balance, so too mountains are set up on the deck of the ship that is the earth, as masts and stores, as is indicated by verses of the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition such as these:And the mountains as pegs,∗ And We have cast down anchors,∗ And the mountains He anchored them.Then, too, there are stored up and preserved in the mountains all kinds of springs, waters, minerals and other materials needed by animate beings, in so wise, skilful, generous and foreseeing a fashion that they prove that they are the storehouses and warehouses and servants of One possessing infinite power, One possessing infinite wisdom. Deducing from these two examples the other duties and instances of wisdom — as great as mountains — of the mountains and plains, the traveller sees through the general instances of wisdom in them and particularly in regard to the fashion in which all manner of things are stored up in them providentially, the testimony they give and the Divine unity they proclaim declaring “There is no god but He,” — a declaration as powerful and firm as the mountains and vast and expansive as the plains — and he too says, “I believe in God.”In expression of this meaning, it was said in the Fifth Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, to the necessity of whose existence point all the mountains and plains together with what is in them and upon them, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of the storing up, administration, dissemination of seed, preservation, and regulation, a truth providential, dominical, vast, general, well- ordered, and perfect, and to be observed.6. Degree: Trees and Plants {6}Then, while that traveller was travelling in his mind through the mountains and plains, the gate to the arboreal and vegetable realm was opened before him. He was summoned inside: “Come,” they said, “Inspect our realm and read our incriptions.”Entering, he saw that a splendid and well- adorned assembly for the proclamation of God’s unity and a circle for the mentioning of His names and the offering of thanks to Him, had been drawn up. He understood for the very appearance of all trees and plants that their different species were proclaiming unanimously, “There is no god but He.” For he perceived three great and general truths indicating and proving that all fruit-giving trees and plants with the tongue of their symmetrical and eloquent leaves, the phrases of their charming and loquacious flowers, the words of their well-ordered and well-spoken fruits, were testifying to God’s glory and bearing witness that “There is no god but He.”The First: In the same way that in each of the plants and trees a deliberate bounty and generosity is to be seen in most obvious fashion, and a purposive liberality and munificence, so too it is to be seen in the totality of the trees and plants, with the brilliance of sunlight.The Second: The wise and purposive distinction and differentiation, one that cannot in any way be attributed to chance, the deliberate and merciful adornment and giving of form — all this is to be seen as clearly as daylight in the infinite varieties and species; they show themselves to be the works and embroideries of an All-Wise Maker.The Third: The opening and unfolding of all the separate members of the hundred thousand species of that infinite realm, each in its own distinct fashion and shape, in the utmost order, equilibrium and beauty, from well-defined, limited, simple and solid seeds and grains, identical to each other or nearly so — their emerging from those seeds in distinct and separate form, with utter equilibrium, vitality and wise purpose without the least error or mistake, is a truth more brilliant than the sun. The witnesses proving this truth are as numerous as the flowers, fruits and leaves that emerge in the spring. So the traveller said, “Praise be to God for the blessing of belief.”In expression of these truths and the testimony given to them, we said in the Sixth Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, to the necessity of whose existence in unity points the consensus of all the species of trees and plants that are engaged in glorifying God and speak with the eloquent and well- ordered words of their leaves, their loquacious and comely flowers, their well-ordered and well-spoken fruits, by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of bestowal, bounty, and generosity, done in purposive mercy, and the truth of differentiation, adornment, and decoration, done with will and wisdom. Definite, too, is the indication given by the truth of the opening of all their symmetrical, adorned, distinct, variegated and infinite forms, from seeds and grains that resemble and approximate each other, that are finite and limited.7. Degree: The Animal ans Bird Realms {7}As this traveller through the cosmos proceeded on his meditative journey, with increased eagerness and a bouquet of gnosis and faith, itself like a spring, gathered from the garden of the spring, there opened before his truth-perceiving intellect, his cognitive reason, the gate to the animal and bird realm. With hundreds of thousands of different voices and various tongues, he was invited to enter. Entering, he saw that all the animals and birds, in their different species, groups and nations, were proclaiming, silently and aloud, "There is no god but He, " and had thus turned the face of the earth into a vast place of invocation, an expansive assembly for the proclamation of God’s glory. He saw each of them to be like an ode dedicated to God, a word proclaiming His glory, a letter indicating His mercy, each of them describing the Maker and offering Him thanks and encomium. It was as if the senses, powers, members and instruments of those animals and birds were orderly and balanced words, or perfect and disciplined expressions. He observed three great and comprehensive truths indicating, in decisive form, their offering of thanks to the Creator and Provider and their testimony to His unity.The First: Their being brought into existence with wisdom and purpose and their creation full of art in a fashion that in no way can be attributed to chance, to blind force or inanimate nature; their being created and composed in purposive and knowledgeable manner; their animation and being given life in a way that displays in twenty aspects the manifestation of knowledge, wisdom, and will — all of this is a truth that bears witness to the Necessary Existence of the Eternally Living and Self-Subsistent, His seven attributes and unity, a witness repeated to the number of all animate beings.The Second: There appears from the distinction made among those infinite beings and from their adornment and decoration in a fashion by which their features are different, their shapes adorned, their proportions measured and symmetrical, and their forms well-ordered — there appears from this a truth so vast and powerful that none other than the One Powerful over all things, the One Knowledgeable of all things, could lay claim to it, this comprehensive act which displays in every respect thousands of wonders and instances of wisdom; it is impossible and precluded that anything other than such a one could lay claim to it.The Third: The emergence and unfolding of those countless creatures, in their hundreds of thousands of different shapes and forms, each of which is a miracle of wisdom, their emergence from eggs and drops of water called sperm that are identical with each other or closely resemble each other, and are limited and finite in number, all this in the most orderly, symmetrical and unfailing fashion, is so brilliant a truth as to be illumined with proofs and evidences as numerous as the animals themselves.By the consensus of these three truths, all the species of animals are engaged together in testifying that “There is no god but He.” It is as if the whole earth, like a great man, were saying “There is no god but He” in a manner befitting its vastness, and conveying its testimony to the dwellers of the heaven. The traveller saw this and understood it perfectly. In expression of these truths, we said in the Seventh Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, to whose necessary existence in unity points the consensus of all animals and birds, that praise God and bear witness to Him with the words of their senses, their faculties and powers, words well-balanced, ordered and eloquent; with the words of their limbs and members, words perfect and persuasive; by the testimony of the sublimity of the comprehensiveness of the truth of bringing into being, making, and creating, according to will, the truth of distinction and decoration according to purpose, and the truth of proportioning and forming according to wisdom. Definite too is the indication given by the truth of the opening of all of their orderly, distinct, variegated and infinite forms, out of identical or similar eggs and drops of sperm, that are finite and limited.8. Degree: The Realm of Humanity: The Prophets and Their Unanimity {8}That meditative voyager, in order to advance farther in the infinite degrees and countless luminous stages of knowledge of God, then wished to enter the world of men, the realm of humanity. Humanity, headed by the prophets, invited him, and he accepted the invitation. Looking first at the stopping-place of the past, he saw that all of the prophets (Peace and blessings be upon him), the most luminous and perfect of human kind, were reciting in chorus, “No god but He,” and making remembrance of God. With the power of their brilliant, well-attested and innumerable miracles, they were proclaiming God’s unity, and in order to advance man from the animal state to angelic degree, they were instructing men and summoning them to belief in God. Kneeling down in that school of light, he too paid heed to the lesson.He saw that in the hand of each of those teachers, the most exalted and renowned of all celebrated human beings, there were numerous miracles, bestowed on them by the Creator of All Being as a sign confirming their mission. Further, a large group of men, a whole community, had confirmed their claims and come to belief at their hands; a truth assented to and confirmed by these hundreds of thousands of serious and veracious individuals, unanimously and in full agreement, was bound to be firm and definitive.He understood, too, that the people of misguidance, in denying a truth attested and affirmed by so many veracious witnesses, were committing a most grievous error, indeed crime, and were therefore deserving of a most grievous punishment. He recognized, by contrast, those who assented to the truth and believed in it, as being the most true and righteous, and a further degree of the sanctity of belief became apparent to him.Yes, the infinite miracles bestowed by God on the prophets (Peace be upon them) each one being like a confirmation of their mission; the heavenly blows dealt to their opponents, each being like a proof of their truth- fulness; their individual perfections, each one being like an indication of their righteousness; their veracious teachings; the strength of their faith, a witness to their honesty;their supreme seriousness and readiness to self-sacrifice; the sacred books and pages held by their hands;their countless pupils who through following their paths attain truth, perfection and light, thus proving again the truthfulness of the teachings; the unanimous agreement of the prophets — those most earnest warners — and their followers in all positive matters;their concord, mutual support and affinity — all of this constitutes so powerful a proof that no power on earth can confront it, and no doubt or hesitation can survive it.Our traveller understood further that inclusion of belief in all the prophets (Peace be upon them) among the pillars of belief, represents another great source of strength. Thus he derived great benefit of faith from their lessons, in expression of which we said in the Eighth Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, to the necessity of whose existence in unity points the unanimity of all the prophets, through the power of their luminous miracles, that both affirm and are affirmed.9. Degree: The Exacting Scholars and Their Accord {9}That questing traveller, having derived a lofty taste of truth from the power of belief, found himself invited, while coming from the assembly of the prophets (Peace be upon them) to the classroom of those profound, original, exacting scholars who affirm the claims of the prophets (Peace be upon them)with the most decisive and powerful proofs and who are known as the purified and most veracious ones.Entering their classroom, he saw thousands of geniuses and hundreds of thousands of exact and exalted scholars proving all the affirmative matters connected with faith, headed by the necessity of God’s existence and His unity, with such profound demonstrations as to leave not the least room for doubt. Indeed, the fact that they are agreed in the principles and pillars of belief, despite their differences in capacity and outlook, and that each of them relies on a firm and certitudinous proof, is in itself such evidence that it can be doubted only if it is possible for a similar number of intelligent and perspicuous men to arrive at a single result. Otherwise the only way for the denier to oppose them is to display his ignorance — his utter ignorance — and his obstinacy with respect to negative matters that admit neither of denial nor affirmation. He will in effect be closing his eyes but the one who closes his eyes is able to turn day into night only for himself.The traveller learned that the lights emitted in this vast and magnificent classroom by these respected and profound scholars had been illumining half of the globe for more than a thousand years. He found in it moral and spiritual force that the combined strength of all the people of denial would be unable to shake or destroy. In brief allusion to the lesson learned by the traveller in this classroom we said in the Ninth Degree of the First Station:“There is no god but God, to whose necessary existence in unity points the agreement of all of the purified scholars, with the power of their resplendent, certain and unanimous proofs.”10. Degree: Spiritual Guides and Their Agreement {10}Our contemplative traveller came forth from the classroom, ardently desiring to see the lights that are to be observed in the continuous strengthening and development of faith, and in advancing from the degree of the knowledge of certainty to that of the vision of certainty. He then found himself summoned by thousands or millions of spiritual guides who were striving toward the truth and attaining the vision of certainty in the shade of the highway of Muhammad (PBUH)and the ascension of Muhammad (PBUH). This they were doing in a meeting-place, a hospice, a place of remembrance and preceptorship, that was abundantly luminous and vast as a plain, being formed from the merging of countless small hospices and convents. Upon entering, he found that those spiritual guides — people of unveiling and wondrous deeds — were unanimously proclaiming, "No god but He, " on the basis of their witnessing and unveiling of the Unseen and the wondrous deeds they had been enabled to perform; they were proclaiming the necessary existence and unity of God. The traveller observed how manifest and clear must be a truth to which unanimously subscribe these sacred geniuses and luminous gnostics. For, like the sun is known through the seven colours in its light, the saints’ luminous colours, their light-filled hues, their true paths and right ways and veracious courses are manifested from the light of the Pre-Eternal Sun through seventy colours, indeed, through colours to the number of the divine names, and are all different. He saw that the unanimity of the prophets and the agreement of the purified scholars and accord of the saints forms a supreme consensus, more brilliant than the daylight that demonstrates the existence of the sun.In brief allusion to the benefit derived by our traveller from the Sufi hospice, we said in the Tenth Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, to whose necessary existence in unity points the unanimity of the saints in their manifest, well-affirmed and attested divinations of the truth and wondrous deeds.11. Degree: The Angels and Spirit Beings and Their Concurrence {11}Now our traveller through the world, aware that the most important and greatest of all human perfections, indeed the very source and origin of all such perfections, is the love of God that arises from belief in God and the knowledge of God, wished with all of his powers, outer and inner, to advance still farther in the strengthening of his faith and the development of his knowledge. He therefore raised his head and gazing at the heavens said to himself:“The most precious thing in the universe is life; all things are made subordinate to life. The most precious of all living beings is the animate, and the most precious of the animate is the conscious. Each century and each year, the globe is engaged in emptying and refilling itself, in order to augment this most precious substance. It follows, then, without doubt, that the magnificent and ornate heavens must have appropriate people and inhabitants, possessing life, spirit and consciousness, for events relating to seeing and speaking with the angels — such as the appearance of Gabriel (Peace be upon him) in the presence of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) and in the view of the Companions — have been transmitted and related from the most ancient times. Would, then, that I could converse with the inhabitants of the heavens, and learn their thoughts on this matter. For their words concerning the Creator of the cosmos are the most important.”As he was thus thinking to himself, he suddenly heard a heavenly voice:"If you wish to meet us and hearken to our lesson, then know that before all others we have believed in the articles of faith brought by means of us to the prophets, headed by the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), who brought the Qur’an of Miraculous Exposition."Then too all of the pure spirits from among us that have appeared before men have, unanimously and without exception, born witness to the necessary existence, the unity, and the sacred attributes of the Creator of this cosmos, and proclaimed this with one accord. The affinity and mutual correspondence of these countless proclamations is a guide for you as bright as the sun." Thus the traveller’s light of faith shone, and rose from the earth to the heavens.In brief allusion to the lesson learned by the traveller from the angels, we said in the Eleventh Degree of the First Station:There is no god but God, to whose necessary existence in unity points the unanimity of the angels that appear to human gaze, and who speak to the elect among men, with their mutually corresponding and conforming messages.12-13. Degrees: Upright Intellects and Sound Hearts {12}Then, that ardent and inquisitive traveller, having learned from the tongues of various realms of creation in the Manifest Realm in their material and corporeal aspects, and from the utterance of their modes of being, desired to study and journey through the World of the Unseen and the Intermediate Realm, and thus to investigate reality. There opened to him the gate of upright and luminous intellects, of sound and illumined hearts, that are like the seed of man, who is the fruit of the universe, and despite their slight girth can expand virtually to embrace the whole of the cosmos.He looked and saw a series of human isthmuses linking the realm of the Unseen with that of the Manifest, and the contacts between those two realms and the interchanges between them insofar as they affect man, taking place at those points. Addressing his intellect and his heart he said:“Come, the path leading to truth from these counterparts of yours is shorter. We should benefit by studying their qualities, natures and colours concerning faith that we find here, not by listening to the lessons given by the tongues of disposition as was previously the case.”Beginning his study, he saw that the belief and firm conviction concerning the divine unity that all luminous intellects possessed, despite their varying capacities and differing, even opposing, methods and outlooks, was the same, and that their steadfast and confident certainty and assurance was one. They had, therefore, to be relying on a single, unchanging truth;their roots were sunk in a profound truth and could not be plucked out.Their unanimity concerning faith, the necessary existence and unity of God, was an unbreakable and luminous chain, a brightly lit window opening onto the world of the truth.He saw also that the unanimous, assured and sublime unveilings and witnessings of the pillars of belief enjoyed by all those sound and luminous intellects, whose methods were various and outlooks divergent, corresponded to and agreed with each other on the matter of the divine unity. All those luminous hearts, turned and joined to the truth and manifesting it, each a small throne of dominical knowledge, a comprehensive mirror of God’s Eternal Besoughtedness, were like so many windows opened onto the Sun of the Truth. Taken together, they were like a supreme mirror, like an ocean reflecting the sun. Their agreement and unanimity concerning the necessary existence and unity of God was an unfailing and reliable most perfect guide, most elevated preceptor.For it is in no way possible or conceivable that a supposition other than the truth, an untrue thought, a false attribute, should so consistently and decisively be able to deceive simultaneously so many sharp eyes, or to induce illusion in them. Not even the foolish Sophists, who deny the cosmos, would agree with the corrupt and dissipated intellect that held such a thing possible. All of this our traveller understood, and he said, together with his own intellect and heart, “I have believed in God,”In brief allusion to the benefit derived from upright intellects and luminous hearts by our traveller, for knowledge of belief, we said in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Degrees of the First Station:There is no god but God, to whose necessary existence in unity points the consensus of all upright intellects, illumined with congruent beliefs and corresponding convictions and certainties, despite differences in capacity and outlook. There also points to His necessary existence in unity the agreement of all sound, luminous hearts, with their mutually corresponding unveilings and their congruent witnessings, despite differences in method and manner.14-15. Degrees: Divine RevelationRevelationThen that traveller looking closely at the World of the Unseen, and voyaging in it with his intellect and his heart, knocked inquisitively on the door of that world, thinking to himself, “What does this world have to say?”The following occurred to him: it is to be clearly understood that behind the veil of the Unseen is one who wants to make himself known through all these numerous finely adorned artefacts full of art in this corporeal Manifest World, and to make himself loved through these infinite sweet and decorated bounties, and to make known his hidden perfections through these innumerable miraculous and skilful works of art, and who does this by act rather than speech and by making himself known by the tongue of disposition. Since this is so, of a certainty he will speak and make himself known and loved through speech and utterance just as he does through deed and state. In which case, from his manifestations we must know him in respect to the World of the Unseen.Whereupon he entered that world with his heart and saw the following with the eye of his intellect:The truth of revelations prevails at all instants over all parts of the World of the Unseen, with a most powerful manifestation. There comes with the truths of revelation and inspiration proceeding from the One All-Knowing of the Unseen, a testimony to His existence and unity far stronger than testimony of the universe and created beings. He does not leave Him- self, His existence and His unity, only to the testimony of His creatures. Rather, He speaks with a pre-eternal Speech consonant with His own being. The Speech of the One who is all-present and all-seeing everywhere with His Knowledge and Power is also endless, and just as the meaning of His Speech makes Him known, so does His discourse make Himself known together with His attributes.The traveller recognized that the truth, reality, and existence of revelation has been made plain to the point of being self-evident by the consensus of one hundred thousand prophets (Peace be upon them), by the agreement among their proclamations concerning the manifestion of divine revelation; by the evidences and miracles contained in the sacred books and heavenly pages, which are the guides and exemplars of the overwhelming majority of humanity, confirmed and assented to by them, and are the visible fruits of revelation. He understood further that the truth of revelation proclaims five sacred truths.The First: To speak in accordance with men’s intellects and understandings, known as ‘divine condescension to the minds of men,’ is a form of divine descent. It is a requirement of God’s dominicality that He endows all of his conscious creatures with speech, understands their speech, and then participates in it with His own speech.The Second: The One who, in order to make Himself known, fills the cosmos with His miraculous creations and endows them with tongues speaking of His perfections, will necessarily make Himself known with His own words also.The Third: It is a function of His being Creator to respond in words to the supplications and offerings of thanks that are made by the most select, the most needy, the most delicate and the most ardent among His beings — true men.The Fourth: The attribute of Speech, an essential concomitant and luminous manifestation of both Knowledge and Life, will necessarily be found in a comprehensive and eternal form in the being whose Knowledge is comprehensive and whose Life is eternal.The Fifth: It is a consequence of Divinity that the Being who endows men with impotence and desire, poverty and need, anxiety for the future, love and worship, should communicate His own existence, by way of His speech, to His most loved and lovable, His most anxious and needy creatures, who are most desirous of finding their Lord and Master.The evidences for the existence in unity of the Necessary Existent offered in unanimity by universal and heavenly revelations, which contain the truths of divine descent, dominical self-proclamation, compassionate response, divine conversation, and eternal self-communication, constitute a proof more powerful than the testimony for the existence of the sun brought by the rays of sunlight.Our traveller understood this then looked in the direction of inspiration and saw that veracious inspiration indeed resembles revelation in some respects and is a mode of dominical speech. There are, however, two differences:THE FIRST: Revelation, which is much higher than inspiration, generally comes by the medium of the angels, whereas inspiration generally comes directly.So too a king has two modes of speech and command. The firstconsists of his sending to a governor a lieutenant equipped with all the pomp of monarchy and the splendour of sovereignty. Sometimes, in order to demonstrate the splendour of his sovereignty and the importance of his command, he may meet with the intermediary, and then the decree will be issued.The second consists of his speaking privately in his own person, not with the title of monarch or in the name of kingship, concerning some private matter, some petty affair, using for this purpose a trusted servant, some ordinary subject, or his private telephone.In the same way the Pre-Eternal Monarch may either, in the name of the Sustainer of All the Worlds, and with the title of Creator of the Universe, speak with revelation or the comprehensive inspiration that performs the function of revelation, or He may speak in a different and private fashion, as the Sustainer and Creator of all animate beings, from behind the veil, in a way suited to the recipient.THE SECOND DIFFERENCE:Revelation is without shadow, pure, and reserved for the elect. Inspiration, by contrast, has shadow, colours intermingle with it, and it is general.There are numerous different kinds of inspiration, such as the inspiration of angels, the inspiration of men, and the inspiration of animals; inspiration thus forms a field for the multiplication of God’s words, that are as numeous as the drops in the ocean. Our traveller understood that this matter is, indeed, a kind of commentary on the verse,“Were the sea to become ink for the words of my Sustainer, verily the sea would be exhausted before the words of my Sustainer. “InspirationThen he looked at the nature, the wisdom, and the testimony of inspiration and saw that its nature, wisdom and result were composed of four lights.The first: it is the result of God’s Lovingness and Mercifulness that He makes himself loved through word, presence and discourse, in the same way that He makes Himself loved to His creatures through His deeds.The second: it is a requirement of His Compassionateness that just as He answers His servants’ prayers in deed, He should also answer them in word, from behind veils.The third: it is a concomitant of dominicality that just as He responds in deed to the cries for help, supplications, and pleadings of those of His creatures who are afflicted with grievous misfortunes and hardships, so too He should hasten to their help with words of inspiration, which are like a form of speech.The fourth: God makes His existence, presence and protection perceptible in deed to His most weak and indigent, His most poor and needy, conscious creatures, that stand in great need of finding their Master, Protector, Guardian, and Disposer. It is a necessary and essential consequence of His divine solicitousness and His dominical compassion that He should also communicate His presence and existence by speech, from behind the veil of veracious inspiration — a mode of dominical discourse — to individuals, in a manner peculiar to them and their capacities, through the telephone of their hearts.He then looked to the testimony of inspiration and saw that if the sun, for example, had consciousness and life, and if the seven colours of sunlight were the seven attributes, in that respect it would have a form of speech through the rays and manifestations found in its light. And in this situation both its similitudes and reflections would be present in all transparent objects, and it would speak with all mirrors and shining objects and fragments of glass and bubbles and droplets of water, indeed with all trans- parent particles, in accordance with the capacity of each; it would respond to the needs of each, and all these would testify to the sun’s existence; and no task would form an obstacle to any other task, and no speaking obstruct any other speaking. This is self-evident.In the same way, the Speech of the Glorious Monarch of Pre-Eternity and Post-Eternity, the Beauteous and Exalted Creator of All Beings, Who may be described as the Pre-Eternal Sun, manifests itself to all things, in general and comprehensive fashion, in a manner appropriate to their capacity, as do also His Knowledge and POWER - Hele Nordens elektrogigant - Power.no request interferes with another, no task prevents the fulfilment of another, and no address becomes confused with another. All of this our traveller understood as self-evident. He knew that all of those manifestations, those discourses, those inspirations, separately and together, evidenced and bore witness unanimously to the presence, the necessary existence, the unity and the oneness of that Pre-Eternal Sun with a knowlege of certainty that approached a vision of certainty.In brief allusion to the lesson in knowledge of God from the World of the Unseen gained by our inquisitive traveller, we said in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Degrees of the First Station:There is no god but God, the Necessary Existent, the One, the Single, to whose necessary existence in unity points the consensus of all true revelations, containing divine descent, glorious discourse, dominical self-revelation, compassionate response to the invocations of men, and eternal indications of His existence to his creatures. There points also to His necessary existence in unity the agreement of all veracious inspirations, containing expressions of God’s love, compassionate responses to the prayers of God’s creatures, dominical responses to the appeals of His servants for aid, and glorious intimations of His existence to His creatures.16. Degree: Muhammad the Arabian Prophet (UWBP) {15}Then that traveller through the world addressed his own intellect saying: "Since I am seeking my Master and Creator by means of the creatures of the cosmos, I ought before all else to visit the most celebrated of all these creatures, the greatest and most accomplished commander among them, according to the testimony even of his enemies, the most renowned ruler, the most exalted in speech and the most brilliant an intellect, who has illuminated fourteen centuries with his excellence and with his Qur’an, Muhammad the Arabian Prophet (May God’s peace and blessings be upon him). " In order thus to visit him and seek from him the answer to his quest, he entered the blessed age of the Prophet in his mind, and saw that age to be one of true felicity, thanks to that being. For through the light he had brought, he had turned the most primitive and illiterate of peoples into the masters and teachers of the world.He said too to his own intellect, "Before asking him concerning our Creator, we should first learn that value of this extraordinary being, the veracity of his words and the truthfulness of his warnings;”Thus he began investigating, and of the numerous conclusive proofs that he found we will briefly indicate here only nine of the most general ones”THE FIRST: All excellent qualities and characteristics were to be found in that extraordinary being, according to the testimony even of his enemies.Hundreds of miracles were made manifest at his hands, according to explicit Qur’anic verses or traditions enjoying the status of tawâtur.Examples of these miracles are his splitting of the moon, “And the moon split,” with a single indication of his finger; his casting of a handful of dust into the eyes of his enemies, causing them to flee, “It was not your act when you threw, but God’s,” and his giving his thirsting army to drink from the water that flowed forth from his five fingers like the Spring of Kawthar. , we leave discussion of the miracles to that work, and permit the traveller to continue speaking:“A being who in addition to noble characteristics and perfections has all these luminous miracles to demonstrate, must certainly be the most truthful in speech of all men. It is inconceivable that he would stoop to trickery, lies and error, the deeds of the vile.”THE SECOND: He holds in his hand a decree from the lord of the universe, a decree accepted and affirmed in each century by more than three hundred million people. This decree, the Qur’an of Mighty Stature, is wondrous in seven different ways. The fact that the Qur’an has forty different aspects of miraculousness and that it is the word of the Creator of all beings has been set forth in detail with strong proofs in the Twenty-Fifth Word, The Miraculousness of the Qur’an, a celebrated treatise that is like the sun of the Risale-i Nur. We therefore leave such matters to that work and listen to the traveller as he says," There can never be any possibility of lying on the part of the being who is the conveyor and proclaimer of this decree, for that would be a violation of the decree and treachery toward the One Who issued it."THE THIRD: Such a Sacred Law, an Islam, a code of worship, a cause, a summons, and a faith did that being bring forth that the like of them does not exist, nor could it exist. Nor does a more perfect form of them exist, nor could it exist. For the Law appearing with that unlettered being has no rival in its administration of one fifth of humanity for fourteen centuries, in a just and precise manner through its numerous injuctions. Moreover the Islam that emerged from the deeds, sayings, and inward states of that unlettered being has no peer, nor can it have, for in each century it has been for three hundred million men a guide and a refuge, the teacher and educator of their intellects and the illuminator and purifier of their hearts, the cause for the refinement and training of their souls, and the source of progress and advancement of their spirits.The Prophet is similarly unparalleled in the way in which he was the foremost in practising all the forms of worship found in his religion, and the first in piety and the fear of God; in his observing the duties of worship fully and with attention to their profoundest dimensions, even while engaged in constant struggle and activity; in his practice of worship combining in perfect fashion the beginning and end of worship and servitude to God without imitation of anyone.With the Jaushan al-Kabir, from among his thousands of supplicatory prayers and invocations, he describes his Sustainer with such a degree of gnosis that all the gnostics and saints who have come after him have been unable, with their joint efforts, to attain a similar degree of gnosis and accurate description. This shows that in prayer too he is without peer. Whoever looks at the section at the beginning of the Treatise on Supplicatory Prayer which sets forth some part of the meaning of one of the ninety-nine sections of the Jaushan al-Kabir will say that the Jaushan too has no peer.In his conveying of the message and his summoning men to the truth, he displayed such steadfastness, firmness and courage that although great states and religions, and even his own people, tribe and uncle opposed him in the most hostile fashion, he exhibited not the slightest trace of hesitation anxiety or fear. The fact that he successfully challenged the whole world and made Islam the master of the world likewise proves that there is not and cannot be anyone like him in his conveying of the message and summons.In his faith, he had so extraordinary a strength, so marvellous a certainty, so miraculous a breadth, and so exalted a conviction, illumining the whole world, that none of the ideas and beliefs then dominating the world, and none of the philosophies of the sages and teachings of the religious leaders, was able, despite extreme hostility and denial, to induce in his certainty, conviction, trust and assurance, the slightest doubt, hesitation, weakness or anxiety.Moreover, the saintly of all ages, headed by the Companions, the foremost in the degrees of belief, have all drawn on his fountain of belief and regarded him as representing the highest degree of faith.This proves that his faith too is matchless. Our traveller therefore concluded, and affirmed with his intellect, that lying and duplicity have no place in the one who has brought such a unique sacred law, such an unparalleled Islam, such a wondrous devotion to worship, such an extra-ordinary excellence in supplicatory prayer, such a universally acclaimed summons to the truth and such a miraculous faith.

Joseph StalinPros:Collectivized agriculture and ended famines. Did so despite enormous resistance. Without this, industrialization would have been impossible.Industrialized the nation, enabling the creation of weapons to defeat Hitler. Hitler’s plan was to conquer and exterminate all Jews and communists, half of the Slavs, and enslave the remainder.Annexed the Eastern Bloc and moved fascist collaborators, bringing stability to these regions for decades to come.Took a semi feudal, peasant agrarian nation and turned it into the world’s second largest industrial economy, doubled the life expectancy, brought freedom from homelessness, healthcare, education, retirement, guaranteed employment, free daycare, and other benefits to all citizens. After Stalinism was abandoned by Khrushchev the death warrant for the USSR was signed. It would only be a matter of time.Cons:In hindsight the purges should not have happened.The Doctor’s Plot was caused by atherosclerosis, as deduced by his private physician on autopsy. This can cause a strengthening of some inclinations, such as suspiciousness becoming paranoia.The Katyn Massacre was cruel.USSR mortality numbers2.76 million. This list is here, with sources: death toll 2.pdfThis is the death toll of the actions of the USSR.The Holomodor was not intentional and should not be counted. Alexander Finnegan's answer to What is the history of famines and starvation in Russia 1850-present day?All the other numbers you are used to hearing have been shown to be inflated and exaggerated, many fabricated.This document is based on reliable research from respected authors and official figures.The Black Book of Communism has been shown to be a fraud. Alexander Finnegan's answer to What is the most biased book you’ve ever read?This includes the Great Purges, the NKVD Polish repressions, the transfer of various populations that resulted in death, the gulags, etc. Alexander Finnegan's answer to Why did Stalin kill the kulaks?Gulag numbers are here: number of gulag.pdf 1,053,829 died in the gulag. But it must also be remembered that this includes people who died from natural causes. The death toll went up during WWII because everyone in the nation was on food rations so there was no starvation, but sick people and older people sometimes succumbed out of the stress. There were also outbreaks of diseases that caused deaths. Solzehnitsyn Lied pdf.pdf,The Great Purges included 777, 975. But this includes a large number that were sentenced to execution but it was never carried out. The Great Purges were not as top down as one might guess. Alexander Finnegan's answer to Was Stalin central to the Great Purge of the 1930's?The PurgesIt has been shown that the purges were more complicated than one might imagine. Russia had always been under great pressure from attack on all sides. Within a few years Russia had seen the Tsar overthrown, a bloody civil war sponsored by 18 imperialist nations, conspiracies within his own party as discovered earlier in an undercover sting called “Operation Trust.” 37 volumes of conspiracies and treachery were discovered. The intelligence services would arrest people and then torture them until they admitted they knew something, believing that something had to be happening given the threats from outside the country, particularly the Nazis and Japan. People would say anything to make the torture stop. This led to more arrests and tortures. Members of the party, the factory workers, and everyone in the society believed there were conspiracies afoot. Stalin was terrified of the revolution being toppled. He also knew that Germany planned on invading for certain by 1939 and the country was not ready. Production shortfalls led to the belief by members of the party that there was intentional sabotage. This led to the estimation that based on intelligence (faulty) that it was “for certain” there were a certain number of traitors. This led to quotas. The individual members of the party at the lower levels began to increase their numbers to give the impression of loyalty so they wouldn’t be blamed. The entire thing became its own system of feedback loops. As documents have not been released it is not known how many conspiracies there were, or how they could know. This is not the first time this has happened in history.During the Red Scare in America a sense of great fear and paranoia overcame the American public. Each accusation led to more, and the paroxysm of fear overcame the bourgeoisie in America. It reached critical mass, ruining the lives of many before people took a step back and stopped it. This also happened with the ramp up to the Iraq war after 911. America was terrified after the attack. It felt powerless. It was reported that Dick Cheney almost had a nervous breakdown. The response was to pressure the intelligence services to find out who caused 911 and to root out the terrorists. This led to expectations. The intelligence services began to see conspiracies where they did not exist. Anything that could remotely be seen as negative was. There became a genuine belief that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. This led to a mass hysteria in the U.S. It was rumored that Saddam was developing biological weapons that would be released to terrorists. The U.S. invaded Iraq. It would be found there were no WMDs. The U.S. also started the “War on Terror,” which saw conspiracies where they did not exist. Torture began to be used to get information, but this information was unreliable. It led to false accusations which led to more arrests. Then drone attacks, indefinite detention, and black op cites. The large scale surveillance program began. Likewise, the Salem Witch Trials took on a similar tenor. Mass accusations, paranoia, murders, and more repression. Feedback loops of torture, accusations, more torture followed. But somehow they never seemed able to get to the root of the problem. Enemies were everywhere and nowhere. People were tortured with the expectation that they would say something incriminating. Protestations of innocence were regarded as lies. But then the torture led to them getting whatever they wanted to hear because torture is an unreliable way to get information as people will say anything to make the torture stop.Released documents show no disparities in Stalin’s agreement to the repressions and his own personal thoughts. They confirmed he believed they were real. There was no indication that they repressions were done for cynical, self serving purposes. Stalin knew that purging the military would make the country more weak, but he feared conspiracies more. The conventional wisdom was that people were working with Trotsky, who was collaborating with Germany and Japan to overthrow the Soviet Union. After the civil war there were a number of Tsarists, fascists, and others who had indeed has some conspiracies. But the extent of this is unknown. And it wasn’t just Stalin that expressed these fears. The fears went all the way down to the factory worker level.Source: The Great Fear: Stalin’s Terror of the 1930s, by James HarrisThe issue of Stalin’s legacy and the Soviet Union is an interesting study in how we know what we know1. Historians are influenced by the cultural norms and bourgeois influences of society. History is also written by the victors.2. Propaganda has a cognitive framing effect. It creates associations between images and narratives that are false. But we see propaganda based narratives so much, and they are repeated by so many, they become the prevailing cognitive “frame” used when thinking about an issue.3. Goebbels talked about this in reference to propaganda. Edward Bernays was one of the leading advertising experts in the U.S. He used Freudian psychoanalysis to tap into the deepest and most basic subconscious desires and urges in people. Prior to this advertisers relied upon rationality to sell a product. When selling cars they would talk about the practicality of the car, the build quality, etc. After Bernays you would see a car commercial with someone driving fast, a beautiful woman in the car, and images related to status. You might see the person driving the BMW going to a cocktail party in a swanky part of the city while a valet drives the car away. Beautiful people await. All of these are appeals to subconscious desires, such as status, sex appeal, money and power. Bernays used these techniques to convince America to stop being isolationist and enter the WWI. Goebbels directed an enormous amount of energy creating propaganda against the Soviet Union and communism. After WWII the U.S. government hired former Nazis to work on “fighting communism” and creating propaganda against the Soviet Union. The U.S. even waived prosecution against them for war crimes in exchange for these services. The U.S. government also used its resources to demonize Stalin and communism. Operation Mockingbird was a CIA operation that brought in mainstream journalists to demonize the Soviet Union. This was only one of many anti-communist operations.4. The primary purpose of schooling is socialization. This means teaching students to value the things required to work in a modern industrial and office environment. The bells are like a work bell. Listening to the teacher and following directions is like following a line foreman. Being on time means arriving to work on time. Even lunch break is similar. Socialization also requires conformity. This means accepting the narrative espoused by the teacher in history.5. There were many primary source documents about actions done by Stalin and the USSR only just released within the last few decades. And many are still not released. The primary narrative about Stalin was written by Robert Conquest. Conquest was a rabid anti-communist. Due to a lack of historical records and the influence of Nazi propaganda from the Hearst publishing machine and others, there was significant “gap filling” used in writing his narrative. This was the “frame” for other historians to consider, including Applebaum. This narrative became so ingrained in the minds of people that others started repeating it, such as journalists and other writers. This narrative also happened to go along well with demonizing the Cold War enemy. The military industrial complex depended on the evils of communism to justify massive defense budgets. Presidents also wanted to use the Cold War and Soviet “aggression” to justify wars in Korea and Vietnam. Now that the Soviet Union is gone Russia was quickly replaced as the “bad guy” to justify the bloated military budget of the U.S. The real reason for the bloated military budget was economic—many representatives in Congress have military bases, production of armaments, or have constituents that join the military for jobs—thus the military industrial complex has become an essential part of the U.S. economy.6. The “Evil Empire” narrative of the Soviet Union and Stalin have become so ingrained that academics that look at new information and attempt to correct the historical record are labeled “Stalin apologists,” which they equate to being a Holocaust denier. Thus there is great peer pressure and risk of becoming a pariah due to scorn from others that don’t want to be associated with someone like that. Many scholars would rather just not bother with it.7. In the Soviet Union the oligarchs and elites benefit from the demonization of Stalin and the USSR because it is against their interest to have the Soviet Union resurrected. Marx taught that the social classes of different nations have more similarites in interests than do different nations. Proof of this is how the artistocracy in Europe would sometimes not even know the language of the nation they were governing, such as Catherine the Great, who had to learn Russian.8. In many respects Hitler and the Nazis did more to harm communism than anyone. By effectively using propaganda against communism it created the false “mainstream narrative” in the West that communism “Doesn’t work,” “killed 100 million people,” “starved and imprisoned millions,” and “always leads to mass death.” Attempts by historians to attack these lies using newly released primary sources is met with eye rolls, claims of being “The same as the Holocaust deniers.” It even becomes a form of moral judgment against the person stating the truth, “What kind of person denies such atrocities? Do you support mass murder?” Thus members of the left distance themselves from Lenin, Stalin, and the Soviet Union. And by cutting themselves off from the rich writings of Lenin and Stalin one loses an important source of real historical examples of the achievements of Marxism Leninism. A similar example would be if the Apostles were labeled as sex offenders and mass murderers. The de-Stalinization by Khrushchev in his “Secret Speech” had a devastating effect on the faith in the Soviet Union. In fact it was so devastating it was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. In fact during the Gorbachev period dissidents played a litany of anti-Stalin and anti-USSR propaganda on TV. It was this and the showing of the lives of rich American movie stars that led the people to lose their faith in the Soviet Union and socialism. Sadly, they would find out all too brutally what capitalism really meant—austerity, starvation, homelessness, massive inflation, and poverty. To this day Russia has not recovered. A recent poll showed that 60% of those living in the former Soviet Union said they miss it. Stalin has a 55% approval rating. Many now say that had they known what would happen they would have fought hard for the Soviet Union.The GulagIS THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO BY ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN AN ACCURATE DEPICTION OF WHAT THE SOVIET UNION WAS LIKE?No.His wife told the truth very clearly:A 2003 article regarding the death of Solzhenitsyn’s wife put it like this:“In her 1974 memoir, Sanya: My Life with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn”…, she wrote that she was ”perplexed” that the West had accepted ”The Gulag Archipelago” as ”the solemn, ultimate truth,” saying its significance had been ”overestimated and wrongly appraised.”Pointing out that the book’s subtitle is ”An Experiment in Literary Investigation,” she said that her husband did not regard the work as ”historical research, or scientific research.”She contended that it was, rather, a collection of ”camp folklore,” containing ”raw material” which her husband was planning to use in his future productions.”The Gulag Archipelago shouldn’t be taken seriouslyFurther, Solzehenitsyn was a right wing radical and extremist.“But there's something else that makes him more complex than just a victim of tyranny and a crusader against it. Once in America and feted by Western leaders, he urged the US to continue bombing Vietnam. He condemned Amnesty International as too liberal, opposed democracy in Russia, and supported General Franco.”Mark Steel: A reactionary called SolzhenitsynThe other accounts of the gulags from letters written by prisoners depicts a whole different reality.“Well-known accounts of Stalin-era labor camps like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s “Gulag Archipelago” and Gustaw Herling’s “A World Apart” imply, in their very titles, that detention sites were almost entirely cut off from the rest of Soviet society – islands divided from the country’s “mainland,” or underworlds into which prisoners disappeared, never to be heard from again.In fact, most Stalin-era labor camp inmates theoretically enjoyed at least some letter-writing privileges. Although rules varied depending on where and when a prisoner was held, often inmates could receive an unlimited amount of correspondence through the official camp mail system (though this was heavily censored).The amount they could send depended on the crime, with harsher limits for political offenders. In the 1940s, inmates sentenced for political crimes were often limited to sending only two to three letters home per year. But some political prisoners, like Formakov, managed to get around these constraints and send steady streams of letters through a mixture of official and illicit channels.”“In a separate series of letters, Formakov describes the stage shows he performed in as part of a camp cultural brigade. In a letter to his wife dated March 9, 1946, Formakov explained that the sunny attitudes the inmates who participated in these shows had to assume were often very much at odds with their reality:“We had a concert on the 8th in honor of International Women’s Day. I served as the emcee… You act as master of ceremonies, make some witty remarks, and then head backstage, release your soul, and you just want to wail… For this reason, I never let it go; my soul is always in a corset.”In addition to letters on standard lined notebook paper and mass-produced postcards, Formakov sent handmade birthday and Christmas cards. In one case, he carved a special anniversary greeting into birch bark for his wife. He wrote and illustrated short stories for his two children (Dima, five years old at the time of Formakov’s first arrest in July 1940, and Zhenia, born in December 1940). And he decorated the pages of some of the letters he sent with pressed wildflowers.”In letters from Stalin's labor camps, a window into Soviet political oppression“But his letters – both those sent through official channels and those smuggled out – capture many details that rarely figure in the memoirs of labor camp survivors. For instance, in a letter dated August 10, 1944, Formakov describes the surreal experience of going to the camp club to watch the 1941 American musical comedy “Sun Valley Serenade,” which had just been purchased by Soviet authorities and would have been a hot ticket in Moscow. Similarly, in a communication dated Oct. 27, 1947, he references rumors of an impending devaluation of the ruble, which suggests that – despite the Soviet state’s efforts to keep plans for a December 1947 currency reform secret – news had leaked, even to distant labor camps.Such passages support recent research by scholars Wilson Bell and Golfo Alexopolous, who have noted that labor camps were far more intertwined with the rest of Soviet society than previously thought.”Other accounts have also corroborated these facts.The Truth about the Soviet Gulag – Surprisingly Revealed by the CIA““Humanitarian” lies serve to brainwash the population into supporting imperialist wars. Fed by far-right propaganda, and funded by the CIA, the mainstream “news” outlets describe the Soviet labour camps – also known as the “the Gulags” – as Stalin’s means to repress pro-democracy dissidents and to enslave the Soviet masses. However, the same CIA that, through Operation Mockingbird, gave the US military almost-total control over mainstream press in order to foster anti-Soviet disinformation (Tracy 2018), has recently released declassified documents that invalidate the slanders surrounding the Gulags.The CIA which conducted various anti-Soviet operations for almost five decades, and whose staff strived to obtain accurate intelligence about the USSR, cannot be said to have any bias in favor of the USSR. Therefore, the following declassified CIA files that surprisingly “confess” in favor of the Soviet Union are particularly valuable.”“The Conditions of the PrisonsA 1957 CIA document titled “Forced Labor Camps in the USSR: Transfer of Prisoners between Camps” reveals the following information about the Soviet Gulag in pages two to six:1. Until 1952, the prisoners were given a guaranteed amount food, plus extra food for over-fulfillment of quotas2. From 1952 onward, the Gulag system operated upon “economic accountability” such that the more the prisoners worked, the more they were paid.3. For over-fulfilling the norms by 105%, one day of sentence was counted as two, thus reducing the time spent in the Gulag by one day.4. Furthermore, because of the socialist reconstruction post-war, the Soviet government had more funds and so they increased prisoners’ food supplies.5. Until 1954, the prisoners worked 10 hours per day, whereas the free workers worked 8 hours per day. From 1954 onward, both prisoners and free workers worked 8 hours per day.6. A CIA study of a sample camp showed that 95% of the prisoners were actual criminals.7. In 1953, amnesty was given to 70% of the “ordinary criminals” of a sample camp studied by the CIA. Within the next 3 months, most of them were re-arrested for committing new crimes.The following are excerpts of the CIA document, underlined and put together for the reader:“According to page four of another CIA (1989) document titled “The Soviet Labour System: An Update,” the number of Gulag prisoners “grew to about 2 million” during Stalin’s time.These figures match Soviet statistics as well, from declassified Soviet achieves. The following is a 1954 declassified Soviet archival document (Pyakhov), an excerpt of which is translated into English:“During the period from 1921 to the present time for counterrevolutionary crimes were convicted 3,777,380 people, including to capital punishment – 642,980 people to the conent in the camps and prisons for a period of 25 years old and under – 2,369,220 into exile and expulsion – 765,190 people.“Of the total number of convicts, approximately convicted: 2,900,000 people – College of OGPU, NKVD and triples Special meeting and 877,000 people – courts by military tribunals, and Spetskollegiev Military Collegium.“It should be noted… that established by Decree … on November 3, 1934 Special Meeting of the NKVD which lasted until September 1, 1953 – 442,531 people were convicted, including to capital punishment – 10,101 people to prison – 360,921 people to exile and expulsion (within the country) – 57,539 people and other punishments (offset time in detention, deportation abroad, compulsory treatment) – 3,970 people…Attorney General R. RudenkoInterior Minister S. KruglovJustice Minister K. Gorshenin”The Soviet archives remained declassified for decades, only to be released near or after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, after Stalin died, the pro-Stalin head of the NKVD (Soviet interior ministry) Lavrenty Beria had already been executed by Khrushchev, a staunch anti-Stalinist (History in an hour 2010). These facts make it very unlikely that the Soviet intelligence would have a pro-Stalin bias.The Italian-American historian Michael Parenti (1997, pp. 79-80) further analyzes the data provided from the Soviet archives:“In 1993, for the first time, several historians gained access to previously secret Soviet police archives and were able to establish well-documented estimates of prison and labor camp populations. They found that the total population of the entire gulag as of January 1939, near the end of the Great Purges, was 2,022,976. At about that time, there began a purge of the purgers, including many intelligence and secret police (NKVD) officials and members of the judiciary and other investigative committees, who were suddenly held responsible for the excesses of the terror despite their protestations of fidelity to the regime.“Soviet labor camps were not death camps like those the Nazis built across Europe. There was no systematic extermination of inmates, no gas chambers or crematoria to dispose of millions of bodies…. [T]he great majority of gulag inmates survived and eventually returned to society when granted amnesty or when their terms were finished. In any given year, 20 to 40 percent of the inmates were released, according to archive records. Oblivious to these facts, the Moscow correspondent of the New York Times (7/31/96) continues to describe the gulag as ‘the largest system of death camps in modern history’.“Almost a million gulag prisoners were released during World War II to serve in the military. The archives reveal that more than half of all gulag deaths for the 1934-53 period occurred during the war years (1941-45), mostly from malnutrition, when severe privation was the common lot of the entire Soviet population. (Some 22 million Soviet citizens perished in the war.) In 1944, for instance, the labor-camp death rate was 92 per 1000. By 1953, with the postwar recovery, camp deaths had declined to 3 per 1000.“Should all gulag inmates be considered innocent victims of Red repression? Contrary to what we have been led to believe, those arrested for political crimes (‘counterrevolutionary offenses’) numbered from 12 to 33 percent of the prison population, varying from year to year. The vast majority of inmates were charged with nonpolitical offenses: murder, assault, theft, banditry, smuggling, swindling, and other violations punishable in any society.”Thus, according to the CIA, approximately two million people were sent to the Gulag in the 1930s, whereas according to declassified Soviet archives, 2,369,220 up until 1954. When compared to the population of the USSR at the time, as well as the statistics of a country like the United States, the Gulag percent population in the USSR throughout its history was lower than that of the United States today or since the 1990s. In fact, based on Sousa’s (1998)research, there was a larger percentage of prisoners (relative to the whole population) in the US, than there ever was in the USSR:“In a rather small news item appearing in the newspapers of August 1997, the FLT-AP news agency reported that in the US there had never previously been so many people in the prison system as the 5.5 million held in 1996. This represents an increase of 200,000 people since 1995 and means that the number of criminals in the US equals 2.8% of the adult population. These data are available to all those who are part of the North American department of justice…. The number of convicts in the US today is 3 million higher than the maximum number ever held in the Soviet Union! In the Soviet Union, there was a maximum of 2.4% of the adult population in prison for their crimes – in the US the figure is 2.8% and rising! According to a press release put out by the US department of justice on 18 January 1998, the number of convicts in the US in 1997 rose by 96,100.”ConclusionSeeing the USSR as a major ideological challenge, the Western imperial bourgeoisie demonized Stalin and the Soviet Union. Yet after decades of propaganda, declassified archives from both the US and USSR together debunk these anti-Soviet slanders. Worth our attention is the fact that the CIA – a fiercely anti-Soviet source – has published declassified documents debunking the very anti-Soviet myths it promoted and continues to promote in the mainstream media. Together with declassified Soviet archives, the CIA files have demonstrated that the bourgeois press has lied about the Gulags.Notes13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2018, from 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of SlaveryCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA). (1989). THE SOVIET FORCED LABOR SYSTEM: AN UPDATE (GI-M 87-20081). Retrieved February 12, 2018, http://fromhttps://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500615.pdfCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA). (2010, February 22). 1. FORCED LABOR CAMPS IN THE USSR 2. TRANSFER OF PRISONERS BETWEEN CAMPS 3. DECREES ON RELEASE FROM FORCED LABOR 4. ATTITUDE OF SOVIET PRISON OFFICIALS TOWARD SUSPECTS 1945 TO THE END OF 1955. Retrieved January 5, 2018, from https://www.cia.gov/library/read...Hillary and Bill used ‘slave labour’. (2017, June 08). Retrieved June 10, 2017, from Hillary and Bill used ‘slave labour’Игорь, П. (n.d.). Книга: За что сажали при Сталине. Невинны ли «жертвы репрессий»? Retrieved August 28, 2018, from Книга: За что сажали при Сталине. Невинны ли "жертвы репрессий"?Parenti, M. (1997). Blackshirts and reds: Rational fascism and the overthrow of communism. San Francisco, Calif: City Lights Books.Sousa, M. (1998, June 15). Lies concerning the history of the Soviet Union. Retrieved August 27, 2018, from Lies concerning the history of the Soviet UnionThe Death of Lavrenty Beria. (2015, December 23). Retrieved August 31, 2018, from http://www.historyinanhour.com/2...Tracy, J. F. (2018, January 30). The CIA and the Media: 50 Facts the World Needs to Know. Retrieved August 28, 2018, http://fromhttps://www.globalresearch.ca/the-cia-and-the-media-50-facts-the-world-needs-to-know/5471956 “Source: The Truth about the Soviet Gulag – Surprisingly Revealed by the CIAKenneth Neil Cameron in his short biography on Stalin:"[Stalin's role in the war] was recognized by the Soviet people, and by the end of the war he was regarded as the savior of the nation.The record shows that the tribute was well deserved. Had Stalin not won the fight for industrialization and defeated the Trotskyists and Bukharinites, the USSR would have become a Nazi province. Had he not had the foresight to build a metallurgical industry in the Urals, the Red Armies could not have been supplied with arms. Had he not industrialized the economy and introduced mechanized farming, he would have had neither a base for producing arms nor a mass of soldiers trained in the operation of machinery. Had he not signed a nonaggression treaty with Germany, the USSR might have been attacked 22 months sooner. Had he not moved the Soviet armies into Poland, the German attack would have begun even closer to Moscow. Had he not subdued General Mannerheim's Finland, Leningrad would have fallen. Had he not ordered the transfer of 1,400 factories from the west to the east, the most massive movement of its kind in history, Russian industry would have received a possibly fatal blow. Had he not built up the army and equipped it with modern arms, it would have been destroyed on the frontiers.He did not, of course, do these things alone. They were Party decisions and Party actions, and behind the Party throughout was the power, courage, and intelligence of the working class. But Stalin stood at all times as the central, individual directing force, his magnificent courage and calm foresight inspiring the whole nation."From Stalin: Man of Contradiction, pg. 107 (1987)Alexander Finnegan's answer to What if the devil met Stalin?Was Joseph Stalin a bad person?Growing up I was terrified of my father. He had a terrible temper. Whenever I heard the sound of footsteps I knew that pain wouldn’t be far behind. My heart would race. I just had to be strong and take it. If I cried he made it worse.“I’ll give you something to cry about” he would say, the smell of alcohol on his breath.I developed smallpox. It scarred my cheeks badly.“Hey Pock Pock” the kids at school would say, mocking me. I hated them, but if I cried it made it worse. I had to be strong like I was dealing with my father. I learned that crying won’t get you anywhere. You have to be strong, like steel.I was very devout. My mother entered me into the seminary where I studied theology. I went to every mass and devotion. It was quiet there, peaceful.One day I came across the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx in a bookstore near the cafe. I had never seen anything like that. He managed to perfectly capture the injustice I saw in this world. He offered scientific answers as to why capitalism was exploiting people. On Friday afternoons I used to go for a walk through the city. The aristocrats would ride by in their carriages, the women dressed up so fancily. Not long after the workers would pass by, their clothes tattered, dirt on their faces, weary. They used to spend most of their money at the bar after work. Kind of like my father did. He was unhappy too. He hated his job.“Why do some do so well while others suffer?” Marx offered explanations that made sense. I spent my free time reading more and more. I started talking with the other seminarians about Marxism. Some were interested, but many were against it. One of them turned me in. He was extremely conservative.I was summoned.“Our kingdom is not of this earth” the formation director said to me. I told him about the ideas of Marx, and that there is hope for something now, in this world. After a meeting with the other supervising priests I was dismissed for passing out Marxist literature.Fast forward a few years…The desire to make change didn’t go away. It had become a spiritual matter for me to stop the exploitation, alienation and oppression of capitalism. If others couldn’t do it, I was going to damn well try. I joined an upstart group of other Marxists called the Bolsheviks. I met Trotsky and Lenin. Trotsky was a genius, and also very eccentric. He believed in free love, communal living, communal raising of children, and he was an atheist. He wrote extensively and was extremely energetic. Lenin had a near religious devotion to Marx. He had so much charisma. People were inspired just listening to him. He believed that with the right people, with those willing to do what it takes, he could overthrow the Tsar and institute a Marxist society.1924The multiple gunshots Lenin suffered from assassins took everything out of him. There were times when he looked half dead from exhaustion. But he kept pushing himself, afraid everything would fall apart without him. I could tell, as could others, that his health was declining. It also became clear that someone would have to assume his position. Trotsky naturally wanted it. I think he expected it. Some expected him too, while others thought it should be me. I wasn’t the public speaker that Trotsky was. But I am far more practical, especially in administrative matters.We all knew that socialism could never be safe so long as there were even one capitalist nation on earth. The Paris Commune taught us that. The imperialists would stop at nothing. But Trotsky sometimes didn’t know when to slow down. He wanted worldwide revolution, all the time. That wasn’t the right way to do it. You have to strengthen the home front before you engage in never ending war. When Lenin’s time came I feared it was going to get ugly. Trotsky wasn’t going to happily go away if he didn’t run the whole show.circa 1930Germany hasn’t turned out well. The Nazis are growing in power. They have hypnotized the nation. Judging by the speeches Hitler is giving it won’t be long before there is another war. In Mein Kampf Hitler laid out very clearly his hatred for Jews and communists. He calls them “JudeoBolsheviks.” We are 50–100 years behind the West in industrialization. Russian troops were slaughtered in WWI. We have no tanks, no planes, nothing. We have 5–10 years to prepare by industrializing or they will smash us.I ordered a 5 Year Plan to industrialize. It became clear that the only way we were going to be able to feed those in the cities after moving them from the farms was to collectivize and update the farming techniques. I convinced many members of the party but some are unconvinced. After the announcement of the collectivization the kulaks went crazy. They slaughtered half the livestock needed to farm. Some killed the families of government officials. They encouraged the farmers to grow less food.“They wanna take 30% for the cities, we’ll grow 30% less,” they chanted.Clearly they weren’t math majors. Many were hiding grain to speculate on the prices, hoping requisition fees would go up. People in the cities are going to starve and these people don’t give a damn. I ordered the soldiers to assist the turning over of the grain. I had to have them removed or everybody would have starved. The Western media is calling this genocide. Genocide would have been if I just had all of them shot, but I didn’t.To make things worse there was a famine in the Ukraine from drought, sabotage, an increase in the birth rate, and more people in the cities not farming. Goebbels told Hearst, the newspaper publisher in America that I caused the famine intentionally. They even used recycled photos from earlier famines to really play it up. I ordered everyone in the nation to be on rations until the famine subsided. They brought me a copy of the newspaper. Goebbels has only the best working with him. And Hearst might as well have a swastika tattooed on his arm. They have a contract together to publish pro Nazi fake news.Some criticized me for collectivizing. But after the famine I was proven right. But tales of me and the “Holodomor” never went away.Circa 1937I received word that Trotsky had been collaborating with the Japanese and the Germans to overthrow me. Trotskyites, Tsarists, and social democrats have been conspiring. Even some members of the military are in on it. I had their phones bugged, and my spies have confirmed it. A few years prior we ran an undercover operation called Operation Trust. We discovered a vast array of conspiracies, spies, double agents, and plots seeking to overthrow the government. It filled 37 volumes! Later we would discover even more disturbing news. What hurt the worst was that Tukhachevsky and Bukharin were in on it! Who can you trust? I have already had attempts on my life. Why should it be different for me than Lenin? He took three bullets. The Americans are wanting us destroyed too. We have had sanctions for years. They won’t accept gold, only grain for payment. They want us to starve. Even during the famine they would take no less than grain. I lock my room at night. Nobody is permitted to enter. The American media said I was “paranoid.” How can you be paranoid when you have had attempts on your life? You can’t win with anybody. You have to remain strong, because you are fundamentally alone. I have terrible dreams.It became clear that there was a cancer in the party. And if not cut out it would destroy the whole body of state. I ordered a purge to root out the conspirators. Trotsky fled. I put the top officials on trial. The evidence was clear. Most confessed publicly. We had journalists from America there too. They admitted to conspiring to overthrow the government, do away with the collectivization of agriculture, reinstate the NEP and the let the kulaks and private property be, and roll back the gains we made for the people. The problem is that there was no going back. The Germans were going to attack. We weren’t growing enough food to feed those industrializing the nation in the cities. But without that we wouldn’t have the tanks, planes, guns and other arms we need to fight the Germans. The Lend Lease from the Americans can only go so far. Losing was not an option. Losing meant extermination at the hands of the Germans. Bukharin said he felt sorry for the kulaks having been moved. But how sorry would he feel when the Germans brought worse atrocities? You have to be strong. You can’t let emotion get in the way. Nazis don’t care about compassion. It is just like when I knew my father was coming up the stairs. Crying only made it worse. You just have to face it, no matter how hard it was going to be. Meanwhile the purges started to take on a life of their own at the lower levels. Some made false accusations as to be spiteful. I issued an order to reign it in. The process was ugly, but there was no other choice. It was a horrible time. People don’t know what it is like to live during these times of crisis. You have to make very tough choices. FDR has had to do the same thing. All leaders do.Most of the purges involved firings. The more serious offenders were sent to the gulag. The West doesn’t have anything like them. They are work camps. Men and women are together. They aren’t cells. People move around, go to movies, can write letters, go to cultural events, and do other things. But they are expected to work hard. During the war we were low on food so everyone had rations. The older and sicker people didn’t hold up well. There have been outbreaks of typhoid. Most people admitted go home. They are paid for their work, and the workday is 8–10 hours per day. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these Tsarists didn’t write a bunch of lies about his experience to garner support from the West. They would probably even give him a Nobel Prize in literature!Sometimes the weight of carrying all this feels like it is too much. I have even resigned several times. But the people won’t let me. I don’t know what is going to happen after I am gone. I need to implement some way to weed out corruption, greed, and stagnation. It has to be a meritocracy and remain ideologically sound. If not the Soviet Union will fall. I see so much incompetence, weakness, and dishonesty around me. The future depends on our future leaders. All it takes is even one leader not up to the task, someone foolish and easily wooed by approval from the West. Someone who trusts too much. Capitalists can never be trusted.People think I have no feelings. They think it is easy, or that I have god like control over everything. I am not a dictator. I have to work with the Politburo too. I feel like the only adult in the room. Somebody has to be a steady hand at the ship of state. The only one who really understood was FDR. Churchill is a sop. Given the number of fascists in the Eastern Bloc I worked out a deal to bring them in to the Soviet Union at Yalta. I can’t leave fascist governments in control at the border. We would never be safe like that. We can’t let Germany reunite, either. Germans are too aggressive. They are better off split up. In fact I had to work very hard to keep the spies and operatives out. Truman told me about the A bomb at Potsdam and used it just to prove the point.I try to enjoy the little things—a glass of Georgian fruit wine, a good cigar, or spending time with family. For my birthday they wanted to read one of my old poems that I wrote in my youth, but I was too embarrassed. It feels like those days were so long ago.Somebody asked me what would happen if the Soviet Union was destroyed.“There would set in an era of the blackest reaction in all the capitalist and colonial countries. The working class and the oppressed peoples would be seized by the throat, the positions of international communism would be lost,” I said.I pray that day never comes.I know that after my death a pile of rubbish will be heaped on my grave, but the wind of History will sooner or later sweep it away without mercy.— Ioseb Besarionis dze JughashviliSourcesContents Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martenshttps://mltheory.files.wordpress... Kruschev Lied by Grover FurrS-300 in Syria – a preliminary assessment...Stop Spreading Nazi Propaganda: on HolodomorOrigins of the Great PurgesNew Study Supports Idea Stalin Was PoisonedLet’s Be Honest – Stalin Was Less of a Criminal Than Churchill, Truman, and LBJWhy doesn’t the Soviet Union exist any more? Part 5: Perestroika and glasnost - Invent the Futurenumber of gulag.pdfSolzehnitsyn Lied pdf.pdfLeft Anticommunism: The Unkindest Cuthttps://msuweb.montclair.edu/~fu...Did the Soviet Union Invade Poland in September 1939?The Holodomor Hoax: Joseph Stalin’s Crime That Never Took PlaceAlexander Finnegan's answer to How much of Stalin's paranoia was based on actual assassination plots?Alexander Finnegan's answer to How true is the claim that most Cold War propaganda about the Soviet Union is regurgitated directly from Nazi propaganda?Alexander Finnegan's answer to Did Stalin really kill 60 million people?Alexander Finnegan's answer to What is the most insane fact about the present that would be nearly impossible to describe to someone in from the past?https://www.quora.com/share/Why-has-history-forgotten-that-Stalin-had-signed-a-peace-pact-agreement-with-Hitler-to-invade-Poland-after-Germany-did-meaning-Stalin-was-a-willing-Axis-member-until-Hitler-attacked-the-Soviet-Union-1?ch=10&share=63d3b959Alexander Finnegan's answer to What are the least known facts about Communist Russia?

I enjoyed reading this article by Thomas Hauser on some of the purported discrepancies that exist in some of the drug testing procedures implemented in the sport of boxing by some of the preeminent anti-doping agencies in the world.On December 30, 2009, Manny Pacquiao sued Floyd Mayweather Jr., Floyd Sr. (Floyd’s father), Roger Mayweather (Floyd’s uncle and trainer), Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer and Oscar De la Hoya for defamation. Pacquiao’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court of Nevada, alleged that each of the defendants had falsely accused him of using, and continuing to use, illegal performance-enhancing drugs.Mayweather has gone to great lengths to position himself in the public mind as a “clean” fighter. For his three most recent fights (against Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto), he has mandated that he and his opponent be subjected to what he calls “Olympic-style testing” by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).USADA is an independent non-governmental sports drug-testing agency whose services are utilized by the United States Olympic and Paralympic movement. It receives approximately $10,000,000 annually in public funding, more in years when the Olympics are held. USADA was paid a reported $100,000 per fight for the drug-testing services it performed in conjunction with Mayweather’s outings.Victor Conte is one of the most knowledgeable people in sports with regard to the use of, and testing for, performance-enhancing drugs. In 1984, Conte founded the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO), which was at the heart of several much-publicized PED scandals. In 2005, he pled guilty to charges of illegal steroid distribution and tax fraud and spent four months in prison. After being released from incarceration, Conte moved to the side of the angels and is now a formidable advocate for “clean” sport.“Mayweather is not doing Olympic-style testing,” Conte states. “I’ve never liked the use of that phrase. ‘Olympic’ means 24-7-365. To be effective, drug testing has to be 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The benefits that an athlete retains from using anabolic steroids and certain other PEDs carry over for months. That means athletes can develop their strength and speed base early and the benefits of PED use will last after that use has been discontinued. If you wait to start testing until eight to 10 weeks in advance of a fight, which is what Mayweather does, that’s not Olympic-style testing. Who knows what Mayweather or his opponent has been doing during the previous six months?”Tests for a Mayweather fight generally begin around the time of the kick-off press tour heralding Floyd’s annual ring appearance. Floyd and his opponent agree to keep USADA advised as to their whereabouts and submit to an unlimited number of unannounced blood and urine tests. Other details (such as what drugs are being tested for, how samples are analyzed and what happens in the event of a positive test) are murky.Mayweather and his promoter (Golden Boy Promotions) have gone to great lengths to propagate the notion that they’re in the forefront of PED testing to “clean up” boxing. In return, they’ve reaped a public relations bonanza. But some members of Team Mayweather haven’t been content to simply disseminate a positive message with regard to Floyd’s conduct. They’ve chosen instead to brand Pacquiao (Mayweather’s chief rival) as a PED user.Floyd Mayweather Sr. declared, “[Pacquiao] can’t beat Clottey without that sh*t in him. He couldn’t beat De la Hoya without that sh*t. He couldn’t beat Ricky Hatton without that sh*t. And he couldn’t beat Cotto without that sh*t. I don’t even think he could beat that kid from Chicago [David Diaz] without that sh*t. He wouldn’t be able to beat any of those guys without enhancement drugs.”Not to be outdone, Roger Mayweather proclaimed, “This mother**ker don’t want to take the test. That’s why the fight [Mayweather vs. Pacquiao] didn’t happen. He got that sh*t in him. That’s why he didn’t want to take the test.”References to Pacquiao’s alleged PED use by the other defendants in the defamation action were more subtle. But their message was similar.The court case moved slowly as litigation often does. Last year, the claims against Schaefer and De la Hoya were dismissed with the consent of Pacquiao’s attorneys after Richard and Oscar apologized and stated that they had never meant to suggest that Manny was using performance-enhancing drugs.The Mayweathers continued to fight the complaint. Floyd’s conduct in failing to appear for a scheduled deposition on several occasions displeased the court and infuriated Pacquiao’s attorneys. The case looked like it would be a long battle of attrition. Then things changed dramatically.Under standard sports drug-testing protocols, when blood or urine is taken from an athlete, it’s divided into an “A” and “B” sample. The “A” sample is tested first. If it tests negative, end of story. If the “A” sample tests positive, the athlete then has the right to demand that the “B” sample be tested. If the “B” sample tests negative, the athlete is presumed to be clean. But if the “B” sample also tests positive, the first positive finding is confirmed and the athlete has a problem.On May 20, 2012, a rumor filtered through the drug-testing community that Mayweather had tested positive on three occasions for an illegal performance-enhancing drug.More specifically, it was rumored that Mayweather’s “A” sample had tested positive on three occasions and, after each positive test, USADA had found exceptional circumstances in the form of inadvertent use and gave Floyd a waiver. This waiver, according to the rumor, negated the need for a test of Floyd’s “B” sample. And because the “B” sample was never tested, a loophole in USADA’s contract with Mayweather and Golden Boy allowed the testing to proceed without the positive “A” sample results being reported to Mayweather’s opponent or the Nevada State Athletic Commission (which had jurisdiction over the fights).In late-May, Pacquiao’s attorneys heard the rumor. On June 4, 2012, they served document demands and subpoenas on Mayweather, Mayweather Promotions, Golden Boy and USADA calling for the production of all documents that related to PED testing of Mayweather for the Shane Mosley, Victor Ortiz and Miguel Cotto fights.The documents were not produced. There was a delay in the proceedings while Floyd spent nine weeks in the Clark County Detention Center after pleading guilty to charges of domestic violence and harassment. Upon his release from jail on August 2nd, settlement talks heated up.On September 25, 2012, a stipulation of settlement ending the defamation case was filed with the court. The parties agreed that the terms of settlement would be kept confidential. Prior to the agreement being signed, two sources with detailed knowledge of the proceedings told this writer that Mayweather’s initial monetary settlement offer was “substantially more” than Pacquiao’s attorneys had expected it would be and an agreement in principle was reached soon afterward.As part of the settlement, the Mayweathers and Mayweather Promotions issued a statement that read: “Floyd Mayweather Jr., Floyd Mayweather Sr., Roger Mayweather and Mayweather Promotions wish to make it clear that they never intended to claim that Manny Pacquiao has used or is using any performance-enhancing drugs nor are they aware of any evidence that Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs. Manny Pacquiao is a great champion and no one should construe any of our prior remarks as claiming that Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs.”I don’t know if Floyd Mayweather or Manny Pacquiao has used performance-enhancing drugs or not.I do know that, if Mayweather’s “A” sample tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug on one or more occasions and he was given a waiver by USADA that concealed this fact from the Nevada State Athletic Commission, his opponent and the public, we have an ingredient that could contribute to the making of a scandal.Any analysis of PED use and boxing should start with the acknowledgement that chemistry is now part of sports.We know certain things about the use of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs:(1) PEDs offer more than a shortcut. They take an athlete to a place that he or she might not be able to get to without them. When undertaken in conjunction with proper exercise and training, the use of PEDs creates a better athlete.(2) PED use is often difficult to detect.Sophisticated users evade detection in the face of rigorous testing. The more money an athlete spends, the less detectible PED use is. Also, in many instances, the testing is erratic, inadequate and even corrupt. Three years ago, Victor Conte declared, “Boxing’s testing program is beyond a joke. It’s worthless. The loopholes are so big that you could drive a Mack truck through them. Many of the people who are supposed to be regulating this don’t want to know.” Now Conte says, “In some respects, things have gotten worse.”(3) PED use is more prevalent in boxing now than ever before, particularly at the elite level. For many fighters, the prevailing ethic seems to be, “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”Fighters are reconfiguring their bodies and, in some instances, look like totally different physical beings. In a clean world, fighters don’t get older, heavier and faster at the same time, but that’s what’s happening in boxing. Improved performances at an advanced age are becoming common. Fighters at age 35 are outperforming what they could do when they were 30. In some instances, fighters are starting to perform at an elite level at an age when they would normally be expected to be on a downward slide.(4) The use of PEDs threatens the short term and long term health of the user. It’s illegal and gives an athlete who uses them an unfair competitive advantage. It also endangers fighters who are getting hit in the head harder than before by opponents.Earlier this year, a handful of high-profile cases became part of boxing’s PED dialogue.On May 4, 2012, WBA/IBF 140-pound champion Lamont Peterson learned that his “A” and “B” urine samples had tested positive for the presence of an anabolic steroid. Peterson had been scheduled to defend his titles in a rematch against Amir Khan. The fight was canceled.Two weeks later, the “A” and “B” urine samples of WBC 147-pound champion Andre Berto tested positive for Norandrosterone (an anabolic steroid). Berto was slated to defend his belt against Victor Ortiz. That fight was also canceled.On June 22nd, it was revealed that, subsequent to Antonio Tarver’s June 2nd fight in California against Lateef Kayode, Tarver’s pre-fight urine sample had tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone. On fight night, the bout had been declared a draw. The result was changed to “no contest.”Finally, on October 18th, two days before Erik Morales’s scheduled rematch against Danny Garcia for the latter’s WBA and WBC titles, word leaked to the media that Morales had tested positive for Clenbuterol. Initially, the public was led to believe by the promotion that only Morales’s “A” sample had tested positive and there was a need for his “B” sample to be tested (which couldn’t be done until after the fight). Then it was learned that Morales had been tested on two occasions earlier in the month and, each time, both his “A” and “B” samples had tested positive. Despite that revelation, Garcia vs. Morales II was allowed to take place.In seeking out the truth behind the aforementioned matters, this writer interviewed dozens of participants and observers. Two people of note declined to be interviewed.Richard Schaefer sent a November 1st email that read in part, “We are trying to do something positive and yet it seems that media and others are attacking us. It would be easy for us to do nothing just like all other promoters. But by trying to support the fighters’ desire for additional testing, we are getting criticized.”Beyond that, Schaefer chose not to discuss the issues involved. Instead, his email referenced my relationships with Dr. Margaret Goodman and Maxboxing’s own Gabriel Montoya and stated, “I consider you a friend and really don’t want this Margaret Goodman, Gabriel Montoya vs. Golden Boy witch hunt to affect our relationship. I have my opinion about Margaret and Gabriel, and you have yours. I respect your opinion, and I hope you respect mine.”Dr. Goodman was once chief ringside physician for the Nevada State Athletic Commission. She is now president and board chairperson of a drug-testing organization known as VADA (Voluntary Anti-Doping Agency).The drug tests on Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto that came back positive were carried out under the supervision of VADA.Dr. Goodman is a friend. We’ve talked at length over the years about medical issues and boxing. She has been a valuable resource to me in my writing. We’ve also shared thoughts and offered advice to each other on a variety of subjects, both personal and professional.Gabriel Montoya has written a series of significant articles on the use of PEDs in boxing. Earlier this year, I spoke with Schaefer on Montoya’s behalf after Gabriel was denied access and credentials for certain Golden Boy events. I also spoke with Montoya about his problems with Golden Boy and what might be done to remedy the situation. Gabriel is a casual acquaintance.I should add that, although I sometimes disagree with things that Richard Schaefer has done (just as he sometimes disagrees with what I write), I admire his skills and we’ve maintained a cordial relationship over the years.USADA CEO Travis Tygart also declined to be interviewed for this article and instructed that questions be addressed to USADA’s media relations manager, Annie Skinner. On November 2nd, this writer sent a series of preliminary questions to Ms. Skinner. There was no response.At this point, it makes sense to take a closer look at the recent positive drug tests referenced earlier in this article.In March 2012, Lamont Peterson and Amir Khan submitted applications to VADA pursuant to which their blood and urine were tested in conjunction with their scheduled May 19th fight. The first samples were taken on March 19th, the only day on which the fighters knew in advance that they would be tested.On April 12th, VADA was advised by the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory that Peterson’s “A” sample had tested positive consistent with the administration of an anabolic steroid. On April 13th, the Peterson camp was notified of that fact by FedEx and email. In keeping with VADA’s protocols, Peterson was given one week to challenge the “A” test result and ask for his “B” sample to be tested with one of his representatives present.The Peterson team waited eight days (until April 21st) to respond. Then it chose to challenge the positive test result, asserted its right to be present when the “B” sample was tested, and asked that the “B” sample be tested on Friday, April 27th. The UCLA laboratory advised VADA that Friday was an inappropriate day to begin testing because four consecutive days were needed to complete the test.The testing of Peterson’s “B” sample began on Monday, April 30th. On May 3rd, VADA was advised by the laboratory that this sample had also tested positive. The Peterson camp was so notified by FedEx and email on May 4th. That same day, VADA also sent a letter by FedEx and fax to Keith Kizer (Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission) stating the facts of the matter.The Peterson-Khan rematch was canceled.Richard Schaefer was livid at the way in which drug testing for Peterson-Khan II unfolded. Golden Boy was to have promoted the fight, and he felt that VADA should have notified him as soon as Peterson’s “A” sample tested positive.Margaret Goodman says that, after Peterson’s “A” sample tested positive, she asked Lamont’s attorney (Jeff Fried) whether there was an agreement between Peterson and Golden Boy that authorized VADA to release the “A” test results to the promoter. Fried told her that no such authorization existed.Ryan Connolly is counsel for VADA. In the late 1990s, he was the business manager for the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory. He’s now an attorney in private practice with an expertise in PED testing in the context of competitive sports. In that role, he oversaw the process outlined in a May 10th document titled “Statement of VADA.”“When VADA became involved with the Peterson-Khan fight,” that statement reads, “the individual athletes signed up for the VADA program and executed the proper documentation. VADA was told that GBP [Golden Boy Promotions] also wanted a contract so that GBP would be authorized to receive the testing results, including the preliminary results from an ‘A’ sample analysis. In order for VADA to release the preliminary ‘A’ sample results to a third party such as GBP, VADA requires an executed authorization allowing us to do so. VADA sent GBP a draft contract for its signature which would have authorized the preliminary ‘A’ sample results to be released to GBP. This initial draft, which was never signed, contained a clause pursuant to which GBP would have represented that it had obtained the necessary authorization from the fighters. GBP’s legal team rejected this clause and instead suggested making the fighters signatories to the contract with their signatures being the necessary authorization. VADA’s counsel made it clear to GBP that, if GBP wanted to handle it this way, GBP must take responsibility for obtaining the athlete’s signatures. Unfortunately, GBP never obtained the signatures.The bottom line is that VADA had no contract with GBP. This is not a mere technicality. It involves issues of medical ethics. VADA needed a signed contract in order to deviate from its Results Management Policy (posted on our website) and release the preliminary and personal medical information to a third party.VADA would have been happy to inform GBP of the preliminary ‘A’ results. But we needed a signed authorization allowing us to do so, which we never received. VADA has complied in every way with all signed contracts that we had and will continue to do so.”Dr. Goodman elaborates on that theme, saying, “As per our contracts and protocols, VADA gives certain test results to the athletic commission in any jurisdiction where the fighter holds a license or a request for a license is pending. We also release certain results to FightFax, the Association of Boxing Commissions, and whomever else the athlete asks us to release them to. We’d be happy to release any and all results to a fighter’s promoter, but we need an authorization from the fighter to do so. That‘s the law and those are the terms in the Results Management Policy posted on the VADA website.”As a postscript, the Peterson camp later claimed that Lamont had tested positive because of the surgical implantation of “testosterone pellets” to correct a testosterone deficiency known as hypogonadism.That led Ryan Connolly to observe that more than a few elite athletes suffer from hypogonadism and note, “This may seem odd since these athletes are physical specimens. How can they be so muscular and fit but have natural testosterone production deficiencies at a higher rate than ordinary people? The dirty little secret is not necessarily that these athletes are lying about their hypogonadism. The dirty little secret is the likely cause of the hypogonadism in the first place - past anabolic steroid abuse.”Meanwhile, even before the Peterson controversy subsided, a new controversy was brewing. Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz had submitted applications for VADA testing in advance of their scheduled June 23, 2012 fight. On May 11th, Dr. Goodman was advised by the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory that an “A” sample urine specimen taken from Berto had tested positive for norandrosterone (an anabolic steroid) at a level above the permitted amount.On May 12th, following VADA protocols, Goodman notified the Berto camp. Berto was advised by FedEx. Tony Morgan (Berto’s trainer, who had been listed on notice forms as a designated recipient of information) was advised of the finding by email, as was Al Haymon (Berto’s manager).Dr. Goodman’s email to each recipient read in part, “VADA urges you to immediately notify Golden Boy Promotions [the lead promoter on the fight], DiBella Entertainment [Berto’s promoter], and the California State Athletic Commission of this positive “A” sample finding by forwarding each party a copy of this notification so that it is received by each party as quickly as possible but no later than 3:00 p.m. on Monday, May 14th. Please confirm to VADA in writing that you have forwarded a copy to each party by that time.”The requested confirmation was not forthcoming. Instead, on May 14th, Dr. Goodman received a letter from Howard Jacobs (an attorney retained by Berto), who warned that telling anyone other than Berto’s representatives about the “A” sample positive could result in “civil liability on the part of VADA.”On May 15th, Goodman sent an email to Al Haymon that read, “Dear Al, as you are aware, Mr. Berto has asserted a medical privilege insofar as VADA is concerned. I would think that you will be held personally accountable by Golden Boy Promotions and DiBella Entertainment for your failure to notify them of this issue in a timely manner. Please advise us with regard to whether or not you have notified GBP and DBE. Thank you, Margaret Goodman.”There was no response.That same day, Ryan Connolly sent an email to Howard Jacobs urging similar notification.On May 18th, Dr. Goodman was advised by the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory that Berto’s “B” sample urine specimen had tested positive. VADA then notified Berto, his designated representatives, and the California State Athletic Commission.Haymon, in turn, notified Richard Schaefer. Lou DiBella says that, despite the fact that he was Berto’s promoter, neither Schaefer nor Haymon advised him that Andre’s “A” and “B” samples had tested positive until plans were underway to replace Berto as an opponent for Victor Ortiz with Josesito Lopez (another Haymon fighter, who was promoted by Golden Boy in conjunction with Goossen Tutor).“How do you think that makes me feel?” DiBella asked rhetorically. “I raised the issue with Al afterward, and he didn’t say anything. That told me all I needed to know.”Haymon, like Richard Schaefer and Travis Tygart, declined to be interviewed for this article.Berto later told RingTvOnline, “To all of my fans who have been supportive, you know, everybody who knows me, they know that everything that I’ve always accomplished has just been through hard work. And when it comes to the positive test, that was just a situation that was unfortunate. It was a situation that didn’t get properly explained to the public on what it was and what caused it. I believe that’s what really made an uproar about everything. You know, like I’ve said, I’ve never been a cheater. Never have and never will. I’ve never injected anything in any type of situation at all. So when it comes up as a positive test, it didn’t have anything to do with any type of drug enhancement or any type of testosterone or EPO or none of that type of stuff that a lot of guys probably use. It was, after we got the positive test, we just needed to know what it was because we knew that everything that we were doing was straightforward. After they put the news out, that’s when we found out exactly what it was. Then I had to go through all of the right processes and the hiring of the lawyers and things like that. So it was basically just taking my sample test and just really proving the fact that it was a contamination of something. I couldn’t believe it happened the way it did with no explanation for it to the press or the public. The way it was put out there without explaining exactly what it was and how much upset me. Nothing was really explained to the public.”There’s a bit of hypocrisy there. Berto expressed unhappiness that news of his positive tests “was put out there without explaining exactly what it was…to the public.” But as previously noted, his own lawyer had made it clear to VADA that the dissemination of information to third parties should be kept to a minimum under threat of civil liability on the part of VADA.Given Golden Boy’s professed commitment to making boxing a clean sport, Richard Schaefer might have been expected to commend VADA for its findings with regard to Peterson and Berto. Instead, he seemed intent on attacking Dr. Goodman and VADA.On May 22nd, Arnold Joseph, counsel for Golden Boy, sent a letter to Goodman stating Golden Boy’s intention to sue VADA for not notifying the promoter that Peterson’s “A” sample had tested positive, a failure that Joseph claimed was magnified by VADA reporting the “B” sample positive to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and not to Golden Boy.To date, no lawsuit has been filed. But three days later, Golden Boy terminated a column on medical issues that Goodman had written monthly for The Ring magazine (now owned by Golden Boy) since 2004.“I guess the only question I have is why it took so long for Richard to fire me,” Dr. Goodman said afterward. “Once Golden Boy bought the magazine, I was told I couldn’t cover certain topics like more insurance coverage for catastrophic injuries suffered by fighters. Michael Rosenthal [the editor who replaced Nigel Collins at The Ring] is a great guy. He’s been very supportive but I could see the writing on the wall. You know, the first column I wrote for Ring eight years ago was about Fernando Vargas testing positive for Winstrol. It was called ‘JUICED!’ How ironic is that?”At the same time Golden Boy was attacking Margaret Goodman, it also took aim at Gabriel Montoya.Montoya, as previously noted, has written a number of articles on the use of PEDs in boxing. On May 20, 2012, a source with extensive knowledge in the area of drug testing told him he believed Floyd Mayweather had tested positive on three occasions for performance-enhancing drugs and that, in each instance, the test results had been covered up by Golden Boy and USADA.Montoya did what a responsible journalist is supposed to do. He began to question people in boxing and the world of PED testing about the rumors. On May 23rd, he received a letter from Jeffrey Spitz (an attorney for Golden Boy).Montoya says that the Spitz letter mischaracterized the nature of his investigation. There was no mistaking the fact that the letter accused him of making false and defamatory statements with regard to Golden Boy and threatened legal action against him.“There was an earlier time when Golden Boy wouldn’t credential me for its fights because I sent out some tweets that Oscar didn’t like,” Montoya recounts. “But I spoke with Schaefer and we worked past that. Then I started looking into the issue of Floyd’s drug tests. I got the threatening letter from Spitz, which I posted on Maxboxing. And I was banned again from Golden Boy fights.”For example, Montoya was told he would be credentialed for the June 30th fight card headlined by Cornelius Bundrage vs. Cory Spinks at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. Then, on June 29th, he received an email from Anndee Laskoe (public relations manager for the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians), who wrote, “I have been asked by Golden Boy Promotions to remove your name from the press credential list for the June 30th fights at Fantasy Springs. I am sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.”Golden Boy publicists Monica Sears and Ramiro Gonzalez were copied on the email.Golden Boy did credential Montoya for at least one subsequent show.Meanwhile, other troubling incidents were brewing.In mid-May, Winky Wright was preparing to fight Peter Quillin in a June 2nd bout promoted by Golden Boy at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.“Everybody kept popping up positive for all this stuff,” Wright told Montoya. “Boxing isn’t always a fair game. I figured I should get this [testing] too. So I called Golden Boy and said, ‘Why we ain’t doing it?’ They was like ‘Uh, etcetera, etcetera, this and this and that, and someone didn’t want to pay.’ I said ‘Okay; I’m going to pay for it. I just want to play on the same field.’”Wright and Quillin entered into a May 21, 2012 contract with Golden Boy and USADA pursuant to which USADA was to provide drug testing services in conjunction with their fight.“I didn’t know the difference between [USADA and VADA].” Wright says. “I just told Golden Boy I wanted to be tested and they came back with USADA.”On or about May 23rd, USADA collected blood and urine samples from Quillin. Wright gave samples on May 24th.“They came to my house at six in the morning,” Winky recalls. “They took urine, blood, everything.”Then, without warning, Wright was told that the testing was off.“I think it was like two days later,” Winky told Gabriel Montoya. “Golden Boy called and told Damian [Ramirez, Wright’s manager], and Damian told me. I don’t understand it. All I’m asking is, ‘How do you take urine and take blood and then, all of sudden, you say you aren’t going to test it?’ Then they tried to make up an excuse and say they wanted to teach us. There ain’t nothing to teach. They took blood. They told us we would take a test and either come up positive or negative. That’s it. All I want to know is, are we playing on the same field? So my lawyer called and asked for it to be tested and they told him they threw it out. They told my attorney they threw it out. That’s crazy. Why would they throw it out? They just finished [taking samples] and they’re going to throw it out already? Does this sound crazy? We gave samples. Let’s test that and let me see the result. They threw it out. I just don’t understand that.”Quillin-Wright went ahead as planned with Quillin winning a unanimous 10-round decision. Quillin, like Andre Berto and Floyd Mayweather, is managed by Al Haymon.The contract that Wright and Quillin entered into with Golden Boy and USADA specifically provided, “USADA will be responsible for storing the samples after collection and transporting them safely and securely to a laboratory for analysis…USADA will send all samples for analysis to a WADA [World Anti-Doping Agency] accredited laboratory under contract to USADA…USADA shall maintain Sample Collection Documentation, including test results for testing conducted under this Master Agreement, for a period of six years.”“The destruction of samples isn’t supposed to happen,” Ryan Connolly states. “If that happened in an Olympic context, it would set off alarms in a lot of places. There would likely be a thorough investigation by the International Olympic Committee and WADA.”Victor Conte adds, “The trend in drug-testing now is to save samples longer than before, not pour them down the drain.”But the worst was yet to come.Scott Hale runs a small website called Halestorm Sports Network. On Thursday, October 18, 2012, at approximately 8:30 a.m. Pacific Coast Time, Hale got a telephone call from a source in New York who told him that Erik Morales (who was scheduled to fight Danny Garcia two days later on a Golden Boy Promotions card at Barclays Center in Brooklyn) had tested positive for a banned substance.“I knew they were about to start the [final pre-fight] press conference,” Hale recalls, “and I assumed the fight would be canceled. Four hours later, I went online and saw that the fight was still on and the story hadn’t broken. So I made some follow-up calls and a second source confirmed the story. Then a third source called me to confirm, but I still didn’t know what the drug was.”“At that point,” Hale continues, “I called USADA and Golden Boy. Neither of them would confirm the story. One of my partners called the New York State Athletic Commission. They said they didn’t know anything about it, but our sources were solid. All three of them are reliable. So we decided to go with the story.”The snowball rolled from there.Initially, Golden Boy and USADA engaged in damage control.Dan Rafael of ESPN.com spoke with two sources and wrote, “The reason the fight has not been called off, according to one of the sources, is because Morales’s ‘A’ sample tested positive but the results of the ‘B’ sample test likely won’t be available until after the fight. ‘[USADA] said it could be a false positive,’ one of the sources with knowledge of the disclosure said. ‘But from what I understand, they won’t know until the test on the ‘B’ sample comes back. That probably won’t be until after the fight.’”Richard Schaefer told Chris Mannix of SI.com, “USADA has now started the process. The process will play out. There is not going to be a rush to judgment. Morales is a legendary fighter. And really, nobody deserves a rush to judgment. You are innocent until proven guilty.”Also on Thursday, Schaefer told Rick Reeno of BoxingScene.com, “I think what is important here is that there is not going to be a witch hunt against Erik Morales. Let’s allow the process to play out.”The New York State Athletic Commission was blindsided on the Morales matter. The first notice it received came in a three-way telephone conversation with representatives of Golden Boy and USADA after the Thursday press conference. In that conversation, the commission was told there were “some questionable test results” for Morales but that testing of Morales’s “B” sample would not be available until after the fight.Then, on Friday (one day before the scheduled fight), Keith Idec revealed on BoxingScene.com that samples had been taken from Morales on at least three occasions. Final results from the samples taken on October 17th were not in yet. But both the “A” and “B” samples taken from Morales on October 3rd and October 10th had tested positive for Clenbuterol. In other words, Morales had tested positive for Clenbuterol four times.Clenbuterol is widely used by bodybuilders and athletes. It helps the body increase its metabolism and process the conversion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats into useful energy. It also boosts muscle growth and eliminates excess fats caused by the use of certain steroids.Under the WADA code, no amount of Clenbuterol is allowed in a competitor’s body. The measure is qualitative, not quantitative. Either Clenbuterol is there or it’s not. If it’s there, the athlete has a problem.After the positive tests were revealed, Morales claimed that he’d inadvertently ingested Clebuterol by eating contaminated meat. No evidence was offered in support of that contention.Nor was any explanation forthcoming as to why USADA kept taking samples from Morales after four tests (two “A” samples and two “B” samples from separate collections) came back positive. Giving Morales those additional tests was like giving someone who has been arrested for driving while intoxicated a second and third blood test a week after the arrest. The whole idea behind “cycling” is that it enables an athlete to use illegal PEDs, stop using them at a predetermined point in time, and then test clean in the days leading up to an event. A fighter shouldn’t be given the opportunity to test again and again until he tests clean.Also, Richard Schaefer vigorously attacked Dr. Margaret Goodman and VADA for not advising him that Lamont Peterson’s “A” sample had come back positive. But not only did Schaefer fail to notify Lou DiBella (Andre Berto’s promoter) in a timely manner that Berto had tested positive for Norandrosterone, Schaefer didn’t tell the New York State Athletic Commission in a timely manner that Morales had tested positive for Clenbuterol. Rather, it appears as though the commission and the public were deliberately misled with regard to the testing and how many tests Morales had failed.The moment that the “B” sample from Morales’s first test came back positive, that information should have been forwarded to the New York State Athletic Commission. The fact that USADA had positive test results from two “A” and two “B” samples and didn’t transmit those results to the NYSAC raises serious questions regarding USADA’s credibility.WOULD USADA HANDLE THE TESTING OF AN OLYMPIC ATHLETE THE WAY IT HANDLED THE MORALES TESTING?“The Erik Morales case is a travesty,” says Victor Conte. “Golden Boy and USADA seem to have made up a new set of rules without telling anyone what they are. What are the rules? Explain yourself, please! In ‘Olympic-style testing,’ you don’t have an ‘A’ sample and a ‘B’ sample test positive, and then another ‘A’ sample and ‘B’ sample test positive, and keep testing until you get a negative. What happened with Erik Morales should put everything that USADA and Golden Boy have done in boxing under a microscope. This is more than suspicious to me. It’s outrageous.”Incredibly, Garcia-Morales II was allowed to proceed. This, in effect, amounted to a “Get out of Jail Free” card for Garcia. Morales, a heavy underdog, was knocked out in the fourth round. But had Erik won the fight, the positive drug tests (which had been concealed prior to the leak on Halestorm Sports) could have been used to overturn the result and give Garcia back his belts.Garcia is managed by Al Haymon and is considered by Golden Boy to be one of its future stars.Since the Morales incident, people in the PED-testing community have begun to question the curious role played in boxing by USADA. When someone hears “USADA testing,” the assumption is that it’s legitimate. In that light, the reports that Erik Morales’s “A” and “B” samples tested positive for Clenbuterol on two occasions without notification to the New York State Athletic Commission are extremely troubling.Don Catlin founded the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory in 1982 and is one of the founders of modern drug testing in sports.“USADA should not enter into a contract that doesn’t call for it to report positive test results to the appropriate governing body.” Catlin states. “If it’s true that USADA reported the results [in the Morales case] to Golden Boy and not to the governing state athletic commission, that’s a recipe for deception.”When asked about the possibility of withholding notification because of inadvertent use (such as eating contaminated meat), Catlin declares, “No! The International Olympic Committee allowed for those waivers 25 years ago, and it didn’t work. An athlete takes a steroid, tests positive, and then claims it was inadvertent. No one says, ‘I was cheating. You caught me.’”But more importantly, Catlin says, “USADA is a testing organization. USADA should not be making decisions regarding waivers and exemptions. That would make USADA judge and jury.”Ryan Connolly is in accord and adds, “There is no such thing in the Olympic world as an inadvertent use waiver. Athletes are strictly liable for what they put in their bodies. Inadvertent use might affect the length of an athlete’s suspension, but the athlete would still be disqualified from the competition that he, or she, was being tested for.”“I’m not sure what rules USADA is following,” Connolly continues, “but under WADA protocols, you wouldn’t see samples being destroyed and you wouldn’t see retests for Clenbuterol positives.”In other words, USADA seems to have one set of rules for testing Olympic athletes and another set of rules when it tests fighters for Golden Boy.“It looks to me like USADA and Golden Boy are making up the rules as they go along,” says Victor Conte. “One of the things that enables them to do it is that there’s no transparency to USADA’s testing for any of the fighters. What drugs are they testing for? What tests have been performed? What were the results? Why is Travis Tygart doing this?”One might also ask why Golden Boy and Richard Schaefer are doing this.“I think that Richard really wanted to be in the forefront on drug testing when he first got involved,” one Golden Boy employee (who, for obvious reasons, wishes to remain anonymous) says. “He knew it would ingratiate him with Floyd. It would get him some good PR. And it was a way to stick it in [Bob] Arum’s ear. But talking with him, I also felt that he thought it was the right thing to do. Then he realized that things were a lot more complicated and, probably, a lot dirtier than he’d thought. And at that point, his priorities changed.”It would be a stretch to say that Schaefer is trying to install himself as boxing’s drug czar. But he certainly doesn’t want drug testing to interfere with Golden Boy’s fights. That’s evident from his assault on VADA and Margaret Goodman after Lamont Peterson and Andre Berto tested positive.“Richard Schaefer saw what happened when somebody tests impartially with sophisticated testing methods,” HBO commentator Jim Lampley observes. “I haven’t spoken with him about these issues, but it would certainly appear as though he has decided to stay away from Margaret Goodman.”Stripped of its rhetoric, Schaefer’s main objection to VADA and Dr. Goodman appears to have been that they wouldn’t empower him in the testing process. He talks about VADA failing to notify him of Peterson’s positive “A” test in a timely manner. But if early notification is so important, why didn’t Golden Boy advise the New York State Athletic Commission that Erik Morales’s “A” and “B” samples had tested positive for Clenbuterol - twice?In fairness to Golden Boy, no other promoter has made a serious effort to rid boxing of PEDs, or even pretended to. And Schaefer himself acknowledged recently, “I think that ultimately it should be up to the athletic commissions to adopt a more updated drug-testing protocol and really not up to a promoter.”That latter point is particularly well-taken. The problem is that the state athletic commissions, as presently constituted, are woefully unsuited to the task. In many instances, boxing is barely governed at the state level. Everything has a loophole. Illegal PED users vs. the state athletic commissions is one of the biggest mismatches of all time.Most state athletic commissions don’t have the resources, the technical expertise, or the will to deal effectively with the PED problem. People go along to get along. No one wants to make waves.There’s no uniformity with regard to standards, degree of testing, or punishment from state to state. Testing on the day of a competition is notoriously ineffective in the face of sophisticated drug use. But that’s the only testing that most states utilize. Some states don’t drug test at all.The Nevada State Athletic Commission has long been considered to have one of the best drug-testing programs in the country. Two years ago, Travis Tygart was asked, “How easy is it to beat a testing program like Nevada’s?”“As simple as walking across the street,” Tygart answered. “It’s good for PR, to give the appearance that you’re testing, but nothing more.”After Lamont Peterson tested positive with VADA, Zach Arnold of Your Global Connection to the Fight Industry. spoke with Keith Kizer (Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission).“Kizer admits that a standard Nevada State Athletic Commission drug test would not have caught Peterson using synthetic testosterone,” Arnold reported afterward. “He admits that the reason the VADA test caught Peterson is because they use the Carbon Isotope Ratio standard for urine testing, which does in fact catch synthetic testosterone usage.”The Peterson camp, as earlier noted, says Lamont tested positive because of the surgical implantation of testosterone pellets to correct a testosterone deficiency known as hypogonadism. Jeff Fried (Peterson’s attorney) says the implantation occurred on November 12, 2011.Four weeks later, on December 10, 2011, Peterson fought Amir Khan in Washington D.C. The tests administered by the local commission failed to detect the testosterone. That’s a pretty good indication that PED testing in Washington D.C. is deficient.California hosts more fight cards than any other state in the country. On October 9, 2012, the California State Athletic Commission upheld a one-year suspension imposed on Antonio Tarver in the wake of his testing positive for Drostanolone.“The commission heard both sides of the issue and upheld Mr. Tarver’s suspension,” Kathi Burns (interim executive officer of the CSAC, told ESPN.com). “I think the commission’s actions speak for itself. It’s well-known that the commission has among the toughest anti-doping standards in the world, and that we have zero tolerance for doping.”Not true.California then turned 180 degrees and, without a full hearing, licensed Andre Berto for a November 24th fight (to be promoted by Golden Boy) against Robert Guerrero, despite the fact that Berto tested positive for Norandrosterone in May of this year. The explanation given by commission personnel was that Berto’s positive drug tests were administered by VADA and not by the commission itself.“How can they not recognize VADA?” Margaret Goodman asks. “Our program is in accord with WADA protocols. Our scientific director was recommended to us by WADA’s medical chief. We use internationally-recognized sample collectors. We even use the same laboratory [the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory] that the California commission uses.”Then there’s the case of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Following his November 14, 2009 fight against Troy Rowland in Las Vegas, Chavez tested positive for Furosemide (a diuretic and steroid-masking agent). He was fined $10,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and suspended for seven months. Four of his next six bouts were in Texas, one in California, and one in Mexico. Texas has a reputation for being lax in the area of drug-testing. Mexico is Mexico.On September 15, 2012, Chavez returned to Las Vegas to fight Sergio Martinez. After the bout, it was revealed that Julio had tested positive for marijuana.Marijuana is illegal, but it’s not a performance-enhancing drug. Chavez’s explanation for the positive test was as follows: “I have never smoked marijuana. For years, I have had insomnia, so I went to the doctor and he prescribed some drops for me that contained cannabis. I stopped taking them before the fight with Martinez, and I didn’t think I was going to test positive.”That explanation strains credibility. Chavez might have been better off claiming he ate tainted beef from a cow that ate a marijuana plant. Still, before the NSAC rules harshly on Julio, it should consider testing all commission personnel (including the five commissioners) for recreational drugs. Boxing has a drug problem, but the drug isn’t marijuana.As for Erik Morales and New York, on the day of Garcia-Morales II, the New York State Athletic Commission issued the following statement: “The New York Athletic Commission has taken into consideration the testing of Erick [sic] Morales conducted by USADA, an independent non-governmental organization contracted by Golden Boy Promotions to conduct testing on its boxers. Based upon currently available information and the representations made by Mr. Morales that he unintentionally ingested contaminated food, it is the Commission’s opinion that at this time there is inconclusive data to make a final determination regarding the suspension of Mr. Morales’s boxing license. The Commission will continue investigating the allegations and will wait until official laboratory results are available before making a final decision.”Let’s give the NYSAC the benefit of the doubt and assume that enormous political pressure from above was brought to bear on well-intentioned administrators. Garcia-Morales II was the main event on the first fight card at the new billion-dollar Barclays Center, an anchor for economic redevelopment in Brooklyn.Still, Kieran Mulvaney summed up nicely when he wrote on ESPN.com, “The way in which the situation was handled was borderline farcical. Morales failed tests twice, yet was allowed to take a third, which he passed, and faced no real consequences. Why have a drug-testing program if testing positive means nothing? If commissions are going to stand on the sideline, will failing a drug test become like missing weight: an inconvenience that can be smoothed over with some extra money changing hands?”It should also be noted that the world sanctioning organizations are part of the problem, not part of the solution.Four days after Garcia-Morales II, World Boxing Council President Jose Sulaiman declared, “The time of getting urine samples for the anti-doping tests is absolutely none other than in the dressing rooms before going into the ring or after the fights. The WBC only wants to test how a fighter is at the time of his performance and no other time unless it is a special circumstance. The tests are done by the local boxing commissions, most with which we have excellent relations and amicable agreements of mutual cooperation. We are, and have been, testing against drugs in boxing since 1975 and we have had only 15 positives in 37 years and about 1,600 fights. Boxing is a clean sport, as our data proves.”If Sulaiman weren’t so adept at gobbling up sanctioning fees and crushing reform movements within the WBC, one would be inclined to dismiss him as a buffoon.As for what comes next, the signs aren’t promising. This Saturday (November 24th), Andre Berto will fight Robert Guerrero in Ontario, California, on a card promoted by Golden Boy.Guerrero asked that the fighters be tested for PEDs by VADA. Walter Kane (Guerrero’s attorney) says that Richard Schaefer and Al Haymon (Berto’s manager) refused and would only allow testing by the California State Athletic Commission and USADA.In other words, Berto said he’d do drug testing, but not with the people who caught him earlier this year.Guerrero had two options. He could accept USADA and a career-high payday or lose the payday.“I’m not happy about it,” Kane says, “but in the end, we really didn’t have a choice. Golden Boy controls the purse strings, and they’re calling the shots.”Would the National Football League let Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones dictate drug-testing terms for games the Cowboys play? Of course not. But in essence, Golden Boy (which has a vested interest in the outcome of the fights it promotes) is doing just that.Once again, the playing field has been tilted. There are times when it appears as though, not only does Golden Boy dictate which drug-testing organization is utilized, it can also influence whether or not there is random blood and urine testing for a fight.Indeed, Golden Boy might even be able to use its influence over the drug-testing process as a bargaining chip in signing fighters. Andre Berto tested positive and, soon after, was licensed to fight in California in a big-money fight. Erik Morales tested positive and New York said, “No problem. He can fight here right now.”Meanwhile, Golden Boy is refusing to use a drug-testing agency that plays by the reporting rules (VADA) and is giving its business to an agency (USADA) that appears to have ceded a certain amount of reporting authority to the promoter.The problems are overwhelming and there are no easy answers. Even state-of-the-art tests often fail to uncover PED use.Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones was tested more than 160 times during her track-and-field career and none of the tests came back as a confirmed positive. As the BALCO investigation widened, she admitted she’d used steroids prior to the 2000 Olympics and lied to federal investigations about it. She pled guilty to federal charges and spent six months in prison. The tests have gotten more sophisticated since then, but so have the cheaters.Should boxing even try to curtail PED use?“Yes,” says Victor Conte. “There will always be athletes who escape detection, but when there’s a desperate need, half a loaf of bread is better than none.”One might look to Major League Baseball for parallels. No sport wants to tarnish its image, let alone its major stars. But as baseball discovered, if a sport looks the other way, the use of PEDs can come back to haunt it.Baseball got a huge bounce when Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa rewrote its record book. Now an entire era has been disgraced, and baseball’s most hallowed records (which link fans from one generation to the next) are in limbo.Baseball made significant strides when it decided, finally, to crack down on PED use. Home run statistics are evidence of that. For eight consecutive seasons (between 1995 and 2002), the MLB home run leader hit at least 50 home runs. In the past five years, that mark has been reached only once. In the past two seasons, the four league leaders hit 44, 41, 43, and 39 home runs. Compare that with 1998, when Mark McGwire hit 70, Sammy Sosa hit 66, and Ken Griffey Jr. hit 56.In boxing at present, the users are way ahead of the testers and the distance between them is growing. The only thing that can possibly close the gap is a national approach with uniform national standards and a uniform national enforcement mechanism. If additional federal legislation is necessary to achieve that end, so be it. The notion that boxing can clean itself up one state athletic commission at a time is frivolous.To make real headway, it should be a condition for granting a license in any state that a fighter can be tested for PEDs at any time. Logistics and cost would make mandatory testing on a broad scale impractical, but unannounced spot testing could be implemented.All contracts for drug testing (such as Golden Boy’s contracts with USADA) should be filed immediately with the Association of Boxing Commissions and the supervising state athletic commission for the fight at issue. The ABC and supervising commission should be notified when each test is performed and also of each test result.For a state athletic commission to say (as is the case in some jurisdictions) that it won’t recognize any tests but its own is ridiculous. It shouldn’t matter who does the testing as long as the tests are reliable. Whether it’s a police officer or a private security guard who sees a bank being robbed, the offense is prosecuted.The implementation of sophisticated, unannounced, impartially-administered, random drug testing is the only way to turn the tide.That said, one has to acknowledge that we live in the real world. If a mega-fight is canceled two days before its scheduled date because one of the combatants has tested positive for PEDs, it isn’t like saying, “Number 94 won’t be playing defensive tackle on Sunday.” In boxing, if a fighter is suspended, the fight doesn’t go on.Big events are the economic engine that drives boxing. Canceling a mega-fight, particularly at the last minute, will result in tens of millions of dollars in lost income.For that reason, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that, in certain instances, if a fighter tests positive for PEDs before a fight: (1) his opponent should have the choice of proceeding with the fight or not; (2) if the fight takes place, the fighter who has tested positive should forfeit 50 percent of his purse; and (3) the fighter who has tested positive should be suspended for a minimum of one year after the fight with the suspension being recognized by every jurisdiction in the United States.Meanwhile, one has to ask: How many positive test results similar to those for Erik Morales (and possibly Floyd Mayweather) are there that we don’t know about? How many other samples have been destroyed in the manner of the samples taken from Peter Quillin and Winky Wright? What would happen if federal investigators put key players in boxing’s ongoing PED drama under oath?Victor Conte says flatly, “I think the relationship between USADA and Golden Boy needs to be investigated.”An Internet website isn’t the place to make judgments as to whether or not USADA has acted properly. Congress is. There’s an open issue as to whether USADA has become an instrument of accommodation. For an agency that tests United States Olympic athletes and receives in excess of $10,000,000 a year from the federal government, that’s a significant issue.If USADA has violated appropriate protocols, the consequences could be enormous. If, in fact, USADA has made special accommodations for Golden Boy, one has to wonder how many times it has made similar accommodations for other athletes in the past.This isn’t about a handful of athletes. It’s about the integrity of boxing and the well-being of all fighters.Someday, if it hasn’t happened already, a fighter who has been using PEDs will kill his opponent in the ring. Thus, in closing, it’s worth remembering the thoughts of Emanuel Steward.“Boxing isn’t like other sports,” Steward said several months before his death. “In boxing, a human being is getting hit in the head. None of us like to talk about it, but there’s a very real risk of brain damage. So to my way of thinking, anyone in boxing who’s part of using performance-enhancing drugs – I don’t care if it’s the fighter, the trainer, the strength coach, the conditioner, the manager, the promoter – that person is ruining the sport and doing something criminal.”Source: Max Boxing - Home