Bernhard this is a Russian Blog, take some items with a dose of salt, but given how things are really bad, the Russians don’t need to use propaganda.
Russian Blog

Posted by: Cloned Poster | Jul 10 2004 20:32 utc | 3

A lovely spot you have here Bernhard – thanks!
On Iraq – I was listening to BBC in the car just now and they had an interview with a doctor at a Baghdad hospital who was describing the total lack of medicines available in the city. He was trying to be “diplomatic” but when pressed, admitted that the situation had been much better in terms of modern medications available “one,even two years ago” …
it just goes on

Posted by: Siun | Jul 10 2004 23:28 utc | 5

I’m not one of those weeping about the “lack of Billmon”. Mind you, I love his take on things, but the cult of personality in the US and how it translates here is too much for me. He’s a man with some political journalistic background who has now decided he’d rather speak without being spoken to. It’s not noble. It’s just human.

Posted by: Kate_Storm | Jul 11 2004 1:57 utc | 7

PS But I love (loved?) Billmon precisely for his knowing eye and the independent journalistic spirit he brought to his point of view.

Posted by: x | Jul 11 2004 2:02 utc | 9

saw Utne Reader in the local bookshop today. top of cover story list was “How Blogging Ruined My Life.” seems somehow relevant. I didn’t have time to check out the article.
I’ll be offline for a couple of days… best wishes to all and I look forward to raising a glass w/this good company on return.

Posted by: DeAnander | Jul 11 2004 6:13 utc | 11

Twisted cords unraveling…
When my next door watering hole closed tonight, I found myself discussing “happiness” with a fellow across the table. He had been talking to one of the other patrons about Venezuela, how he had lived there for some time, and his inability to keep his ranch protected from the bad guys. We were talking Remington and Glocks, recoils, how to get your second shot straight…
Whatever, it was long past closing time. And I asked the guitar player, a Lebanese, why he always seemed so cheerful. How come, I asked, is it that you seem to always look at the brighter side of life when everything around us is mere shit? The world is going to hell in a handbasket, but you just seem to have the capacity to shrug it all off, play a happy tune, and put a smile on everything you touch. I want to be able to do that too, I said. What’s your secret?
The Venezuelan turned out to be European, a refugee from the Croatian mountains. He asked me, where do you think I’m from? And I got it all wrong. He posesses the the machismo of any South American I have ever met, but his anger was sharper… I’m a Slav – he answered his rethorical question. You believe anything you see, why do you think he his happy? He questioned my assumptions toward the Lebanese.
I have learned to take everything at its face value – I replied. If I’m wrong, that’s ok, I will end up being proven wrong. But I start with believing what I hear and see. Because, if I dont, I will be unable to believe anything at all.
So, if you tell me that I’m wrong. I’ll believe that too. My newly found drinking buddy turned out to be quite the traveller, from Italy to Sweden, to South America, and now the Caribbean. His anger struck me when he challenged me to consider what life would be like without a family, without a home country. My own exile is self imposed, no one to blame but me, his… …is a long story.
We spoke for a while. I complained about having to work all the time and not being able to really enjoy this piece of paradise that I live on. He shared the fact that he hadn’t eaten for two days.
So, I come back to Bernhard’s joint. The economy is fucked and the powers that be are lying. Hmm… nothing new. Then I read up on Billmon’s prose. Kenny Boy is old news. The more money you have, the more you’re allowed to steal. At the Whiskey Annex, people are fighting semantics on what constitutes a blog, community, yadda yadda… Chronological or threaded views? And I, get ready to throw in the towel.
What IS the fucking secret anyway?

Posted by: fiumana bella | Jul 11 2004 8:56 utc | 13

According to this article, The October Surprise? the suprise will not be Bin Laden catched (best time for that would be end of July) but an US/Israeli attack on Iran nuclear facilities followed by an Iranian attack on US forces in Iraq and further escalation.
To me this looks plausible – where will that 7 carrier group, that´s currently showing off at Chinas coasts be in October?

Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 11 2004 15:45 utc | 15

What IS the fucking secret anyway?
Caution: Do Not Flame

Posted by: x | Jul 11 2004 15:51 utc | 17

ck–
True, detachment yes, but what is detachment? It doesn’t mean “don’t care” and it doesn’t mean “do nothing.” It means being detached enough for discernment. It means that what happens in life is not a way of determining self-worth, or what you belong to. It means judging good judgment, going to a place that gives you the “righteous” judgment rather than the “worldly” judgment.

Posted by: x | Jul 11 2004 16:29 utc | 19

fiumana bella–
You write beautifully, native speaker or not.
Compassionate detachment, depending on what religion or philosophy you come from is completely possible. Me, I have a Christian Contemplative background. So passionate detachment is precisely what it is all about. You detach from circumstances — the guy in the bar — and reach into that Center where your connection to what has been called “the still small voice” is, and seek the judgment you need, the perspective you need on it from there. That’s looking for righteous judgment — looking for judgment from Love. Not fear or anything else the circumstance may automatically imply in “worldly” terms. That’s what discernment is in Christian terms. And it is the essence of both passion and detachment.
And the tree is perfectly relevant, imo. Thanks for your lovely and thoughtful post.

Posted by: x | Jul 11 2004 18:56 utc | 21

Could there be something like passionate detachment?
Yes indeed — passion and detachment are in no way mutually exclusive.
A good example is sports. One can be very passionate about a sporting event, either participatory or spectator — and yet be detached from the outcome. One can passionately love something, while being emotionally uninvolved in who wins and who loses.
It’s much harder to do, when the home team loses — but that’s the challenge. One hopes for a well played contest, with an outcome all can be proud of.
Part of the reason we are so passionately involved with politics and economics in these times, is that Bush, the GOP, and the Robber Barons don’t play fair — they want to crush the opposition (us) and win every advantage for themselves.
For us, the challenge is to be passionately involved in the struggle, but detached enough so that we are not consumed by our passionate involvement.
Does that make sense?
Another comment on this is in the works . . .

Posted by: ck | Jul 11 2004 19:05 utc | 23

OT?
preparing the coup:
Exclusive: Election Day Worries

American counterterrorism officials, citing what they call “alarming” intelligence about a possible Qaeda strike inside the United States this fall, are reviewing a proposal that could allow for the postponement of the November presidential election in the event of such an attack, NEWSWEEK has learned.
…Ridge’s department last week asked the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel to analyze what legal steps would be needed to permit the postponement of the election were an attack to take place.
…[chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission] Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call [to cancel and reschedule a federal election]

just as expected…
from my older comment a few pages up:
[October suprise:]US/Israeli attack on Iran nuclear facilities followed by an Iranian attack on US forces in Iraq and further escalation.
and then a little more Antrax should do to cancel elections…

Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 11 2004 19:11 utc | 25

Bernard —
How can the host make on OT post on his own site, in an open thread?
I had heard rumblings about this, but the Newsweek article you cite is terrifying. If that isn’t laying the groundwork for a coup, I don’t know what is.
BushCo doesn’t need no steenkin’ Riechstag fire — all they need is an excuse to postpone democracy. An election delayed is an election denyed, and we can kiss our noble experiment goodbye.

Posted by: ck | Jul 11 2004 19:24 utc | 27

SusanG
Thanks for your enlightening words on detachment, especially detachment from outcome.
You sparked a reference to me for something Kate was discussing in another place and another thread yesterday: detachment from outcome is part of “the means are the ends.”

Posted by: x | Jul 11 2004 19:35 utc | 29

Once you begin down the path of this sort of justification, there is no turning back.
I think, Susan, that what you write is more profound than I can even imagine. As we ponder what war does to people, I know that in my limited experience of it, I cannot fathom the depths to which society sinks from war.
War destroys all regulated life, there is no law of any kind anymore, anything goes. And that is in terms of all human relationships. People in Iraq, for example, completely outside the ones touched directly by warfare in any form, are suffering terribly because of the total social breakdown that is happening there.
Crime is happening there that those people have never experienced before–theft, drugs everywhere, young women cannot go out of their houses for fear of rape, etc etc etc. It is like letting the AntiChrist go wild: everything is about sheer material coercive manipulative power and everything good and beautiful (to use those classic theological words) gets destroyed in its wake.
And what is it going to do to us? What mentality do people get when huge numbers of people become expendable out of the idea that it is done in the way of defense against what might happen otherwise? (Talk about means to ends thinking!) What does it do to people to start accepting lower and lower standards for human behavior, killing, death and all the rest of the ravages that come with the mentality of war? I think it’s practically inconceivable except when you see it somehow in others, for real, who’ve come out of that situation. If we choose our actions out of fear, what is it going to build?

Posted by: x | Jul 11 2004 20:06 utc | 31

My first though when I read Bernhard’s Newsweek link and Ck’s response, was Wow these reptiles seem to be always ahead of the game (although now it has been reduced to a desperate game of catch-up).
They lost the gamble in Madrid, which was that the Spanish electorate would stick with Aznar out of fear. But here at home they have the option of setting things up so the elections can be canceled ~ as long as the people don’t catch on, and that is the loose firecracker.
The other big problem is creating a believable disaster. Already Ridge looks like a vacuum cleaner salesman who isn’t so sure his pitch will go over as planned. Testing the waters.
Of course the people will catch on; they have already. As was brought up by Annie, maybe over in the Annex, the pressing question is, what is being, or can be, done now to survive such a move by the reptiles; a desperate move is certain to be made, given the mindset of the perps.
That would be a very useful discussion; practical and important and with a true purpose, as opposed to the more esoteric subjects we like to dwell on.
I have said before that I am sure CIA and part of the military are working on shucking Bushco, and will probably succeed in some way, although I have no idea what their endgame plan might be. However it is a huge game with a lot of players, and the rules are being made up as we go along.
We, this group, are players too, and have a responsibility to look after our own interests. There is a lot we can do, so talk about it. Help me here. Time is running short.

Posted by: rapt | Jul 11 2004 20:31 utc | 33

Sorry to kind of interupt the flow. That NEWSWEEK stuff seemed important enough to require a dedicate thread.

Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 11 2004 20:48 utc | 35

To clarify my original comments on detachment . . .
The key is what other emotions are present.
Detachment needs good humor, empathy, kindness, and compassion — without these qualities, detachment opens the door to many unhealthy attitudes and actions.
As part of this clarification, a response to x is in order —
True, detachment yes, but what is detachment?
That is the central question.
It doesn’t mean “don’t care” and it doesn’t mean “do nothing.”
But it doesn’t insist that we “do care” — detachment tempered by compassion and empathy allows us to care, but does not demand it.
It doesn’t mean that we have to “do something” — detachment neither demands action, nor precludes it.
It means being detached enough for discernment.
Hmmm . . . This is one of the most important qualities that comes from a healthy detachment.
Years ago, I read the The Master Game — which taught that the Observer is the highest state of being. The author said that the Hog at the Trough greedhead was the lowest state. It’s a good book; my copy was marked up like few others I’ve owned.
The Observer is a part of ourselves that watches the world — including our emotional response to it. Observing how we respond and interact with the world is the first step in controlling our emotions. This does not mean supressing our passions — but it gives us the choice of how we will respond. It liberates us from the tyranny of circumstance.
It means that what happens in life is not a way of determining self-worth, or what you belong to.
Absolutely agree — this is one of the highest functions of a healthy detachment.
When people are told they are no good, or stupid, or intolerant, or in any way unworthy of that which is held in high esteem, it wounds the Psyche — if we take the criticism to heart. If we can maintain a healthy detachment, it will not be an affliction.
It means judging good judgment, going to a place that gives you the “righteous” judgment rather than the “worldly” judgment.
On this point, I passionately disagree.
All judgment is mere opinion — and is subject to change.
All “righteous” judgment is nothing more than self-righteous opinion — and no one is more dangerous than the self-righteous holders of the truth.
John Brown was a righteous killer, who coldly slaughtered his enemies in bloody Kansas. Was his cause just? Yes. Was it righteous? Yes. Was his slaughter justified? No — but his self righteous detachment from the suffering he inflicted gave him free rein.
The Serbs who tortured and slaughtered Bosnian Muslims were self righteous defenders of Serbian honor — and it turned them into murderous thugs.
Adolf Hitler was a self righteous defender of a mythic Aryan Germanic identity — no matter that the Jews and Slavs of Eastern Europe were genetically closer to the original Aryans, who migrated out of the Caucus region three millenia ago — and that we are all of one race, that migrated out of Africa.
Both George W Bush and Osama Bin Laden are self righteous zealots, who think they are God’s instrument on earth — and that is what makes them so dangerous.
Throughout history, no slaughter of humanity has been as grim and brutal, as that which is carried out by the righteous.
This is why detachment needs to be tempered by compassion and empathy — without these, the qualities of mercy and kindness will not flourish, and god knows what may emerge.
For me, worldly judgment is far superior to any other kind — for it is only by being in the world and of the world, that can we see the harm or good we do.

Posted by: ck | Jul 11 2004 21:01 utc | 37

Here are some pictures of MAHAKALA

Posted by: Bernhard | Jul 11 2004 21:12 utc | 39

Bases of Tantra Sadhana is a little book, that has profoundly influenced my world view.
I’ve given away maybe 40 copies over the years — the price has gone up to three dollars, from two.
Tantra is misunderstood in the West — since it involves the consecration of all action, including sex — Westerners think of the Kama Sutra, and miss the rest.
Tantra is something like a Pentecostal Shivanism — it began a thousand years ago, and the images of the dancing god — Shiva Nataraja — are familiar to many.
Lord Shiva,
brought into existence
by his goddess Shakti Kali —
dances on the dwarf of illusion,
within the ring of fire
that is the universe;
with four arms, invoking —
protection; salvation;
holding the fire of destruction;
playing rhythms of creation,
on the finger drum of time . . .

Posted by: ck | Jul 11 2004 21:49 utc | 41

fiumana bella —
I like the Hindu and Pagan approach to the gods, as archetypes of human consciousness — not as invisible cloud beings that pull our strings.
As for the play of the gods — I take this to mean that in the state of divine consciousness, everything just is — it is not good or bad, but can be seen as playful, or the playing out of existence.
As for fate being pre-ordained — this is something we will never know.
But I for one, prefer to believe that fate, our life paths, our dharma — is affected by the choices we make. I also believe that the powers that be know what will happen if we make a particular choice, and try to influence us — if we pay attention.
In Norse Paganism, the Norns sit at their looms, near the Well of Urd, weaving the fates of men. But until they weave, all possibilities are open; but once we have chosen, they have woven — and our fate is sealed.
We are free to act as we will — but once a path has been chosen, there are no do overs.

Posted by: ck | Jul 11 2004 22:36 utc | 43

Got to this thread far too late to participate. I anyone is still checking into this thread I can only add dittos to fiumana bella
Yes, I love this place. Wow!

Posted by: Juannie | Jul 12 2004 1:13 utc | 45

fiumana:
I believe you said you were Slav? Are you Orthodox? I could possibly give you some context if you’re interested further.
Meanwhile thank you for your much valued input and presence in my life today! And everybody else too, in this wonderful opportunity for a discussion with you all.

Posted by: x | Jul 12 2004 1:41 utc | 47

@ Siun
I loved the description of the woman you work with. Yes, that is detachement in action and it is my goal too. I was fortunate enough to experience that kind of detatchement at times, fortunately it is coming more and more and I can only say it is a blessing and the feeling is difficult to describe. Those moments I can best describe as just being and love. I found it is not necessary to go to retreats to achieve that, though it sure helps. I think it is more important to sit daily, 10-20 Minutes by just observing the breath.
Yes, the breath, I used to be a first rate eye-roller about the breath, like you having more important things to do. But I found out when I breath properly I can do even more of those important things, getting less tired doing them. So, today I am teaching people how to breath properly. I am convinced the breathing right is one of the basics of a healthy and balanced life. I have been able to watch ‘miracles’ happen when people start to breath properly.
Well, I could go on and on with this topic, but I have to get going.

Posted by: Fran | Jul 12 2004 5:17 utc | 49

Juannie you’re never too late. With each addition, this discussion can only become richer.
I’m not sold yet on detachment. As I read CK saying that “everything just is” my hands turned into fists and tears jumped from my eyes. I am not easily shocked, and I trust that “life” would seem easier if had the power to rationalize and prioritize like CK seems to have. I have no faith. When I fall, I fall hard – there is no cushion.
This center where [my] connection to what has been called “the still small voice” is knows about right and wrong, without the need to think. The perspective is there, mine with all its possible bias. But, when I wake up and look into the bathroom mirror in the morning – I can look right into my own eyes and know that I’m doing “the right thing.” A thought like that makes me stronger, gets me through the day. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that is. I have fucked people over, gotten mad beyond reasoning. But not with malice. And: if I have the opportunity, I will try to undo the harm I have caused.
Please cut me some slack as I think out loud: there is a “class” of people out there whose belief system is so contrary to mine, whose mirrors won’t shatter when they do wrong. Or maybe they have the capacity to legitimize their actions, for the purpose of some “greater good”.
Aha! The answer precedes the question: If you decide to kill someone to bring on peace, for example, you have slipped into an acceptance of allowance of degrees of culpability and you have quixotically enough, unalterably altered yourself, your aims and every person/movement involved in the historical outcome.
Let’s assume that none of “us” have unalterably altered ourselves yet. And, for convenience’s sake, let’s pretend to agree that we need or want “leaders” i.e. a government to take care of those pesky things like infrastructure, social services, education, and hmm… fair legislation, or arbitration. Then what would be the litmus test be for those who think they deserve to be put in charge?
I could hardly have gone off on anything more tangential, but the last paragraph illustrates my sense of hopelessness with respect to representative government. My “small voice” told me to get the heck out of Dodge two years ago. And, I’m still not happy because escapism just does not work (at least for me it doesn’t). I seriously believed that I could get away. But unfortunately, you always take the weather with you.
PS: X, I’m an Italo-Dutch mutt, living on an island in the Caribbean. Enjoyed six years of my life in DC, left when I decided that I had to either “americanize” or go back to Europe.
Last night I entered into a conversation (engaged, rather) with a Lebanese, and another person who I believed was from Venezuela. He turned out to be a Slav. We never met before, and we didn’t get a chance to get into specifics. Most of the conversation went by with him telling me not to take things at face value. We were finishing our beers on the terrace while the bar was closed and two local guys walked in, possibly looking for trouble. So we split.

Posted by: fiumana bella | Jul 12 2004 8:43 utc | 51

Fran … thank you for your note on breathing … I’d like to hear you go on and on about that sometime!
And I love the mix in this little thread of detachment, politics, breath, laughter …

Posted by: Siun | Jul 12 2004 21:02 utc | 53