Reante has been spamming OG Nazi propaganda since he arrived.

He has engaged in wholesale germ theory denialism.

He has repeatedly stated that MoA commenters are nazis in denial.

He has been giving extremely questionable pseudo-medical advice.

He has spontaneously admitted to wanting to shape the MoA community into a force for nazism.

Posted by: Misotheist | Mar 20 2022 13:20 utc | 1

Hey misotheist, I think you should change your nym to 'Karen' - it would be more fitting...

Posted by: jinn | Mar 20 2022 13:42 utc | 2

How is the Egyptian government dealing with the global wheat crisis?

Following the ban on exports of wheat and all types of flour, the government has taken steps this week to control the price of bread in local markets, which rose as an immediate effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Fears that the war would disrupt two of the world’s largest wheat exporters — Russia and Ukraine — pushed the global cost of importing wheat sky high, sending a shock through the market in Egypt, which is the world’s largest wheat importer.

As the price per loaf of unsubsidized bread dialed up to as much as 50 percent in Egyptian markets, the Egyptian government is moving toward setting up a pricing mechanism that would set the price for unsubsidized bread for the next three months.

While the mechanism is still unclear, sources ...

Posted by: too scents | Mar 20 2022 13:48 utc | 3

Hey misotheist, I think you should change your nym to 'Karen' - it would be more fitting...

Posted by: jinn | Mar 20 2022 13:42 utc | 2

Hey jinn, you could change yours to "nazi whiteknight".

Do you care to explain why, in your opinion, classical nazi apologia enriches this environment?

Posted by: Misotheist | Mar 20 2022 13:48 utc | 4

Do you care to explain why, in your opinion, classical nazi apologia enriches this environment?
___________________________________________________
Anything that helps you graduate outa kindergarten, I would regard as a plus

Posted by: jinn | Mar 20 2022 13:56 utc | 5

Posted by: jinn | Mar 20 2022 13:56 utc | 5

So in your view, Nazism is educational?

What about pseudobiological quackery?

And praise of dirty bombing?

Posted by: Misotheist | Mar 20 2022 14:13 utc | 6

Hallo All, agin. Took an extra day away from MoA to do some more digging.

At this stage of the game y'all have largely convinced me of the overarching view held here. I now think Russia is largely winning this conflict, and that the most likely end game is perhaps the one laid out recently by b: a de facto partition involving the Dnieper as some sort of border or boundary, tho of course details are quite fuzzy.

The last two pieces that kind of pushed me over the edge were the interview with Doug Macgregor over at The Gray Zone and the best (if quite shrill) summary piece I've read yet, by David Stockman at Antiwar.com. But honestly they were just the final pieces in the puzzle.

Unfortunately nearly everything you can dig up by starting here is being continuously "debunked" by the main street. This morning the NYT has Truth Is Another Front in Putin’s War on the front page (pay wall). Ain't propaganda grand?

So now we watch as the narratives unfold. Since truth will out eventually it will be interesting to see how this all plays out. I hope for the sake of those Ukrainians who are not Azov that this comes to a negotiated settlement much sooner rather than later, but that is looking quite doubtful at this moment.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 14:14 utc | 7

Tom @ 7

"Unfortunately nearly everything you can dig up by starting here is being continuously "debunked" by the main street."

This is what makes you a troll Tom, and why folks continue to want to man-splain things to you is beyond me.

Cheers!

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 20 2022 14:18 utc | 8

Joe Lauria of Consortium News has an article explaining how the Biden administration is planning to extend additional economic sanctions on China over their lack of support of the US agenda in Ukraine.

My reaction is that Washington is suicidal. Gonzalo Lira in his March 20th video explains it very simply: The US elites including the military are well educated and they can write nice academic dissertations but they have no judgment. And they have no jufgment because they always do the same tricks again and again and they never really fail because they stay within their comfort zone. By never failing, they loose the capability to see reality. Those sanctions on China may trigger a sequence of events that will end the US domination on the World and the guy in Washington can't see that.

Posted by: Richard L | Mar 20 2022 14:18 utc | 9

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 20 2022 14:31 utc | 10

Tom and Gottlieb
The best thing that could ever happen for the world would be the end of the NYTs. The paper has promoted every war we have ever been in. It has lied America through each and everyone of those wars. It is the paper that the rest of the propaganda starts with. NPR uses everything and anything from the times. Americans are just sure if it came out of the NYT, it must be real. With the collapse of eduction from ray gun forward Americans have never learned criticize thinking or who’s to see. Just look at the people of this country! Hate to use this term but it fits LOCKSTEP.

Posted by: Susan | Mar 20 2022 15:12 utc | 11

Susan @ 11

Yes, the NYT is the 'newspaper of record' for the Empire of Lies.

cheers.

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 20 2022 15:15 utc | 12

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 20 2022 14:18 utc | 8

This is what makes you a troll Tom, and why folks continue to want to man-splain things to you is beyond me.

Interesting that you took it that way. I definitely have the troll label here, but I have actually tried to figure things out. The word "debunked" was in quotes for a reason my friend. It ain't a statement of my confidence on their "debunking", it is a statement on the fact they're still engaged in it. Nothing more.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 15:35 utc | 13

Posted by: Susan | Mar 20 2022 15:12 utc | 11

The best thing that could ever happen for the world would be the end of the NYTs.

This drives to the heart of one of the problems, as I see it. How to tolerate speech that one does not agree with or condone? Should it be banned? Arrested and jailed?

How exactly does one come to grips with disinformation without fundamentally permitting one voice or the other to dominate the narrative? I don't have an answer to that question, but I lean towards allowing conversation to occur. We all make up our minds about what we see, read, and hear. I took the time to get an alternative perspective here because I thought that valuable, and still do.

My reward for looking at a different view? I'm a troll, of course.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 15:41 utc | 14

@ Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 15:41 utc | 14

Well I for one would never want to see the NYT banned. I just want to see it become an object of near-universal derision.

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 20 2022 15:43 utc | 15

Tom - well I don't want to belabor this because I fall into the troll camp about you, and I know it is not a unanimous verdict here - lots of wonderful Ted Lasso spirits at MOA. To me you're a troll or a VERY SLOW LEARNER as you have 'tried to figure things out' to no avail, but continue to quest for understanding by promoting rank propaganda from the CIA mockingbirds.

The USA as the seat of for-profit Capitalist Empire is the embodiment of evil in the world, as easily understood by observing the 'fruits' of empire. To defend this evil is to make one an accomplice to it. The US and its slave states are the aggressor against Russia. The US has lied, betrayed and connived for decades and decades to foment crisis and turmoil in the world to secure markets, and promote 'freedom' which is slavery to imperial diktat.

cheers!

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 20 2022 15:51 utc | 16

With permission, I am re-posting an historical segue from NemesisCalling | Mar 19 2022 8:31 utc | 261 in the previous Ukraine open thread:

"...I kept thinking of the Melian Dialogue from Thucydides. "The weak suffer what they must." Western "Ukraine" quite clearly made the wrong choice. We do not live in a world with comic book good guys and bad guys. We live in a geopolitical reality of nations and spheres of influence. IMO, it speaks to the natural reality of man that there can be no internationalism, whether communist, capitalist or what have you. Mankind in its disparate nature will always seek to flock with its feather while the other looks on in envy or vice versa.

The two most revealing events from Thucydides: the Melian Dialogue as well as the debate between Nicias and Alcibiades on whether to invade Sicily. I find that my people in the U.S. are being wooed by the side of invasion, where Alcibiades promises those in attendance that Athens will profit immensely by war with Sicily which will further aid them against the Spartans.

Are the neocons of today the Alcibiades of long ago? Are we here a modern General Nicias who could not convince his countrymen the error of needless war abroad? We shake our heads at the stupidity of if all.

And what in the end happened? General Nicias died in battle doing what he could to spare his men. Alcibiades, a wanted criminal in Athens, fled to Persia and served the enemy of the Hellenes. The neocons will similarly try to abandon ship when the carrion husk of the U.S. will have been finally picked clean."

This summary intrigued me because it aligns with an overview of Plato's Dialogues given by an amateur philosopher (his trained specialty is Physics, I believe) Bernard Suzanne. His thesis is that the entire body of Plato's work has a framework that begins with the dialogue "Alcibiades", centers on "Politeia" [The Republic],and ends dramatically with "The Laws". Suzanne can be easily found online by just using key words including Plato and Dialogues - I don't entirely follow all his threads, but his overview grabbed me when I first saw it - it just makes sense. (Those here who have used the analogy of the Cave from the 'Politeia' ought also to be intrigued that the final dialogue has its protagonists on their way TO a cave.)

Anyway, food for thought. Thank you, NemesisCalling.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 20 2022 15:52 utc | 17

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 20 2022 15:43 utc | 15

Well I for one would never want to see the NYT banned. I just want to see it become an object of near-universal derision.

I certainly understand where you are coming from malenkov. I would prefer the NYT come to grips with its misunderstandings. Failing that, if more and more folks see a different reality, I would like to see the NYT (and others) just become less and less relevant to the conversation, and to ultimately just fade away.

At some level it is a conflict of ideas. I would like the best to rise to the top and the least have fewer and fewer followers. In the U.S. we had a Civil War that ended the formal institution of slavery, but it was followed by a hundred years (and then some) of Jim Crow. The physical war was one, but the war of ideas was not.

To win the war of ideas your ideas actually have to be better, and well explained. Your dreams must be stronger than theirs.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 15:52 utc | 18

You may want to add to your "Empire of hypocrisy" section this article by Chrsitopher Black on the legal basis for the Russian intervention in Ukraine:

The Legality of War

Posted by: Givi | Mar 20 2022 15:54 utc | 19

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 20 2022 15:51 utc | 16

Is there something inherently wrong in being a slow learner? If at the end of the day I do not agree with your perspective, am I now just another enemy?

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 15:54 utc | 20

@Posted by: Givi | Mar 20 2022 15:54 utc | 19

Wrong configuration of HTML in the link, sorry...

The Legality of War

Posted by: Givi | Mar 20 2022 15:56 utc | 21

No Tom,I read what you said and I made my comment because when the Newspaper that is supposed to be the voice of America Lies constantly. It takes an open mind to go out and find the truth. Good on you. My sister who worked for Biden for 20 years was completely in control of the DC MSM voice. She, thanks to her daughter read the Jakarta Method and has had a late awakening. We can now talk politics! On the other hand the Russia hate is over the top and many many people have bought into the lies, or stay silent. We were raise to hate Russia Boris and Natasha 007 always fighting the bad Russians every spy book bad Russians. So I applaud your effort to look outside the US media block!

Posted by: Susan | Mar 20 2022 15:57 utc | 22

I would prefer the NYT come to grips with its misunderstandings. Failing that, if more and more folks see a different reality, I would like to see the NYT (and others) just become less and less relevant to the conversation, and to ultimately just fade away.

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 20 2022 15:57 utc | 23

We also might be thinking about calling ourselves a 'politeia' rather than a 'republic'. It seems to me that is the goal of both Putin and Xi.

Well, we also might be thinking. .. should have stopped there, I guess.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 20 2022 16:00 utc | 24

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 20 2022 15:57 utc | 23

The former is so unlikely as to fall outside the realm of possibility, so I'll settle for the latter.

On that we can agree.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:00 utc | 25

thanks b! i appreciate all your work here... happy sunday!! i am interested to read the grayzone article..

@ Misotheist | Mar 20 2022 13:20 utc | 1.... i admire your determination and think it is admirable you are firm in your conviction... i think you may be right as well..

there are a number of posters at moa that make it what it is... it wouldn't be the same without them.. there are many new posters too... i dig that as well.. i learn from almost everyone...

here is an article for anyone interested - CONNOR FREEMAN: HAVE WE LOST OUR HUMANITY?

Posted by: james | Mar 20 2022 16:05 utc | 26

Tom, I hear you, and no doubt, others do as well. It does take all of us some time to absorb this world.

Posted by: donten | Mar 20 2022 16:09 utc | 27

@Tom Herrerra
MSM is not debunking MoA - MoA is attempting to speak truths which MSM is ignoring/avoiding.

As for the war of ideas: nonsense.

Ultimately it is about groups and power. The Civil War could prevent a much smaller South from seceding, but it could not prevent the groups which owned the power in the South from reasserting it. Nor is the meme about the South being the center of post-Civil-War racism accurate either.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 20 2022 16:13 utc | 28

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 20 2022 16:13 utc | 28

Ultimately it is about groups and power. The Civil War could prevent a much smaller South from seceding, but it could not prevent the groups which owned the power in the South from reasserting it. Nor is the meme about the South being the center of post-Civil-War racism accurate either.

Where and how do the groups arise c1ue? Groups are just ideas taken form. Their ability to dominate only exist because they have a narrative they follow and those who oppose it cannot overcome. The dominant group's narrative permits them to acquire sufficient force to hold physical sway, until, of course, the counter-narrative builds sufficient strength to challenge it.

Groups, individuals, power. It's all based on ideas. The animal kingdom has groups, and individuals, and power, but without ideas they are kept in check by nature alone. With ideas we can escape those bounds. Frequently to our own detriment.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:24 utc | 29

Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 15:41 utc | 14 "This drives to the heart of one of the problems, as I see it. How to tolerate speech that one does not agree with or condone? Should it be banned? Arrested and jailed?"

There is a difference between free speech and deliberate misinformation/lies.
Propaganda vs free speech. For that you need to look up some articles by investigative journalist Robert Parry - Perception Management. He wrote a number of articles o that based on various declassified documents and the Reagan papers.

Well worth reading some of Parry's articles to gain an understanding of what the main stream media has become and why.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2022 16:24 utc | 30

Thank you, james | Mar 20 2022 16:05 utc | 26, good article! I've just started reading "The Stripping of the Altars" by Eamon Duffy (my first visit since covid to our local library). Unlike your brief to read link, mine's a heavy long read. It came out in the '90's, just re-published. The title and cover intrigued me; it's a classic I think, resurrecting medieval Catholicism in England - somehow, it resonates with our time now, whereas I might have (probably did) overlooked it back when it came out. Duffy's thesis is that we, the public, have misread medieval mindset in concentrating on 'elite' abberations rather than seeking what ordinary people believed, knew, found important in their lives.

As I say, it resonated.

;)

Posted by: juliania | Mar 20 2022 16:27 utc | 31

thanks juliania!

everyone here including tom herrara would especially benefit from reading the link @ Givi | Mar 20 2022 15:56 utc | 21 shared.. thanks givi

here it is again - The Legality Of War it explains it well from a different angle...

Posted by: james | Mar 20 2022 16:32 utc | 32

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2022 16:24 utc | 30

There is a difference between free speech and deliberate misinformation/lies. Propaganda vs free speech.

Hallo Peter. Surely you see this still leaves us with the problem of who gets to determine the misinformation and lies? What is truth and what is propaganda, and who gets to say so?

A major theme here at MoA is the idea there are a lot of lies out there. How to correct the lies? I don't want anyone telling me what to believe and what is the truth and what isn't. I want to determine that for myself, and I want you to have the power to do so as well.

I have read some of Parry's work and periodically dig back into Consortium News since his passing. Joe Lauria does a good job I think. Noam Chomsky is another one who covers the issue of the managed message at the top of the pyramid, if that term makes sense?

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:36 utc | 33

To Tom Herrera:

if you want to learn, then let me suggest that you start by reading some good books on all of these topics instead of trying to get around all that by delving into the current stream of disinformation.

A good start would be Noam Chomsky with "Who Rules the World?" or "Manufacturing Consent".

Posted by: zet | Mar 20 2022 16:42 utc | 34

Posted by: Givi | Mar 20 2022 15:56 utc | 21

Just finished up the article on The Legality of War. Thanks to Givi for the link, and to juliana and james, I agree. Very well written piece. I agree with the author's premise and conclusions.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:44 utc | 35

the tom thread, round 2...

Posted by: james | Mar 20 2022 16:45 utc | 36

spend more time reading and less time talking tom.. that would be my best suggestion.. thanks..

Posted by: james | Mar 20 2022 16:46 utc | 37

Posted by: zet | Mar 20 2022 16:42 utc | 34

if you want to learn, then let me suggest that you start by reading some good books on all of these topics instead of trying to get around all that by delving into the current stream of disinformation.

Not sure where delving into the current stream of disinformation is a bad thing, but I definitely seem to have a reputation for taking the "official" perspective. After my first post I think I've gone quite the other way, but I seem to have developed a rep on it anyway. Oh well.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:49 utc | 38

@Tom Herrera #29
Groups arise due to the benefits of power.

Let's look at slavery. Slavery in the US was not a major economic issue in 1776 but it was not irrelevant either, pre-Industrial Revolution.

However, the invention of the cotton gin plus the loom changed all that. Profits from cotton started after said invention (in 1793). Cotton was so profitable that the South started mass clearing of land around 1820 - and by 1860 was something like 50%+ of all US exports (maybe even 70%). This flood of wealth is what built the Southern mansions - and not all of this wealth was stolen by the federal government. This wealth built into power: state and local governments, police etc.

To add to which: the Southerners rightly saw freed slaves as a transparent way to dilute their vote (again, not commenting on the ethical points, just the reality).

So the underlying issue had very little to do with "ideas" - the "idea" of abolitionism was very convenient for New England sewing factories that relied on child and woman labor, especially since it attacked the South almost exclusively.

In reality - the Civil War only brought forward something that would have happened anyway. The Industrial Revolution made it far more economical to employ poorly paid laborers - you only have to pay some minimal wage to a laborer but you have to buy, house and feed a slave. A model, as noted above, that was already pioneered by the child and women labor mills of New England...

Progress!

You can see the same with US political parties: The Democrats morphed from relying on labor to being the present-day party of the PMC (professional, managerial classes). Did Bill Clinton sell Americans on the idea that the Democrat party would turn corporate and sell Americans down the road completely? I think not.

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 20 2022 16:51 utc | 39

Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:36 utc | 33 "Surely you see this still leaves us with the problem of who gets to determine the misinformation and lies? What is truth and what is propaganda, and who gets to say so?"

That is something we all have to do our own research on and form an opinion based on that research. This late in the game that is becoming very difficult with so much censored. Many road blocks on what was the information highway. Also very difficult if you have work commitments to find the time for the research.
But a basic understanding of MSM as purely US gov propaganda can be found in Robert Parry's Perception Management. Look that one up because I believe it is a must to understand where the media is at today. Without that media control comes across as tin foil hat conspiracy theory.

This quote by Goering is also something to keep i mind at all times.

"Naturally, the common people don't want war ... but after all it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country."

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2022 16:59 utc | 40

Not sure where delving into the current stream of disinformation is a bad thing...

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:49 utc | 38

It's not a bad thing, it just doesn't help you right now – it's like learning about marine life when you intend to conquer Mount Everest.

Posted by: zet | Mar 20 2022 17:00 utc | 41

Posted by: c1ue | Mar 20 2022 16:51 utc | 39

Hallo agin c1ue. I guess I'm still not understanding how the "ideas" were irrelevant. They seem starkly apparent on the issue of slavery. One group of folks had the idea that they were superior to another group of folks, and implemented on that idea through violence and intimidation. It seems pretty conscious to me, and based on an idea that I suspect you and I do not share.

The same goes for labor exploitation. One group manages to convince itself of its superiority and inherent right to subjugate another, then works to achieve its goals again via violence and intimidation, in this case in a capitalist setting.

Capitalism does not inherently have to be exploitative, or at least that is my take on it at this point. It could also function like our local farmers market here where I live. People do work and bring the fruits of those labors downtown and offer them for sale. No one can force anyone to buy anything, and everyone is free to attend or not as they see fit. In the end everyone benefits from the local produce, goods, and services offered.

The idea that corrupts capitalism, to me, is the idea you would wish to limit those choices, and do it via some mechanism that involves coercion. Generally that is law and politics, so far as I can tell. To relieve the pressure of this sort of yolk is difficult, to put it mildly, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try. That's what MoA is all about, so far as I can tell.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 17:05 utc | 42

malenkov @ 15

Derision would be the correct course if anybody would do it.

I still occasionally peruse the front page of NYT on the newsstand while waiting for my coffee. Even pick it up and see what they have below the fold. On occasion I have burst out laughing, impossible to explain that to bystanders.

The main subject of most articles is Two Minutes Hate. They no longer employ anyone who can write and barely bother with copy editing. Even the headlines are badly written, they are canted in a style that only conveys meaning to steady readers of NYT. Pure yellow journalism and it just oozes off the page. Why is it still respected?

The loyal readers use NYT as a prop to their identity. Read NYT and cite NYT in conversation and you belong to a club. It is not thick enough any longer to be much use as fish wrap or cat box liner.

Basic information? It is not there. Has not been there a long time. It merely informs readers of the agenda of their rulers

Posted by: oldhippie | Mar 20 2022 17:12 utc | 43

Don’t worry about it, Tom.

IMHO the lies and propaganda wouldn’t be such a problem, without the CENSORSHIP - in its many forms - that accompanies it.

« I might not agree with your opinion, but I will defend your right to speak it. » - paraphrasing Voltaire, I think.

Lies become much less convincing, in the presence of truth. How to know the difference ? Well, the first step is that it be ALLOWED TO EXIST. And then, HEARING these different versions, we can DISCUSS THEM TOGETHER, multiplying our intelligence.

Which is exactly why I LOVE THIS COMMUNITY SO MUCH ! I can hear things that are otherwise censored (or buried), and hear the multiplicity of intelligences, discussing together, backed by their HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE, then can digest that in my own little brain, and make up my own mind what I think.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 20 2022 18:08 utc | 44

People Overestimate The US War Machine And Underestimate The US Propaganda Machine (Caitlin’s Newsletter, Caitlin Johnstone, March 19, 2022)

Posted by: S | Mar 20 2022 18:20 utc | 45

@Tom 32

IMO you fundamentally misunderstand the role of ideology and beliefs in the whole construct. In this example, ideology is a BY-PRODUCT of their motivations and actions. A RATIONALIZATION.

It’s as if I coveted something of yours, then stole it, then made up a story to try and justify my actions. Maybe that justification is purely for others, or maybe it’s also to justify to myself that what I’m doing is OK.

So maybe the South rationalized their actions with the STORY that blacks weren’t really human.

And maybe the North rationalized their own actions with the STORY that their form of capitalism wasn’t racist.

In both cases, justification only FOLLOWED what these capitalists wanted to do - and were doing - in the first place.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 20 2022 18:23 utc | 46

Shit, I meant @Tom 42.

The « problem » with Capitalism isn’t about ideas - which are just justifications - but about GREED. Ideas only attempt to justify that greed (and the actions that follow it).

Your example of the farmer’s market contrasts beautifully with this greed, and IMO should be the way to go. Win-win arrangements.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 20 2022 18:32 utc | 47

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 20 2022 18:23 utc | 46

@Tom 32

IMO you fundamentally misunderstand the role of ideology and beliefs in the whole construct. In this example, ideology is a BY-PRODUCT of their motivations and actions. A RATIONALIZATION.

I think you may have meant post 42, mebbe? I guess we can disagree on the roles of ideology and beliefs. To me they are foundational, and to you they are a by-product. I can see where you are coming from to a point, but to me the ideas come first, the actions second.

Perfectly fine we don't see it the same way. I did enjoy your post at 44 and agree with everything you said in it. MoA, Consortium News, and an unfortunately small group of other sites help to peel things back.

We need more of em. Every one of us who gets uppity and presents an alternate point of view to our family, friends, and neighbors chisels away at the beast. The fact that we frequently snipe at each other is all part of the process, so far as I can tell.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 18:42 utc | 48

I'm amazed the Global Times mentioned the primacy of Israel to the neocons. (Though declined to say that it was their total raison d'etre or, indeed, why...) Glenn Greenwald et al are all still pretending this is all for Raytheon. And unless the neocons are exposed for what they are and what they want, then any critique will be like punching water.

Posted by: Altai | Mar 20 2022 18:47 utc | 49

Some people post links to articles from narrative orifices like the New York Langley Times in order to highlight the contradictions in the official mass media narratives. Our host does this frequently.

We will then regularly see posted in the discussion complaints along the lines of "If they always lie then why do you refer to them?!?" I very strongly suspect these complaints come from lying liars employed in the lying mass media who are butthurt over having their noses rubbed into their own feces. But the point of referring to the liars' work is to bring attention to the lie, not to promote the lie.

Then there are posting personas who post links to imperial narrative organs accompanied by something like "I don't normally read this but is it true??!?", feigning concern. Naturally, these personas are "concern trolling". The reason they post links to Mockingbird mass media material is that they see many readers here are not emotionally bound to establishment narratives, and they believe that is because you, Dear Reader, are brainwashed and are just ignorant of what the dominant establishment narrative du jour is. They feel that if you were to read their linked article from CNN or WaPo or the Grauniad then you'll be struck by sudden enlightenment and stop being a "Putinbot". Like those religious arseholes who knock on your door and try to shove religious comic books on you, these posters are certain of their own superiority and righteousness and they are just trying to "save" you. You know this is the kind of poster you are dealing with if when they get cornered and become angry and frustrated they vent their rage and refer to the readers here as "You people...!", as if MoA readers were a uniform and monolithic population.

Is it at all possible that any reader here somehow doesn't know what the establishment narratives of the day are? Is it even remotely conceivable that anyone here or anywhere else in the Anglosphere could have somehow avoided being exposed to what the imperial establishment wants them to believe on any given day? Obviously not!

As for the Nazi troll we have somehow picked up, I suspect that particular one might be trying to get our host in trouble with the German government. Now that the official position of the German government is support for Ukro-Nazis I am not sure how that would work these days, though.

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 20 2022 18:51 utc | 50

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 20 2022 18:51 utc | 50

Is it at all possible that any reader here somehow doesn't know what the establishment narratives of the day are? Is it even remotely conceivable that anyone here or anywhere else in the Anglosphere could have somehow avoided being exposed to what the imperial establishment wants them to believe on any given day? Obviously not!

If I may be so bold, William, it is quite possible for someone to come here without that inherent understanding. I had visited only on occasion prior to Ukraine. Now I've gone in deeper. It's been quite the learning experience. I had some knowledge before. Now I'm just learning more.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 19:01 utc | 51

With nuclear war too dangerous, the great powers seek alternative forms of warfare: the US stresses biological warfare, while Russia stresses economic warfare.

So, basically, with Russia and the Ukraine being important sources of raw materials and basic industrial goods, all Russia has to do is say you have sanctioned us. Therefore, we have no way to use any funds for trade with you that would be generated by the sale of these items, so we cannot sell them to you. That includes natural gas, oil (including the oil used to refine diesel), neon, fertilizer, potash, alumin(i)um, wheat and corn as well as rocket engines and certain intermediate products used to manufacture computer chips. Look up what percent of these items comes from Russia and the effect of their removal from the market in the West.

Already, the dollar is being viewed as an impediment and neutral countries are starting to use their own currencies or the CNY (Chinese yuan), evidently for trading with Russia and later with China. The Saudis are negotiating with China to sell oil for CNY and use the money to invest in China, so no US dollars would be involved. This starts the end of the petrodollar, as the Saudis since the 1970s have been committed to convert the proceeds of oil sales from any currency into US dollars. These dollars are then used to purchase some innocuous US assets, including T-Bills (the investments allowed are limited by US pressure). Meanwhile, China, being friendly, will have access to these things at a discount and so will India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil for its farmers. What the vassals in the "West" (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the EU and Japan) will do, I don't know. They (especially the Germans) are so compromised, i.e., their politicians have been Epstein'ed. I think that they--except for Canada and maybe Australia--will just starve.

In retaliation, should the US decide to seize China's holdings of US T-Bills, the Chinese will simply seize Taiwan and put an embargo on exports to the US.

Posted by: Albertde | Mar 20 2022 19:03 utc | 52

19 years ago today, the U.S. Government illegally invaded #Iraq, and killed over a million Iraqis - 500,000 of whom were children under the age of 12.

These photos of five-year-old Samar Hassan were taken right after U.S. soldiers murdered both her parents on January 18, 2005.

https://twitter.com/The_Cyrenian/status/1505568819716141057?cxt=HHwWgsCtwau37eQpAAAA

Posted by: Givi | Mar 20 2022 19:15 utc | 53

in my studies on the role of scapegoat and bully, i was thinking how russia's been given the one role, but - the other role hasn't been discussed any in the media..

Posted by: james | Mar 20 2022 19:23 utc | 54

Posted by: Tom_12 | Mar 20 2022 12:30 utc | 248

Those Poles at least can say that on old maps they existed.
900 years ago there were "Ukrainians" you say ????
Probably in your dreams. LOL
Then it was called Rus. Those three letters directly lead to the word "Russia".
Link

Lol. Yet another TurdPolishBoi certainly polishing his own turds.

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 20 2022 19:23 utc | 55

Albertde | Mar 20 2022 19:03 utc | 52 "With nuclear war too dangerous, the great powers seek alternative forms of warfare: the US stresses biological warfare, while Russia stresses economic warfare."

A major fail. How many countries has US sanctioned? US is full on hybrid warfare. Russia comes back with in your face good old fashioned kinetic warfare ad the yanks hide behind their rainbow flags. Yakistan and its hangers on will experience some blowback from US economic warfare. Waste of time blaming that on Russia.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2022 19:27 utc | 56

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 20 2022 19:23 utc | 55

Huh. For the record I am not, and have not, posted as Tom_12. I am using my real name, and the link below points to my web site. If anyone would like to get in touch with me there is a contact form on the About page of my site. I will respond if you do contact me, assuming you're not intending to do me physical harm, of course.

With more than one Tom roving about I think I see why some of the responses to my posts, and other posts on their own, seem to come a bit out of the blue.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 19:39 utc | 57

Posted by: gottlieb | Mar 20 2022 14:18 utc | 8

I picked some points of Tom Herrera, but calling him a troll is a bad kind of moral absolutism.

In a popular usage or moral absolutism and moral relativism, we start judging an action or behavior by determining the quality of the actor, a "bad guy" or a "good guy". These labels are ABSOLUTE for "moral absolutists", e.g. actions of USG are good, particularly if they have "bipartisan support". After few years, minor nitpicks are allowed. E.g. NYT had an article how US armed forces nearly caused a Hiroshima scale calamity in Syria by bombing a huge dam on Euphratus using a "bunker truster" that could collapse the dam and wash down tens of thousands of farmers in the river valley. The bomb did not explode, although, because of smaller bombs, it took a huge effort to avert the disaster. Conclusion was that the chain of command and reviews should be improved. In other words, a Hiroshima scale tragedy by "good guys" does not have negative moral or legal value (attempted murder anyone?), but it is an improvable imperfection.

Now, Tom had in my opinion some annoying posts, but they were intellectually slippery, and it is a valid position to reserve judgement in a period of dense fog of war. I did not read ALL his posts. However, Gottlieb read Tom's post and went trollistic because of nearly everything you can dig up by starting here is being continuously "debunked" by the main street. This morning the NYT...

Ordinary usage of quotes around a word is to mean the opposite, here, the established media claims to debunk but it does not. It is not troll material. IMHO, Gottlieb was annoyed by a previous post of the writer, and mentally classified him as a "bad guy", thus interpreting the post as trollishly claiming that only Russia engages in propaganda, and thank God, NYT debunks it (no quotes).

BTW, I must apologize for misreading Tom Herrera as a Tom Herohero, an openly disgusting artist (brush name, I presume).

Posted by: Piotr Berman | Mar 20 2022 19:42 utc | 58

O o ... 😂 ~

Posted by: jinn | Mar 20 2022 13:56 utc | 5

So in your view, Nazism is educational?

What about pseudobiological quackery?

And praise of dirty bombing?

Posted by: Misotheist | Mar 20 2022 14:13 utc | 6

Hallo All, agin. Took an extra day away from MoA to do some more digging.

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 20 2022 19:48 utc | 59

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 16:24 utc | 29

Groups, individuals, power. It's all based on ideas. The animal kingdom has groups, and individuals, and power, but without ideas they are kept in check by nature alone. With ideas we can escape those bounds. Frequently to our own detriment.

Your quaint partial autodidactic stumbling act is getting annoying. At this rate you've still got about 200 years of philosophy to catch up on. "With ideas we can escape those bounds": seriously? What a lot of naive liberal simplicity. Read Marx, all of it. For the short version there's Brecht: Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 19:53 utc | 60

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 19:53 utc | 59

Your quaint partial autodidactic stumbling act is getting annoying. At this rate you've still got about 200 years of philosophy to catch up on. "With ideas we can escape those bounds": seriously? What a lot of naive liberal simplicity. Read Marx, all of it. For the short version there's Brecht: Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.

Thanks for your thoughts. As a matter of fact I have read Marx. All of it. The fact I did not agree with his (or Engels) assessment makes me a dullard, I'm sure. Thankfully b has not decided to exclude dullards from the conversation. At least not yet.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 20:03 utc | 61

Actually "The fact I did not agree with his (or Engels) assessment" makes you disingenuous at best. No one reads all of Marx (and I mean everything) properly in under 20 years and then blithely says "I don't agree with his assessment". Marx's engagement, like Freud's or Nietzsche's, is with the entire European tradition of thought. One does not simply 'not agree' as though it was an op-ed in the Guardian. One engages with it in turn over a lifetime of close reading and careful engagement. It's like saying 'yeah I read Newton's Principia but I wasn't convinced' when trying to understand the universe. If you can't understand this you really are a dullard. As a result I simply don't believe you when you say you've read all of Marx. I've been teaching Marxist historiography for 15 years and there are whole works I have yet to approach. The fact you reduce his life's contribution to 'an assessment' would be a sad joke if you weren't so serious.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:28 utc | 62

"As a matter of fact I have read Marx. All of it."

LMAO! Sure!

I don't think the poster was talking about just the Wikipedia articles about Marx.

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 20 2022 20:34 utc | 63

The Cell article about germinal centers has bee roundly criticized by critics.
Conclusions about the greater breadth of vaccine mediated antibody response is based on statistical sleight of hand and is not at all borne out by clinical outcomes.

Posted by: Webej | Mar 20 2022 20:35 utc | 64

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 20 2022 20:34 utc | 62

Maybe he was referring to the works of Harpo Marx. I particularly like the way he threw "(and Engels)" in there to buy a scintilla of authenticity but ended up doubling down on being an obvious bullshitter. Poor old Tom thinks he's on a reddit thread.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:41 utc | 65

@c1ue #39

So the underlying issue had very little to do with "ideas" - the "idea" of abolitionism was very convenient for New England sewing factories that relied on child and woman labor, especially since it attacked the South almost exclusively.

Exactly right. Who'd have thought you of all people would be channelling the ghost of old vk?

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:46 utc | 66

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:28 utc | 61

I am unable to claim anything other than the title of dullard. When you said all of it you are right, I did not get the scope right. I though you were talking about Das Kapital. When we were going over Marx in philosophy class, which was closer to 30 years ago than 20, we surely made only a cursory review, but I did not find much then to agree with. Perhaps it would be different now, and as someone who as studied Marx for so long, if I were to take your course, perhaps I would learn something new. I don't know.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 20:49 utc | 67

Sorry! Did not close the italics correctly on that one.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 20:50 utc | 68

Tom #42

One group of folks had the idea that they were superior to another group of folks... Capitalism does not inherently have to be exploitative, or at least that is my take on it at this point.

As if more proof were needed it's plain you've never read Marx in your life. Your whole post is a face-palming infantile display of naive dumbed-down liberal claptrap. Take the advice given: read quietly and don't speak unless you want to remove all doubt that Gruff was right. "Capitalism does not inherently have to be exploitative..." ROFL, priceless.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:54 utc | 69

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 20:49 utc | 66

I'm done. It's like berating a monkey for not appreciating Beethoven: life's too short to spin wheels over this.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:58 utc | 70

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 20 2022 20:34 utc | 62

Maybe he was referring to the works of Harpo Marx. I particularly like the way he threw "(and Engels)" in there to buy a scintilla of authenticity but ended up doubling down on being an obvious bullshitter. Poor old Tom thinks he's on a reddit thread.

Interestingly enough, as I stated at 66, I did not get the scope right, and that I actually have read Marx/Engels material (which included all of Das Kapital and selected writings of Engels) in class. I am fine with the dullard title, but I would point out your and Patroklos' teaching methodologies tend to place the student in a bit of a bind.

What??? You don't KNOW that?? What sort of an idiot student are you, anyways!! Forgive the pun, but as teachers I would say those would constitute poor opticks.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 21:02 utc | 71

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2022 20:58 utc | 69

I'm done. It's like berating a monkey for not appreciating Beethoven: life's too short to spin wheels over this.

Damn. Again. I prefer Bach. I'm clearly one clueless monkey.

Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 21:08 utc | 72

Patrick Lancaster has been reporting from the ground in Donetsk and has reached Mariupol and posted a video about it today, a brief summary, the humanitarian corridor is working and civilians are leaving, but there is still fighting going on in some parts of the city.

Posted by: TJ | Mar 20 2022 21:14 utc | 73

Kanye won't be at the Grammys! now the war in Ukraine is really getting serious. those commie bastards.

"war and beer commercials, it's all the same to you," Max to Diana, in the movie, "Network". "You are madness."

if ww3 interrupts your shopping habits, the commies, i mean, rooskies, win.

the contradiction between some MSM outfit like the NYT battering its viewers w/statements like, "Russia is losing" and "Putin is worse than Hitler" is to be resolved by shopping: The USG will spend more money, and so should you. Money is the answer. to everything. when life and death are games, and the diseases of the people and war itself are nothing but profit vectors.

existentially, the war is not existential at all to people in the US, despite the threat of nuclear war. some PTB tool POS won't be at the Grammys, that's about the extent of the meaning of Ukraine for many Americans at the moment. high prices and inflation are Russia's fault.

Camus tried to warn: your governments foment plague and war. They are not against these things. They increase them, b/c they increase their power thereby. War, disease, famine, economic strangulation, torture, death squads, rape, fundamentalism, all part of the tool kit.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 20 2022 21:14 utc | 74

"Huh. For the record I am not, and have not, posted as Tom_12. I" —Posted by: Tom Herrera | Mar 20 2022 19:39 utc | 57

For the record, I was NOT referring to you:

Posted by: Tom_12 | Mar 20 2022 12:30 utc | 248

Those Poles at least can say that on old maps they existed.
900 years ago there were "Ukrainians" you say ????
Probably in your dreams. LOL
Then it was called Rus. Those three letters directly lead to the word "Russia".
Link

Lol. Yet another TurdPolishBoi certainly polishing his own turds.

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 20 2022 19:23 utc | 55

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 20 2022 21:16 utc | 75

@17 juliania

Thanks for that, I haven't read NemesisCalling in a while, you've reminded me how much I should.

Posted by: TJ | Mar 20 2022 21:21 utc | 76

at NYT now:
“I don’t have the right to cry”: Ukrainian women shared their stories of escape.

fuck you NY Times. Fuck you America. mostly people haven't given a 2nd thought to what war does. Suddenly they see pix of bombed areas, refugees, etc., despite decades of the US bombing everything in sight around the globe. but now they "care".

the mediated image is the truth. hyperreality.

Posted by: rjb1.5 | Mar 20 2022 21:21 utc | 77

Happy New Year 1401 to all Iranian friends!

Posted by: S | Mar 20 2022 21:23 utc | 78

@40 Peter AU1

Also very difficult if you have work commitments to find the time for the research.

This is why I find trusted sources like B, my algorithm is simple.

1. Find primary source material on the thing I am interested in e.g. the Syrian war on Live Leak etc.

2. Skim those reporting on the thing.

3. If the reports are not close to the primary material I ignore that source, if the source is close to the primary material I take it to be trusted unless future information leads me to doubt that source.

It takes some time upfront but saves vast amounts of time later.

Posted by: TJ | Mar 20 2022 22:49 utc | 79

ideas are a powerful force. on the off chance that russia and china are not already captured by the old money ruling class, the same “ideas” or “way of thinking” will eventually corrupt the new empire.

ideas are subject to natural selection, they evolve. and mother nature is brutal - an alternate theory must be stronger, not just “better”. and the dark side always seems stronger - in my experience, things like compassion do not out-compete cold calculation.

it is like “might is right” is baked in to the mental world as much as the physical. it’s a problem i’ve never been able to reconcile with what i wish humanity would become.

Posted by: Rae | Mar 20 2022 22:56 utc | 80

@43 oldhippie

The loyal readers use NYT as a prop to their identity.

BINGO!

Posted by: TJ | Mar 20 2022 22:57 utc | 81

@50 William Gruff

Now that the official position of the German government is support for Ukro-Nazis I am not sure how that would work these days, though.

Allow me to explain the German position as I understand it. They support Ukro-Nazis IN Ukraine, but NOT IN Germany OR the rest of the EU Schengen area, from which they can come to Germany..

Posted by: TJ | Mar 20 2022 23:04 utc | 82

Alastair Crooke's essay at Al-Mayadeen net reviews the events that will lead to the demise of the dollar system and rise of a new international financial order, hence the title, "Canceling Russian reserves boomerangs to a new international monetary system." There's really not much new to tell barflies since we're very well informed on this matter. Indeed, Crooke's first paragraph tells all [all emphasis mine]:

"The reality is that the present military operation in Ukraine, in due time, will be relegated to little more than a footnote in global history, yet the total financial war which has repercussed onto Russia will be key in defining the upcoming new world order. In fact, we may have already witnessed the moment economic history changed tracks: On 26 February, the collective West seized all the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank of Russia that were held in the West."

So, what makes that crime "historic"? Crooke continues:

"In gist, the West decreed that the Russian sovereign reserve holdings in Euros, dollars and US Treasuries were no longer ‘money good’. They were valueless as ‘money’ with which to pay Russian debts to foreign creditors. And by sanctioning too, the Russian Central Bank, it became impossible for those buying goods, energy, or commodities to transact what they owe through the Bank....

"So we thought that US sovereign bonds (Treasuries) were ‘money’ and inviolate? Well, the US just declared those Russian Central Bank-held, US debts effectively to be null and void. Maybe - like Russia’s Imperial Bonds that decorated European bathrooms as colourful, but worthless wallpaper – the Russian central bank will now use its US Treasury bond holdings as bathroom wallpaper (albeit in a less than colourful decoration)."

The word Crooke avoids is default, as in the Outlaw US Empire defaulted on its debt obligations to Russia just as the Bolsheviks did. And that's not the only reason it's historic:

"The magnitude of this event is underlined by the fact that during an earlier conflict centered on Ukraine – the Crimean War of 1854–1856 - Britain and France were at war with Russia. Yet throughout the war, the Russian government continued paying interest to British holders of its debt, and the British government also kept paying its debts to the Russian government."

And of course there's more to the Empire's suicidal actions:

"In proposed legislation in the US Senate, the gold reserves held by the Central Bank of Russia will be frozen and seized. There is a big problem to this legislation, however. The gold exists. It is in physical gold bars (about 2,300 metric tonnes of it), worth about $150 billion, BUT they are stored in Russia. They can’t actually be frozen or seized at all.

"So what is this all about if the gold cannot actually be seized? It is all about secondary boycott sanctions on any party that assists Russia in transporting or transacting in gold. So if Russia were to import, say by way of example, Chinese semiconductor chips and to settle the transaction in gold, then, theoretically the US could sanction the receiving entity in China."

As many barflies have noted and commented, the Outlaw US Empire's actions have imperiled the Petrodollar system:

"The geo-political consequence, however, has been nuclear. The petro-dollar based trading system that flowed from it, has allowed America to ‘nuke’ the world with sanctions and secondary sanctions (through claiming jurisdiction over any, and all, trade denominated in dollars, or which in any way passed through a dollar clearing process).

"US hegemony over the so-called ‘rules-based order’ has been financial (and not so much military). That is to say, one imposed by threatening any miscreants with a US Treasury, sanction ‘neutron bomb’."

The Outlaw has pulled its guns and said to the world--trade in dollars and nothing else or else! But this time around, the world had already had enough and is now calling the Outlaw's bluff. But there's more to it than mere oil and gas; there's a large portfolio of commodities from foodstuffs to rare earth minerals, to nuclear fuel that are also money/collateral which was the underlying point to Poszar's essay Crooke helps to explain:

"And on 26 February, that system [petrodollar] began its’ decease, when the Russo-phobic Washington ‘hawks’ stupidly picked a fight with the one country, Russia, that has the commodities needed to run the world, and to trigger the shift to a different monetary system -- one that is anchored in something other than fiat money.

"Clearly, the Yuan or Rouble can reflect the underlying value of their large gold reserves. But also, commodities are collateral, and collateral is money. And Russia has the lion’s share of key commodities"....

"Zoltan Poszar, one of Wall Street’s most respected voices, argued that this present monetary system worked so long as commodity prices oscillated predictably within a narrow band – i.e. are not under extreme stress (precisely because commodities are collateral for other debt instruments). However, when the entire commodity complex is under stress like it is now – the berserk commodity prices drive a wider ‘no-confidence’ vote in the system. And that’s what we are witnessing now.

"Did the Russia hawks not foresee these ‘unexpected consequences’? Was there some grand strategy behind the seizing of the Russian reserves, beyond visceral malice directed at Russia?"

The short and long answers are both no; they knee-jerked and didn't bother consulting the bankers, the ones that have jiggered the system for their own benefit and understand how easily it will fall. Oops! Crooke again:

"In short, the western monetary system based on the US dollar as a reserve currency is about to end in an inflationary supernova, as the US loses the ability to use Chinese savings to finance its budget and trade deficits. And, this is happening as the Boomer generation retires and their entitlement handouts soar. Defence, interest and non-discretionary entitlements already eat 100% of tax revenues. So now, there is no choice: the Fed will print most of the huge additional spending."

Kiss goodbye the idea of making America great again. Historians will marvel at the biggest ever geopolitical own goal ever committed. What we'll soon witness is an event of creative destruction so momentous it will define the Putin Doctrine as the dollar system gets junked and replaced by a hybrid hard currency that destroys the remaining fiat currencies, meaning the Outlaw US Empire can't simply print and then buy what it needs.

Now you know why Xi and Putin are confident.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 20 2022 23:06 utc | 83

@82 karlof1

Tom Luongo podcast with Alistair Crooke and Russia’s Real War for Independence March 15, 2022

Posted by: TJ | Mar 20 2022 23:17 utc | 84

Casualties. ... Done with that shit.

Orwell Was Right - From free speech to "spheres of influence" to our passion for endless war, we'—…‡. @ ... "the moment Putin rolled over"

Posted by: Laurence | Mar 20 2022 23:23 utc | 85

Marx criticisms fail in the face of progressive income taxes and socialization of utilities; he is made quaint. Ironically, his critiques fit, not capitalism, but finance "capital" but there is no such thing. "Capital" is a depreciable asset, and the financiers really don't deal in that, they only arrange funding for it; that and some price discovery is all they do; low taxes enable the paper pushers, the professionals with the keys to navigate gov't; executive excess (the execs risk no money to establish these firms--what we wrongly call "capital" but I do have appreciation for the investors, for the entrepreneurs) Progressive income taxes fix that, they prevent trusts, they prevented any systemic bank failures in 50 years. Marx is addressing an absolute, those are typically balanced but since Thatcher/Reaganomics have overwhelmed the West; we're getting there, we're operating an extreme version of financialized kubuki "capitalism" with very few depreciable assets/manufacturing or industry. Of course we consider a commercial kitchen a "factory" now; so it looks a bit better on paper

Posted by: ScottinDallas | Mar 20 2022 23:30 utc | 86

Tom, the NYTimes can't reform or whatever you said you hoped; they're as Glenn Greenwald regularly alleges are "Stenographers" for the CIA, and it's glaringly apparent to many of us. "Anonymous sources" or "sources say" are a sure tip off. From Judith Miller to whomever if reporting for them now, they're entirely beholden to these sources for contacts, narratives, and information; and when they encounter any contrary information, they'd have to think twice about loosing this "contact." They likely think that an earnest CIA agent appreciated their reporting and was offering them some free perspective.

I'm shocked how many people eat up flattery, but maybe those of us for whom this propaganda sounds alarm bells are less vulnerable to flattery. When you're an iconoclast our outsider, you're used to being on the outside, and learn such flattery is often a ruse; and when you think most people are duped, your opinion of others necessarily suffers. Anyway, imagine how powerful such a phone call could be, and a bit of flattery might distract one from realizing that that agent has YOU as a target; he's an alternative spokesperson; he's likely far removed from knowing anything much himself, but passing on what he's been told.

Regardless the Times, WaPo are so deeply corrupted, it's hard to imagine the editors aren't somehow captured and controlled, subtly, and perhaps anonymously. Advertisers, "sources" and political officials get consideration and have influence. I don't think they can be reformed, we just need to know their reporting is as suspect as Tass or Baghdad Bob.

Posted by: ScottinDallas | Mar 20 2022 23:42 utc | 87

@karlof1, #82
I enjoyed your delineation of the dollar demise.
Do you have any predictions concerning the real world impact, on former and current wage slaves in the US, as well as any estimates about the timing of said events.
My employment related pension has already been looted.
I had long term investments with Lehman Brothers and GM in 2008.
Emphasis on had.
Crooked casino operators!
Thanks for the straight dope.

Posted by: $outhpaw | Mar 20 2022 23:43 utc | 88

Posted by: james | Mar 20 2022 16:45 utc | 36

Yes, every thread becomes the Tom thread lately. That's one of the aspects of his being called a "troll" that he doesn't seem to get. At the very least one wishes he'd wait for several replies to his various posts and then aggregate his responses into a single post of his own. But I guess it's difficult to do while he's constantly posting himself.

Tom - Could you please try not to hijack or overwhelm these threads? There are techniques such as what I mentioned above that might help. Be patient. Wait a few hours after writing each of your own posts and address as many replies in as few posts as you can.

Thanks,

Tom

Posted by: Tom | Mar 20 2022 23:54 utc | 89

TJ @83--

Thanks for that! I also suggest reading this Luongo blog posting on the subject.

$outhpaw @87--

Thanks for your reply! We lost a tidy sum then too. The best I can forecast is to prepare for continual inflation of basic commodities as the dollar's purchasing power tanks like we're already seeing. Put your savings into commodities you'll use like dried & canned foodstuffs. Learn how to bake your own bread and brew beer. If you can hunt and fish, do so, then smoke and freeze any excess. Tear up your lawn and plant an extensive garden. If you're tight with your neighbors, form a cooperative. Politically, work locally to establish a populist-style group focused on promoting and protecting your community. Establish a public banking coop. Hope some of these ideas prompt some of your own since you know your circumstances. History shows it's easier to survive as a group than as a loner.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 21 2022 0:09 utc | 90

@88 I think he's lonely. Not getting much traffic on his website.

Posted by: dh | Mar 21 2022 0:26 utc | 91

Givi @ 53 said;"19 years ago today, the U.S. Government illegally invaded #Iraq, and killed over a million Iraqis - 500,000 of whom were children under the age of 12."

Thanks for that reality check, and that's just a small part of the empire's dark history.

And now, everything Russia is accused of lately, we've (the U$A),done many times over, to many around the globe. All for increased profits. The real point of human existence..NOT!!!

The hypocrisy is just stunning...

Posted by: vetinLA | Mar 21 2022 0:30 utc | 92

Posted by: dh | Mar 21 2022 0:26 utc | 90

It also doesn't help that he's full of shit. All that "I'm just a simple fellow" crap.

@karlof1 #82

Super interesting stuff. Would you care to speculate on the timeline before us? Judging by petrol and food prices it looks as though the consequences will unfold in months rather than years.

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 21 2022 0:32 utc | 93

@Petroklos, #92
And, there’s the rub.
What’s the future hold, and more importantly, when.
I wonder what countermeasures that the fed, the US government, and USA based banksters might employ to delay oblivion.
And, what are Venezuela and Saudi Arabia going to do with respect to US requests (demands).
I think that you would be wise to think and plan in terms of months instead of years.
I don’t know what opportunity costs could be from being early on this scenario.
I hope not to meet you and karlof in the soup and bread line.
Good luck. Sincerely.

Posted by: $outhpaw | Mar 21 2022 1:10 utc | 94

Heard on MSM today that the clowns in DC are considering sanctions on China. A nation where the U$A gets a ton of products from, and necessary products at that.

Where the hell do these people come from?

Posted by: vetinLA | Mar 21 2022 1:27 utc | 95

@ TJ | Mar 20 2022 23:04 utc | 81 quote -

"Allow me to explain the German position as I understand it. They support Ukro-Nazis IN Ukraine, but NOT IN Germany OR the rest of the EU Schengen area, from which they can come to Germany.."

thanks tj... although you answered only for germany, your answer is applicable for all the other countries in nato, canada, usa and etc.. good answer!!!

@ Tom | Mar 20 2022 23:54 utc | 88.. yes... maybe we need to let other people responding to tom to figure this out...or maybe as @dh says - he's lonely or worse as @ Patroklos | Mar 21 2022 0:32 utc | 92 suggests!

Posted by: james | Mar 21 2022 1:55 utc | 96

Good article on uni-polar/multi-polar world;
https://www.projectguru.in/unipolar-bipolar-or-multipolar-world-order/

Posted by: vetinLA | Mar 21 2022 2:48 utc | 97

How about a no-polar world, consisting of independent nations forming committees to get stuff done, and get improvements (like BRI).

Posted by: Don Bacon | Mar 21 2022 3:21 utc | 98

@83 TJ | Mar 20 2022 23:17 utc

I want to second that podcast of Alastair Crooke talking with Tom Luongo. It contains, especially in the first 30 minutes or so, some description and perspectives on the deep Russian soul from Crooke that I found totally astonishing.

It's only a podcast - no transcript that I can find. I don't do podcasts - no time - but I've listened to this one twice now, walking through the park, absorbed. And all for the sublime pleasure of listening to Crooke explain Russia - who she is, how she has been attacked, and where she is now: essentially Russia alone, against the whole world if necessary.

Crooke makes a mind-blowing description of the Bolshevik rule as being the first instance of "wokeism", crude indeed but immensely severe. It was the great attempt to cancel Russia. Lenin hated religion, says Crooke (and we know from others that in general the Bolsheviks hated the Russians), and attempted to rip her spirituality and culture out of her forever.

Imagine: the Bolshevik revolution as the first instance of wokeism, used as an attack, to cancel Russia in its entirety. Wow.

If that concept alone doesn't make you want to listen to Crooke talk, nothing will. Luongo lets him talk and Crooke runs with it, to explain the deeply existential, and suffusedly moral, path that Russia is embarked on now, finally. She asserts her sense of moral rightness and stands ready simply to exist there forever, in her known morality - essentially, I suppose, completely canceling the west, repudiating all of the west's love of things satanic.

I wish I could copy some transcript for you but I can only offer my enthusiasm for this discussion. The rest of the podcast is engaging to listen to, as the two discuss the animus of the neocons, and how exactly they shot themselves in the head, with relation to the "inside, outside" money that is linked up-thread (the Pozsar note, etc.).

Here it is again:

Podcast Episode #100 — Alistair Crooke and Russia’s Real War for Independence

I recommend downloading the mp3 (from the little download arrow) and taking a nice long walk in the park :)

Posted by: Grieved | Mar 21 2022 3:30 utc | 99

@17 Juliania

Thanks, Juliania. I admit that my understanding of Alcibiades is held entirely from Thucydides, and from my post, it is probably easy to tell that I much more admire the old, worn ruts of Nicias' leadership than the ambitious and youthful Alcibiades. However, Thucydides did not have chapters devoted to character development, so we must probably also read Plato for a fairer assessment of Alcibiades, which I most certainly will.

It is indeed food for thought. Let us pray that this conflict is resolved as peacefully as it can be so that thought and worship of our God of justice can be picked up again in the comfort of geopolitical fairweather, lest we throw all of beautiful philosophy in the waste bin.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Mar 21 2022 3:32 utc | 100