When Media Provide 'Analyses'
There was a time when news and opinion pieces were all there was in a newspaper. The usual advertisements and crossword puzzles were just the supporting extras on top of that. But some two decades ago a new form of 'news' was added to the content. It called itself 'analyses' and claimed to be a neutral form of discussing this or that item. Written by journalists, not opinion editors, it was supposed to be fact based.
But after reading many of those 'analysis' I found that they are mostly used for propaganda. Their conclusions are obviously developed before the journalist or 'columnist' goes out and collects whatever may support those.
We find one example of such 'analysis' in today's Washington Post.
Written by Ishaan Tharoor it opens with a very broad claim.
‘Give them the tanks!’: Davos elites rally behind Ukraine
bigger
DAVOS, Switzerland — At this annual meeting where global elites are urged to collaborate, cooperate and get along, one message rang loudest: Send the weapons. As in the previous World Economic Forum session in May, the war in Ukraine loomed large in discussions. And while political leaders voiced their steadfast support for Kyiv, so too did a host of major corporate bigwigs.
The first question is of course why the people who fly in their private or government jets to Davos to discuss the climate problems they are causing are supposed to be 'elites'.
But lets set that aside for now. What I really quarrel with is the selection of people mentioned in the peace all of which want to ship even more weapons to Ukraine.
There is the Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the ever mealy mouthed CNN filler Fareed Zakaria.
Next to Zelensky was the ...
... former British prime minister Boris Johnson — who, no matter his controversial ouster at home, remains a popular figure among Ukrainians
One wonders how many Ukrainians Thardoor has spoken with before making that 'popular figure' claim. Recall that it was Johnson who in early April 2022 prevented Zelensky from signing a peace agreement with Russia and urged him to wage a wider war:
According Ukrainska Pravda sources close to Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, who appeared in the capital almost without warning, brought two simple messages.The first is that Putin is a war criminal, he should be pressured, not negotiated with.
And the second is that even if Ukraine is ready to sign some agreements on guarantees with Putin, they are not.
Johnson’s position was that the collective West, which back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee, now felt that Putin was not really as powerful as they had previously imagined, and that here was a chance to "press him."
...
After that, according to Ukrainska Pravda sources, the bilateral negotiation process [with Russia] was paused.
Since then some 300,000 Ukrainians were wounded and some 150,000 Ukrainian soldiers have died. What do they or their relatives think about Johnson's intervention? Is he 'popular' for them?
Tharoor goes on:
In Davos, the sentiment was overwhelming. “Give them the tanks! There’s absolutely nothing to be lost,” Johnson insisted, adding that the world needed to place greater trust in the Ukrainians’ courage and fighting spirit. “We continually underestimated the willingness and the ability of Ukrainians to fight and defend their homeland. … They proved the world completely wrong. They are going to win. We need to help them win as fast as possible.”
Is some uttering of the ever lying Boris Johnson 'elite'? Does it really reflect the opinion of those in Davos?
Tharoor has more sources.
In its pavilion, U.S. tech company Palantir hosted Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who celebrated his nation’s usage of Palantir’s data-driven software in its prosecution of the war against Russia.At the same breakfast session, Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, spoke of his plans to help coordinate billions of dollars worth of reconstruction financing for Ukraine, saying he hoped the initiative would also turn the country into a “beacon of capitalism.” David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, spoke cheerily of Ukraine’s postwar future. “There is no question that as you rebuild, there will be good economic incentives for real return and real investment,” he said.
Nothing of the above is a real opinion. These are people hyping their businesses which they hope will profit from the war.
A succession of European leaders, like Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, insisted their governments would maintain total support for Ukraine for as “long as it takes.” Members of a bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation echoed the sentiment. The rhetoric belies concerns privately held by many officials: As my colleagues reported Thursday evening, CIA Director William J. Burns recently traveled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky to brief him on U.S. expectations for Russia’s upcoming military campaigns and convey that, at some point, the scale of current assistance to Ukraine may be harder to come by.More the reason, Ukraine’s supporters contend, to rush aid now and help Ukraine make more rapid gains. “Whenever Ukraine goes to negotiations, it has to go in as strong as possible in those talks,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told me.
That's it for the 'facts' underlying the nonexistent 'analysis' of that column.
The only one talking tanks is the bygone British prime minister Boris Johnson. Nothing provides support for the claim that it is the 'overwhelming sentiment'.
There is nothing provided by Tharoor but a collection of the current standard blabber of 'western' politicians and marketing talk by some business folks who are hoping for large payouts to them.
His 'analysis' is a war mongering opinion peace. Its conclusion was preconceived.
'Elite' it is certainly not.
Posted by b on January 20, 2023 at 16:20 UTC | Permalink
I haven’t heard any reports of HIMARS attacks since the one in Makiivka three weeks ago. Am I missing something?
Posted by: JohnH | Jan 20 2023 16:31 utc | 2
On twitter, we call them the 'Scum Media'. They really don't like it.
Posted by: Gt Stroller | Jan 20 2023 16:31 utc | 4
You will own nothing and you will be happy. Get in ze pods! Eat ze bugs!
Posted by: leaf | Jan 20 2023 16:33 utc | 6
thanks b... boris johnson is the war criminal... you will never hear this mentioned in the corporate media...
elite - those with a ton of money that legalized bribery a long time ago.. it is called lobbying.. wef - the ultra lobby group... invite the politicians as they are in on it too... some, but not all, are waking up to this... i won't read this crap, but i appreciate you dissecting it for us..
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2023 16:34 utc | 7
So it turns out Ishaan Tharoor is the son of Indian Congress Party leader and Lokh Saba member Shashi Tharoor. Got to love nepotism.
Posted by: omicronrho | Jan 20 2023 16:35 utc | 8
Am I missing something?
Posted by: JohnH | Jan 20 2023 16:31 utc | 2
Yes. Why don't you read the news?
Posted by: rk | Jan 20 2023 16:36 utc | 9
The only conclusion that we can take.
Is there is a lot of slow learner syndrome among those "elites "
And a scandalously callous indifference to Ukrainians and Russian lives.
But most here came to that realisation a while back.
Posted by: jpc | Jan 20 2023 16:38 utc | 10
Posted by: Eighthman | Jan 20 2023 16:29 utc | 1
Reuters has it as an unconfirmed report too.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-proxy-forces-claim-capture-klishchiivka-near-ukraines-bakhmut-2023-01-20/
Posted by: Gt Stroller | Jan 20 2023 16:39 utc | 11
@ jpc | Jan 20 2023 16:38 utc | 10
so true jpc... so very true... i wish people would let that sink in when thinking of the wef...
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2023 16:40 utc | 12
The term elite means something entirely different from what it used to imply: refinement, culture, ability, moral integrity and means.
Today being elite simply means being the one with the most money. Some would say this was simply an inevitable outcome of the French revolution, which was after all a revolution of merchants using the hands of the lower classes to depose the elites of the time, and God. In a mercantile society the top merchant is king, so it stands to reason that all the old obligations (moral integrity, ability, courage, honor, refinement etc.) would eventually fade away since they all stemmed from the religious order, which the Europeans dismantled. Europe kept substituting new divine orders, such as nationalism, fascism, communism - each short lived and with miserable consequences,and when they finally ran out - it only makes sense for Davos to be the last one standing. This outcome was practically built in, a feature, by no means a flaw.
Posted by: Boo | Jan 20 2023 16:42 utc | 13
@ Boo | Jan 20 2023 16:42 utc | 13
thanks boo.. i see it much the same way.. the word elite is used for those with the most money.. the antithesis of spirituality and a true embodiment of materialism which is what the planet continues to suffer from... everyone is supposed to be a good little consumer while the planet goes to hell.. i wish this wef mouthpiece was silenced a long time ago..
Posted by: james | Jan 20 2023 16:47 utc | 14
b,
Thanks. He said, she said, is much in-vogue now. Just gather the quotes from different forums, and you have yourself an article. Let’s call it ‘analysis.’ Oh, and you don’t even have to decipher what all those quotes mean either.
Please don’t learn from them. Keep us informed as you have been, and thank you for that. Your untiring diligence is much appreciated.
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jan 20 2023 16:53 utc | 15
I see Finland gets a few mentions in the article, pats on the head. I guess they'll be the ones to send Leopard tanks. Like new students trying to impress the NATO class.
Posted by: Jeremn | Jan 20 2023 16:57 utc | 16
We will soon be seeing pictures of Boris on a Challenger tank waving a Union Jack in front of a green screen.
Posted by: dh | Jan 20 2023 16:57 utc | 17
A great summary of what the elites really are: those same money-grubbing insufferables you sat next to in high school, scheming ways to get rich.
I wonder how long until the elites are surprised by one of the many easily-portable missiles they've unaccountably dumped in Ukraine, and are now who knows where. Or maybe that's overblown, since the West seems to have used Ukraine as a clearance-sale-dumping-ground to mostly get rid of outdated weapons. Bet they could still shoot down a fancy private jet, or blow up a data center.
"..all the old obligations (moral integrity, ability, courage, honor, refinement etc.) would eventually fade away since they all stemmed from the religious order, which the Europeans dismantled..." Boo @13
Surely an elite is a group or class. Nobody can be an elite anymore than an individual can be team.
It is touching to see such enthusiasm for feudalism as if the world of Louis XVI was one of relative moral probity and social solidarity. Not everything that the revolutionaries said of the society that they tore down was wrong: post revolutionary France was rotten but so was the France it supplanted. As to the role of religion in society can you seriously argue that it was the source of 'moral integrity, ability, courage, honor, refinement etc.'?
Sorry, off topic.
As to Shashi Tharoor his book "Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India (2017)" was pretty good. But he was always very cosy with the imperialists, coming close to being elected Secretary General of the UN. His son, the analyst, seems even cosier.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2023 17:04 utc | 20
"The US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Mark Milley, says it will “very, very difficult” for Ukraine to “military eject” Russian forces from every inch of occupied territory this year.
He adds:
That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it would be very, very difficult."
Not surprising with 3 digit losses per day. (100 - 999)
Posted by: ThusspakeZarathustra | Jan 20 2023 17:05 utc | 21
What I really quarrel with is the people mentioned in the peace who supposedly want to ship even more weapons to Ukraine.
freudian slip!
Posted by: annie | Jan 20 2023 17:08 utc | 22
@Eighthman | Jan 20 2023 16:29 utc | 1
Federal Intelligence Service warns of high losses in the Ukrainian army
1:46 p.m .: The Federal Intelligence Service ( BND ) is alarmed because of the high losses suffered by the Ukrainian army in the battle for the strategically important city of Bakhmut in the east of the country. According to information from SPIEGEL, the foreign intelligence service informed security politicians in the Bundestag in a secret meeting this week that the Ukrainian army is currently losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day in battles with the Russian invaders.The BND warned that taking Bakhmut by the Russians would have serious consequences, as it would allow Russia to make further advances inland. The BND also reported that the Russian army was acting with merciless severity at Bakhmut. The briefing said that Russia is currently throwing soldiers forward like cannon fodder, and that high losses in its own armed forces apparently played no role in the Russian war tactics.
Posted by: Hermit | Jan 20 2023 17:09 utc | 23
rk—enlighten me! Show me those HIMARS attacks. Google search reveals nothing since Makiivka barracks attack lat December.
Posted by: JohnH | Jan 20 2023 17:13 utc | 24
An anaolgy for the tanks being sent by the west to Ukraine :
Back in 1967, the Honda Motor Company abandoned it’s motorcycle grand prix efforts to concentrate on car developement and manufacture. Or so the official line goes. However behind that story was the fact that every motorcycle they fielded in competiton used completely unique parts, even down to the ‘ clip on ‘ handlebars and the maintenence and technical requirements were a huge financial drain on the company.
The west is cobbling together an assortment of different fighting vehicles, each without compatibility to the other, or Ukraine’s troops, each a complex and difficult machine to master, let alone intergrate with Ukraine’s military. They all require their own spares, logistical back up and mainteneance programes and each are designed to operate in a different theatre of combat than the Ukraine.
The fact that these ‘ elites ‘ and western politicians are deaf to more expert voices who tell them this is not going to achieve anything.
( In the case of the U.K. they have so few, that a mere 14 sent will severely affect the number of ‘ new ‘ Challenger 3 tanks, which apparently will be built on the Challenger 2 platform. The U.S. Bradleys which are difficult in every aspect to operate. The German Leopard 2 series have many upgrades for other countries requirements and are not all compatible. That the U.S. Abrams is a gas guzzling, heavy monster that requires a logistic chain that the Ukraine military has no hope of creating etcetra. And what happens when an example or two end up intact in Russian hands? ).
These comment about sending more arms marks them out as wealthy fools whose only elite capability is to clean the latrines at Davos, rather than discuss complex geopolitical issues.
Posted by: Beibdnn. | Jan 20 2023 17:14 utc | 25
Luckily over at Moon of Alabama, the analysis is never masqueraded as objective news and the commentariat are free thinkers who base their predictions of open source data...
Posted by: Bernd | Jan 20 2023 17:27 utc | 26
Aha! Another Easter Front trope from the Germans, ‘using their troops like cannon fodder’. Really? I’ve seen fields littered with Soviet corpses from the pages of German ‘old pals’ publications but strangely, in the smart phone/drone age, little to support this assertion.
Guess the intel agencies are already providing their preferred news organisations with copy about lopsided kill ratios and superior tactics and technology, before the Panzerkiels marsch eastwards.
Posted by: Milites | Jan 20 2023 17:27 utc | 27
@JohnH | Jan 20 2023 16:31 utc | 2
⚡️ Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of a special military operation on the territory of Ukraine (20.01.2023)
Six HIMARS and Uragan MBRLS rockets were intercepted near Mirne and Lyubimovka settlements of Zaporizhia region.
Outraged | Jan 20 2023 11:48 utc | 390
Posted by: Hermit | Jan 20 2023 17:30 utc | 28
what is being discussed in Ramstein that really matters?
It´s not about tanks that´s for sure.
* * *
for German-speakers, a 10min. interview on Deutschlandfunk with crazy historian Franziska Davies on why tanks are good and Russians are evil.
I just wonder what these scholars really do in order to ignore facts of history.
How is it possible???
If some Kagan clone goes public I believe to know it´s only a perverse game for him.
After all he apparently admitted the war was provoked (can anyone confirm this?)
But a young German scholar from Munich Universitiy like Mrs. Davies would never ever admit what Kagan admitted (if he so did.)
explain this schizo-attitude. Because I don´t get it.
Posted by: AG | Jan 20 2023 17:32 utc | 29
it's been way longer than 20 years. and - again - johnson and zelensky were always on the same page. you don't spend 8 years trying to genocide people with whom you want to "negotiate" and there have been many, many times the ukie establishment could have climbed over the dead bodies of their citizens to shake hands with lavrov and end it all. they haven't. [see also: "all your crimea belongs to us!" and other delusions.]
and that take also aligns with what merkel says happened. the plan has been to push NATO borders further east since the 1990s so pretending minsk or whatever imaginary "negotiations" the All Powerful Bojo supposedly 86ed were such "wonderful rays of hope" that failed only because other countries intervened is giving the ukies WAY too much credit and ignores history from about 1989 to the present. good luck with that!
Posted by: the pair | Jan 20 2023 17:44 utc | 30
These "elite" should commonly be referred to as the privileged as the only thing they're elite or good at is living on the money of others and getting away with it. If a nuke all of the sudden would fall on the WEF gathering in Davos it would help solve a lot problems the world is currently facing.
Posted by: xor | Jan 20 2023 17:54 utc | 31
Expert analysis especially military analysis is like throwing darts at the bullseye, it NEVER gets there. Even the so-called current global financial analysis is actually hilarious in it's lack of depth and accuracy.
Posted by: safe | Jan 20 2023 17:57 utc | 32
We continually underestimated the willingness and the ability of Ukrainians to fight and defend their homeland.
The willingness of the Taliban was impressive. They received no billions in weapons, inteligence or money from the collective west and still kicked the collective NATOstanis out.
Posted by: Vikichka | Jan 20 2023 17:57 utc | 33
b is being quoted more often from what I can see around the geo-political sites and is a refreshing change from dumbed down think-tank scanks out there today. I especially love reading ALL the great links the guys at the bar put up with such frequency here!
Posted by: safe | Jan 20 2023 18:00 utc | 34
Psychological projection is the means by which the elites manufacture consent. If a bigwig like BoJo says something and nobody objects to it, then pretty soon everyone will adopt it and convince themselves it was always their opinion.
Posted by: Monos | Jan 20 2023 18:05 utc | 35
@xor
Good observation: they are more privileged than elite
Posted by: Chris N | Jan 20 2023 18:06 utc | 36
JohnH #2
I haven’t heard any reports of HIMARS attacks since the one in Makiivka three weeks ago. Am I missing something?
Posted by: JohnH | Jan 20 2023 16:31 utc | 2
Russian MoD reported destroying a lot of HIMARS recently - about in a single day a few days after Makiivka, another 4 a few days later. Some dismissed these reports as propaganda, others point to new detection technology that allows russian forces to detect and destroy HIMARS after they fire and before they can move.
Another explanation is the latter is sort of true, and Ukraine goes easy with HIMARS while there are no leaves on trees - HIMARS may come back in Spring, when they are more difficult to detect and destroy. who knows.
Posted by: Marvin | Jan 20 2023 18:09 utc | 37
Luckily over at Moon of Alabama, the analysis is never masqueraded as objective news and the commentariat are free thinkers who base their predictions of open source data...
Posted by: Bernd | Jan 20 2023 17:27 utc | 26
I think people here are of the .
Give me questions I might not be able to answer.
Rather than given answers we cannot question.
That's the beauty of this bar.
Posted by: jpc | Jan 20 2023 18:09 utc | 38
Posted by: JohnH | Jan 20 2023 17:13 utc | 24
tass.com/search?searchStr=himars&sort=date
Posted by: rk | Jan 20 2023 18:10 utc | 39
@Boo | Jan 20 2023 16:42 utc | 13
The primary purpose of religion is to facilitate outgroup denigration (aka Us vs Them-ism). The secondary purpose of religion is to maintain it's own power, directly (as in the dark ages) or through the elites (after the failure of church rule), which is never in the interest of the common person.
See my Religion considered Harmful (and the Ungoodness of Prayer), particularly "History and Function of Religion".
After accepting propaganda created by horrified British Aristocracy, and terrified American oligarchs as fact, your stunning misunderstanding of the French Revolution needs correction before you can credibly comment upon it. For a corrective counter view, I recommend Marx Karl (1850-10). The Class
Struggles in France, 1848 to 1850. Neue Rheinische Zeitung Revue. For a fuller history, including some historiography at an undergraduate level, I suggest Neely Sylvia (2007-12-24). A Concise History of the French Revolution (Critical Issues in World and International History). Rowman & Littlefield.
Posted by: Hermit | Jan 20 2023 18:10 utc | 40
In the passed US S. 1169 Strategic Competition Act of 2021, Sec. 136, (f) Authorization Of Appropriations.—There is authorized to be appropriated, for each of fiscal years 2022 through 2026, $170,000,000 for ongoing and new programs in support of press freedom, training, and protection of journalists.
This money from the US Government is distorting western media's news reporting tremendously, especially during severe decline of hard news readership and competitive electronic news website incomes. Ten years ago, there was a cacophony of news media doomsday cries. Have you heard any lately? Uncle Sam came to the rescue! Except that you had to sell your souls.
Posted by: KitaySupporter | Jan 20 2023 18:10 utc | 41
Show me those HIMARS attacks.
Posted by: JohnH | Jan 20 2023 17:13 utc | 24
https://tass.com/search?searchStr=himars%20donetsk&sort=date
Need some more, little propagandist?
Posted by: rk | Jan 20 2023 18:15 utc | 42
The destruction of Ukraine is appealing to the Davos crowd because the believe they can rebuild what the West remains holding in their own image, the kind of thing that gives them wet dreams.
Posted by: Gail storm | Jan 20 2023 18:38 utc | 43
"'Elite' it is certainly not."
WIth respect, missing the point. 'Elite' is whoever or whatever is mindlessly supported by the official propaganda organs of the elites.
Cambridge Dictionary: "elite: the richest, most powerful, best-educated, or best-trained group in a society". I think our ruling elites certainly qualify in the richest and most powerful categories. Also arguably best-educated and best-trained, with the proviso that "best" means most of and for the rich and powerful, and not "best" in terms of actual quantifiable achievement
Posted by: TG | Jan 20 2023 18:41 utc | 44
Regarding "the elites" I still think the Norwegian-American economist Thorstein Veblens observations hold true.
In his treatise he coined them "The Leisure Class", characterized by conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure.
From the wiki-page :
Veblen discusses how the pursuit and the possession of wealth affects human behavior, that the contemporary lords of the manor, the businessmen who own the means of production, have employed themselves in the economically unproductive practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure, which are useless activities that contribute neither to the economy nor to the material production of the useful goods and services required for the functioning of society. Instead, it is the middle class and working class who are usefully employed in the industrialised, productive occupations that support the whole of society.
They demonstrated both at Davos. Too much money and too much time on their hand.
Posted by: Anne B | Jan 20 2023 19:14 utc | 45
The Emperor is fresh outta clothes folks. But yeah keep the outright lies coming because mis/dis/mal-information is so passé.
What amazes me on all fronts is how the MSM complete with it’s army of stooges just keeps doubling down despite the waves of evidence to the contrary. Of course I wont wade into any forbidden topics, but my oh my…the bodies pile high.
It may have been here @ MOA but I recall recently that a poster suggested that the WagnerGroup is (in a way) a reincarnation of the Cossacks. I admit to being impressed with the “creative” and “non linear” structure being espoused by the afore mentioned outfit. It seems as though they act in a manner similar to an oyster knife: they use precise application of brutal force to dislodge the offending outgrowth of opponent. Much like the Chechens. Given that their fathers fought the Russians and those in battle today were literally born from a crucible of fire. They just seem like big happy bears that greet hardship with even harder pushback. Artemovsk is going to see some serious altercations….
This is what happens when you day-drink and listen to Gwar…..
Posted by: Chevrus | Jan 20 2023 19:23 utc | 46
LoL I can picture Bojo the clown riding on the first of his miserable 15 tanks that Brittain is giving Ukraine.
Half of his fat ass hanging out the top of the tank and holding his two tiny UK flags.
Then him getting stuck there and Zelensky needing a crane to pull him out.
Thats the mighty Brittish Empire right there. LoL
Posted by: Comandante | Jan 20 2023 19:32 utc | 47
@bevin
You mistook my criticism of the French Revolution and its implications for an advocacy of feudalism. The Western European feudal system was rotten, as was the serfdom of the Russian Empire.
I am merely pointing out that the revolution introduced a justification for moral decay. It's not that complicated a claim. If there is no God, everything is allowed. Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky saw it quite clearly. And that's how the European powers behaved, and still behave, with increasingly monstrous means albeit greatly diminished after their self-destruction in WW2.
The ideologies prevalent today, from the conspicuous misanthropy of the so called greens, to the gender destroying left and the venal 'right' which merely pays lips service to tradition all attest to this. The awful demographics of the so called developed world account for the rest.
Posted by: Boo | Jan 20 2023 19:39 utc | 48
To flesh out the convo about "elties", tet's talk some real numbers:
Given that billionaires emit a million times more greenhouse gases than the average person (Oxfam, Nov 2022),
and given that 100 companies are responsible for producing 71% of the world's greenhouse gas/carbon emissions since 1988 (Carbon Majors Report 2017),
then it stands to reason that eating a Forbes 500 CEO and/or a billionaire would reduce carbon emissions by a whole lot more (each time) than converting to a plant-based diet would.
Now that's a clobber list.
Just sayin'.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/08/billionaires-emit-a-million-times-more-greenhouse-gases-than-the-average-person-oxfam.html
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change
Posted by: Irish | Jan 20 2023 19:47 utc | 49
@Hermit
You'll forgive me, if as a former leftist and anarchist/communist I find their critique of religion, which you seem to be echoing, wholly unconvincing.
There has been a Us/Them distinction for as long as man has been around. Just about anything can be (ab)used for divisiveness - which says more about people and their interests rather than the quality of the thing itself. Besides, there is no automatically true claim that there should be no division among us, just because we're all human. Even on a personal level there is likely no one on this forum that will associate with everyone without distinction. Why should groups of humans be any different?
Likewise, critiques of religion as a pure power play are shallow and uninspired. In Christianity untold numbers of people died as martyrs out of sheer belief and no one gained anything material from their sacrifice. Besides, leftists talking of ideas as power plays are a case of pot calling the kettle black, the Bolsheviks being one of the most merciless examples in recorded history.
And as a testament to their failure to account for religious feelings, there is no better example than what could have been the final hour of Communist Russia, when the Germans were at the gates of Moscow and Stalin had to stop persecuting the Church and allow the priests to go to the trenches and inspire soldiers to resistance.
Posted by: Boo | Jan 20 2023 19:59 utc | 50
Boo @ 13, James @ 14, Bevin @ 20:
My understanding of pre-Revolutionary France is that the country had over-extended itself through the lavish spending of its royal family and aristocrats while ordinary people were being crippled by heavy taxation. The nobles played at being shepherds while real shepherds were living in poverty. The Roman Catholic Church was a major landowner and a core part of the political elite benefiting from the impoverishment of the peasants. France had spent a lot of money and resources supporting the US side in its war against the British in the late 1770s/early 1780s, and Paris was on the verge of bankruptcy.
In short the political, social and economic conditions of pre-1789 France provide an eerie parallel with what exists in the West today.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 20 2023 20:11 utc | 51
@Jen
All of that is true, but the revolutionaries also wrote the history books and had no qualms about making the royalty seem even worse than it was. No one ever heard Marie Antoinette say 'let them eat cake', yet today its taken for granted that its an accurate representation of that social class's view of the world.
The historical injustices of the Vatican and the rise of Protestantism completely shape the debate on Christianity in the West. Even an impartial observer would say that the Catholic church brought many its subsequent woes upon itself - but the Catholic church is not the sum total of Christianity. The Orthodox Christian church, i.e. all the rest of Christianity thrived in the East and played a very different historical role.
Posted by: Boo | Jan 20 2023 20:47 utc | 52
Journalism is stenography. No wonder Joe Rogan gets 11 million per episode and Anderson Cooper can’t draw a nightly 1 million
Posted by: Anunnaki | Jan 20 2023 20:48 utc | 53
MSM report, "losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day."
trans. "losing hundreds of soldiers every day."
Anything but a straight answer.
Posted by: Elmagnostic | Jan 20 2023 21:43 utc | 54
His 'analysis' is a war mongering opinion peace (sic). Its conclusion was preconceived.
It is true that lately after reading anything written in the Western Main-Stream Media (especially on the topic of Ukraine) I feel like I have to take a shower and rinse off some of the excrement that I just consumed. Whether it is 'Der Spiegel', 'Die Zeit', 'Frankfurter Allgemeine', 'Deutsche Welle', I feel that these publications should prominently display the Swastika symbol on their cover to match the war-mongering, right-wing content they so freely disperse. Germany has learned nothing from its past and will thus repeat it.
Posted by: NewJerseyJoe | Jan 20 2023 22:53 utc | 55
Boo@48
These are very complex subjects which simply cannot be discussed properly in this forum. Your point of view is perfectly reasonable even though, in my opinion, it is wrong. Happily we are generally agreed on the immediate questions that arise here though I think that the view that atheism leads to license and the same sorts of excesses that arise from liberalism and ideologies of hierarchy is wrong.
What leads to evil is not some fault in humanity but competition and greed nourished by class society. The answer to Rodney King's heartfelt enquiry (Why can't we all get along) is that we can and we had better.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2023 23:01 utc | 56
“Weapons are the way to peace,” claims Stoltenberg at Davos.
That is true. After all, that’s why Russia intervened in Kiev's war on the Donbas with its heavy weapons. I’m sure Putin would agree with Staltenberg on this point.
Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 20 2023 23:02 utc | 57
Boo I should add that it wasn't the revolutionaries who wrote the history books-though some did a long time afterwards- but the reactionaries, starting with Edmund Burke.
Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2023 23:04 utc | 58
Der alte mann hat es verstanden
a bit late but ok :D
Posted by: Macpott | Jan 20 2023 23:26 utc | 59
MSM report, "losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day."trans. "losing hundreds of soldiers every day."
Anything but a straight answer.
Posted by: Elmagnostic | Jan 20 2023 21:43 utc | 54
Perhaps after Zelensky calls to complain, they will backtrack and say they were using Roman Numerals: III or VII... XII on a very bad day.
Posted by: Opport Knocks | Jan 20 2023 23:31 utc | 60
So it turns out Ishaan Tharoor is the son of Indian Congress Party leader and Lokh Saba member Shashi Tharoor. Got to love nepotism.
Always a perfect entry into WaPo. Being privileged elsewhere, kiss the ring and embrace the dominant meme, excuse me, mantra. Tharoor is merely showing his devotion and compliance.
Tanks, but no thanks. There is a reason for some with a even smidgen of knowledge of land warfare to think hard about the next set of 'Wunderwaffen.' The politicians are not much into understanding warfare. Virtue signaling is part of the job description.
MBTs are of some benefit somewhere, sometime. In this scenario, I prefer to listen to people with experience.
Posted by: Acco Hengst | Jan 20 2023 23:43 utc | 61
Ukraine is now severely overstretched all along the frontline. It hasn't the capacity to launch a viable offensive without taking soldiers from one part of the frontline or another.
Western weapons won't make a difference to the overall position. Only men will.
The question is: at what point will the west decide to send men into Ukraine?
Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 20 2023 23:45 utc | 62
So much for Germany saying no to sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine. According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov in an interview with Voice of America, Ukrainian troops are going to start training on Leopard 2 tanks. Some of the countries who own Leopard tanks are willing to start training Ukrainian soldiers on them even before Germany agrees to send them.
Posted by: Belle | Jan 20 2023 23:48 utc | 63
Happily we are generally agreed on the immediate questions that arise here though I think that the view that atheism leads to license and the same sorts of excesses that arise from liberalism and ideologies of hierarchy is wrong.Posted by: bevin | Jan 20 2023 23:01 utc | 56
I agree with bevin. Hillel's golden rule, "What is distasteful to you, do not do to others," can be derived purely from reason.
Posted by: David Levin | Jan 21 2023 0:06 utc | 64
Rumour has it (The Sirius Report) that US is telling Kiev to tell their forces to leave Bakhmut. Western media source citing anonymous US officials. FWIW.
Posted by: Irish | Jan 21 2023 0:07 utc | 65
Omicronrho says:
"So it turns out Ishaan Tharoor is the son of Indian Congress Party leader and Lokh Saba member Shashi Tharoor."
Shashi Tharoor is the archetypal fifth columnist, beloved of liberal rainbow ragwagger Ukranazistan supporting Muddle Class morons here in India, despised by everyone else.
Posted by: Biswapriya Purkayast | Jan 21 2023 0:22 utc | 66
Telegram Lord of War:
US advises Ukraine to withdraw forces from Artemivsk, - AFP
▪️A senior US official told France Press that Kyiv's efforts to hold the city are hindering preparations for the expected spring offensive.
▪️According to the official, in the case of Artemovsk, time is on the side of Russia, which has more artillery and military resources.
Training takes time, so the Ukrainians should consider "exchanging" Artemivsk for training.
▪️Kyiv may not have enough resources to both conduct military operations in the city and prepare for an offensive in the south of the country.
Artyomovsk is located in the Kyiv-held part of the DPR north of the large city of Gorlovka, being an important transport hub for supplying the Ukrainian group of troops in the Donbass.
"The states are advising Kyiv to withdraw these forces in order to re-equip and join US programs aimed at building a well-armed force capable of launching an offensive in the south," AFP reports.
https://t.me/loordofwar/74995
Posted by: Melaleuca | Jan 21 2023 0:26 utc | 67
Old-school German commie newspaper "Junge Welt" has an interesting deindustrialization 🎉 tidbit, and provides some actual analyses (DeepL'd from German):
Linde Moves Over - Excerpt: "Linde, the most valuable company listed on the DAX, is moving over to the USA. At an extraordinary shareholders' meeting in Connecticut, 93 percent of shareholders voted in favor of delisting from the German stock exchange, the world market leader for the production of industrial gases announced Wednesday evening."The Linde board had announced the move in October last year. German capital is losing a centerpiece of the industry. As of March 1, the 150 billion euro monopoly will only be traded on Wall Street. (...) The delisting of Linde comes at a time when the U.S. government is launching large subsidy programs for capital from abroad.
"The deindustrialization of the FRG continues to progress. Who wants to invest in a country where the government is driving up energy prices and waging a long war in Europe? Location advantages look different. It fits the picture: Linde's successor in the Dax will most likely be the arms manufacturer Rheinmetall."
Posted by: Nervous German | Jan 21 2023 0:42 utc | 68
In other news, for readers to quickly analyze themselves, 3 headlines collected by German Multipolar online mag.
- TASS: Russians’ level of trust in Putin exceeds 78%, poll shows
- Gallup: Joe Biden's Presidential Job Approval Rating: 40%
- T-Online: Trust rating for Scholz 33%, his government 34%.
Posted by: Nervous German | Jan 21 2023 0:51 utc | 69
"The collective West . . . back in February had suggested Zelenskyy should surrender and flee . . . ."
Which would've been the sanest and least destructive and bloody course by far, but this is the first I've read of such advice.
Links, anyone?
Posted by: John Kennard | Jan 21 2023 1:04 utc | 71
THERE IS NO UKRAINE SPRING OFFENSIVE
The last thing an army does is tell the enemy WHEN it's going to attack!
Posted by: HERMIUS | Jan 21 2023 1:10 utc | 72
@ Biswapriya Purkayast | Jan 21 2023 0:22 utc | 66
Nice invective! Pour it on.
Would you be interested in my analysis of Independent Indian politics as rule by the Congress "Hands Out"/"How dare you question my status" Party replaced by rule by the BJP "Hands Out"/"How dare you question my holiness" Party?
Feel free to use it.
Posted by: John Kennard | Jan 21 2023 1:13 utc | 73
# omicronrho | Jan 20 2023 16:35 utc | 8
"So it turns out Ishaan Tharoor is the son of Indian Congress Party leader and Lokh Saba member Shashi Tharoor. Got to love nepotism."
The Indian Congress Party, the alternative to the BJP in India. Ruined by the Nehru family while adopting the Gandhi name for 'Mahatma Gandhi' PR reasons. Indira Nehru took on her husband's Feroze Gandhi's name, no relation at all of Christianized peacenik actor Mahatma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feroze_Gandhi
Narendra Modi has no offspring, so no nepotism possible.
When are Western woke AND communists waking up about the sub-continent?
Posted by: Antonym | Jan 21 2023 1:55 utc | 74
@Boo | Jan 20 2023 19:59 utc | 50
This discussion probably belong on the Open (Not Ukraine) thread.
I see you did not read the linked document and know nothing about your religion. If you did, you would know that history shows that christets were very good at creating "martyrs", but generally speaking, except when it was one set of christets murdering another over trivial differences in their ludicrous beliefs, they were not so much "martyred" as laughed at.
Posted by: Hermit | Jan 21 2023 2:03 utc | 75
@John Kennard 71
in commentary sections surrender was suggested of course.
In public, I believe in Germany by Oskar Lafontaine or this pseudo philosopher and author Richard David Precht or his colleague Harald Welzer.
Some at weekly paper FREITAG did too.
(which was a strange place to be in spring 2022, where on the other hand staff like Elsa Koester seriously charged others with "whataboutism" - remember that crazy term - when some sane being tried to point out the crimes over Iraq etc. Or free-lancer Ulrich Heyden was "suspended" by FREITAG over his political views as someone who has lived and worked in Russia since the early 90s. Apparently readers had complained.)
Posted by: AG | Jan 21 2023 2:12 utc | 76
These Wef elites re the living breathing examples of people that have more money than brains.
Posted by: a machinist | Jan 21 2023 2:12 utc | 77
Boo @ 13, 52:
My knowledge of pre-1789 French history is sketchy but I understand that France in the 1700s was a mostly agrarian nation dominated by a highly centralised politics and the associated bureaucracy, drawn from the Catholic Church. It was not a mercantile nation in the way England, Portugal or the Netherlands were. A major reason for French poverty leading to revolution was the nation's economic backwardness which was made worse by the absolutist nature of monarchy and its spendthrift ways.
I have read some history of the English, later British East India Company and its early rivals in the Indian Ocean and southern Asia were the Dutch and Portuguese equivalents. The French version of an East India Company is nowhere to be seen in the 1600s and 1700s.
The French shot themselves in the back foot way back in the 1500s and 1600s kicking out Protestant and even Catholic groups espousing trade and the values of mercantilism - among them, good and bad, ideas like mutual trust, judging people by their ability and past history of keeping to their word and abiding by contracts, and the early development of contract law.
The revolutionaries of the 1790s may have rewritten history to blacked the Bourbon name but the Bourbons had their revenge under the restoration of the monarchy that lasted from 1814 to 1848. During this period the French economy was still in the doldrums while industrialisation forged ahead in Britain and Belgium. The Belgian example may have been one of the causes of the 1848 revolution that overthrew the Bourbons in France for good.
Posted by: Jen | Jan 21 2023 2:16 utc | 78
"then it stands to reason that eating a Forbes 500 CEO and/or a billionaire would reduce carbon emissions by a whole lot more (each time) than converting to a plant-based diet would."
Posted by: Irish | Jan 20 2023 19:47 utc | 49
Some thoughts:
1. I applaud your suggestion to put them on the menu, despite that I would not feed them to my dogs. Good luck with that!
2. CO2 IS a greenhouse gas, ie. it is used in greenhouses (where still permitted) to reduce growing times, water requirements and heating. The optimum level for most plants is about twice the current atmospheric level. This suggests that an increase in CO2 levels would be a good thing for most humans, excepting those wishing to profit or dominate based on food scarcity.
Posted by: Snowleopard | Jan 21 2023 2:54 utc | 79
Look at the names. Boris Johnson. Sanna Marin. The Ukrainian vice prime minister. No, that does not look very "elite" now does it. "A succession of European leaders."
And Pekka Haavisto just happened to mention the word "negotiatons" in his strong show of support. Inherent resolve. Sisu, that is called in Finnish, I believe. Not cold sweat.
Posted by: veto | Jan 21 2023 5:04 utc | 80
Although the media shouldn't be taken at face value, but there is valuable information in seeing what they want you to think. What they ask for, when they whine about "war crimes", when they talk about the need for cease fires.
Even better is the repetition of key phrases and how they're used in relation to the facts as presented. They give away what they're scared off, what they're worried about hiding, about what they really want. It can take hundreds of articles to feel it out, but fortunately the media is marching to the same drummer, and if there's an elite schism the information content can rise rapidly.
Bless their hearts I love the mainstream media Jenks.
Posted by: Neofeudalfuture | Jan 21 2023 5:27 utc | 81
And look what Borrell said. He is in fact not an idiot, he knows. Russia fights to the end, and wins, he said, in plain terms, reminding of Hitler and Napoleon. And then:
Because of this, he said, “now is the time to continue arming Ukraine with the necessary material and military means to wage the kind of war it has to wage.” He described this as “not only a defensive war but one that allows it to take the initiative and break fronts and prevent Russia from launching a new, very powerful and bloody offensive in a few months.”(RT 20/1)
That is the definition of non sequitur. The very essence of Western politics. All smart people including Borrell know how this will end. But we'll do as the stupid people say, because that is consensus. Let's continue do something stupid because politics.
Posted by: veto | Jan 21 2023 5:39 utc | 82
@ Snowleopard | Jan 21 2023 2:54 utc | 79
"CO2 IS a greenhouse gas, ie. it is used in greenhouses (where still permitted) to reduce growing times, water requirements and heating. The optimum level for most plants is about twice the current atmospheric level. This suggests that an increase in CO2 levels would be a good thing for most humans."
i wish.
i'm a farmer. with all this CO2 around the place, i should be making crap tonnes of money.
i'm not. :)
increased CO2 definitely increases growth.
in this kind of rapid growth situation, most of the sugars from photosynthesis go into the above ground part of the plant and liquid carbon exudates that feed the fungal network around the roots is reduced.
the increased growth of the plants causes an increased demand by the plants of minerals from the soil essential in supporting that growth.
to provide more minerals in the soil, the soil microbiome decomposes organic matter that's in the soil.
this decomposition of organic matter releases minerals from that organic matter, as well as sequestered CO2 in that organic matter. that CO2 is then released back into the atmosphere
so in a weird twisted way, more atmospheric CO2 = more growth = more mineral demand - more decomposition in the soil = the release of sequestered CO2 back into the atmosphere.
because there is only so much organic matter in the soil, there is a limited amount of mineral in the soil.
the special fungus that actually decompose rock, which is where the mineral comes from originally, work very slowly and can not replace the minerals taken up b the increased growth demand from plants.
as a result, the increased plant growth ends up being nutritionally poorer.
so, we are left with high levels of atmospheric CO2 driving increase plant growth and nutritionally poor food.
neither is a good thing for humans.
so bigger plants don't always mean more nutritious ones, which can have a significant impact of health and food security.
having said all that, our best bet then is to pickle and preserve as many of the current and super nutrient dense elites as we can and ration our consumption in order to pace ourselves into the future and stretch our food supply for as long as possible. while continuing to grow potatoes and other side dishes.
needs must.
https://www.ecofarmingdaily.com/build-soil/understanding-soil-carbon-dynamics/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/09/220912152903.htm
Posted by: Irish | Jan 21 2023 8:03 utc | 83
@ NewJerseyJoe #55
“these publications should prominently display the Swastika symbol on their cover to match the war-mongering, right-wing content...”
For many years it looked as if the EU was a means to harmonize the diversity of this West Asian peninsula. This idea blew up with the German Greens when they waged their war against the rudiments of Yugoland, betraying the original idea of the ecological movement. This insanity was continued with the admission of 14 new members, virtually the entire former Warsaw Pact states whose understanding of democracy was based on experiences with monarchies and then communism. This totally unilateral and bureaucratic decision to admit these 14 countries without consulting the citizens of the EU who will ultimately have to pay for all this enlargement has triggered a most alarming "skepticism" among the ragtag patriots. Here in France, too, the little Rothschild Baby will be chased out by the blond „avenging angel of the petty bourgeois“, just as it happened in Italy a few months ago with the Goldman sacks baby.
For Germany, I think the specter of the greenies will be used to launch such people as the AfD into a coalition with the weak CDU. Once they and the Nazis in France are in power, the lights will go out once again in Europe and people with dissenting opinions once again will be chased by a dump mob. So in NY you have popcorn.
Posted by: Alfa Panda | Jan 21 2023 9:52 utc | 84
All the public talk about high losses, denial of military significance and advices to retreat are signaling the imminent fall of Bachmut. The message is "gently massaged in" into the public consciousness of the West, in order to prevent later feelings of collapse or sudden, catastrophic change. "Everything under control", "nothing to see here", "move on"... Careful protection of public confidence. In terms of discourse management just like Surovikin did after his assignment with regards to the retreat from Kherson (which is not to compare it militarilly).
Posted by: Moses | Jan 21 2023 10:25 utc | 85
As they are declaring themselves belligerent in Russias western borderlands they surely qualify as legitimate targets for anti-Nazis ? Seizure of their bank accounts and wealth , their yachts and private jets?
So many jets, hundreds , miles from Davos - literally at least an hours drive to the nearest airfield, a private one - perhaps a judicious hole in the runway may bring some reality to these cosseted scum , which also floats as much as cream.
Most of course don’t even bother with the drive , they are so fucking elite they need to be helicoptered to Davos from their private jets ! Then driven from the heliport to their elite hotels a few paces away. Let them walk out of their mountain stronghold or remain there forever.
The best thing would be to keep them kettled up in that great snowy Camelot of theirs, we could watch them like zoo animals , throw them some pearls and diamonds every few days, feed them some ersatz caviar , made from insects , and let them live out their days in such elitist glory, barking orders into phones and screens with some realistic computer graphical reality that keeps them believing they are still running everything.
If that drunken cocked up misogynist fat fuck Johnson’s desire is to be remembered forever in a glorious posed painting or statue - I’m sure his heroic Charge of the Heavy (fat bastard) Tank Brigade in to the Russian Canons left and right and straight ahead can be accommodated by the Russian artillery. That should bring to a close this century’s attempt at taking Russia by the same old Money Bags of Fink and Friends.
Ps fun facts: Bozo the clown is not ‘Pure English’ as he pretends neither was that icon of his, the fat fuck, Churchill;
The English Tank Brigade has been a front for military spooks for many years now, since tank warfare is as obsolete as cavalry since the deployment of missiles on the battlefields. These El Shites have been at the forefront of most mischief against Russia ever since that ignoble disaster in Balaclava .. to the Skripals (remember them?) , Chemicals and White Helmets in Syria and of course in the current adventurism.
Who will rid us of the shit elites?
Posted by: DunGroanin | Jan 21 2023 12:39 utc | 86
This morning on German Radio WDR I was told, that Olaf Scholz " actually reads", he actually reads results of surveys ! i.e. that in West-Germany 38 % of the people would prefer negotiations to sending of weapons to Ukraine, in the East even 52%. And, the moderator said, Scholz actually knows that it is indeed his political commitment to " Schaden vom deutschen Volke abzuwenden" ( to shield the German people from serious damage). So much from a commentator who has preached the support for Ukraine for months 24h a day.
Well, so why doesn't Scholz act in this way ? He knows what to do concerning his oath as Chancellor.
What a stupid comment. Telling the Germans that they have a political leader who reads. nevertheless is brainwashed though reading.
Simply ridiculous.
Posted by: OldCH | Jan 21 2023 13:36 utc | 87
Posted by: Irish | Jan 21 2023 8:03 utc | 83
I guess it does not work at scale then for crops without significant inputs, though the trees seem to be doing fine. I am not a farmer, but grow a good percentage of my meat, vegetables, herbs (culinary and medicinal) and some fruits. Four coops of aged/composted chicken manure plus wood shavings is tilled into the gardens each year, as well as the ashes from the wood stove (mostly oak and ash), and shredded leaves so perhaps that is why I hadn't noticed the loss of mineral.
Posted by: Snowleopard | Jan 21 2023 18:30 utc | 88
The deeper I delve into the Ukrainian war, the more I ask myself, why was Russia's December 2022 request for security guarantees ignored? And who ignored it? Washington neocons fill that answer, and who are they? Well, I may have the answer to this question. Ask yourself who is dying in the field? Those dying, on both sides, are White male Christians. To answer that one may have to turn to the Bible. Ok, I sound hokey, but am I truly off the rails? When this is over, and if the West wins, who will collect all the lands evacuated by Ukrainians, either dead or migrated? If Russia wins who also benefits by the death of 100's of thousands of dead White men? Ask yourself? Who is under attack in Europe and the US? Isn't it straight White Christians? Of course, it is. Zelensky said Ukraine is the new Israel. And aren't the Ashkenazi the premier party in Israel's government? Ashkenazi's have no relationship to anyone Sematic. They are trespassers in Palestine, they are identity thieves and always have been. They are gypsies with no allegiance to any government on earth, not even Israel. Sorry for the unhateful speech, but the real reason for the Ukraine war needs to be addressed.
Thank you, Karlof, for the Bulworth recommendation. Bought it, just watched it. Loved it.
Posted by: Valerie Swales | Jan 21 2023 22:42 utc | 90
Thank you, Karlof, for the Bulworth recommendation. Bought it, just watched it. Loved it.
Posted by: Valerie Swales | Jan 21 2023 22:42 utc | 91
A popular movie in Russia over the past 3 Months is "The Best In Hell" scripted by a Wagner PMC Martyr (KIA Sept 2022) and filmed in territory that was part of Ukraine until July 2022.
Its seems to be based on the experience if a small Wagner PMC Company and their Ukrainian Opponents in the battle for Popasnaya in the Summer of2022.(Russian Company "White" & "Ukranian Company" Yellow"
On the surface it seems like a "Tour of Duty" type video game with almost Robotic warriors on both sides.
However, it is interesting as nowhere in the Movie is "Ukraine" mentioned.The "Ukrainian" troops are not demonised or shown as Nazi thugs. In fact they seem exactly the same as the "Russians".
The "Yellow" & "White" teams systematically wipe each other out in a way that disaster the reality and complexity of the War in Ukraine. The grinding battle continues until only their respective Commanders survive for a final showdown - As they grapple hand to hand the only "personal" information revealed in the entire movie comes out - Both of their Grandfather's fought their way to Berlin in 1945.
This movie funded by Wagner PMC seems to stress that both "Yellow" & "White" are the same people (Brother Slavs) using the same weapons and tactics thinking and feeling the same engaged in a brutal total Civil War.
Only the "White" commander survives to return to take command of a fresh company of "White" troops to continue the War.
His senior officer is played by the actor who starred as the teenage Belorussian Partisan in "Come And See" (1985)
I don't enjoy "action films" but I found this strangely compelling - giving some real insight into the mentality of some of the fighters on the frontlines in Ukraine and a window on the work of Wagner Contractors.
Posted by: MarkFrance | Jan 21 2023 23:17 utc | 92
"In a mercantile society the top merchant is king, so it stands to reason that all the old obligations (moral integrity, ability, courage, honor, refinement etc.) would eventually fade away since they all stemmed from the religious order, which the Europeans dismantled. Europe kept substituting new divine orders, such as nationalism, fascism, communism - each short lived and with miserable consequences, and when they finally ran out - it only makes sense for Davos to be the last one standing. This outcome was practically built in, a feature, by no means a flaw."
Posted by: Boo | Jan 20 2023 16:42 utc | 13
----------------
I disagree with your thesis Boo. Since when were the ruling classes (or elites as you call them) before Capitalism (or its precursor; Mercantilism) ever obliged to act morally, and with integrity, ability, courage, honor, and with refinement. Perhaps in front of the King, but not among the masses which they more often than not despise. Boo, do you claim that royal tyrants were actually chosen by God and that made them more God like? Surely you jest Boo. Read some history.
Did the destruction of royal privilege really result in the destruction of all the good qualities you stated above? And did all such good qualities stem from the religious order which the Europeans dismantled? Is nationalism, fascism, communism - each short-lived and with miserable consequences (your words) - really a product of the loss of the Devine Right of Kings and Lords (i.e. feudalism).
Boo, do you miss feudalism? Do you not see the misery of capitalism as well, for it was capitalism that over through your divine religious orders, and the economic systems that came with it; included chattel slavery and serfdom for the masses. But these inhuman and exploitive economic systems were necessary for the Glory of Gods, Kings and Noblity.
And what did capitalism give us in return for a new economic system but vulgar greed, exploitation, and poverty for most of the people on the planet? Still, it was progress for humanity, and only a fool would question that. Yet you despise people who collectively fight and struggle for a less exploitive and a fairer economic system. You lump socialist and communist together with vulgar nationalism and fascism.
Boo, do you know what Fascism is? It is late-stage capitalism in its death throws, and Nationalism is its banner. When capitalism in one nation is spent and colonial markets and resources are closed to it, that nation will gather the working class to go to war with other capitalist nations to gain resources under the banner of God and country, i.e. Nationalism. Boo, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is Davos really the last word?
Posted by: Ed | Jan 24 2023 2:11 utc | 93
It's hard to understand what people really want these days. We used to fight for survival. Today, it's a lot more sophisticated. And sophistication has come down from the elites of this world. Why not just have peace and live?
The comments to this entry are closed.
https://www.anews.com.tr/world/2023/01/20/german-intelligence-alarmed-by-ukrainian-losses-in-bakhmut
If this is true, it's big. However I can't find any confirmation anywhere. Did it really happen?
Posted by: Eighthman | Jan 20 2023 16:29 utc | 1