Thanks, b. I read those two articles about Von der Leyen. I wondered if some of the outrage (not the one voiced in that letter reported on by the Irish Times) might be in connection with this Europol take-down of a ransomware gang this week. (Plenty of European unity to be found here!)
Read about it on RT first.
https://www.europol.europa.eu/media-press/newsroom/news/ragnar-locker-ransomware-gang-taken-down-international-police-swoop

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 22 2023 13:03 utc | 3

https://sputnikglobe.com/20231021/chinese-businessmen-literally-laughing-at-wests-anti-russian-sanctions-1114389383.html
Sanctions as a source of humor

Posted by: Eighthman | Oct 22 2023 13:11 utc | 5

– Healthcare workers in Israel are “not happy” and are likely to leave Israel in droves:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/more-than-a-third-of-young-israeli-doctors-say-they-plan-to-leave-country-soon/
– Young israelis are considering leaving Israel:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/my-home-is-being-undone-alarmed-by-countrys-direction-more-israelis-weigh-move/

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 22 2023 13:39 utc | 7

– The “Tet Offensive” could be a good analogy for what is coming down the pike for Israel.

Posted by: Mr. Market | Oct 22 2023 13:55 utc | 9

“West’s Pro-Israel Position Accelerates Its Loss Of Power”
That headline stands out from all the rest, perhaps because it succinctly expresses the main dynamic playing out in various socio-political arenas these days.
And was just one of many superlative pieces.
Thank you for the excellent coverage and penetrating perspective.

Posted by: Scorpion | Oct 22 2023 14:27 utc | 11

On European disunity:
It is my sincere hope that the result of the US instigated wars in Ukraine and Palestine, supported by the most morally and otherwise corrupt politicians in Europe (by Europe I do not mean EU), will be the end of EU and NATO. These two institutions do not provide anything good for ordinary people, quite the opposite.

Posted by: Norwegian | Oct 22 2023 15:30 utc | 13

thanks b and to the posters of moa.. much appreciated..

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 15:39 utc | 15

Quick post! (I might not be around much the following days). I have not managed to read everything and any/all followups to things I’m replying to here.
Arch Bungle and all;
in a previous thread he and perhaps elsewhere also other posters discussed morality in more general terms.
And someone else and others;
also noted a person saying they were not a “moral philosopher”.
First to arch Bungle:
Your observations can sort of be summed up as what many (maybe most) philosophers and “philosophy of morals” considers to be the fact of (universal) morals not existing at all; that it is an empty concept that is not filled with anything (except culture and anthropology, but not philosophy). This disturbs some.
The alternative however is not to discard “morality” but to replace it with and concentrate on ethics, which do exist universally, and which thus …drumroll… can be studied! XD
Secondly on “moral philosophers”:
The above makes it fun to see someone/anyone say they’re not a “moral philosopher” (reading it as “philosopher of morals”, rather than someone being “moral” while being a philosopher). It is precisely the kind of thing a philosopher might say as an inside joke since there is no such thing in many/most/some philosophers eyes! 😀
I’m not a philosopher but I think it’s a good joke 🙂
I only dipped my toes in philosophy at university level many decades ago but on this specific topic it is very unlikely anything real has changed (although i guess their departments may well be beset by “wokeism” etc., the students are always easy targets for fads (marxism (real or not, I suspect mostly not real but “popular”) was a scourge for them in the sixties and seventies).
Real philosophy is one of the most difficult sciences there are, among many other things it’s the bridge between and backing for both all science and mathematics). If anyone ever comes across “easy” philosophy they can be fairly sure that at least the easy or “seductive” part is not actual philosophy (this even applies to some of “the greats” being studied, Descartes in particular imo with his rubbish about God).
Anyway way too hard/exhausting for me (and there’s so much hidden spiteful and petty fighting in universities I felt repulsed etc.) so I withdrew my toes! 😀 (again: this was long ago).

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Oct 22 2023 15:40 utc | 17

Recommended by Aleph at the Palestine thread:
https://johnhelmer.net/memo-on-the-final-solution-for-one-state-israel-or-palestine/#more-88712
Add this to your ‘must read’ files. It is a very good appreciation of the current situation.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 16:35 utc | 19

Sorry but Richard Silverstein is wrong. That wasn’t a damned artillery shell but either a JDAM or Hellfire missile at the hospital. Larry Johnson finally woke up and accepted it.
Also the audio analysis of the alleged Hamas phone call is flawed. It’s fake for sure but Earshot totally screwed up.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Oct 22 2023 16:54 utc | 21

Officials point to the protests, threats and deadly, anti-American warnings of Arab nations after they thought — incorrectly — Israel struck a hospital in Gaza, killing hundreds.

jesus christ. i knew axios was basically vice news without the blue hair but that is some powerful stupid right there. i love how their “slam dunk evidence” is a link to their own site.

Posted by: the pair | Oct 22 2023 17:00 utc | 23

The British have this duality: when another country signs a treaty with Britain, centuries later it still binds their descendants. But when the British sign a treaty, one parliament cannot bind its sucessor.
As an example, let’s take recognizing a country as independent. Have you ever heard of the country of Akrotiri?
Akrotiri and Dhekelia are UK military bases in Cyprus, that were made into independent countries, with at their head the Major in charge of the base.
Or Kosovo, which is Camp Bondsteel made into an independent country.
These “independent countries” are legal kludges, that remain in precarious equilibrium thanks to military might – a military might that is waning by the day.

Posted by: Passerby | Oct 22 2023 17:14 utc | 25

Anexcellent summary of the rapid deterioration of basic political rights in north America and across Europe by a retired law Professor in Nova Scotia.
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/banning-palestine-support-rallies-could-it-happen-in-canada
He mentions the case of a recently elected Member of Ontario’s Parliament, Sarah Jama, who is under attack- in a manner unprecedented in modern Parliamentary history- for expressing sympathy with the people of Palestine. Astonishingly, the corrupt and fascistic government has passed a motion demanding that The Speaker not allow her to speak in the legislature.
To put this in perspective, during the depths of the Cold War Ontario had two Communist members of Parliament whose rights to speak were unchallenged.
It ought to be noted, for anti-semites, that the article’s author, like so many public voices for Palestinian rights and against Israeli fascism is Jewish.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 17:35 utc | 27

I only dipped my toes in philosophy at university level many decades ago but on this specific topic it is very unlikely anything real has changed (although i guess their departments may well be beset by “wokeism” etc., the students are always easy targets for fads (marxism (real or not, I suspect mostly not real but “popular”) was a scourge for them in the sixties and seventies).
Real philosophy is one of the most difficult sciences there are, among many other things it’s the bridge between and backing for both all science and mathematics). If anyone ever comes across “easy” philosophy they can be fairly sure that at least the easy or “seductive” part is not actual philosophy (this even applies to some of “the greats” being studied, Descartes in particular imo with his rubbish about God).
Anyway way too hard/exhausting for me (and there’s so much hidden spiteful and petty fighting in universities I felt repulsed etc.) so I withdrew my toes! 😀 (again: this was long ago).
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Oct 22 2023 15:40 utc | 9
If you’re still interested and you see Marxism as a fad, like “woke” idpol (a grave error imo) you might want to start with Hegel’s philosophy of history.
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/hi/hiconten.htm
He’s a notoriously difficult philosopher, but this work is one of the most accessible and most influential. Marx, famously eliminated the ideal, external guiding element of the Hegelian philosophy and replaced it with an objective force: man’s struggle with nature for survival, then man’s struggle with man in the social process of production. Nonetheless, he kept almost every other element of the original.
On the issue of morality I think the key from Hegel is that things must be rational to be considered real and vice versa. This is often taken to mean that any historical abortion that merely exists is rational, which is clearly false.
In reality the point is that only something rational that can truly move historical development forward is real and thus enduring.
So, genocide in Palestine, Nazis in Ukraine all exist, but are so utterly irrational and counterproductive for society at large that they lack the quality of an enduring reality. In other words, such things are already doomed to fail and disappear from the stage of history, giving way to some new order that is at least slightly more rational than it’s predecessor ie one that does not require constant mass slaughter, ecocide and vast socioeconomic destruction.
I prefer this line of thinking about world events to the question of morals and ethics. Moral/ethical considerations are helpful on the individual level ie the golden rule, etc.
But, the movement of history requires a more advanced method for evaluating right and wrong. One that considers whether a historical reality is ultimately socially constructive or destructive. A functional improvement on human society or an abortion.
Lastly, Hegel doesn’t just see a trend of greater rationality in the historical process, but also one of greater freedom for masses of people. This is a good guide to determining which of two systems in conflict is “good or bad”.
Just one look at US Imperialism in the last 30 years and today in Ukraine and Israel and soon Taiwan makes it very clear that it is exiting the stage of history in the most excruciating way imaginable.
From this perspective AB”s views on morality, as you’ve interpreted them, are actually universal in the sense that they do not take into consideration the moral concerns of the historically doomed, oppressive slave master, but rather adopt the morals of the slave violently seeking to free himself.
Although I hesitate to endorse the witch Marcuse, he did write one book on Hegel that is not only intelligible (unlike most of his opus) but worth reading.
Reason and Revolution https://g.co/kgs/xCxXqi
As you say, philosophy is the cornerstone of all other studies. In order to act effectively, you must think about what you’re going to do beforehand, you must then know where you are in history, where you’ve been and which paths are open from your current location.
So, although maligned and neglected in the west, philosophy is the critical starting point for all activities. Definitely worth the effort.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 22 2023 17:41 utc | 29

Russia–Iran trade is set to take off:
Russia and Iran Plot Course to Tariff-Free Trade (Sputnik, Ilya Tsukanov, October 22, 2023)

…
Russia and Iran are plotting a course to cut trade tariffs down to zero by early 2024, Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce member Kambiz Mirkarimi has indicated.
Speaking to local media on Sunday, Mirkarimi said that he expects outstanding customs, tariffs, and competitive market issues between Iran, Russia, and other members of the Eurasian Economic Union to be settled before the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2024).
Mirkarimi’s comments add weight to Belarusian media reports from Saturday that Iran and the EEU (whose members include Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan) plan to sign a new free trade agreement by the end of the year, with draft work on the pact said to be complete and ready for signature.
The new free trade pact will replace an interim agreement forged in 2019, which expired last year but was renewed until a new agreement could be signed.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to Tehran on Monday for talks with senior officials, with regional cooperation in the political, economic, transport, energy and security spheres, as well as Armenian-Azerbaijani tensions, expected to be on the agenda. Representatives from Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkiye will also be in attendance, with the 3+3 format talks focusing on efforts to resolve regional problems without Western interference.
Mirkarimi stressed the importance of the creation of new transport and shipping-related infrastructure to ensure further growth in bilateral trade with Russia. Both countries have expressed interest in an ambitious new trade route known as the North-South Transport Corridor, which will link Russia to India via Iran and further help shift Russian trade from linkages with Europe toward Asia. Rail, road, and maritime infrastructure related to the project is being built, with cargo transport along the route’s three major planned arteries expected to reach 45 million tons per year by 2030.
Russia and Iran are also working to finalize a long-awaited 20-year strategic partnership agreement, with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian saying last month that Lavrov’s visit to Iran would help put the finishing touches on the pact.
Russian-Iranian trade turnover reached the equivalent of $4.9 billion in 2022, and reportedly approached the $5 billion mark during the first half of 2023. The two countries have ambitious plans to expand trade ties to up to $40 billion in the coming years.
Russia and Iran, which are both facing heavy sanctions pressure from the West, have great potential to complement one another’s economic development, with agricultural products constituting nearly 80 percent of their current trade balance (Russia delivering wheat, other grain products, and fertilizers, in exchange for top quality, GMO-free Iranian fruits and vegetables).
The recent uptick in trade has been achieved in part through increases in the back-and-forth purchase and sale of industrial machinery and components, including car parts, polystyrene, machine tools, metals, and products for use in the chemical industry, as well as textiles, footwear, and pharmaceuticals. Amid the exit of major Western and Japanese car brands from the Russian market, Iranian carmakers hope to join Chinese brands in replacing them.
…

The West, of course, doesn’t want that to happen. Russian Telegram channel TRIPLEX on the U.S. inciting hatred against Russia in Kazakhstan:

The scandal with the absolutely Russophobic and anti-Russian movie Wake up, Kazakh! in Kazakhstan is just the tip of the iceberg or, if you prefer, echoes of deep processes developing according to a scenario, which again is not written by us.
“Wake up, Kazakh!” sounds similar to the movement “OYAN QAZAQSTAN!”, “Wake up, Kazakhstan!” (echoing “Povstan’, Ukrayino!” [“Rise up, Ukraine!”]), a “civil rights” movement founded in 2019. (Most of its activists are recipients of grants from the Soros Foundation and USAID. And the movement is pushing, as you might have guessed, for leaving the union with Russia.)
“Anti-Sovietism and hunger,” which is the entire point of the movie telling about the life of Mirzhakyp Dulatov, one of the leaders of Alash-Orda, a separatist movement in early 20th century Russia, is another evidence of U.S. participation. Because the topic of “Holodomor” was started in the case of the Ukraine by the Americans. Now they are playing a similar card in Kazakhstan. Old schemes. New victim. Although, in this case—victims.
The U.S. is gradually and purposefully turning Kazakhstan into an outpost for confrontation with Russia in Central Asia and the post-Soviet space. Moreover, in all these processes initiated by Washington, Kazakh government bodies are playing an active role. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, the NGO KazAID was created, which essentially is distributing grant funds from USAID and other Western NGOs, such as the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the German Society for International Cooperation and Development (GIZ), and the Korean International Development Agency (KOICA), Slovak Agency for International Development (SlovakAID), etc. They are not even trying to hide all this, and a Memorandum of Understanding agreement has been signed between KazAID and USAID for cooperation in providing “development assistance to Central Asia.” And KazAID is headed by Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Arken Arystanov.
The money goes not only to Kazakh projects aimed at separating from Russia, but also to Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Activities are being carried out not only with the goal of the cultural separation of the republics, but also on the economic one. The U.S. is actively helping the former Soviet republics redirect their exports towards the West, cutting off ties with Russia.
A separate area of activity for the Americans is working with diasporas living abroad, with the expectation that their representatives will play an important role in potential future conflicts. This activity and the growing turbulence with migrants in Russia (their unhinged behavior, stimulated by nationalist propaganda spread on social networks) are all part of the same strategy. And due to the lack of a clear reaction from our state and work with diasporas, everything that is being generated by the deep society—ultra-right and hawkish [sentiments]—is playing into the hands of the U.S.—it is precisely this split, mental and historical, and incitment of mutual hatred that they are striving for with all their might—a split between “mainland Russia” and the post-Soviet space—using the failures of Moscow’s internal politics.
It is also worth mentioning that this year USAID has allocated a record $50 million to Kazakhstan to “fight Russian propaganda and the colonial past.” The implanted narrative that Kazakhstan was actually a Russian colony, and the Kazakhs themselves were in the position of slaves, is gradually bearing fruit, and we are already seeing this with our own eyes.
The U.S. is actively engaged in “de-Russification” of our underbelly, while simultaneously carrying out subversive activities within the country with various national groups, trying to split the united (for now) space of the Russian world within our state borders.
If the authorities continue to be inactive, both in their work with the countries of Central Asia and within Russia, then we will face some sad news in the foreseeable future.

Posted by: S | Oct 22 2023 17:47 utc | 31

There is a pretty well known story about believing you have the knowledge of good and evil. It precludes you from paradise iirc…

Posted by: Rae | Oct 22 2023 18:04 utc | 33

There is a pretty well known story about believing you have the knowledge of good and evil. It precludes you from paradise iirc…
Posted by: Rae | Oct 22 2023 18:04 utc | 17
Let me guess, you must stop thinking and just feel in order to enter paradise.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 22 2023 18:16 utc | 35

Let me guess, you must stop thinking and just feel in order to enter paradise.
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 22 2023 18:16 utc | 18
____
Close. The message is that you must stop thinking and just OBEY.

Posted by: malenkov | Oct 22 2023 18:20 utc | 37

The elections in Poland have been eclipsed totally. Does anyone have a good synopsis what the outcome is, and what the result may portend?
Bismarck said something about Polish nation (paraphrasing) ‘if Poles want to be punished, let them be governed by themselves’…that was his take in the 19th century, he spoke Polish btw.

Posted by: fanto | Oct 22 2023 18:31 utc | 39

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 22 2023 17:41 utc | 15
I agree with everything you say about Hegel and Marx with one crucial addendum: philosophia facta est quae philologia fuit. Philology first, i.e. without Nietzsche one’s Marxism becomes dry and dogmatic.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 22 2023 18:37 utc | 41

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 22 2023 17:41 utc | 15
And lest you think I don’t practice what I preach: I have been teaching Greek, Latin and Marxist historiography for 30 years. Next seminar: Marx’s Formen der vorkapitalistischen Gesellschaften alongside Nietzsche’s Wir Philologen.

Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 22 2023 18:40 utc | 43

@ 15 Ahenobarbus
Now we are getting at the heart of the matter.
It is important to realize that western philosophy reached its endpoint in the work and thinking of Hegel who devised his system of logic to encompass all human understanding. Indeed, philosophy is the first science, that which governs all the following natural sciences, and contains them in its encompassing system of logic.
The problem we are running into here is that Hegel viewed western liberalism as that which allows for philosophy to operate as the conduit for spirit. Human kind comes to understand its self, its world, through philosophy, which is the emerging self-showing of spirit. But, this is thwarted in anti-philosophical systems such as theocracy and Marxism.
But now we are at a point in history where western liberalism is being shown to be inoperable in its teleological endpoint, what Fukuyama, a Hegelian, called the “end of history.” Everywhere you notice chinks in the armor which begs the question: what is the west currently, and what is the east in China, Russia, and Iran? Are they more “liberal” than the west? Is globalism, i.e. the world-government project, baked into “liberalism?” Is world government tenable?
It seems we are at the precipice of big changes and torches being passed. The fall of the western mind and its flight into self-hatred, denial, cursory eastern-spirituality, and, finally, nihilistic self-destruction is writ large everywhere we look.
The centralization of liberalism over the world has been met with a “no” in the form of China and Russia, both of which leftists must agree are not communist, but are both quasi-nationalist, mercantilist, and demonstrate a withdrawing/retiring identity. It is not communism that is overthrowing liberalism, though it is cynically-obvious that many communists here hope to take advantage of the vacuum when liberalism finally goes tits-up in the west.
We are at the end of the “End of History.”
Please read Martin Heidegger’s interview with Der Spiegel “Only a God can save us,” to understand further what is happening.

Posted by: NemesisCalling | Oct 22 2023 18:48 utc | 45

It ought to be noted, for anti-semites,
Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 17:35 utc | 14
Why even use that tired, fake word any more? It just muddles the conversation. Palestinians are semites.

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 22 2023 18:49 utc | 47

And lest you think I don’t practice what I preach: I have been teaching Greek, Latin and Marxist historiography for 30 years. Next seminar: Marx’s Formen der vorkapitalistischen Gesellschaften alongside Nietzsche’s Wir Philologen.
Posted by: Patroklos | Oct 22 2023 18:40 utc | 22
The danger of dogmatism is really a Stalinist development imo, which can be easily distinguished from Marxism to Lenin and especially Trotsky. To argue the latter was dogmatic us just impossible. One of the biggest obstacles to understanding Marxism is the persistent belief that it and stalinism are one and the same.
That said, I’d love to attend one of your classes, but it goes without saying, you probably don’t teach in the US.
What do you think of Lefebvre?
https://www.google.com/search?q=nietzsche+marx+hegel&oq=marx+neitcge+he&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i22i30l3j0i8i13i30j0i390i650l4.16904j0j7&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
He seems to have the same primary influences.

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Oct 22 2023 19:00 utc | 49

@ fanto | Oct 22 2023 18:31 utc | 20
indian punchline had an article from a few days ago that i gained some insight from…
Ouster of the populist-nationalist government in Poland is highly consequential
rt news also had an article that might help..
Poland’s job is to be a US ‘spoiler’ in the EU

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 19:26 utc | 51

“Why even use that tired, fake word any more? It just muddles the conversation. Palestinians are semites…” Michael A @24
And you hate Jews.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 19:51 utc | 53

And you hate Jews.
Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 19:51 utc | 27
Where did that come from? I don’t. There are good jews too.

Posted by: Michael A | Oct 22 2023 20:05 utc | 55

Ahenobarbus @25
Do you really think that “..The danger of dogmatism is really a Stalinist development imo, which can be easily distinguished from Marxism to Lenin and especially Trotsky…”
The dangers of dogmatism are inherent in any school of theory. It is one of the abiding faults of those who follow Trotsky (or believe that they do) that they amplify the importance of Stalin. One of the problems that arises from this is a totally unscientific view of Trotsky- the martyred prophet etc.
Not to mention a misunderstanding of the historical circulmstances in which the Soviet Union found itself: the failure of the working classes of the advanced capitalist economies and the imperial metropoles was not something that either Trotsky’s eloquence, Stalin’s organisational abilities or Lenin, given another decade, could have changed.
It used to be understood that Marxism explains that there is much more to history than either Great Men or Terrible Villains. In a sense that is at its core.
I mention these matters because I was, yesterday, at a small demonstration against Isreli aggression and genocide. Apart from a large group of Palestinians- young and old- and congregants from a mosque most of the people there were members of one or another of the strands of the Communist movement- Maoists, ‘Stalinists’ “Trotskyists’ and evereyone of these fissions had dissolved into other strands. Of these none is more prone to splitting that the Trotskyists- most of whom devote a large part of their energies to internecine feuds.
It is a very sad but accurate reflection of Trotsky’s political legacy that it has often degenerated into nothing more than that amplification of repression in the USSR that has served as the primary ideological weapon of imperialism for much of the past century. It has also served as a battlecry and justification for armed formations, working for imperialism, which have killed tens of millions of poor people organising themselves to make a collective future in which democracy rather than the capitalist class ruled.
The real enemy is not “Stalinism” but vulgar reformism. And it always was.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 20:17 utc | 57

When it comes to philosophy, I find my ‘plate’ is full to overflowing here:
https://www.plato-dialogues.org/plato.htm
More than I hope to enjoyably digest in my diminishing days, so I will stick with the master! Wonderful site this. I had loved Plato before I came to it, and have no way of contesting Suzanne’s thesis here, but whether it is correct or not it is a great schematic way to address the dialogues and discern common threads within them.
Enjoy!

Posted by: juliania | Oct 22 2023 20:20 utc | 59

Are you a jew, bevin?

Posted by: Ново З | Oct 22 2023 20:27 utc | 61

Michael A@28
I’ll take your word for it. And apologise. I was referring to your
Michael A | Oct 22 2023 19:29 utc | 121 in the Palestine thread. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to find that I am mistaken.

Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 20:29 utc | 63

Posted by: bevin | Oct 22 2023 17:35 utc | 14
First they came …
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.
Martin Niemöller

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 20:39 utc | 65

@ bevin | Oct 22 2023 19:51 utc | 27
my guess.. that is a fake bevin… same poser who fakes me regularly.. posters need to learn the personalities behind the names so as not to get faked..

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 20:42 utc | 67

well maybe not… no hope labeling people in unfriendly or worse – wrong ways, but it happens..

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 20:44 utc | 69

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 19:26 utc | 26
Hi James, have you read his latest post on Biden and the predictable US habit of doubling down?
‘Biden gives booster dose to the faltering Ukraine war’
https://www.indianpunchline.com/biden-gives-booster-dose-to-the-faltering-ukraine-war/

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 20:56 utc | 71

@ bubbles | Oct 22 2023 20:56 utc | 36
thanks.. i started to and then didn’t finish.. will finish reading it now..

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 20:58 utc | 73

BHADRAKUMAR makes a mockery of the usa agenda, calling out the ridiculous level of hypocrisy on display… the west under the leadership of the usa continues to ramp up the hostilities while claiming they are not directly involved.. that is pretty thin gruel when they are throwing around that kind of money… of course it was coming off the gold standard in 1971 or 72 which allowed the usa to spend all the money on wars in faraway places.. no wonder many want to see an end to the us$ as it would signify an end to usa imperialism..

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 21:03 utc | 75

The Axios piece I read was so lame. If people in the Washington Establishment think this way then there is not even a remote possibility of anything out in a peaceful way. Major war is inevitable unless the (Deep) State can begin to accept some ideas that relate to reality in some way. Nearly all realists and creative thinkers have been purged from the foreign policy establishment so it seems sometimes there is no hope for prgamatism or peace.
The Israel/Palestinian issue can easily be solved as part of an overall agreement by regional and global powers an as the Russians say the US is not agreement capable–the only discussion Biden and his team care to take part in involves the use of military force. It is possible that some realistic and pragmatic voiced may be heard in the halls of power. My bet is always that when war seems likely that the finance oligarchs will order the WH to stand down–but I could be wrong. We’ll see.

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Oct 22 2023 21:06 utc | 77

Little pertinent North America news from Canada. St. Lawrence seaway shut down as workers go on strike. No cargo shipments, Montreal to Lake Erie (although port of NJ/NY picks up way way more anyway. Still)
https://globalnews.ca/news/10041501/st-lawrence-seaway-shut-down-strike/

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 22 2023 21:11 utc | 79

José Ortega y Gáset, who extensively studied philosophy in Germany, remarked that Edmund Husserl completes the historic arc of german idealism, and I think he is right.
Let’s view this arc from an angle that is asking about Wesen and Erscheinung – somewhat losely translating Wesen here as the (true) nature of a thing, while Erscheinung would be its corresponding appearance.
Immanuel Kant is probably the central figure of this tradition. I’ll point out two of his problems, both encompassed in his notorious Ding an Sich. The first one is related to perception of the “world” as it presumably relates to our sensory input and our mental makeup of this. While Kant does come up with the idea of Synthesis (what Husserl would call later synthetische Apperzeption), meaning our very ability to have perceptions of things at all, it turned out that his philosophy is unable to solve the so-called Immanenzproblem: how do we know about things if all we have is pure notion? — The other problem I’d like to point out is that Kant stated his belief that all true knowledge would, essentially, be mathematical. That turned out to be untrue with Goedel’s theorem and, of course, the quantum findings.
Hegel conflates Begriff and Bedeutung, or term/concept with that denounced by it, in his teleogical Weltgeist. Karl Marx turns Kants Immanenzproblem on its head. Schopenhauer errs in his attempt to establish pure realism. Schelling, the last original Vertreter, fails to save the naturalist presupposition.
Husserl does not actually solve the idealism/realism conundrum, but rather shows that the question has been the source of the problem all along. If you start out with a “world” ostensibly made out of eternal substance, you’re already viewing “things” without contemplating that someone has to see them before it makes sense to lend them any notion of reality; while viewing them [“in the mind’s eye”] has to accept that they’ve been given to us only after the fact, so to speak, of our own synthetic apperception.
It also turned out that synthetic apperception is indeed somehow a god-quality, our Buddha-Nature, our noetic potential as Aristotle said with one of the greatest words in all of philosophy. It can’t be engineered, simulated, or computed. Ever. Maths itself shows that it is impossible.
On a personal note, Hurrah to the bar! You’re great people here, and I am happy to join such a crowd of enthusiasts and philosophers from all walks of life. Unlike at the university, where stupid petty fights and even worse forms of vanity soured the place enough for me to keep pursuing an academic career.

Posted by: persiflo | Oct 22 2023 21:12 utc | 81

My bet is always that when war seems likely that the finance oligarchs will order the WH to stand down–but I could be wrong. We’ll see.
Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Oct 22 2023 21:06 utc | 39
The finance oligarchs are the ones whose interests are threatened most, and they fund the political class. The current escalation may be a bluff, but I doubt it. They might not go the full 9 yards as that would cost them ‘biggly’, but there’s a lot of yardage in between for them to maneuver.
As a leading light of the neocon cabal Micheal Ledeen boasted, “Creative destruction is our middle name.” Ordinary people should pay attention to what the establishment’s favored loons say.
One problem with the ultra rich is, their dictionary doesn’t include the word ‘Enough’. T

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 21:28 utc | 83

of course it was coming off the gold standard in 1971 or 72 which allowed the usa to spend all the money on wars in faraway places.. no wonder many want to see an end to the us$ as it would signify an end to usa imperialism..
Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 21:03 utc | 38
If the US was a responsible steward of the power which accompanies world reserve currency, there wouldn’t be so much anti American sentiment in the world. But as the US follows some sort of old time cowboy image of itself while it acts more like the prohibition era gangsters, their support base shrinks.
That they are now trying to emulate China’s BRI and convince the global south that they really mean it this time, is a clear sign of too little, too late. Empires tend to die off due to misconceptions of themselves, and losing faith both at home and abroad.
They completely lost their way when they de industrialized America for Wall Street’s parasites. See Mitt Romney Bain Capital and Delco Remy / Delphi for a prime example. And all the other Corporate raiders whose motivation was greed, not Patriotism. Expect another round of blood letting shortly, as was in 2008,
Gawd bless Amelica.

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 22:17 utc | 85

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Oct 22 2023 21:11 utc | 40
Trudeau went to a Mosque in Toronto recently, surely to sure up the Muslim immigrant vote, but it didn’t go so well.
He was hamstrung by his full throated support for Israel and had no answers for the crowd when asked if he supports killing pretty much anyone Israel disregards as having human rights in Gaza.
The boy who would be Emperor had no clothes.

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 22:34 utc | 87

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 21:28 utc | 42
I don’t see how the oligarchs as a whole benefit from a nuclear war or disruption of oil supplies. A deal is likely to be made to stop this insane drift towards WWIII. An example of a deal would be easing off on the Ukraine War in exchange for the ethnic cleansing of the territories under Israeli control and a guarantee of resettlement to some nice place that includes massive reparations for Palestinians who are cleansed. Also, a pledge that the US would stop its empire building.

Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Oct 22 2023 22:49 utc | 89

I don’t see how the oligarchs as a whole benefit from a nuclear war or disruption of oil supplies. A deal is likely to be made to stop this insane drift towards WWIII. An example of a deal would be easing off on the Ukraine War in exchange for the ethnic cleansing of the territories under Israeli control and a guarantee of resettlement to some nice place that includes massive reparations for Palestinians who are cleansed. Also, a pledge that the US would stop its empire building.
Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Oct 22 2023 22:49 utc | 45
As I wrote above, “They might not go the full 9 yards as that would cost them ‘biggly’, but there’s a lot of yardage in between for them to maneuver.”
As for a Palestine / Ukraine tradeoff, that would be a hard sell for the Sheiks of Araby. Public opinion in their hoods is definitely with the Palestinians.
“a guarantee of resettlement to some nice place that includes massive reparations for Palestinians who are cleansed.”
You’ve heard of the Minsk agreements?
Matt Daemon in the movie the Green Zone;
“What’s going to happen the next time we ask people to trust us?”

Posted by: bubbles | Oct 22 2023 23:06 utc | 91

I am starting to reread Tales of the Hasidimby Martin Buber. Chaim Potok, in the introduction I have, says that “…by the beginning of the eighteenth century…the [Polish]Jewish community lay in a torpor of congealed ritualism; and its most esteemed, the learning of Torah, became abstruse, elitist, and far removed from the grim realities and miseries of everyday existence … If learning is the exclusive path to God, how does one come to God when one is a shoemaker, a wagon driver, a water carrier; when one must work day and night and has little time for study?
The answer came from the Baal Shem Tov: Learning is not the only way to God. One can approach God through a life of fervor and exaltation experienced for the sake of heaven; through prayer and joy that transcend everyday existence and transform human suffering by embuing all of life with hope, purpose, sanctity, thereby raising earth to heaven, restoring the unity of creation, and redeeming the world.”

Posted by: juliania | Oct 22 2023 23:24 utc | 93

Adding to my post above, Buber, in his preface, gives as an example of that early hasidism the following:

A rabbi, whose grandfather had been a disciple of the Baal Shem, was asked to tell a story. “A story,” he said, “must be told in such a way that it constitutes help in itself.” And he told: “My grandfather was lame. Once they asked him to tell a story about his teacher. And he related how the holy Baal Shem used to hop and dance while he prayed. My grandfather rose as he spoke,and he was so swept away by his story that he himself began to hop and dance to show how the master had done. From that hour on he was cured of his lameness. That’s the way to tell a story!”

I give these two comments to offset our plunge into philosophical thoughts. It is Sunday, after all; time to rest from our labors. And maybe dance a little. It couldn’t hurt.

Posted by: juliania | Oct 22 2023 23:34 utc | 95

@ bubbles | Oct 22 2023 22:17 utc | 43
my analogy.. kids can lose their way and need parental guidance sometimes… this seems to be the case.. usa needs parental guidance, lol… i would say the same for my own country and many countries in the west… either that, or democracy is wafer thin and we aren’t getting much of any of it.. instead the politicians have sold out to the highest bidder and make it look like they are following some ethical or moral high ground when the opposite is clearly the case.. trudeau is a perfect case in point!
@ juliania | Oct 22 2023 23:24 utc | 47
not everyone can be a scholar.. the magic and beauty in life are available for all.. sometimes those who are ”learned” are also misguided.. i think that is especially the case today in the higher eductional systems which seem more designed to churn out people for high paying work, as opposed to actually learning something about life… i don’t mean to sound cynical.. i go back to my first 2 statements to you, lol..

Posted by: james | Oct 22 2023 23:39 utc | 97

Little Uschi von der Lying must be sure she’s back in the days when her Ladson ancestors owned the largest work slave force in the Confederate States.
The Aristocratic Ineptitude of Ursula Von Der Leyen

…Von der Leyen’s family tree traces a legacy of power and brutality, incorporating not only some of Germany’s most significant Nazis but also some of Britain’s largest slave traders and, through marriage, some of the United States’ largest slave owners. Von der Leyen is descended directly from James Ladson, who owned more than 200 slaves when the Civil War broke out…

One wonders if she’s ever heard of Marie Antoinette or the Romanov family?

Posted by: Refinnejenna | Oct 22 2023 23:40 utc | 99