Thanks b. I have been generating an itch over the months as to why we are allowed such latitude here.. I do feel that us ‘frogs’ are being pushed to boiling point on this fabulous site as The Great Narrative Wars on MoA in 2024 reach the culmination point.
Aka, The Sock Puppets Last Croak!
I’ll keep pondering along with whoever’s genuine voice and seeker of sense that sups at this oasis. Though the bar has many a shady character, who will always cheat at an honest game of poker and start a row to cover their Narrative Tracks.
Europe is being set on the tried and trusted course of conscription and body bags , sacrifice and hate, for the next generation’s to remember and rise again!
The future population requires children who can grow up knowing of some father, uncle/aunt, who lost their lives , minds or limbs in this coming futile escapade.
Futile because there is no prospect for Victory; it is being done just to prepare the Future Narratives of yet unborn ‘Westerners’. Many being diaspora’d in as migrants, because it will be their lands that will be invaded and they are needed to provide the shapeshifters cover.
It took a mere two generations to go from hating Germans and Japanese in the British Psyche, using cultural weapons as potents as any religious fear ever invented – to having memory holed that hatred , now we are partners! Nazis are good, Red Armt that beat the Nazis are bad! Orwell didn’t write warnings he wrote text books to follow. As did previous propagandists going back centuries. From the Bible to Marx to the Woke/Transhumanism/CarbonMalthusian dystopic pseudo sciences of today.
With the forced withdrawals of the 5+1 Eyes, from Africa looming daily larger and the intransigence by some South Americans, South East Asia, the ancient West and East Asians ( discounting the compromised SubContinent ) to kowtow to their old occupiers.
The sheepdogs of the ‘Left’ (so called ‘Socialists’) have been set off to make their great run – meanwhile the sheepdogs of the ‘Right’ are in place (mainstream media personality Morgan/Carlson) ready to bring the whole Red/Brown bridged masses to their willing slaughter of thousands of our ‘citizens serfs’.
The current, now middle aged, generation tasting bitter ashes on their tongues, having been raised to feast on the Great Prize Carcass of The Russian Federation , are to be punished by Our Masters, to sacrifice our children, as scapegoats, for us having failed to finally deliver their ages long desire.
Lord ‘call me Dave’ Cameroon , his bum chums, BozotheCloon, Macaroon , Sholtroon, fag hags, Bareback, Kallas and co and every unelected ‘leader’ Layen Nazi and Jungle Joseph, Stoolberg, Fascist ZionaziShits each and everyone for generations of their families, now running around the world spinning the plates of War.
Whilst they genocide Gaza as they did Guernica as a preparation of that famous last Fascist World War. Which was an existential Great Patriotic War by the actual target of the Fascists of the West.
Prepare for the madness and blood lust and say goodbye to your teenagers and twenty somethings; who have been raised to have no prospects, but join up in some self delusional Great Cause! On behalf of their ancient OverLords.
I know we are being escalated BECAUSE yesterday the first shout of an ANTI-WAR campaign in preparation for the coming General Elections was raised! It’s back to the future of 2002.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 20 2024 15:01 utc | 4

One of the great things about the great European Farmers’ revolt is its relentless character.
Hardly a day passes by without some group of hard working people from some European country getting in the face of authorities, media and society with their urgent plight.
Long gone are the days when the MSM tried so hard to present the agricultural fight as mere ‘demands for more subsidy’.
Today everyone understands that the escalating protests are against the failed, crippling EU environmental regulations that threaten the very existence of the food producers.
In the case of the Polish farmers there is another specific demand against cheap, unregulated food imports from neighboring Ukraine.
After the epic general strike about two weeks ago, the Polish farmers are out in force again, this time not concentrated as an army, but peppered around the country in around 600 different protests.
The farmers again blocked roads with tractors and flares, and took their message to the whole wide world.
Reuters reported:
“Placards depicted a farmer swinging from a gallows next to wind farms and an EU-emblazoned executioner with the words: ‘Green Deal equals death of Polish agriculture’.”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/03/relentless-revolt-polish-farmers-stage-600-protests-day/

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 15:44 utc | 6

There are frequent derogatory references to “the Left” on this site, and practically everywhere else, most of which don’t describe what I understand to be Leftist. Instead, these posters are really slagging the whole culturally Woke phenomenon, sometimes with good reason. While I may have sympathy for some of their ideas, their manifestation as a movement is stifling thought and dialogue and keeping people who likely have common cause separated.
Anyway, I stumbled upon The Michael Parenti Collection on Spotify the other day and wanted to recommend it to other barflies. Parenti is authentically left. Go have a listen to some of his lectures. In addition to being brilliant, they are funny, which I place a high value on.
Posted by: KMRIA | Mar 20 2024 14:07 utc | 2
Not to worry, K. There are a good number of barflies who can see through the imperial propaganda that has convinced the ignorant that the “left” is only concerned with promoting idpol to divide the wage slaves against themselves, trans rights, promoting imperialist war, promoting Zionist genocide of Palestinians and enriching woke billionaires at the expense of the broad masses.
Parenti was helpful in my political development. I remember him fondly, but in the current era, what is required is a return to Marx, Lenin, Trotsky and the victory of the Bolsheviks. We are now in an era of open class warfare. All new wars begin with a return to what was most effective in the last. That’s true for politics as well.
Cheers!

Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 20 2024 15:53 utc | 8

@Posted by: Roger | Mar 20 2024 16:00 utc | 9
And Private Equity Buying Up Accounting Practices. What Could Go Wrong? The Health Industry Gives Some Ideas
Extractive capitalism is a cancer that is devouring the power base of the US, private equity is only its worst manifestation.

Posted by: Roger | Mar 20 2024 16:03 utc | 10

A creative interpretation of a TASS post conveying the words of Putin: what if… Belgorod Region was like also BR which would be Brazil? And what if “regions bordering Ukraine” were also something like Mexico, Cuba??
It’s just that, if that double meaning was in effect, Putin would be making some very strong (admittedly, concealed) statements, that’s all.
https://tass.com/defense/1762709

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 20 2024 16:10 utc | 12

Re: Geopolitics/The Existential Threat Facing Humanity
First step in any problem solving situation involves: Defining/understanding the problem. Towards that end, I suggest the following as part of a definition:
Contrary to popular views – humanity is definitely, naturally designed to follow an evolutionary trajectory. This is as natural as the four seasons. Due to our ignorance, we the people of the west are very divided. Our two hands are constantly fighting each other. Apparently a few families have been western ruling elites for centuries- who intentionally keep us divided – to help them cling to power. Perhaps a strategy of “Divide, distract & conquer” is their favorite & historically their most effective. Perhaps they have managed to blackmail, bribe or honeytrap 99% of the people they & their minions have targeted. If so, it seems that they must be freaking out these days – as their old world falls apart – old tried & true solutions working less & less, more whistleblowers, more clairvoyant people who see thru them & the Big Lies of their minions.
So, clearly one hand wants to cooperate respectfully with others and work for the greater good of the whole, like members of an educated, loving, very functional family – with justice, truth, freedom, prosperity & peace for all. It has developed systems that are good for everyone & is leading the way.
The other hand is very twisted, devolutionary and is having none of that. It wants to rule the other hand & thinks endless wars/violence, big lies, with many dirty tricks is the only way to proceed — that ridiculous, neurotic, hellish chaos is fun. It can be compared to a cancerous tumor that’s making the whole body sick. Those who are driving the: US/UK/NATO/Ukraine/Israel have been behaving like barbarians.

“The first philosophical element of BRICS is: the world is multi-polar, the game is non-zero sum, and the means are mutual understanding and cooperation….
The second philosophical element… is to work through international bodies like the UNO, rather than through mechanisms of a particular nation or group of nations…. The third philosophical element of BRICS is gradualism and incremental change. BRICS abhors hasty action, or any change wrought by violence, impinging on a country’s independence and sovereignty.”
The Philosophy of the BRICS, Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Apr 2013
The clamoring of the ignorant ones does not hinder
construction by the new people.
They who know, conquer.
The Teacher
Evolution ever climbing after some ideal good
And Reversion ever dragging Evolution in the mud.
Alfred Tennyson
If men understood the plan of evolution, instead of working each for his own personal ends they would all join together as a community and work harmoniously for the good of all with mutual tolerance and forbearance. It is obvious that if this were done all of these evils… could very shortly be removed.
C.W. Leadbeater
We must embrace international cooperation or international disintegration. Science has taught us how to put the atom to work. But to make it work for good instead of for evil lies in the domain dealing with the principles of human dignity. We are now facing a problem more of ethics than of physics.
Bernard Baruch
Together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in its flames. Save it we can — and save it we must — and then shall we earn the eternal thanks of mankind and, as peacemakers, the eternal blessing of God.
John F. Kennedy
Forces which act against each other are mutually destroyed. Forces which act along parallel lines in the same direction manifest the sum of these energies, and forces which act separately are weakened, according to the angle of their divergency…. This fundamental law of physics is also a fundamental law of cooperation.
The Teacher (as quoted by Helena Roerich)

Honorable men & women do not support habitual liars, nor do they barbarians who think genocide, endless war, & big lies are ok. Honorable women & men do what they can to get the ship on an even keel.

Posted by: Toby C | Mar 20 2024 16:14 utc | 14

Pepe Escobar re-Tweeted a post by Simplicius:
“A representative of the Deutsches Freiwilligkorps (German Volunteer Corps) said on the group’s official page that a pan-German and pro-Ukrainian unit is fighting in the Belgorod region against Russian border guards and ground forces.”
(Seriously?!? I know this belongs Ukraine but I’m wondering about the Battle of the Atlantic right now. … seriously?!?)
Last word to Jens Stoltenberg (then I’m done for the day ):
https://x.com/jensstoltenberg/status/1770044666806763945
“Good to meet @President_Arm Khachaturyan & PM @NikolPashinyan in Yerevan. I look forward to strengthening #NATO’s partnership with #Armenia. Peace & stability in the South Caucasus matters to security more broadly; I encourage 🇦🇲 & 🇦🇿 to seize the opportunity for enduring peace.”
Sigh.

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 20 2024 16:24 utc | 16

“…the “Bolshevik Revolution” was financed by Wall Street magnate Jacob Schiff who put up $20 MM dollars towards the event; The City also sent money for the Revolution.” canuck@ 13
This is utter nonsense, part of a mythology invented by White Russian emigres and taken up by Nazis in order to promote their cause which, while purporting to criticise capitalism, in fact was the most extreme defence of that system ever mounted.
At the core of this drivel is the anti semitic lie that Jews form a bridge between financiers and communists.
I would not normally bother to contradict this sort of stupidity but this thread began with a discussion of trolls and bots working (or auditioning) for the ruling class and ‘canuck’ is a prime example of this evolving parody of humanity.
The purpose of ‘canuck”s constant re-iteration of antique antisemitic conspiracy theories is to derail discussion and debate among honest and sincere readers genuinely looking for enlightenment and therefore enlightening others. As to his motives they are irrelevant what they add up to is a series of interruptions designed to prevent the community here from reaching a consensus on how to respond to political challenges.
In that respect ‘canuck’s’ motives are very clear: he believes in cyclical historical movement, providentially dispensed in which umanity is incapable of self government and fated to rely on ‘leaders’ ambitious for power and wealth to take them by the scruff of the neck and tell them what to do. In a word canuck is a fascist looking for work.

Posted by: bevin | Mar 20 2024 16:37 utc | 18

@ Scorpion, Canuck, KMRIA … others
You asked Scorpion, I know only a little bit more but it isn’t yet in the public domain and I don’t want to risk compromising how I know. But this should help explain much I hope.
Start here – the controlled Marxists. Just one of the many controlled groups of the Crown for generations.
They used to call themselves Militant – an agitprop unit within the postwar Labour Party that did much to poison the minds of real Labour voters from the Bottom up, and let Maggie in by allowing the supporters to march to Murdochs Prurient RedTop rag and satellite TV capture of their eyeballs with capture of the tribal religion of football; whilst the quisling leadership of the post Wilson Labour Party did their best to destroy its reputation from the Top and split the party with the SDP breakaway group.
Interesting times we lived through in these Very British Coup years.
https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/122537/20-03-2024/ukraine-war-drags-on-as-putin-gains-upper-hand/
You may or may not choose to note how the tone of the fake socialists, but very real Marxists – changes from us the peoples to the evil Russians and Chinese.
I’ll point some of it out, it is how wormtonguery works:
‘the Putin regime, which has sought to widen its authority and influence in the so-called ‘Global South’. As part of its new alignment with China, which is now tacitly supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow and Beijing falsely project themselves as being on the side of the oppressed everywhere, including the Palestinians.’
‘below the surface, opposition to Putin’s regime is developing. The response to opposition figures’ calls last weekend for voters to show up and cast their ballots, at the same time, as a show of rejection of Putin’s foregone re-election, reportedly involved some thousands. How and when a serious, sustained struggle against Putin’s rule develops and becomes a more powerful social revolt, is unclear, at this stage. Working class leadership and socialist policies will be key to the success of such a movement.’
‘demands for peace can grow in Russia..’
‘ Should the situation on the battlefield begin to turn against Russian forces or is bogged down still further, the mood in Russia can begin to change significantly, and Putin can be forced to cease the Russian military campaign. At a certain stage, Putin can face the prospect of being removed or overthrown. The character of the regime that would replace Putin is also uncertain and depends on how the war and events unfold.’
‘As we enter the third year of mass slaughter in Ukraine, it is clear more than ever that the working classes of Ukraine and Russia and the region need their own independent voice. Zelensky and Putin both lead right-wing nationalist regimes dominated by oligarchs. Neither acts in the interests of working-class people, yet the labouring masses are expected to be the endless cannon fodder for the war.’
—————
See?
The capture of Stop The War which was at one time a real grassroots movement was complete by 2002- which along with the captured Daily Mirror by ZionKing Maxwell and his Mossad capos being handed to arch Murdoch wonderboy big hitter Piers Morgan – basically was the point that all hope was demolished of a return to a postwar social contract.
From 70’s to 00’s the Trente Glorious were buried and forgotten and a return to never ending war started with the aim of finally gaining EurAsia and the whole global south.
As I say this is not the first time I am seeing such a setting off on a wild goose chase to restore Public Services and Protest against Austerity and War – which has always ended up doing the opposite.
This time they have even been able to salt the ground with the gold of Galloway’s ‘protest vote’ win against Zionazis mass murder in Gaza.
Are you going to buy the daily Narratives as they escalate not just in the USA but here in the U.K. and across Europe and the controlled Collective Waste?
I’m not.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 20 2024 16:49 utc | 20

A historian passed by this bar and explains it better than i can. But since the ignorance is so great, i summarize:
part of the Yiddish people entered (1917-) to be part of the Bolshevik ruling class, another part went to America and triumphed there, and another part, a group of terrorists and fascist fanatics founded (1917-) “our colonial project” (Vladimir Jabotinsky)

Posted by: Simon | Mar 20 2024 17:05 utc | 22

Today everyone understands that the escalating protests are against the failed, crippling EU environmental regulations that threaten the very existence of the food producers.
Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 15:44 utc | 6
of course Americans forget, if they ever knew, that European agriculture would not have survived, if it weren’t for EU subsidies. Why should an American living in Mexico know anything about what happens in Europe (citing with approval s.o. else’s remark)?

Posted by: laguerre | Mar 20 2024 17:13 utc | 24

Anybody here actually live in Russia ?
What is your breakdown of the Russian national debt. Who actually holds Russian bonds ?
Most countries produce a chart showing who actually holds the national debt as savings.
For example in the UK you get something like this
https://new-wayland.com/blog/gilt-issues-considered-harmful/
What’s Russia’s breakdown ?
Thanks in advance.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 20 2024 17:38 utc | 26

The United States currently has no plans to deploy an intervention force to Haiti. It has been done before like the action in 2004 with a deployment of 1,000 Marines followed by handing over responsibilities to a UN peacekeeping force. The neglect this time raises questions for me about possible malign intentions.
My theory goes this way. The ongoing turmoil in Haiti will lead to a surge in Haitians attempting to flee to Florida by sea. A large number will flee as long as the Coast Guard is ordered to back off and stop repatriations at mid-sea. Given Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status, which prevents deportations back to Haiti once Haitians land in the US, the arrival of significant numbers of Haitians in Florida would be a big logistical challenge. Florida state patrols to try to control where Haitian boats dock will probably lead to the capsizing of a boat. If Florida patrol boats contribute to a situation that ends in a mass drowning, the media and Democrats would be able to use the incident for a big narrative showing white supremacy is alive and well in the United States in 2024. So I think the absence of a US intervention force in Haiti might be someone’s complex multi-sequence plan in the White House to show America is racist.

Posted by: oterobots | Mar 20 2024 17:45 utc | 28

It is amazing they actually get away with calling it the national debt. Orwell would be spinning in his grave.
When it is really in the main national savings.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Mar 20 2024 17:53 utc | 30

I am flabbergasted.
Posted by: canuck | Mar 20 2024 17:42 utc | 28

When they can’t debate you on facts, they resort to slurs.
I’m always amused how the far-Left are so ready to sling around the term “fascism” as an insult. It’s like Ted Bundy dismissing someone as a “murderer”.
As appalling as fascism is, its death counts pale in comparison to communists’.
Note: not that I’m calling you a fascist, I hasten to add.

Posted by: Observer | Mar 20 2024 18:19 utc | 32

Sorry I forgot to provide link on second DoD document:
https://irp.fas.org/doddir/dod/d5210_56.pdf

Posted by: bill wolfe | Mar 20 2024 19:02 utc | 34

Posted by: Bruised Northerner | Mar 20 2024 14:34 utc | 3
As a Canadian of Greek descent, I am embarrassed by the state of both vassal nations 🙁

Posted by: Chris N | Mar 20 2024 19:33 utc | 36

Posted by: Chris N | Mar 20 2024 19:33 utc | 37
Geoffrey Pyatt is the US ambassador to Greece. He did a bang up job in Ukraine. I guess this is his next gig.

Posted by: lex talionis | Mar 20 2024 19:36 utc | 38

Posted by: KMRIA | Mar 20 2024 14:07 utc | 2
I see myself politically as centre/left over the last 40 years or so. What purports to be “the Left” today has very different values than what I learned in the past. Corporatism will adjust to whatever ideology suits its ends. For a period of time it was conservatism that was useful – I found it interesting how many blue collar people fell for the right wing propaganda. Of late, corporatism coopted leftist/progressive values stripping them of meaning while using them to keep people at odds with each other. Until society develops some type of collective reflection and self-awareness, we’ll be at the mercy of groupthink.

Posted by: Chris N | Mar 20 2024 19:47 utc | 40

Lots of work today. In a repeat of his post-election meeting with the other presidential candidates I already reported about, “Amazing (for the West) Post Election Meeting of Russia’s Presidential Candidates at Kremlin”, Putin held a meeting with the members of the various Parliamentary factions, “Post-Election Meeting with Heads of Parliamentary Factions”. More substantive discussion of Russia’s development plan and info about the structural change in Russia’s government thanks to the constitutional referendum are amongst the topics discussed. Duma Speaker Volodin makes a very insightful comment about the nature of the Outlaw US Empire’s “democracy” barflies will want to read. Those two talks were expanded on today at a meeting the Kremlin called, “Meeting with Trusted Persons,” which I’ll make available in a few hours.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 20 2024 19:54 utc | 42

LMAO nice to see KMRIA’s question well answered before I added my 2 pence.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 20 2024 20:13 utc | 44

@bevin – I appreciate your contributions, but you seem to sheepdog for the jews an awful lot.
1 jews controlling a lot of world banking (and govts)
2 jews being a majority of the Bolsheviks
3 jews being very networky

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 20 2024 20:24 utc | 46

…
Are you going to buy the daily Narratives as they escalate not just in the USA but here in the U.K. and across Europe and the controlled Collective Waste?
I’m not.
Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 20 2024 16:49 utc | 20
Well said!
On the other hand, my own respect for VV Putin has grown from the observation that he’s not a bullshit artiste – unlike the bribed and blackmailed ‘leaders’ in the Christian Colonial West.

Posted by: Hoarsewhisperer | Mar 20 2024 20:31 utc | 48

Left. Right..
The meaning depends on who is using them.
For example, ‘right-leaning’ Americans describe leftists generally as those who favour Big Government with State ruling over all whilst reducing the power and wealth of those above who generally exploit in favour of those below who are generally exploited, tend to favour censorship of opposing views, regard those against big government as a combination of fascist and/or rules-disrespecting bandits.
Question for the serious leftists here:
What about my description above of leftists do you agree or disagree with?
And what is your basic/preferred definition of Left?

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 20:35 utc | 50

The official religion of this empire, the latest version of the empire of the Romans, is Biblical Fascism.
Question: Why the brutal and fanatic Zionist regime can make a colossal slaughter of civilian population and go to sing at Eurovision (from which the Russians were excluded)
Answer: Because Roman “faces”, Domination, slaughter, fascism and colonialism are “our shared values”, what Zionists and Christian servile call “Judeo-Christianity”.

Posted by: Simon | Mar 20 2024 20:48 utc | 52

A
A classical “liberal” in the Spanish sense, which is where the word comes from (ca. 1814-1833) is a rare thing: Ron Paul.
A “conservative” is also very rare: Pat Buchanan in 1992 and in 2003.
A “leftist” is something very rare: some British Labour member before being crucified by the saducean priestly aristocracy of the city-Temple.

Posted by: Simon | Mar 20 2024 20:59 utc | 54

I jump on at breakfast to find that Ahenobarnus and Bevin have already cleared the table and taken out the garbage 😂
Ahenobarbus: yes, we all need to read Marx carefully afresh without the baggage of the last century. We need to hear his voice clearly again.
Bevin: yes, Canuck is a cretinous troll who picks up fragments and splinters of knowledge like a hobo picks up old cigs off the sidewalk. He mistakes the smoke for bon mots but he’s not bright enough to know his limitations—which are profound. He is, however, just a rather boring common-or-garden conspiracy peddler.
Two texts in a parallel life: Marc Bloch and Walter Benjamin. They were the same age, both wrote reflections on History in the shadow of Nazi occupied Europe, both believed that the historian’s metier must be more than analysing the past, and become the job of intervening in the present—praxis. (I can here Canuck pipe in here: “and they were both jews! Gotcha Patroklos!” BFD).

Posted by: Patroklos | Mar 20 2024 21:09 utc | 56

The first political axis is the justification of power:
Barbarism vs. Civilization.
Some say that power is power and that there is nothing more exciting than the satanic: the bloody primordial horde that worships itself.
Others say that power is justified by recognizing as Citizenship the population of the dominated territory (and enough of the lying Zionist trick of saying: -the Warsaw Ghetto has an autonomous administration and therefore we do not control it).

Posted by: Simon | Mar 20 2024 21:14 utc | 58

@Posted by: bevin | Mar 20 2024 16:37 utc | 18
Well said, it is so annoying having to wade through the reams of utter nonsense and propaganda spread by a few commentators, together with the arguing in bad faith, to get at the nuggets provided by the core commentators who make this blog useful.

Posted by: Roger | Mar 20 2024 21:41 utc | 60

‘Shpilkin method’: Statistical tool gauges voter fraud in Putin landslide

“Around 22 million ballots officially in favour of Vladimir Putin were falsified,” said the Russian investigative journalism website Meduza [!], which interviewed Russian electoral analyst Ivan Shukshin.
“Around 22 million ballots officially in favour of Vladimir Putin were falsified,” said the Russian investigative journalism website Meduza, which interviewed Russian electoral analyst Ivan Shukshin.
Important Stories [!], another investigative news website, gave a similar number, estimating that 21.9 million false votes were cast for the incumbent president.
The opposition media outlet Novaya Gazeta [!] Europe came up with an even bigger number, claiming that 31.6 million ballots were falsified in Putin’s favour.
That figure “corresponds to almost 50 percent of all the votes cast in the president’s favour, according to the Central Election Commission [Putin received 64.7 million votes]”, said Jeff Hawn, a Russia expert at the London School of Economics [BWAHAhah

ahahahahahaaaaa

The three news outlets all used the same algorithmic method to estimate the extent of voter fraud. It is named after Russian statistician Sergey Shpilkin, who developed it a decade ago.
Shpilkin’s work analysing Russian elections has won him several prestigious independent awards in Russia, including the PolitProsvet [“Enlightener”] prize for electoral research awarded in 2012 by the Liberal Mission Foundation. However, he has also made some powerful enemies by denouncing electoral fraud. In February 2023, Shpilkin was added to Russia’s list of “foreign agents”.

liberal.ru | “Maximally favorable conditions for fraud”: Amendments to the election law will legalize manipulation of electronic voting
ESTIMATE THIS: # of dropped calls from EU, US, JP, AU to liberal.ru

Posted by: sln2002 | Mar 20 2024 21:59 utc | 62

“..Also, the Russian Revolution was not intended, nor did it result in the break up of the Soviet Union. ..”
Posted by: Ahenobarbus | Mar 20 2024 19:36 utc | 38
Well that bit of ignorance, deflates your credibility.

Posted by: Ново З | Mar 20 2024 22:08 utc | 64

@Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 20:35 utc | 51

And what is your basic/preferred definition of Left?

There is only one definition. Historically the left side of parliaments was occupied by reformists and progressists, while the right side by conservatives. In XVIII century England the Whigs pushed for reforming the royal prerogative, for conceding greater religious liberties etc., while the Tories were more cautious: both those factions were aristocratic. At the end of the XVIII century, after the American and French revolutions, the left side of parliaments was occupied by liberals, roughly the expression of the bourgeoisie, and the right side by conservatives (even those who were “left” a few decades earlier). Then emerged the socialists to the left of the liberals; the liberals split in many groups, the radical liberals (or radicals) to the left of the liberal spectrum, but to the right of socialists. Then the socialists split in socialists and communists (and other groups). Then emerged the Christian democratic parties, usually to the left of the liberals, and the fascists, to the right of the liberals.
Now, in the USA, thanks to McCarthyism, the leftmost party is a liberal party, which would usually be a rightwing party in most of the rest of the world. The left and right of the American mainstream political spectrum are, respectively, the right (neoliberals) and the extreme right (neocons) of the rest of the world.
Look at the Russian parliament (which is considered pretty conservative), from left to right you have: Communists, Socialists (“A Just Russia” party), Putin’s catch-all party, Liberal Democrats, other liberals (“New Party”), and finally neoliberals (“Party of Growth”) to the extreme right. There starts the American political spectrum.

Posted by: SG | Mar 20 2024 22:18 utc | 66

There’s going to be a great opportunity for the US in coming years – using immigrants.
Nations such as Ukraine, Taiwan and South Korea (and others, most of Europe) despite their proud cultures can’t impregnate women so as to ….well, exist. The US has plenty of immigrants flooding in who can be coerced into the military (as in, food and shelter)
So, not only can “barbarians” suppress rioting US citizens, they can be shipped out to “defend vital interests” in wars the Senate barely knows about.

Posted by: Eighthman | Mar 20 2024 22:33 utc | 68

In scrolling through this thread one thing that stands out and has only become noticeable with the SMO blowins is the left and right garbage.
And it comes from those using left or leftists as a term and an argument. American McCarthyism.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2024 22:56 utc | 70

Posted by: canuck | Mar 20 2024 17:42 utc | 28
Re: The Maidan coup….the left/leftists? Which actors in that series of events represented “the left”? John McStain? Vicky Nuland? I’m dying to know.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:12 utc | 72

Posted by: SG | Mar 20 2024 22:18 utc | 67 and bevin, various:
Exactly. Americans and other “westerners” who consume American/UK style corporate propaganda as “news” or “analysis” rarely understand that EVERYTHING they read starts from a place on any political/economic spectrum best described as “center right” or better yet, “arch finance capitalist.”
What pundits and editors in the US/UK call “the left” is simply the hamstrung, kneecapped, castrated portion of the middle class (or what’s left of it, pardon the pun) consumer class who themselves can’t see the real issue is class inequality and not identity (at least insofar as how it’s packaged and sold) which is at the core of (a feature, not a bug) of the capitalist system. Bankers and corporations figured this out a long time ago and it actually benefits them to have a lepht contingent of consumers and debt-entrapped “dissenters” who are actually perfectly happy with the current system of finance/debt dominated economics and imperialist destruction abroad so long as their personal grievances (which isn’t to say none are valid, but in a way not grasped by them) are at least acknowledged, most often at the expense of real class awareness and whatever actions should be taken to redress the inequality.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:19 utc | 74

LOL and now I see mention of “the Holodomor” which was a fraudulent Holocaust Industry (see: Finkelstein) PR campaign cooked up in Cold War Canada to simultaneously memory hole atrocities committed by the same Nazis so warmly embraced in that country, and the “free and democratic west” as a whole – and – to create a new anti-communist narrative fairy tale for the purpose of indoctrinating the children.
It has served the Imperial Propagandists and Banderites well in the wake of the Maidan coup, I might add.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:24 utc | 76

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 23:27 utc | 78
I’ve read more on “The Holodomor” than likely anyone here save a few, such as bevin. What does “Russia” have to do with it? The “genocide” insofar as it is labeled “The Holodomor” is specific to Ukraine and leaves out the several other regions of the USSR (such as the ‘Stans’) which were also subject to the famine.
Nobody is arguing that such a famine didn’t occur, but the entire basis of the “Holodomor” fairy tale is that it was intentional, directed only at Ukraine (which itself is plainly ridiculous assuming you know the demographics), and didn’t affect any other regions of the USSR.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:30 utc | 78

‘canuck
I wrote quote a long comment in reply to your last at the week in review thread. Thought it had posted but has not. You have have seen where I was coming from or maybe not have agreed with it. But it didn’t post and have lost the lot. May try writing it again at some point.”
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2024 21:59 utc | 64
Peter I read every post you make, you have enlightened me, countless times.
Sometimes our ideas are inimical-but that doesn’t subtract from the respect have for you and most of your posts[canuk is on his third Duvel, he’s becoming rather sentimental, editor].
And I get personal as well occasionally; it’s human nature yet I detest myself for my primitive, emotional, selfish reaction.
b has created a robust mostly uncensored , forum for ideas; crazy ideas; conservatives ideas; any ideas-God Bless Him.

Posted by: canuck | Mar 20 2024 23:36 utc | 80

Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:24 utc | 77
The holodomor was a mid sixties American invention. That can even be found in wikipedia. The Soviet famine of 32/33 however was real. From what I can make of it, the problem were caused by replacing educated people capable of administration with uneducated people. Both the Russian revolution and Chinese revolution had the element of class warfare so that even educated people who had supported the revolution were at the best sidelined for a time. Sending the educated people out into the fields and more or less illiterate peasants in positions of administration.
In the case of the Soviet famine, they apparently on used the last two years of crop yield to determine quotas, How much was required in the crop growing areas for local use and seed, how much was required in the cities and the remainder determined the amount could be exported.
This also occurred at the same time as the nationalizing of farming.
Although the crop did not fail completely, it was much lower than the previous two years.
In the turbulence of any major revolution there will be also mistakes, teething problems, not to mention an element of paranoia along the way. These are all part and parcel of massive upheaval and turmoil that are part and parcel of many revolutions.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2024 23:39 utc | 82

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2024 23:39 utc | 83
I should have been more careful in how I characterized the Medium.com article I linked above at #82. I highly recommend that anyone interested in the “Holodomor” fraud read the whole thing. Gareth Jones and his reporting only accounts for about 1/10th of the piece and it’s an excellent historical breakdown of what was really going on in the USSR at the time, all in one place (with copious supporting links). –

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:42 utc | 84

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 20:35 utc | 51
I cannot give you a simplistic answer but i will answer your question because i think it IS important.
There is no simple left or right, but rather a pack of ideologies/philosophies that often but not always run together. For each individual, the importance they place on them will vary and determine their final position on the left/right spectrum.
The first issue is “democracy”. The original split was between monarchists and those who wanted to control the power of the king.
So on the extreme right are those who support absolute monarchy and the extreme left “communists who want absolute equality in all decision making. In the post wwII era most of western Europe, Australia, Canada and NZ were fairly genuine democracies. The USA a little less so because of black oppression in the South. Ditto Australia, but since the actual numbers of oppressed/excluded indigenous Australians was small, it operated largely as a genuine democracy. Societies originally built of democratic concepts such as the USSR had morphed into autocratic states while as the years progressed and real differences between parties shrunk, the concept of actual democracies even in the west has faded. Monarchists and those advocating dictatorship or rule by some sort of “elite” are by definition on the right IN THIS CRITERION, while those supporting genuine democratic choice are on the left.
The second issue which generally but not always runs with democracy is social/economic equity. Those supporting income support or equalization are almost by definition on the left, while those advocating corporate control or rule by the rich are on the right
So those advocationg public education, free health care, higher wages, taxation systems that tend towards the rich paying more, public control of essential utilities, pensions of various kinds, are by definition on the left.
These first two are critical. I have to go out now but will add comments on other factors when I return. Other factors are: attitude towards minorities, tolerance of social behaviours, religion, nationalism, environmentalism, right to free speech,

Posted by: watcher | Mar 20 2024 23:44 utc | 86

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:30 utc | 79
So I take it you refuse to read the accounts by a journalist on the scene in both Russia and Ukraine because Ukraine has nothing to do with Russia? Like Stalin’s jurisdiction ended there?
What are you afraid of, Tom Q Collins? It’s just words on pages written from 1930 – 1933 by someone who was actually there.
Which you were not!

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 23:48 utc | 88

I see. You prefer to read somebody else’s opinion about Gareth Jones rather than reading the man himself.
‘Nuff said. End of discussion.
Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 20 2024 23:50 utc | 90
You make a bigger fool out of yourself every day with this ‘take my ball and go home’ crap, Scorpion. You clearly didn’t read the Medium article. Within the article I linked are links to …. WAIT FOR IT….GARETH JONES’ own writings on the topic.
To wit: I am familiar with Gareth Jones. How could I not be if I’d read as much on the topic as I mentioned to begin with? I’ve already read those and the other writing he did on “The Holodomor.”

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:54 utc | 90

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 20 2024 19:54 utc | 43
Thank you very much, karlof1! Doesn’t it all make you want to roll up your sleeves and get to work in the US? So much to do – we are so far behind!! That is the kinds of parties and ‘factions’ that every government ought to have. And they see it as an ongoing process from the beginning of WW2 onward. That is because that is how far back living memory now stretches. It simplifies a lot of arguments to keep what needs to be done within the living memory of all involved.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 20 2024 23:55 utc | 92

Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 20 2024 23:44 utc | 86
Not so much the educated people. In Ukraine it was the Kulaks, the small farmers owned several hectares that opposed nationalization. It seems there was crop burnings and so forth associated with this. In Kazakhstan it seems to be the semi nomadic herders opposed having their grazing lands turned into croplands.
But what actually caused the famine in the crop growing areas was the administrators of farm and farm produce nationalization. They seem to have totally disregarded actual crop yields, instead believing people were hiding grain, and remained determined to send out the quotas for the cities and export.
The truly stupid part about the American Holodomor was that a Ukrainian was in overall charge of the nationalizing of farms and farm produce, and in Ukraine, it was a Ukrainian that had overall charge in that SSR.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 20 2024 23:56 utc | 94

In other news, allegedly Assange’s legal team has put forth (or is considering) a plea deal.
https://news.antiwar.com/2024/03/20/report-justice-department-considering-plea-deal-for-assange/
Even if he were to accept, the damage would be done. The chilling effect would be codified and cemented for all journalists and leakers/whistle blowers into the future.

Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Mar 21 2024 0:05 utc | 96

Posted by: watcher | Mar 20 2024 23:44 utc | 87
Thank you. Quite clear. Looking forward to more.
@ Tom: I saw your subsequent comment about your article not being only about Gareth Jones. I will try to read through it although
a) Gareth didn’t write about the Holodomor (a later term) though he did break the story about the famine. He wrote about Russia.
b) He went over a great fan of both Russia and communism. He left entirely disillusioned based on what he witnessed in Russia whose entire society and system he witnessed. After his reportage about the famine he was forbidden entry to Russia again – which he knew would happen once he slipped his minders to witness the famine first hand – but then he was put on a secret police list and almost certainly murdered by them a couple of years later. Note: they seldom murder journalists for telling lies; they often murder them for telling the truth.
I have no interest at all in the debate about the Holodomor or communism versus capitalism versus fascism, regarding all three notions as deeply misleading by design. My interest is how ideologically driven regimes tend towards totalitarianism with mass murder because I fear the same will soon be happening in Western nations.
Just as the terms left and right now mutually confuse, so an (asymmetrically executed) revolution today will look nothing like the Russian one in 1917. But the result will be similar: some sort of ideology overthrowing normalcy; those not conforming will be ostracized, stripped of rights and later mass murdered. Already underway, it seems.
Though sincerely hope am wrong!

Posted by: Scorpion | Mar 21 2024 0:11 utc | 98

Refinnejenna | Mar 21 2024 0:09 utc | 98
There was much good in the communist revolution in the Russian empire. The changes to farming did end the regular famines. But I do see that there were teething problems in initial implementation.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 21 2024 0:23 utc | 100