Thanks b.
The UK media have doubled down on the anti China, anti Russia propaganda. The level of dehumanisation achieved is apparent by the lack of empathy or sympathy to the people of Moscow in the aftermath of the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack.
Thanks for the Peter Oborne piece. A giant of journalism with principles, he could no longer stand the lying of UK corporate media.

Posted by: Lev Davidovich | Mar 25 2024 8:53 utc | 103

“I note that you do not practise the doctrines-regarding ad hominems and the folly of insulting those whose arguments you cannot refute- that you so regularly rehearse.”
Posted by: bevin | Mar 24 2024 23:00 utc | 64
Kindly please give me am example of my ad hominens to other posters.
In my opinion it is your chronic ‘go to’ tool as witnessed later in your same post:
“This inability to live by the rules that you [canuk] so gaily apply to others extends to your refusal to understand that you are far more the victim of ideology than most posters here: the fact that you don’t realise that swallowing everything that you read and cut and paste from the internet are indications of your enslavement to the ideology of capitalism is something that you ought to think about.
But I suspect that to do so would break the habits of a lifetime of getting by without questioning those in authority and spouting conventional wisdom.
Do everyone a favour and stop pretending to know anything about, for example, Marx or the history of the Soviet Union. In the time you save by posting rather than trolling you can read books on the subjects. You will then be in a position to comment on them.”
It’s all personal with no factual argument provided.
kindly please stick to topics as that is what this forum is all about and its is b’s wish: your ad hominems only hurt your own credibility and crowd out whatever factual arguments you may possess..
Have a nice day.

Posted by: canuck | Mar 25 2024 9:41 utc | 105

Whereever went the leadership of BLM, the movement has sparked people to struggle continually to gain political power on the local level. Efforts continue to hold police accountable, and even though abusive practices continue, there is pushback and sometimes accountability. City councils are vulnerable to citizen takeover regarding various social issues. Progressive DA’s which right wingers hate are working to lower the incarceration rate for nonviolent crime like low level property theft (sorry about that). The issues that inspired people to take actions by going into the streets in the face of intimidation by police are being fought on a local institutional level. And there are other positive ramifications of the BLM and other movements.

Posted by: Lavieja | Mar 25 2024 10:51 utc | 107

Sorry Peter AU1, I meant to say, “I agree with you fully”

Posted by: Menz | Mar 25 2024 11:16 utc | 109

Lavieja @106: “…you can’t fairly or correctly blame these movements for the response of the fascist state to them.”
What response?
Compare the extensive and supportive coverage of the BLM and antifa riots by the Mockingbird mass media (remember “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful”?) with the mass media’s handling of Occupy Wall Street, which was a real grassroots movement. Every single BLM/antifa riot was heavily promoted in the mass media ahead of the events, and not just after the fact. On the other hand, info about OWS events were deliberately suppressed by the mass media, and only mentioned after the fact to highlight the police crackdown on OWS in order to discourage future rallies.
See the difference? The capitalist mass media deliberately boosted BLM/antifa with marketing worth many $millions, while they uniformly blacked out any coverage of OWS.
On the subject of police crack-downs, the authorities were almost completely hands-off with the BLM/antifa rioters.
“You don’t know what will be their future effect.”
But we do. We’re far enough into the future from those events to see the results. Despite calls to “De-fund the police”, very little money was actually cut from police budgets. With that said, the threats of losing funding caused the police to back off enforcement and allow criminal behavior in many communities across the US. This resulted in wide-scale business closures due to soaring crime in many of the neighborhoods most afflicted with the BLM/antifa riots. This very predictably resulted in a backlash in those neighborhoods with residents demanding a new crackdown on crime… and increased police budgets to go along with that.
It isn’t even a surprise, but rather an intended consequence, that the BLM/antifa riots have resulted in more police repression. Good job, lumpenized middle class youth!
Here’s a rule of thumb to help you distinguish between real movements and manufactured ones in the future: In 100% of the cases, if the capitalist mass media is supporting the movement with coverage, then the movement is manufactured. If there is a media blackout of the movement, and what coverage there exists is extremely negative (no “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful” but rather “Violent arsonist insurrectionists!!”) then you know the movement is real. BLM/antifa were not movements at all, but the riots they participated in were events manufactured and stage managed by mass media and NGOs.

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 25 2024 11:36 utc | 111

@ Posted by: Oriental Voice | Mar 24 2024 21:12 utc | 48
What Putin and co did was to play weak when they really were weak! They had to look needy by trying to join the western club .. knowing that they would never be accepted on equal terms and Soros and co would attempt to steal the whole caboodle from right under their noses with unrestricted ngo/Color/media/western seduced neooligrachs …
In the meantime the Russians and Chinese played footsy and got their ducks in line – with SCO and building the robust superstructure of their alliance against the unipolar wolf coming huffing and puffing at them and the global south.
Awake! he and they certainly have been. The proof is the failure to collapse both with Color revolution, Covid, Financial control, Trade and Political Sanctions and a psychopathic Nazi proxy war direct military challenge. Not only that but their foothold colonial project in the Levant appears to have all its wheels falling off as well.
That is maskarovia for the C21st and why Xi and Putin and all their camps have genuine affectionate smiles for each other when ever they meet personally. Compared to our Gstring 7’s with their fake prostitute orgasmic faces.

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 25 2024 11:46 utc | 113

Lavieja @106: “…you can’t fairly or correctly blame these movements for the response of the fascist state to them.”
What response?
Compare the extensive and supportive coverage of the BLM and antifa riots by the Mockingbird mass media (remember “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful”?) with the mass media’s handling of Occupy Wall Street, which was a real grassroots movement. Every single BLM/antifa riot was heavily promoted in the mass media ahead of the events, and not just after the fact. On the other hand, info about OWS events were deliberately suppressed by the mass media, and only mentioned after the fact to highlight the police crackdown on OWS in order to discourage future rallies.
See the difference? The capitalist mass media deliberately boosted BLM/antifa with marketing worth many $millions, while they uniformly blacked out any coverage of OWS.
On the subject of police crack-downs, the authorities were almost completely hands-off with the BLM/antifa rioters.
“You don’t know what will be their future effect.”
But we do. We’re far enough into the future from those events to see the results. Despite calls to “De-fund the police”, very little money was actually cut from police budgets. With that said, the threats of losing funding caused the police to back off enforcement and allow criminal behavior in many communities across the US. This resulted in wide-scale business closures due to soaring crime in many of the neighborhoods most afflicted with the BLM/antifa riots. This very predictably resulted in a backlash in those neighborhoods with residents demanding a new crackdown on crime… and increased police budgets to go along with that.
It isn’t even a surprise, but rather an intended consequence, that the BLM/antifa riots have resulted in more police repression. Good job, lumpenized middle class youth!
Here’s a rule of thumb to help you distinguish between real movements and manufactured ones in the future: In 100% of the cases, if the capitalist mass media is supporting the movement with coverage, then the movement is manufactured. If there is a media blackout of the movement, and what coverage there exists is extremely negative (no “Fiery But Mostly Peaceful” but rather “Violent arsonist insurrectionists!!”) then you know the movement is real. BLM/antifa were not movements at all, but the riots they participated in were events manufactured and stage managed by mass media and NGOs. In fact, the people behind the BLM/Antofagasta riots are some of the very same people behind maidan.

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 25 2024 12:22 utc | 115

“@canuck | Mar 24 2024 22:06 utc | 56
Jacob Schiff, the Jewish Wall Street banker put up his hand over a 100 years ago bragging he put $20 MM (in today money like $600MM) to support the Bosheviks yet bevin cries incoherently, ” contrary to all known facts and every logical expectation that the Russian revolution was financed by (Jewish, of course) bankers and supported by the precise forces which fought against it from 1917 until 1990.”
Again, that is patently false.”
Schiff was a sympathizer of Kerensky, who strongly opposed Bolshevism.”
Posted by: SG | Mar 25 2024 11:40 utc | 111
You are missing the big picture.
Schiff and the Empire, City wanted to pillage Russia. In order to do that one must have Czar deposed. So he gave money to Kerensky in opposition-no different than US giving money to Navalny 100 years later.
Of course Schiff wanted a civil war in Russia so it would be easier to pillage so yes he didn’t give Lenin money but he was he gave money to Kerensky to topple the Tsar and what better way then to have the two parties fighting each other.
The idea was, of course, that the Bolsheviks would be weak and the West could topple them and they tried (1)
1. “The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War consisted of a series of multi-national military expeditions that began in 1918. The initial impetus behind the interventions was to secure munitions and supply depots from falling into the German Empire’s hands, particularly after the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and to rescue the Allied forces that had become trapped within Russia after the 1917 October Revolution.[18] After the Armistice of 11 November 1918, the Allied plan changed to helping the White forces in the Russian Civil War. After the Whites collapsed, the Allies withdrew their forces from Russia by 1925.[19]
Allied troops landed in Arkhangelsk (the North Russia intervention of 1918–1919) and in Vladivostok (as part of the Siberian intervention of 1918–1922). The British also intervened in the Baltic theatre (1918–1919) and in the Caucasus (1917–1919). French-led Allied forces participated in the Southern Russia intervention (1918–1919).”

Posted by: canuck | Mar 25 2024 12:23 utc | 117

“I don’t agree with ‘where China came from since 1949″-yes- in the last century it was an economical miracle; however, if one peers into the lens of time the Han Chinese (95% Han) were the biggest economy from 1,000 BC to 1730 when England overtook them.”
Canuk
“That is reconstructed (i.e. random numbers) GDP; the statistical data necessary to compute GDP is recorded only since the ’30s; GDP is not an accurate measure of economic power, but just of economic activity.”
Posted by: SG | Mar 25 2024 11:40 utc | 111
With all due respect you are completely off base. (1)
1. “China accounted for 19% of the global economy in 2022 in PPP terms, and around 18% in nominal terms in 2022. Historically, China was one of the world’s foremost economic powers for most of the two millennia from the 1st until the 19th century.”

Posted by: canuck | Mar 25 2024 12:37 utc | 119

Posted by: SG | Mar 25 2024 11:40 utc | 111
Thanks for that post. (I think you plough the sea with that guy, but no harm trying.)
I took a look at the pic in the ‘Trotsky’s Day Out’ link. I may be way wrong but given
even small odds I’d wager the man on the right is Michael Hudson’s father. I tried to
search out a pic of him but found nothing. I did compare a younger Michael to a crop
and think there is a resemblance. fwiw, ha.
note to Id @12:41 – yup!

Posted by: waynorinorway | Mar 25 2024 13:02 utc | 121

“insufferable troll quotes itself and reposts its own comments as if its words were farts from a unicorn”
Posted by: ld | Mar 25 2024 12:41 utc | 119
Colourful ad hominens-not what one would call ‘artistic’, but perhaps their crudeness works for you.
I did not ‘quote myself” -I forgot to put the source; here it is below. (1)
Thanks for letting me know I missed the quote.
1.https://www.quora.com/Which-are-the-biggest-economies-in-the-world-historically

Posted by: canuck | Mar 25 2024 13:17 utc | 123

Following on from canuck’s question at 122 above, I would ask the question which more interests me:- Which are the countries which have a most generous attitude towards all of their citizens?
I’ll retrieve my quote on the previous open forum from Plato’s “Laws”, his final dialogue, adding some bolds for emphasis:

[The Athenian]…They [legendary founders of the three Spartan kingdoms] were not exposed, in their attempts to establish a certain equality of possessions, to the grave charge so persistently leveled, (in connection with the passing of laws for other cities,) at one who proposes change in the tenure of the land, or a cancellation of debts, from his perception that equality can never be properly attained without these measures.
When a legislator attempts a change in these matters, everyone meets him with a cry of ‘no meddling with fundamentals’ and an imprecation on the author of redistribution of lands and repudiation of debts sufficient to reduce any man to despair.

I am currently reading a novel which takes place at the end of the communist era in Russia. The protagonist or hero has just flown from Moscow to Munich, a four hour flight. It’s all fictional of course, but I think what isn’t fictional is the comparative state of wellbeing between Germany and Russia with respect to the lives of the ordinary people as described in the novel. However it has happened, crime and poverty are rampant in Russia, due to the decay of the regime, while in Germany everything is at the opposite end of the ‘comfort’ spectrum. And this isn’t in opposition to what Putin says did happen at that time and only worsened when the west came along and ‘helped’.
So it seems evident that communism wasn’t the complete answer for Russia, since concern for the people has been established there — at least at present — in spite of their having reached a very low point under that previous regime.
In the ebb and flow of history, the problem Plato describes seems always lurking no matter what the ideology first introduced to a community is called. Plato says through the Athenian a bit further on from this quote that the best form of government is a mixture of democracy and monarchy – I haven’t yet reached the point in the dialogue where he explains what he means, but I have a feeling he might be right, and that Russia is striving for this mixture.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 25 2024 14:44 utc | 125

“The Soviet Union was an extremely stable and safe place until Gorbachev started to actively dismantle the Party and the state administrative structures from 1987 onwards.”
Posted by: Roger | Mar 25 2024 15:05 utc | 126
The above is not accurate-the USSR economy was stagnating a long time before Gorbachev:
“The Soviet economy became increasingly complex just as it began running out of development models to imitate. With average GNP growth slowing to an annual 3.7% rate between 1970 and 1975, and further to 2.6% between 1975 and 1980, the command economy’s stagnation became obvious to Soviet leaders.
The Soviets had been aware since the 1950s of such long-term problems as command economy inefficiencies and how adopting the knowledge and technology of developed economies could come at the expense of fostering an innovative domestic economy. Piecemeal reforms like those of the Sovnarkhoz implemented by Nikita Khrushchev in the late 1950s attempted to begin decentralizing economic control, allowing for a “second economy” to deal with the increasing complexity of economic affairs.
These reforms, however, tore at the root of the command economy’s institutions and Khrushchev was forced to “re-reform” back to centralized control and coordination in the early 1960s. But with economic growth declining and inefficiencies becoming increasingly more apparent, partial reforms to allow for more decentralized market interactions were reintroduced in the early 1970s. The quandary for Soviet leadership was to create a more liberal market system in a society whose core foundations were characterized by centralized control.
Perestroika and Collapse
These early reforms failed to revive the increasingly stagnant Soviet economy, with productivity growth falling below zero by the early 1980s.” (1)”
1. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/021716/why-ussr-collapsed-economically.asp

Posted by: canuck | Mar 25 2024 15:29 utc | 127

Posted by: Roger | Mar 25 2024 15:05 utc | 126
Thank you, Roger. I can’t disagree with you, not being an historian – those points sound correct. I remember my viewing of the movie “Sicko” concerning the superior medical system of Cuba and also having read about the positive policies of the Cuban government under Castro. Which government certainly held firm during the Bay of Pigs debacle, so no outside assault could succeed.
Your points about Russia I am not so sure of, since so much decay under the last tsar with a world war going on then also had so many contributing factors of disruption and collapse for all segments of the population. Which population then would have been similarly divided as it was by that civil war. The point is to see the good in each segment and retain it as best it is possible to do.

Posted by: juliania | Mar 25 2024 16:14 utc | 129

Peter AU1 | Mar 25 2024 4:47 utc | 95 WRITES AS A FINAL INSIGHT after having spent time interfacing with and employing Native Australians (aka “Aboriginies) in outskirts of Australia some years ago:
,
” I can say with utter certainty the the Australian aboriginal people would have been far better off under Chinese communism.”
,
How true!
I have thru all together seven yers in China during 1972-2007 met very many tribeals” from Southwest China and from Noerteast China. Intermittingly, I have seen how people belonging to suchalike “schduled groups” fare in Northeast India, In the hills of Bangla Desh, in the Nege’v (in “Israël”), on Hokkaidô and to some extent even in my native Nordic European countries.
I can vouch for and bear witness to the fact that mainland China has been better in the treatment of “primitive tribals” than any other polity I have been able to observe.
(It is possible that the late Soviet Union and todays Russia in Siberia have also been tolerably humanistic and suppartive of anciet native populations.)
There is however one important observation to be made: Some ethnic minorities like certain groups of US/Canadian “Indians, like Romani (“Gypsy”) groups in Europe and so on — are simply not compatible with eureopeanized capitalist society, it seems. (“Gypsis” did seem to do tolerably well in Soviet Russia,Fascist Spain and Chauchescu’s dictatorship in post-WW2 Romania, maybe.

Posted by: Tollef Ås/秋涛乐/טלפ וש | Mar 25 2024 17:07 utc | 131

No ‘Man is NOT a herd animal.”
And yet so diversified is the human population of this planet and so varied are the ideas and aspirations thrown up from the brains of billions of people struggling to improve their conditions that there are some who, intimidated by the freedom of exercising their own judgements, long to be part of an herd,
They daydream of the delights of being instructed by some fierce, father figure susceptible to flattery and ready to reward devoted service, as part of a vast herd swaying to the siren songs of certainty.
But they are not humanity, though they are a part of it and a salutary warning within it.
Men are not herd animals. They are the precise opposite- cooperative members of families and communities of various sorts.
It is one of the marks of those who believe that we are ‘herd animals’ that they despise and cannot understand the extraordinary heritage Americans have from the First Nations whose community governments, delicate blendings of direct democracy and ritualised means of ensuring that all voices, and particularly those of the elderly, should be considered. And that important decisions must be reached by consensus. The Dissident Voice article I linked above has a fine introduction to the pre-settler civilisation.
Fascists, though, are herd animals- that is what they desire and tend towards- bundles of lifeless sticks tied together and wielded by Big Daddy who will protect them.
And tell them who to hate and what to kill.
And allow them to lick his arse, if only notionally as in
” I really liked your post. Top marks, sir. I agree entirely, as Hamlet said to King Canute (no relation -editor) the cut of your jib fills me with delight…. ref-www.dunceopoedia.com
“Jung was wont to opine in total agreement, though Schopenhauer, one of Mr Poilevre’s favourite masters, after Plato that is and the others at Unz Review…”

Posted by: bevin | Mar 25 2024 17:25 utc | 133

Sorry for all the ad promptu mis-spellings (I have rescenly had one more debilitating brain hemmorage; Here are my tidbit corrections:
tribeals”→ “Tribals”
yers → years
Noerteast → Northeast
suchalike → suche-alike
ancient → aiciant
eureopeanized → europeanized
Now, the question bust be raised: If those carrying out terror mass shootings in Moscow this weekend were truely misgruntelled citoyens frpm Tadjikistan in Russia. what prodded them?
I find it more likely that they were alike to the Xinjiang terrorists who had been born and braeded thru Saudi Arabia and then b-and-by taken over and spnsord by Brit and US substitute organs to carry out mean and dark jobs on behalf of the still sinking Atlantis anywhere and everywhere.

Posted by: T | Mar 25 2024 17:59 utc | 135

This piece listed at Naked Capitalism so identifies the utter stupidity of the identity-obsessed and the ease with which they can be used by the capitalist ruling class to set one part of the working class against the other. Such passages as

Whiteness wins if we let it. Its victory means the spread of a colonial shame that blocks our ability to enjoy unmaking this world. The voices of our ancestors become more muted and we, children of “savages and cannibals”, resign ourselves to becoming radlib gurus of our own suffering. For racialized people, the politics of safety and the politics of sacrifice are merely tools of white supremacy … Despite it all, we still glimpse ways to escape the racial order and authority. Why not turn to our fugitivity, an irreducibly black mode of sociality which affirms blackness as a force that escapes control? Fugitivity is being with and for one another as we are on the run, dashing towards the Outside of the law, whiteness, and order. Its perversity is absolute, a porous conspiracy that is promiscuous with its blackness, refusing to check one at the door. Fugitivity says: when our play entails the destruction of the enemy world, then the more the merrier.

give away the class blindness and the heady, superficial use of language that pervades these spaces. The writer is blind to political economy, blind to the fact that most whites are just as oppressed as Blacks. The same way that feminists cannot see their shared oppression with most men. WTF is “Whiteness”? WTF is “fugitivity”? MLK lead the way by seeing that the issue was the majority of people against the minority, not one working person against another due to their skin colour, sex, “gender”, religion, etc.
The piece is unintentionally ironically titled “Addicted to Losing” as the author most certainly is. On a point of fact, we did not recently see the “largest uprising in America’s history”. The term “useful idiot” comes to mind, given the complexity and style of writing probably a very well educated “critical theory” idiot.
https://illwill.com/addicted-to-losing

Posted by: Roger | Mar 25 2024 19:06 utc | 137

More bullshit from the IMF toward China “please stop doing what has been so successful for you and follow policies that will weaken you” bleats the MD of the IMF covered up in pseudo-economics:

China needs to “reinvent itself” with economic policies to speed resolution of its property market crisis and boost domestic consumption and productivity, the International Monetary Fund’s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Sunday.”China faces a fork in the road” rely on the policies that have worked in the past, or reinvent itself for a new era of high-quality growth,” Georgieva said in remarks to a meeting of senior Chinese officials and executives from global companies … Georgieva said an analysis by the IMF showed a more consumer-centered policy mix could add $3.5 trillion to China’s economy over the next 15 years … “A key feature of high quality growth will need to be higher reliance on domestic consumption,” Georgieva, a Bulgarian economist, said. “Doing so depends on boosting the spending power of individuals and families.”

NOPE! A key feature of high quality growth is investing in the productive sectors that then naturally lead to greater domestic consumption. The IMF MD wants China to stop being so good at upgrading its productive capacities, and therefore competing with the West’s corporate leading companies and beating them. Instead she wants China to become a supine consuming nation. Just like the US did with Japan by destroying its development state apparatus.
The Bulgarian economist head of the IMF certainly speaks with a forked-tongue. This Western oligarch-tool previously worked for the European Commission, the World Bank and then the IMF. This turncoat got a PhD in Economics from Karl Marx Higher Institute of Economics, before being re-educated as a courtier at the LSE and MIT. Member of the WEF Board of Trustees.
https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/china-must-reinvent-itself-to-turn-economy-around-says-imf-s-georgieva-124032400682_1.html
The only China crisis is the one invented by the Western media and courtier mouthpieces.

Posted by: Roger | Mar 25 2024 19:56 utc | 139

Correction to 140. In the city where I live police have been convicted of using illegal methods on protestors and required to pay reparations.

Posted by: Lavieja | Mar 25 2024 22:10 utc | 141

Posted by: SG | Mar 25 2024 11:40 utc | 112
Do you think Adam Schiff is related to Jacob Schiff?

Posted by: lex talionis | Mar 25 2024 22:47 utc | 143

Around eighty percent of humans in a modern ‘civilization’ are herd animals. Few think outside the box of group think. A shoal of fish, a stampeding herd, lynch mob mentality. Its all there.
Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 25 2024 18:06 utc | 136
_____
Better: (all) people are herd animals, but some have enough consciousness or reasoning ability to resist their instincts.

Posted by: malenkov | Mar 25 2024 23:52 utc | 145

Better: (all) people are herd animals, but some have enough consciousness or reasoning ability to resist their instincts.
Posted by: malenkov | Mar 25 2024 23:52 utc | 145
You are probably right. Always much easier to go with the flow, much harder to go against it. Going with the flow though, is not so good when it is headed towards the edge of a cliff.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2024 0:09 utc | 147

I also gotta rant about Judge Nap’s youtube show.
first of all, his name is on the screen 5 times simultaneously, overkill much ?
n he ALWAYS interrupts his guests, i fucking hate that.
n he does the exact same interview with 3 or more of his guests, super redundant.
fortunately I like his guests : Grandpa Ray, Uncle Larry etc.

Posted by: Featherless | Mar 26 2024 0:43 utc | 149

Featherless
French Canadian? An odd place b’s bar. I’ve been policed a few time and for a bit rah rah about it, but I keep coming back as there is nothing else like it. People coming from many different backgrounds and perspectives – I guess a common denominator is a greater smaller amount of anger at the hypocracy, the path to destruction we see in this western world.
Perhaps enough cunts to make the best brothel in the world yet none are for sale. Perhaps apart from a few that blow in and blow out like farts on the breeze.
The urge to travel, to visit other peoples and cultures came too late in life form me – not so much age but health. Even here in oz, though it occurred to me a few years later when I realized it was not recorded anywhere, I always wanted to go back and find the exact site of that massacre I was told about but never could.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2024 1:09 utc | 151

Featherless
You seem like the real Marc to me but when I’m singled out like that, warning bells start ringing.
But whatever. Hind sight – a wonderful thing. I guess we don’t get to choose what country we are born into and the culture we are brought up in.
If I was young and starting a family today, knowing what I know now and current state of affairs, I would likely head to eastern Russia.
Much of Asia is good but for me, population density is a bit much. I’m not much of an urbanite.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2024 2:41 utc | 153

From Jodi Brar’s new book, Identity Politics or Class Politics, written in 2018 but just published:

Nearly a century ago, the ruling class was sinking into the greatest crisis it had ever faced, and its system was teetering on the brink of collapse, even as the new Soviet Union was going from strength to strength and the working classes all over the capitalist world had militant, revolutionary organisations that looked to the USSR for inspiration and gave class-conscious leadership. These organisations popularised the demands that fascism and racism should be fought, that women should be emancipated, that colonialism should be ended, and that socialism should be every working-class organisation’s ultimate aim.
Today, the imperialists are enmeshed in an even worse crisis, but they have – for the time being at least – no well-organised working-class army to take advantage of their weakness in their own heartlands. Indeed, so successful have they been in spreading confusion that those whose alienation should lead them to fight the system are instead fighting each other. As has begun to be noticed by the more thoughtful of conservative bourgeois commentators, in former times, an antisemite was someone who hated jews; today, an (alleged) ‘antisemite’ is someone who is hated by (militant zionist) jews (and their state-sponsored ‘protectors’). Previously, a homophobe was someone who hated gays; today, an (alleged) ‘homophobe’ is someone who is hated by (militantly ideological) homosexuals (and their state-sponsored ‘protectors’).
What is equally clear is that while in former times, the righteous anger of the masses was being harnessed against the iniquities of the system, in today’s topsy-turvy bastardisation of these real struggles, it is the oppressors and the privileged who unite to attack and denigrate the poorer workers, or those who in any way threaten the system of capitalist imperialist exploitation – whether poor white workers who voted for Donald Trump, poor white workers who voted for Brexit, or Jeremy Corbyn for failing to be a militant zionist while heading up her majesty’s loyal opposition.
Indeed, the identity-driven approach to politics has so saturated the mindset of privileged workers that their idea of the class struggle today is not of uniting workers under the banner of scientific socialism; not of building an organisation capable of leading the workers to challenge capitalist state power, but of adopting an identity and joining a social club. What matters to these ‘activists’ is that their adherents should wear the right clothes and badges, design their materials using the right colours and fonts, and of course, keep themselves pure by refusing to associate with anyone who isn’t a signed-up member of their particular club…(64)
https://thecommunists.org/wp-content/uploads/JBrar-ERule-IdentityPoliticsorClassPolitics.pdf

Posted by: suzan | Mar 26 2024 3:57 utc | 155

It has been open secret that ISIS = CIA
https://tinyurl.com/5xr38acr
Posted by: denk | Mar 25 2024 3:23 utc | 91
—————-
Ditto the Pak TaLIBAN, TTP
Made in USA
Meet
pENny Lane, where harmless moslem clerics were radicalised into jihadists, where hardcore anti gringo militants were reprogrammed into CIA./MI6 death squads.
https://tinyurl.com/5n8h3ekv

Posted by: denk | Mar 26 2024 4:15 utc | 157

Communism vs capitalism. Left vs right.
Perhaps better looked at in terms socialism aspect and private enterprise aspects. Both are required in any healthy economy, the amount of each dependent on culture.
Above all must be a leadership of the people and for the people.
Perhaps the recipe to both China and Russia’s success.
China and India. Both gained Independence from the west at about the same time, Both have large populations and high population density, yet they took different courses.
Now India has little man syndrome. It did not dump class consciousness.
But the main thing revolves around percentage of socialism to percentage of private enterprise.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2024 7:13 utc | 159

The former head of Serbian intelligence on Western plans to regime-change the country (RIA Novosti, March 24, 2024 — in Russian)

…
He recalled that the modern Serbian state began to be created two hundred years ago—in 1804.
“The world powers of that time—Austria-Hungary, France, the Ottoman Empire, against which we rebelled—demanded that the Serbs not expand the uprising to the entire territory where the Serbs lived. That is, not to touch Bosnia, not to enter Kosovo, that is, leave it to the Kosovo Albanians so that they could have their own state. They demanded not to allow Russia to have influence. 200 years have passed, yet the same thing is happening—the Serbs do not have the right to unite, they must recognize Kosovo and must impose sanctions against Russia. Nothing has changed,” he summarized.
…

Posted by: S | Mar 26 2024 12:14 utc | 161

“No ‘Man is NOT a herd animal.””
Posted by: bevin | Mar 25 2024 17:25 utc | 133
It is not a philosophical question, it is a biological question and with all due respect you are wrong.
“Human beings also evolved to follow the leader. We collectively decide who the “authority” is. In a hunter gatherer society, this means the wisest person who everybody respects gets to be tribal chief. In a 100 million person country, this means voting for a president or following whoever overthrew the last dictator.
Then most of us blindly follow that authority, no matter what.
This is why you hear stories of Soviet soldiers marching into a river and drowning themselves because their commander told them to march east, and the river was to the east. This is why people will deliver fatal electric shocks in lab experiments if a guy in a white lab coat tells them to. This is why people will willingly drink Kool-Aid they know is poisoned. We evolved to blindly follow the leader, just like sheep did.
We kind of had to in order to survive. Imagine if people all did whatever they wanted, all the time. We couldn’t work together to hunt mammoths, defend ourselves from saber-toothed tigers, or raise kids.”(1)
1.https://medium.com/@theo.seeds/humans-are-herd-animals-a5de6a23c4a8

Posted by: canuck | Mar 26 2024 14:46 utc | 163

It now seems it’s the Russians who did the Internet hit on the next queen of England!
And Macaroon …and and everything else .
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68637136
“ Kate rumours linked to Russian disinformation”
Published
1 hour ago
“ Security researchers believe a Russia-based disinformation group ..”
“..there were hallmark signs of a co-ordinated campaign sharing and adding to the false claims and divisive content, both in support of and criticising the Princess of Wales.”
“… consistent with the previous patterns of a Russian disinformation group.”
“ The accounts involved were also spreading content opposing France’s backing for Ukraine, suggesting a wider international context for the royal rumours.
This particular foreign influence network has a track record in this area, with a focus on eroding support for Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.”
They cite
“ Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institute at Cardiff University”
“ identified a Russian disinformation group involved in this. It’s not a state entity, but it is linked to people who have been sanctioned recently in the United States over claims they were part of a “malign influence campaign” that spread fake news.”
“ Their messaging around Kate appears wrapped up in their ongoing campaigns to attack France’s reputation, promote the integrity of the Russian elections, and denigrate Ukraine as part of the wider war effort,” says Prof Innes.
He says the operatives running this rumour machine would be seen in Russia as “political technologists”.
Their approach is to fan the online flames of an existing story – tapping into disputes and doubts that already exist – which Prof Innes says is a much more effective approach and harder to track than starting misinformation from scratch.
He says they “hijack” popular claims and inject more confusion and chaos. It then becomes harder to separate the co-ordinated disinformation from individuals sharing conspiracies and chasing clicks.
But the social media data, examined by the Cardiff University team, shows extreme spikes and the simultaneous sharing of messages in a way that they [ THINK ] is consistent with a network of fake accounts being operated.”
From that THINK, it gets into details and further ‘experts’
Sneaking in
“ When it comes to saying who is responsible for such disruptive activities, it can be difficult to attribute networks of accounts to a particular group, organisation or state.
And further muddying the waters will be all kinds of individuals, interest groups and other overseas players commenting on social media on the same topic.”
So – err no evidence !
It appears to be part of the worldwide move towards autocratic censorship and cancelling of the internet – especially us in the Collective West. As highlighted recently by Craig Murray’s blog about the draconian new laws coming into effect in Scotland – which has rep as a testbed for New Laws before being spread out across the U.K.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2024/03/scotlands-hate-speech-act-and-abuse-of-process/

Posted by: DunGroanin | Mar 26 2024 16:58 utc | 165

https://www.rt.com/news/594935-us-uk-ukraine-moscow-terrorism/
The US, UK and Ukraine may have been behind last Friday’s terrorist attack on a concert venue … according to the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
anyone have an update on this..?

Posted by: snake | Mar 26 2024 17:54 utc | 167

@Posted by: Roger | Mar 26 2024 19:21 utc | 168
So indicative of the times we live in, as Gramsci put it of the inter-war years:

The old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

In the West’s case the old regime is dying, but that regime refuses to allow the new to be born. So we live in a time of increasingly morbid symptoms.

Posted by: Roger | Mar 26 2024 19:24 utc | 169

S | Mar 26 2024 20:15 utc | 170–
You should know that Pepe Escobar referenced your postings from the last Week-in-Review in his latest SCF essay, “The Nuland – Budanov – Tajik – Crocus connection”.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 26 2024 20:24 utc | 171

Roger describes [critical theorists] with their long meaningless words and run on sentences —
I second the notion. From my personal arsenal of quips is this one:
“I recognize an Adorno writing after the third comma”
The depth of perversion this sort of meaninglessnes goes to is hard to fathom, but I shall give an example:
An Adorno adept wrote a sad piece about pornography in which it was concluded that human sexuality is ridiculous, as by the evidence. This ties in neatly with Adorno on the topic of Kitsch – he despises it so much that I wonder if he would allow himself to spend a night at some peasant’s place in the outback after his vehicle broke down, when said peasant has put an undue (not critically acclaimed) painting in his living room. And then there is the story where he was lecturing at the Frankfurt University, as two girls decided to sit in the room bare-breasted – Adorno, a married man and known visitor to the brothel, called the police on them.

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 26 2024 20:49 utc | 173

Is man a herd animal? it was asked above —
Without attempting to provide a conclusive answer, let me state an hypothesis instead:
Apparently, biology has discovered the existence of sensitive time “windows”, in which a creature during development must learn something, that can later not simply be re-learned on top of the initial experience. The original, quite drastic experiment had kittens tied into a spinning centrifuge, put up in a room designed to disallow perception of the height dimension. As they matured, they would not be able to develop a sense of height, no matter what the experimentators tried to offer.
Now, what were if something like this happens during human development with regards to think for oneself, or rather submit to the (perceived/imagined) expectations of others?
I believe some behavioural patterns are not so much re-learned, but (if at all) approached by adding new layers of experience to one’s memory, which through a combination of repetition and impressiveness eventually form new pathways of association, that may come to dominate. Trauma therapy works like that; and personally I think that feminist psychology should revisit their empirical foundations in light of that, too.

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 26 2024 21:09 utc | 175

French criminals at the UNSC posing as diplomats: “Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova on the disruption of the UN Security Council meeting timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia”:

On March 25, the French delegation to the UN in New York, with the support of other Westerners, disrupted the meeting of the Security Council approved in the official program of work of the UN Security Council for the current month, timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia.
We are outraged by the incorrect and unprofessional behaviour of France, which is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, which has been entrusted with a special historical obligation to observe the Council’s provisional rules of procedure and other norms of its work, which have been developed over many years on the basis of mutual respect and consideration for interests.
For our part, we made concessions and agreed to invite a representative of the NATO Secretariat, the organisation that is directly responsible for the destruction of Yugoslavia and the creation of a hotbed of instability in the Balkans, as a speaker.
We regret that Japan’s presidency of the UN Security Council succumbed to the French and held a procedural vote on the agenda item, which was supported by Russia, China and Algeria, while the other members of the Council abstained, including due to pressure from Western delegations.
There was outrageous disrespect for Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic, who arrived in New York to take part in the meeting.
We believe that the essence of this inappropriate behaviour of the French delegation is clearly reflected in the Russian proverb “a thief’s hat is on fire.”
We intend to seek a meeting of the UN Security Council on NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia in one form or another. This is not just an event in history, it is a turning point in the development of the current situation in the Balkans.

I share Maria’s optimism about the Balkans, while the French are showing why they don’t belong on the UNSC at all.

Posted by: karlof1 | Mar 26 2024 21:39 utc | 177

TQC asked me to elaborate in my idea, first presented upthread from here, to counter the name snitchers. Here goes.
My idea is probably not rounded out against the means of cryptography; a discipline of maths I didn’t study much. But others here will know more, and might add to my proposal, or be able to say why it’s not a good idea after all.
In its current state of refinement my suggestion involves two stages towards implementation.
1 – The creation and distribution of code tables
2 – Usage of the code tables
As to 1): there’d be a number of tables made up from “words” (character strings, such as numbers or letters) that are known to some of the barflies, who can use them to verify authorship of a comment by adding a byline displaying the required code to each comment they make.
There will be a trade-off between ease of use and security, and both can’t be perfectly had. It is one of the standout features to this Moon/Bar that it allows straightforward participation of everyone; and while this makes things a bit noisy at times, it also generates an environment that sorts out the stupid quite naturally. One upside of my proposal is that it doesn’t change the architecture of the blog and its software. It relies on the participation of a few regulars instead, but since name snitching is effective trolling only among the group of regulars, it is a compromise.
The tables would contain any number of words, but only those who have a copy can attest veracity of comment authorship.
2 – Distribution of the tables is not trivial. It would be good if b hands them out to trusted barflies, but technically his participation is not required.
Once distributed, the tables can be put to use whenever name snitching occurs in a thread. A member of the group of regulars would call a “situation”, and then for the duration of this thread all other participants are to give the appropriate codeword. Only those with the initial code tables can participate; and it’s up to them to check the veracity of a comment using their copy of the table, and to call out fakery when it occurs.
The tables themselves would consist of a heading to inform which table to use, and a number of ordered entries making up the actual codeword table, through which proceedings then go in succession.
Several ways of implementation are thinkable, like assigning all MoA threads (they are numbered already by b) a table by means of a numerical. Or the table could be specified once a participant calls for use of them in a specific thread. The codewords themselves might be made up of (at least) three numbers or two letters, chosen in a way that is not easily decipherable.
The distribution of the tables must be somewhat secure (ie, not open to all) for it to work, but then it might provide effective means to counter name snitching for the participants, once it occurs in a thread, by giving a verification code to other participants of the scheme, who may then police a thread by calling out an impostor.

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 26 2024 21:55 utc | 179

persiflo | Mar 26 2024 21:09 utc | 174
A lot of dog training is similar which I found out when trying to buy a good dog. Pups from a very young age are kept restrained and only allowed off the leash or out of a cage for training. First in a small round yard with a few sheep, with the trainer using a stick or piece condute or something to gently tap the pup back if its going the wrong way or tending split the mob. The pup is trained to always work on the opposite side of the mob and bring them towards the trainer. That progresses each day and the trainer can open the gate and walk out and the pup will follow bring the sheep along. They basically grow up knowing nothing else. Depending on the dog and the amount of natural instinct it already had, It can drop back to its natural instincts when hot nd tired – splitting the mob and so forth.
I was a bit short tempered for that, particularly when running goats and the dog did something stupid and blew the lot.
Finally got a dog that already had everything. Very intelligent. I started taking her out at six months old but she would just stalk along behind watching everything. Never got in the way or caused any trouble then at about nine months she started working.
It wasn’t long before I was taking her out on her own. That was before I started flying so it was a matter of riding around the scrub looking for goats and tracks. Pulled up at some fresh tracks about the first time I took her on her own and she just jumped off the bike and followed the tracks at a fast run. I got two truck loads of goats like that, one after the other. She tracked them all down and blocked them, waiting for me to get there.
Another time, shortly after she started working. Not many goats about and I ran onto half a dozen about 10k from the nearest yard. A bit of a waste of time walking that small amount 10k but perhaps I would pick up a few more on the way back. The dog works the lead and they were pretty well quietened down and walking along nicely and she heads off into the scrub. I wondered what she was up to but just kept the few goats walking along. About five minutes later she brings in another four or five and puts them in the mob. This happened a number of times till by the time we got to the yard, there was over thirty goats. From the time we left the hours until after the goats were yarded, I had not said a thing or directed her in any way.
A lot of days, we would go out working the whole day and I never said anything to her. A huge amount already programmed in before she was born plus very intelligent and learnt by observation.
But those trained dog that didn’t already have it programmed before birth, for me anyway, they just didn’t have it when the going got tough and they were hot and tired.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2024 22:53 utc | 181

A terrorism suspect with permanent residence in the Ukraine detained in Slovakia (TASS, March 25, 2024 — in Russian)

A native of Tajikistan with permanent residence in the Ukraine, suspected of terrorism, has been detained in Slovakia. Slovakia’s Minister of Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok told reporters about this.
In 2022, despite the security measures in place, one person from Tajikistan, suspected of having connections with terrorists, entered Slovakia among the refugees across the republic’s border with the Ukraine. He was detained and the process of his extradition is now being implemented, “since he has permanent residence in the Ukraine.”
Asked whether the man detained in Slovakia was linked to the group of terrorists who carried out the terrorist attack in the Moscow region, Šutaj Eštok said: “He was not directly linked to the terrorist group that carried out this, but, according to the information we have, he is a member of a wider basis on which the interaction of these people takes place.”
Detailed information about the detainee has been received from German intelligence services. According to them, he is “suspected of terrorism.” Šutaj Eštok also said that the native of Tajikistan “is a member of an organization that cooperates with the Islamic State.”
“Yes, we are talking about a person who is a direct participant in a group that operates in Tajikistan and directly declares itself a supporter of the Islamic State. We are talking about such a terrorist,” Šutaj Eštok said. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Interior clarified that the information about him came “from two foreign intelligence services.” In Slovakia, he “moved freely for some time” despite the fact that the police had established his identity and knew that he was wanted by Interpol. The minister noted that already in 2022 the detainee was to be extradited to the Ukraine. Responsibility for “this chaos” lies with the governments that were in power in Slovakia until October 2023.
The detainee applied for asylum in Slovakia, which he was denied. Until July 20 of this year, “as early as possible,” he will be extradited “to Tajikistan or wherever he has permanent residence, and that is the Ukraine,” the minister said.

Posted by: S | Mar 26 2024 23:20 utc | 183

re Peter 180, above —
Perhaps she learned to read your thought? It would be about willingness and ability for both of you, and surely there is an aspect to this which goes beyond all learned experience; but then, we see this aspect commonly in the development of species. It’s hard to overcome “instinct”, but some do it easier: just think ant-rat-man.
To get a dog knowing your intentions is a lot easier than I thought for the first 18 years of my life. I had been afraid of them, not understanding, until a single encounter with a Labrador bitch turned it all around: she ran towards me barking, on a beach with no one else around besides her owner, my friend. I couldn’t get away, so decided to just say Hello, how are you? We became friends in that instant, and not long after that I was trusted to take her along, riding my bicycle to the beach from town, about 10km. It was always easy and joyful, and I swear that she ran ahead upon crossroads, and took my command where to go without me verbalizing. She turned around to look at me, but ever so briefly, and she felt my intention readily. Such was my experience.
It has repeated from there on with all other dogs I’ve met. I tend to get along with them easily, despite me being not really much of a dog lover person tbh. It’s just me and them getting along fine well, feeling safely understood around each other most of the time.
The experience got me to try a more difficult sort of encounter later. It is barely credible, even to me, but this is what happened: Our appartement beneath the roof of an older building was visited by many wasps, who apparently had built their home under the tiles just above. Came late summer, they were confident enough to position themselves between my mouth and the spoon in my hand, from which I was about to take in soup! Too much for my liking, though there weren’t many of them; the insects are indeed vanishing dramatically from the urban spaces that I’ve live in for the past 20 years. But those few, at least one daily had to be chased out through the window … it was good for them and good for me to get them out, so I thought I’d try to relate the issue telepathically. And it worked!
I didn’t offer them a diplomatic communiqué, or even something structured to an indogermanic grammatical sentence (“I would like … “). I just focused on a “map”, to show them where to go, and they followed along, immediately. Every time!

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 26 2024 23:37 utc | 185

In Tajikistan, the house of the family of Fariduni, accused of the terrorist attack, has been sealed (RIA Novosti, Lidiya Isamova, March 26, 2024 — in Russian)

In Tajikistan, the house of the family of Shamsiddin Fariduni, accused of the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, has been sealed, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported.
“Members of the family were taken to Dushanbe yesterday by people in uniform,” their neighbor said.
A modest house made of cement blocks is located in the village of Loyobi near the city of Hisor.
A police officer is on duty near the building; he did not allow the RIA Novosti correspondent to shoot videos and take photos without permission from the investigators.
According to a RIA Novosti source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tajikistan, Fariduni left the republic to work in Moscow six months ago. Before that, he was a baker in a small bakery in Hisor.
The city is located 50 kilometers from Dushanbe. [That’s not true. There are 21 kilometers by road from the center of Hisor to the center of Dushanbe. There are 13 kilometers by road from the border of Hisor to the border of Dushanbe. — S]
“His wife said that he went to work in Russia and kept sending money from there,” said the neighbor of the family.
Today, a RIA Novosti source in the security forces of Tajikistan reported that investigative activities are being carried out in Dushanbe with the relatives of those accused of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, and the president of the republic, Emomali Rahmon, has taken the work of the security forces under his personal control.
According to the agency’s interlocutor, before leaving for Russia, all those accused of the terrorist attack were living near Dushanbe—in the cities of Vahdat, Hisor and in Rudaki District.
…

Posted by: S | Mar 27 2024 0:05 utc | 187

james – Scofield
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scofield_Reference_Bible

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 27 2024 0:44 utc | 189

Yet another anecdote involving animals.
One morning, Kevin and me were sitting on a bench waterside, where an old broken tree lay, a flock of seagulls about. One of the birds got entangled in a leftover fishing line, and soon wrapped itself completely. After some struggle, its companions rather quickly left the scene. The horror ahead was unbearable, so I took off my pants and jacket and waded into the cold (february) water, until I got hold of the line and pulled it in. Kevin had said that I should do it, because I’d be more able to communicate to the creature, and I took his advise. The bird was absolutely calm, though it couldn’t move at all.
A big hook was lodged in its pecker. A small drop of blood flew as I pulled it out, because I didn’t pinch off the barbs; something that will be with me forever.
When the hook was gone, the bird looked up to me in my lap, and it felt saying thank you – big time!
We disentangled the wire, checked its wings, and set it free… after a brief moment collecting itself, it flew off, towards its flock somewhere out there, giving its cry.

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 27 2024 0:59 utc | 191

@ suzan | Mar 27 2024 0:50 utc | 189
thanks so much suzan.. i knew roger had discussed it, but i couldn’t remember the name of it.. cheers james

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2024 2:41 utc | 193

Posted by: persiflo | Mar 27 2024 0:59 utc | 190
Your stories connected for me with what I was reading about Ramana Maharshi’s relations with various animals:
https://sriramanamaharishi.com/animals-birds/ramana-maharshi-and-animals/
I think it’s possible to have such connections based on mutual trust. I had a friend who could get birds to come sit on his outstretched hand. Beautiful.

Posted by: dumbo | Mar 27 2024 3:29 utc | 195

hope is such a foreign concept these days I have difficulty spelling it lol
apologies for my carelessness the hour is late and I am done

Posted by: ld | Mar 27 2024 3:53 utc | 197

cope, hope, pope, dope, nope, scope, isotope…. i am sure you could have fun doing a lyrical poem with this id!!

Posted by: james | Mar 27 2024 3:59 utc | 199