The Defeat of The West And Its Dislocation
In 1976 the French anthropologist Emmanuel Todd predicted the down fall of the Soviet Union. In After The Empire, first published in French in 2001, he predicted the (relative) decline of the United States.
In his latest (and last) book, La Défaite de l’Occident (The Defeat of the West), he laments the West's inability to distinguish facts from wishes, as seen in its behavior during the war in Ukraine. Nihilism, a lack of values and of acceptance of reality, has infested western thinking:
Trans ideology is therefore, in my opinion, one of the flags of this nihilism that now defines the West, this drive to destroy not just things and people but reality.
Todd recently opened a substack where he is posting speeches and talks he has given.
Two of those, a recent talk given in Russia (in French) and one given in Hungary (in English) make (mostly) similar points.
The downfall of the Soviet Union led to deep psychological and societal dislocations in Russia. The defeat of the West, or 'liberal democracy', is leading to similar consequences in Western societies.
While Todd had predicted the fall of the Soviet Union, he had not anticipated the consequences it would have for Russia:
But the collapse of Russia in the 1990s is something I would never have anticipated. The fundamental reason why I was unable to understand or anticipate the dislocation of Russia itself is that I had not understood that communism was not simply a means of organising economic activity in Russia, but also a kind of religion. It was belief that allowed the system to exist and the dissolution of that belief represented, of course, something at least as damaging as the dislocation of the economic system.
It took three decades for Russia to overcome the psychological dislocation that was the result of the destruction of its political and economical system.
Todd is suspecting that a similar process is currently happening in the West:
All of this has a bearing upon what is happening today. I will talk about two things in my lecture. I will talk about the defeat of the West, by which I mean something quite technical and specific, which is not very complex and has not surprised me. I had anticipated it, and to a certain extent it’s already under way in Ukraine. But we are now in the next phase, which is the dislocation of the West, and I have to say that, just as in the dislocation of communism, of the Soviet system, I am unable to understand exactly what is going on. The fundamental attitude that we need to have now is, I would say, an attitude of humility. Everything that’s happening, especially since the election of Donald Trump, surprises me.I have been surprised by the violence with which Trump has turned against his Ukrainian and Europeans allies – or rather his vassals. The will of the Europeans to continue or restart the war – even though Europe is certainly the region of the world which would be most advantaged by a peace agreement – has also been a great surprise to me. We have to start from these surprises if we want to think properly about what’s going on.
I will discuss those surprises, some of which concern me a lot, in a later piece.
The defeat of the Soviet Union (and Russia) came after it had lost the economic war with the West. It had also lost a war in Afghanistan. The Soviet system had turned out to be a failure.
The West, or as Mearsheimer is arguing (vid), 'liberal hegemony', has been routed in Afghanistan. The attempts to 'liberate' Libya and Syria have failed to the point where the Western 'war on terror' launched against al-Qaeda has led to the installation of an al-Qaeda bigwig as the new president of Syria. The economic decline of the West is demonstrated by the rise of China. The West's moral self-defeat of its 'values' can be daily witnessed in Gaza.
'Liberal democracy', the system of ideas that has for decades been the leading light of the West, has failed.
Like communism in Russia, 'liberal democracy' has not only an economic side but is also a kind of religion. The failure of this belief system is upon us.
The accumulation of defeat after defeat by the 'liberal democracy' system has led to a psychological breakdown, an internal dislocation of the West. This is now leading to irrational acts and to seeking refuge in wishful thinking.
bigger
Or, as Alastair Crooke is summarizing the phenomenon and warns:
The psychological dislocation caused by ‘defeat’ may explain (but not justify) the West’s ‘curious’ inability to understand world events: The almost pathological dissociation from the real world that it displays in its words and actions: It’s blindness – for example, to the Russian experience of history and to the long history behind Shi’a defiance in Iran. Yet, even as the political situation deteriorates … there is no sign of the West becoming more reality-based in its understanding – and it is very likely that it will continue to live in its alternative construction of reality – until it is forcibly expelled.
Posted by b on June 3, 2025 at 16:21 UTC | Permalink
next page »NATO itself, the Atlanticist Alliance, is such a cornerstone on which liberal western democracies stand that one can scarcely see how either could go forward without the other.
Note than an august date rapidly approaches: NATO's summit in The Hague on 24 June.
Even though the U.S. has objected to Zelensky attending the summit, he has claimed that he did in fact receive an invitation.
Gratuitous humor: will The Hague let him leave-?
Kidding aside, what is the Atlanticist Alliance without its Charlemagne and what is the EU bloc without its paragon of liberal democracy-?
BTW: Axios, which was the first outlet to report that DJT had in fact *known* about the Operation Spiderweb drone attack beforehand and then quickly retracted that statement under pressure from the State Department and the White House, reporting instead that DJT had in fact *not known* about the Operation Spiderweb drone attack, is now throwing DJT’s words to Zelensky in the Oval—-“You don’t have the cards”—-back in DJT’s face: Three months later, Zelensky played a hand no one saw coming.
So it’s all good, guys.
Zelensky, a high-roller, gets to sit @ the Champagne Room table after all.
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 16:34 utc | 2
"In After The Empire, first published in French in 2001, he predicted the (relative) decline of the United States."
On The Day of '911' I Told Everyone It Was a 'False Flag' Attack AND The Whole World Would Turn Against The USA.
Posted by: JohnF | Jun 3 2025 16:41 utc | 3
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 16:34 utc | 1
RE: big events like this emerge from "tipping points."
<<
World maps will change: West Asia, Europe.
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 16:44 utc | 4
A bit like saying:
The NY Times has lost it's skills in reporting news.
Posted by: jared | Jun 3 2025 16:44 utc | 5
thanks b..
emmanuel tood emphasized the ''defeat'' of the west, as opposed to the ''win'' by others.. it is interesting to consider this..
i think the illusion of democracy has been a great cover for capitalism.. however, the facade is really falling apart and all we are left with is capitalism that is quite destructive on its own without any ethical or moral compass..
Posted by: james | Jun 3 2025 16:48 utc | 6
A rational, even half rational if such a being exists, European Union would see a security and economic relationship with the Russian Federation as benefitting both - and especially benefitting the future citizens of a Europe at peace.
But its autonomy was a mirage - once Uncle Sam stepped in it set its military/security, energy, trade, and diplomacy [if one can call it that] not in Europe's interest but in Uncle Sam's and to the detriment of future European citizens as Russophobia now used to prepare for war against the Russian Federation - as well as feathering the nests of the US MIC.
Europe is destroying itself ... just look at Starmer, Merz and Macron ... masochistic, self-harming nihilists ....
And the US .... now the greatest threat that the human species has yet faced from within itself as it heads towards nuclear armageddon as it appears incapable of winning a conventional war let alone an economic one.
I'm Irish and we were the first laboratory experiment for Empire, British Empire, - war, massacres, forced displacement, land stolen, plantations, famine etc over hundreds of years. Tuff sh1t that we are lumped in with "The West" ... a term I have never taken to as it does not sit right with a colonised people.
This is not The Age of Empires game - it is reality.
Posted by: Don Firineach | Jun 3 2025 16:53 utc | 7
they have cultivated throughout all leadership only people who have "positive" opinions. They think "perception is reality", and it is the mantra of ALL who are left in leadership, from the executive down to the retail managers.
The realists have resigned and either dropped out or started their own small businesses.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 16:54 utc | 8
Posted by: james | Jun 3 2025 16:48 utc | 6
######
I often make mention of the phenomenon of being "defeated by victory".
We (humanity) have a linear bias. Nassim Taleb calls it the Turkey problem.
It is one thing to get to the top. Once there, one is not assured of staying there.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 16:58 utc | 9
US is stuck in Thucydides trap!
Its paradigm is: “the strong will, the weak endure.”
In Ukraine as in Yemen, soon Iran FUKGUS in for more defeat.
Posted by: paddy | Jun 3 2025 16:58 utc | 10
Lets look at Singapore. Merit based society built on science and best outcomes.
Lets look at the west. DEI based soceity based upon You tube likes.
Posted by: steve | Jun 3 2025 16:58 utc | 11
Big events like this emerge from "tipping points."One trying to analyze any system or paradigm should try to consider what cannot happen because if it happens, there may be no coming back.
Oct 7th in Palestine was such a tipping point moment.
I'd argue that 9/11 was another such moment.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 16:34 utc | 1
In both cases, the "tipping points" were stage managed by the portrayed "victims" to undertake changes that they had long planned to make. In one case, both the Patriot Act, which authorized the surveillance state. Plus the invasions of multiple African and Middle East countries (see Wesley Clark: 7 countries in 5 years).
We also know that Hamas was created with Israeli money because they wanted radical opposition not moderates like Arafat or Abbas. They also wanted disunity between the West Bank and Gaza. Oct 7 allowed them to finally complete their 90 year campaign of ethic cleansing.
You could also argue that the global approach to Covid-19 was another such event. Governments uniformly field tested how far they could go in crushing civil liberties.
While there may be a "changing of the guard" in progress in the ranks of Global Central Planners and associated wealth consolidators, I disagree with Baud and Bernard. The collapse of the west, in reality a side effect of the unpayable $330 trillion global debt Ponzi, is no accident nor an "unforeseen" event.
Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Jun 3 2025 16:59 utc | 12
@6
The defeat of the Soviet Union was a win for the U.S. until 9/11/2001 ripped the veil off the empire.
Posted by: paddy | Jun 3 2025 17:04 utc | 14
From Todd as b excerpts: "The will of the Europeans to continue or restart the war in Ukraine – even though Europe is certainly the region of the world which would be most advantaged by a peace agreement – has been a great surprise to me."
Todd offers this as Exhibit A, proof positive of the self-euthanasis in which NATO's Euro-partners incoherently engage.
They are bleeding themselves white on Project Ukraine as if compelled by a force they're unable to resist. It's scrambled, illogical, disjointed and incomprehensible.
They are obeying a demi-urge of their own creation. In having assembled the Frankenstein monster from random pieces they have begun to worship it.
Scuttlebutt has it that both Lindsey Anne and Danang Dick tallied *separate* hotel bills of over $400,000 each for 2 nights @ the Kiev Hilton.
You know that this wasn't about the mini-bar.
Project Ukraine has been a Sirens' lure for pedophiles, dope fiends and sex addicts. The elites who participate are *beyond* compromised---and I don't mean by kompromat. They have hoisted themselves on the petard of a fetish object.
Having thus hoisted, there's no un-hoisting.
There's a voodoo logic.
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 17:05 utc | 15
@LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 16:34 utc | 1
Big events like this emerge from "tipping points."Yes, because both of these events were false flags, they were attempts to enforce non-existent realities.One trying to analyze any system or paradigm should try to consider what cannot happen because if it happens, there may be no coming back.
Oct 7th in Palestine was such a tipping point moment.
I'd argue that 9/11 was another such moment.
This article by b is excellent btw.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 3 2025 17:10 utc | 16
Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Jun 3 2025 16:59 utc | 12
#########
The global response to COVID was not uniform. It may seem that way in the information bubble of the West, but Russia, China, and India had relatively unique approaches.
Maduro spoke recently about how US Sanctions saved Venezuela from pharma-induced deaths and vaccine injuries.
Every action by anyone creates second and third-order effects.
The Chinese approach is close to my thoughts. Limit actions and abandon them the moment harm is discovered. That's not possible in a captured imperial system that doesn't have philosophical and humanistic leadership.
I think that is why the most surface-level powerful movements crack up eventually. The drive to act is strong and over time deviates further and further from humility. Add in some ego and corruption, and horrible things can happen.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 17:13 utc | 17
An interesting review of Emmanuel Todd's last book La défaite de l’Occident by Krzysztof Tyszka-Drozdowski in American Affairs (it was probably B himself who had attached this link in a previous open thread):
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2024/11/how-the-west-was-lost/
The newspaper Le Monde, that ass-torch, reported on the book in the following way: "[Todd] announces the end of Ukraine and the West, without any real arguments and without bothering with coherence but in line with Russian propaganda".
Posted by: Leuk | Jun 3 2025 17:14 utc | 18
@JohnF | Jun 3 2025 16:41 utc | 3
On The Day of '911' I Told Everyone It Was a 'False Flag' Attack AND The Whole World Would Turn Against The USA.Well done, it took me 6-8 months to reach the same conclusion. But I learned from that experience and I declared 'the event in March 2020' for what it was after about 6-8 minutes.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 3 2025 17:15 utc | 19
US is stuck in Thucydides trap!
Its paradigm is: “the strong will, the weak endure.”
In Ukraine as in Yemen, soon Iran FUKGUS in for more defeat.
Posted by: paddy | Jun 3 2025 16:58 utc | 10
-----------
Aside from the "trap" thing being retroactive nonsense, to justify the Athenian FAFO vis-a-vis Sparta and in particular the needless war with Syracuse.
Other parts of Thucydides *does* apply to the Yoo Kay AKA New Britain.
I.E: The tyranny Westminster imposed upon foreigners it finally imposed upon Britain.
The US isn't*quite* so far gone.
Posted by: Urban Fox | Jun 3 2025 17:17 utc | 20
"I have been surprised"
There's that word again. I find it relates to the limitations of the speaker more than anything. If you didn't see President Trump acting strongly against the globalist mandarins of Canada and the EU, you just might have been paying zero attention.
Set aside the fact that American industry was deliberately shunted to China on behalf of corrupt foreign oligarchs profiting at the expense of their host country. The NGO/ media/ finance cabal had its zenith between 1992 and now. Already President Trump is making substantial headway against the cabal judiciary, while he has co-opted a certain portion of the oligarchy. The EU and Canada are a major part of Western globalism, so it makes sense for President Trump to weaken them both.
By contrast, Miriam Adelson couldn't even get President Trump to pay a brief visit to Netanyahu, which has to be alarming the lobby, while Mike Waltz being fired conveys a certain level of hostility to dual loyalists. "Resistance media" might be big mad that President Trump isn't taking on the Pentagon, but hey- you can't fight everyone at once, even if you want to.
Posted by: They Call Me Mister | Jun 3 2025 17:22 utc | 21
Imagine the psychological dislocation to come.
Victimhood is a disease
The Gaza Holocaust is the fever
================================
Mein Kampf, translated "My Struggle",
is a well known historical book title.
Chuck Schumer, empowered, privileged US Senator and steadfast Gaza Holocaust supporter,
sounds his dog whistle shofar once again,
crying of Victimhood, with a very recent book unsurprisingly
titled:
Antisemitism in America: Meine Warnung
Even while he holds power in Washington and slaughters hundreds
of thousands of civilians he tells us of his struggling supreme Victims.
Victimhood is a disease.
Psychologists will tell you that it's carriers and spreaders are characterized as
"aggressive, revenge seeking and black-hearted towards their perceived adversaries".
But you need not consult psychologists to understand the disease, you need only observe the IDF (IOF).
"Aggressive, revenge seeking and black-hearted towards their perceived adversaries."
================================
Imagine the psychological dislocation when the Victimhood identity,
for it *is* now fully engrained as an identity, is fully realized to be
a disease. A danger not just for those that are on the receiving end of the plague
but a danger for the carriers and spreaders, as well.
Imagine the psychological dislocation.
Victimhood is a disease
The Gaza Holocaust is the fever
- Otto Penn
Posted by: Otto Penn | Jun 3 2025 17:22 utc | 22
The West has no choice but to swim in fantasy whether it's dreams of mastery over the world as per the Deep State types or the strange quasi-myths of super-hero and completely unrealistic fantasies in action films that are really just super-hero stories. The West has nothing left other than fantasy so that other forces from a healthier more right-brain oriented mythos are emerging, hopefully, before nuclear disaster strikes. We need to focus on love and compassion as much as possible so that our consciousness can expand beyond competition and perpetual war.
Posted by: Chris Cosmos | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 23
WGAS.
The West doomed itself when it decided that Russia was an existential foe following its titanic struggle with and defeat of Nazi Germany.
All that remains now is for V V Putin to decide on how Russia will respond to the latest series of "provocations". It matters not a jot whether Trump was in the loop or not. So here's what will happen. Russia will give CIA HQ, Langley, and GCHQ, Cheltenham, three hours to evacuate their respective buildings before Mr Oreshnik leaves his calling card.
Simple, neat, bloodless, yet teaching a lesson the West can neither ignore nor forget.
Posted by: pasha | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 24
I find it far more likely that we are dominated by lizard people who appear to us as humans. Somehow here gets through his theory without discussion of Fabians or Rothschilds.
And while on the topic of incredible theories, I am having a hard time following the flow of logic pertaing to the big band theory an now the uproar in the scientific community caused by the observations of the JWS telescope - suggesting the that when they look back in tmie at what should be the birth of the universe they instead find fat and happy cellestial structures and so now the suggestion is that there are repeated big bangs or the universe is shaped like a hyperbola or ... well I just cant fathom it.
I find it odd that somehow we can be "out here" looking at the creation of ourselves. Maybe I missed a chapter. Can anyone help me to understand the broad parameter of what they are on about - executive summary, if possible. Yes, certainly belongs in another area of discussion.
Transmission over and out...
Posted by: jared | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 25
When I look at the "Liberal Democratic" Western countries describe themselves then compare it vs how the West acts in Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, Gaza, Ukraine, Cuba & Russia. It reminds me of the "Portrait of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde, in the novel, Dorian Gray is a hedonist who equates his physical beauty with spiritual goodness becomes cursed so that he remains young and handsome regardless of his age but his portrait reflects his true inner appearance. Freed from restraint because of his immortality he becomes crueler and more of a evil degenerate over time making his portrait repulsive and unrecognizable. At climax of the novel, he see the portrait for the 1st time in many years and is horrified at how ugly it has become and he makes a vow to be a better person, but even as he makes the vow he knows he wont act any different and what happens? the portrait becomes even uglier and Dorian in a fury destroys the painting rather than face the truth.
"He went in quietly, locking the door behind him, as was his custom, and dragged the purple hanging from the portrait. A cry of pain and indignation broke from him. He could see no change, save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite. The thing was still loathsome—more loathsome, if possible, than before—and the scarlet dew that spotted the hand seemed brighter, and more like blood newly spilled...."
"But this murder—was it to dog him all his life? Was he always to be burdened by his past? Was he really to confess? Never. There was only one bit of evidence left against him. The picture itself—that was evidence. He would destroy it. Why had he kept it so long? Once it had given him pleasure to watch it changing and growing old. Of late he had felt no such pleasure. It had kept him awake at night. When he had been away, he had been filled with terror lest other eyes should look upon it. It had brought melancholy across his passions. Its mere memory had marred many moments of joy. It had been like conscience to him. Yes, it had been conscience. He would destroy it.
He looked round and saw the knife that had stabbed Basil Hallward. He had cleaned it many times, till there was no stain left upon it. It was bright, and glistened. As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter’s work, and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and when that was dead, he would be free. It would kill this monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings, he would be at peace. He seized the thing, and stabbed the picture with it. "
Unfortunately for Dorian, destroying the painting kills Dorian as his body is transformed to match the hideous visage of the portrait, while the portrait returns to its original appearance when it was 1st painted. It looks like the US and the Collective West are fast approaching the moment when they will destroy themselves in a moment of self-hatred and denial.
Posted by: Kadath | Jun 3 2025 17:31 utc | 26
They are bleeding themselves white on Project Ukraine as if compelled by a force they're unable to resist. It's scrambled, illogical, disjointed and incomprehensible.. . .
There's a voodoo logic.
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 17:05 utc | 15
========
Brian Berletic's explanation of what is going on is quite logical:
(Oversimplification alert) European elites, in order to maintain the power they have held for hundreds of years, need a new source of wealth/cash. That is why they are driven to make war against Russia. Per BB is is still basically a class struggle. If they don't get control of these new resources in order to salvage their economies and deal with their debts plus control their populations, their own populations will rise up in fury and disgust and they (the elites) will not only lose all of their power but they might be hung from lamp posts as well.
This reminds me of the thesis of John K. Thornton, in "A Cultural History of the Atlantic World 1250 to 1820" (or of a historian whom he cites), that the "discovery" of the "New World" and the exploitation of its riches, especially silver, "saved" the ancien regimes of Europe, which were at a total dead-end, and allowed them to finance their wars with one another and pay their mercenary armies for a few more centuries.
Posted by: Jane | Jun 3 2025 17:33 utc | 27
b and other barflies, I wonder if you all have taken a listen or read to Ron Unz' outstanding "True History of World War II," which is Mr. Unz at the peak of his powers on the subject and also, I would say, completely irrefutable.
It would be a good reading partner to Mr. Todd's essay on the fall of the west. I have thought of little else regarding the west since being exposed to the thinking and writing of Victor Suvorov, David Irving, A.J.P. Taylor, Pat Buchanan, Sean McMeekin's "Stalin's War," Charles Lindbergh, and various other "revisionist history" contributors to the western mind.
When reading over and considering Mr. Todd's work, I implore you to also look into the incredible work of Mr. Unz and his summation on this topic.
...
Regarding two of your bolded points,
Trans ideology is therefore, in my opinion, one of the flags of this nihilism that now defines the West, this drive to destroy not just things and people but reality.
and
The downfall of the Soviet Union led to deep psychological and societal dislocations in Russia. The defeat of the West, or 'liberal democracy', is leading to similar consequences in Western societies.
I want to push back on these and offer my thoughts.
Regarding trans ideology, we must understand how the empire works with regards to its domestic population and the funneling and channeling of populist anger and resentment that rightfully should be aimed at the elite. If you are a materialist, whether in the Marxist tradition or more generally in the Hegelian one, you understand that rampaging empire has intrinsic fault lines built into it whereby its own destruction seems unavoidable given the ever centralizing forces that position wealth and power into fewer and fewer hands. The multinational elite have had hundreds of years, perhaps millenia, to grapple with this problem and have come up with solutions to this. The first being bread and circuses, the latest being the propping up of cultural scapegoats that may be utilized under the right conditions, resurrected again after the act, and then rallied against again.
In my mind, trans ideology or whatever you want to call it, is this generation's iteration of that scapegoat. Support for such policy in government as permitting and even legislating rights for the dismemberment of children or at the least, providing hormone blockers or expressing solidarity with the ability to discover one's own gender, often is expressed by around 50% of government, obviously from the other side of the aisle. But in four years, as is being shown now, the other side takes the reins and says, "We are righting the ship!" Trump is putting the kibosh on much of these state policies, even though one must take everything Trump says with a heaping spoon of salt.
In four years when a democrat comes back into the highest Federal office as figure-head, we can certainly expect a redoubling of earlier efforts to support trans-rights at the state level.
Now, we can not say if the opportunity to do this again will be afforded the empire in four years. The very ability to steer policy of the states via the established quid pro quo of money printing and arm twisting between the Federal and State governments, may truly be in question this time. But the overall pattern of empire remains clear for all to see: the elite set up scapegoat pins over the course of decades only for an elite-Messiah, President Orange-Man-Bad, to come onto the scene and knock them down. The other 50% of government and the private sector cheer because "our man is winning."
But does anyone seriously believe that the cream of the crop, the elite of the elite, the 1% of the 1% truly give two shits about children suffering bodily dysmorphia or adults engaging in creepy role play? Certainly there are the middle-manager true believers, but they are few and far between. More than this, does anyone truly think that public policy regarding trans ideology is worthy of air time, let alone brain time? With everything else occurring in your life, on your street, and in your nation, who cares about it?
In summary, I can only say that whereas Mr. Todd and perhaps you, b, think trans ideology is some phenomenon that has sprung up without the guiding hand of elites within their media and cultural arm, I think this is a bad proposition. The trans issue exists as a distraction and scapegoat. But the only thing is, these methods employed by the elite can only be used once or twice before the demos get wise to the act.
I predict as the liberal west recedes further and the ability of the elite media and cultural arm to influence popular perception via the flow of funny money to states increasingly becomes a liability, the issue of trans ideology will take care of itself and fade back into obscurity.
...
Regarding your second bolded point above, I think we must acknowledge that far before the sudden collapse of the USSR, cracks in the facade were showing in the decades leading up to 90s.
I have posited in prior posts that there seems to exist something like a "despair index" where a country's overall heath can be measured by a few important statistics. Namely: suicide.
From 1965-1984, the suicide rate in the Soviet Union rose from 17.1 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1965 to 29.6 per 100,000 in 1984. Obesity levels in the USSR were actually coming to be greater than even the U.S.! Certainly, this shows that the collapse of the Soviet Union was not the shocking event that many think it was, but rather the quiet acknowledgement that something was wrong.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 17:35 utc | 28
@pasha | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 24
Russia will give CIA HQ, Langley, and GCHQ, Cheltenham, three hours to evacuate their respective buildings before Mr Oreshnik leaves his calling card.You mean the Russians will copy the Zionist modus in Gaza? Even though the people at Langley etc. are guilty monsters, you don't copy their methods if you want to change how things work.
Simple, neat, bloodless, yet teaching a lesson the West can neither ignore nor forget.
Instead you do things like offering Ukraine 6000 dead soldiers on humanitarian grounds and compel the Nazis to pay the families of the dead the equivalence of 2.5 billion USD.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 3 2025 17:36 utc | 29
Don [email protected] the Free State getting stellar returns on it's Apartheid State War Bonds, The Republic of Ireland has secured it's future.....things are looking up, unless that McGregor fella starts swinging......
Cheers M
.....sad to see Kneecap getting....hmm, Kneecapped, but hanging with ex revolutionaries might cause such....plus their cause Brits Out, is so one dimensional....might I suggest some Ren Gill or the Big Push....
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Jun 3 2025 17:37 utc | 30
@jared | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 25
The big bang theory is just that. We don't know the real answer. I guess people are afraid of infinity so they device a theory that makes the universe finite.
Years ago, my then ~5 year old daughter claimed that the universe was finite because "there must be a wall out there". "But what is behind the wall?" I asked her. Still waiting for the reply.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 3 2025 17:41 utc | 31
I find it odd that somehow we can be "out here" looking at the creation of ourselves.
Transmission over and out...
@Posted by: jared | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 25
We are inside of a Black Hole.
We are inside of a Black Hole that is itself inside of a Black Hole...
inside of another Black Hole.........................................................................................................................................................ad infinitum
Within our Black Hole, mostly stable and homogeneous, there are regions where bubbles form.
From without these bubbles appear to exist for a relative nanosecond, within they appear to last for a trillion years.
But it is the collision of these bubbles, the intersection area, where creation, as we understand it, takes place.
What happens when these bubbles burst, you ask. Only consciousness remains, super consciousness. Each bursting bubble is like
the flower casting off it's seeds. The mostly stable and homogeneous region of the Black Hole is filled
with consciousness, the product of previous bubble collisions. A region of Angels.
Posted by: just passingthru | Jun 3 2025 17:46 utc | 32
Where do we start the clock-?
If you're LoveDonbass @ | Jun 3 2025 16:34 utc | 1, you reach back to 9/11 potentially as the opening salvo of the decline of liberal democracies---and then you move forward, scooping up additional vector points in the decline, such as the onset of Project Ukraine, followed by 7 October as well.
If you're Fool Me Twice @ | Jun 3 2025 16:59 utc | 12, you bundle everything LoveDonbass lists and find a compelling place for the pandemic too.
I'd place the dismemberment of Yugoslavia and the bombardment of Serbia into the mix, especially w/ its dynamic map-changing aftermath.
The density of *evidence* after 1991 for the decline of liberal democracies is notable: all events listed above have occurred during peak-Bilderberger and peak-Davos and peak-Aspen Council, a think-tank period dominated by Schwabian neocons and warmongers out of the Irving Kristol/William Kristol/Strobe Talbot/Nuland/Kagan mind-set.
Even a progenitor of Project Ukraine, the Orange Revolution of 2004, happened early in the Bush-shrub era, marked by Beltway-dominant leading lights like Dick Cheney.
The cohort of post-Schwab acolytes is aging out, so it's not peculiar to see their pet hegemonic projects, as fronted by an array of Liberal democracies in the west, losing vitality.
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 17:47 utc | 33
@NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 17:35 utc | 28
The trans issue exists as a distraction and scapegoat.No it is not a scapegoat, it is the essential lesson from boot camp: If you want to teach people to become truly obedient, you must make them obey nonsense.
The objective is control.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 3 2025 17:54 utc | 34
@32
Liberal democracies are mythical beings.
In U$$A the idea became impossible once Lincoln decided in 1861 that Union is superior to the U.S. constitution imposing federalism over the implied conception in the imaginary U.S. republic.
Posted by: paddy | Jun 3 2025 17:56 utc | 35
@33 Norwegian
You missed my point.
For 50% of the population, yes, they will fight for this nonsense.
For the other 50% of the population, they will stand up against it.
In the meantime, the elite have succeeded in making the people fight each other instead of galvanizing against them.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 17:57 utc | 36
Their is no such thing as liberal democracy in the west. The West is governed by imperialism, and imperialism is falling apart mainly due to the rise of China, and it leading the global south towards an independent existence (away from the clutches of imperialism). And the imperialists don't know any other way to survive, hence they are doubling down.
All these constructs of liberalism of trans ideology crap are just tools to keep the clueless busy.
Posted by: Meme | Jun 3 2025 18:00 utc | 37
Question:
Does anyone believe the Establishment in the West will go away peacefully like happened in the USSR and DDR ?
Posted by: exile | Jun 3 2025 18:00 utc | 38
@NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 17:57 utc | 35
Yes I agree. Divide and conquer. The objective is control.
Posted by: Norwegian | Jun 3 2025 18:01 utc | 39
Posted by: Jane | Jun 3 2025 17:33 utc | 27
RE: the exploitation of the New World's riches, especially silver, "saved" the Spanish Empire
<<
When the money runs out, the war stops.
Consider how the Spanish Empire ran aground after the Napoleonic War left the peninsula economically ruined, deeply divided and politically unstable. Spain was never able to float its boat hegemonically again.
Eventually it became a *liberal democracy* in the pantheon of others vassalized to the U.S. hegemon.
The war-chest of New World silver kept Spain steaming ahead w/ the kind of irrational exuberance which Wall Street wonks can only dream of.
But by the end of 1826, the only American colonies Spain held were Cuba and Puerto Rico.
No money, no war.
Many like to analogize the Fall of Rome to what is happening to/for/with the U.S. right now but to my mind 17th Century Spain is a better historical match.
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 18:04 utc | 40
This has all been in the planning for century’s
In the not too distant future. Israel will be called by the UN to explain itself after the true death toll comes out after its genocide of the Palestinians,and Netanyahu will declare to the world he is the anti christ and the religions of the world will fall and we will be ruled by the devil for a while before the apocalypse
No jewish state has lasted longer than 80 years
Posted by: Boardindundee | Jun 3 2025 18:04 utc | 41
We as reasoning apes try to find paths to a solution, but the path we find is not posted with markers. And the paths is obscured a made more complex by rivers and valleys and hills and bad weather etc z- so it is not obvious the best choice is not the only choice, out past experience influences future decisions and we can become disoriented and head in wrong direction or in circles. Each moment is a choice - continue or turn (and meanwhile your wife is doubting your choices). And individuals are limited in resources, knowledge and capacity for learning. Institutions dont have these limitations and because they dont grow old and die the have greater capcity for learning and for memory and have more stability. This stability makes it difficult for them to reassess and change course - they are forever chosing the next, best step to proceed from where they believe they are. This is only addressesed by a contrary force which may develop with the buraucracy and sometimes by extreme measures - to remove the tendency to revert to past ways.
Posted by: jared | Jun 3 2025 18:05 utc | 42
@jared | Tue, 03 Jun 2025 17:28:00 GMT | 25
I don't yet know about the JWS telescope findings. But when they are not making sense and include Quasars, then you may want to learn about the work of Halton Arp. An original researcher in the field, he claims (1987) that a bullying colleague managed to distort the whole field of radio astronomy. His arguments are rather convincing, but despite his transparent presentation, you'll need a little technical knowledge to get around to that. In short, he says quasars are related to activity in some galaxies; not, like conventional theory has it, very distant and constant emitters. This obviously messes up measurements of time and distance, with an effect on the overall picture, including the Big Bang. Here's his latest (and last) book from 1997:
https://archive.org/details/halton-arp-seeing-red-red-shift-cosmology-and-academic-science
Posted by: persiflo | Jun 3 2025 18:08 utc | 43
Posted by: steel_porcupine | Jun 3 2025 17:47 utc | 32
#########
I don't worry about timing. It's like an avalanche. I will ski elsewhere rather than try to "find a safe day".
What is pertinent and important to me is that the big move is happening or that it is inevitable.
Someone could probably be hyper-reductive and find different spots. The 13th Thursday of the Vietnam War or the time a pizza wa delivered cold to my college party. Then I apply a filter I often use, "To what end?"
Let's say it started in '91 or it started in 2012. What has meaningfully changed for me or anyone else?
Does it matter that I was born in the Fall? Does it matter that I was born at 1:00 AM? Would my life and destiny be different if I had emerged from my mother at 11:00 PM the day before? That I was born on the 4th floor or the 7th floor of the hospital?
Details are endless and often become rabbit holes for thinking. That is why I peace out at MoA as soon as someone starts talking about barrel diameters and map reports. That is a level of OCD that I struggle to accommodate as someone with OCD.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 18:09 utc | 44
Our situation is like the great spanish electric blackout last month. Spain proudly announced it had reached 100% sustainable energy last April. Peak hubris and peak stupidity. And then bang ! There went the grid 3 weeks later. It was out for 24 hours. Which illustrates that a system that looses variety (loss of traditionnal generating facilities) tends to become instable.
Talking to young western engineers from top universities recently, they were all into finance. Only losers accept jobs in industry. But societies should never let one segment, especially an unproductive one, dominate all others. It leads, as b points out, to a loss of faith. But it also leads to (social) instability. For it takes many strands to build a stable society. Think of the caste system in India (2 to 3 millena of stability), or medevial european society which had diverse orders peasants, nobility, church, merchants and considerable regional differences ( 1000 years of stability).
A society dominated by finance cannot last that long. They have currently bought their way into all centres of power. They are working hard (and successfully) on the disappearance of all competing worldviews . Yet their peak hubris prevents them from realising how very narrow their skill sets actually are. Peak hubris + lack of skills? A neat recipe for disaster. They will miscalculate and disappear, it cannot be otherwise. How that happens, we do not know.
Posted by: Shamaran | Jun 3 2025 18:15 utc | 45
In the past few years, the US has become indistinguishable from an episode of "South Park". Satire can be hard to discern since reality has become unchained from facts. Another oddity is the mass acceptance of social movements that move society towards extinction: gender confusion, MGTOW and animosity towards family life.
As for Berletic, I'm not fully buying his ideas. The UK's hatred of Russia is just a cultural habit, dragged out to distract stupid voters while their nation decays. The EU's obsession with war goes far beyond any thoughts of exploiting Russia - that ship has sailed. It's simple fear and hatred of Russia. They don't care a whit about Ukrainian lives, they're disposable. They just want to hurt Russia as much as they can.
There is a point of resonance here about the fall of the Soviet Union. The West is facing a failure of governance - with the US in particular. Why does neither party pledge that all future candidates will have to pass a bipartisan medical exam that includes mental ability?
Posted by: Eighthman | Jun 3 2025 18:15 utc | 46
Thanks for the report, b. Well done.
“even though Europe is certainly the region of the world which would be most advantaged by a peace agreement” ~E. Todd
This is the question that I've been grappling with. Why war, and not peace? It can't just be the money – as in people making money off the MIC. The source of Russophobia (some argue that this term is propagandistic tool to suppress legitimate debate) can be traced back to the early 1800s, but why? Breaking up Russia to gorge on it? I mean, how many times are they going to try? The Brits have had it in for Russia since 1860s, and the hate, as if on auto-mode, has been passed on from generation to generation without ever letting up.
Nihilism doesn't describe it well. There has to be more to it. I think people are believing their own lies.
The case of Mullah-Nasredin: The good mullah is standing in a long bread-line, and in order to get rid of some of the customers in line, he tells a lie that they are giving away ash(pronounced awsh --soup in Farsi) on the next block. He later shows up on the next block thinking, what if it's true that they are giving ash away.
I think Europe has to be destroyed in every sphere – politically, financially, militarily – in order for this cycle to stop. But after, will the world, as we know it, still be around to see the break in this vicious cycle?
Posted by: Sakineh Bagoom | Jun 3 2025 18:16 utc | 47
Posted by: jared | Jun 3 2025 17:28 utc | 25
Big band theory died with Glen Miller.
It's turtles all the way down.
Try not to worry about it and appreciate your time while you are here.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Jun 3 2025 18:17 utc | 48
Posted by: exile | Jun 3 2025 18:00 utc | 37
###########
I hope the conditions will be the same. Neither of those entities had a choice.
I can imagine the Anglo-Americans could go so far as to fire off a nuke in a fit of anger, no different from Putin saying that a world without Russia is a world that they wouldn't care about.
I'd prefer it to be like when I had to put my last dog down. I was crying the whole time, but a very gentle injection, and then 2 minutes later, she was gone.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 18:19 utc | 49
@37
U$$A will only faded to naught quietly if the peons refuse to perform the launch orders.
Not likely since in the U$$A nuclear business the psych screen only accepts psychopaths who can kill millions with the turn of their key.
Posted by: paddy | Jun 3 2025 18:22 utc | 50
The breakdown of "western-civilization" is an artifact of the uppermost-classes public disregard for any appearance of propriety...not even trying to fake it. Witness the publicly displayed pedophilia on display in the Epstein case and not so much as a slap on the wrist? No..no instead the victims, the boys and girls, the children are suicide'd in a voyeuristic manner akin to snuff films that also seem to give the uppermost-crust ghouls great pleasure.
An another example is the recent subterfuge executed by a team of MI-6 and ex-ukrainia's secret-police. Notice the cowardice on full display by both parties. In what could only be called a disgrace on both parties, the final assault was executed by unwitting civilians who were used as suicide bombers. Not one Englishman or Galician was required to to show courage, to brave fire...much less give their life in the attack.
Nope, not even a fig leaf's worth of personal courage was displayed by MI-6 personal or, Galicia's-Gestopo...not exactly Sean Connery materiel is it? And this follows in the footsteps of MI-6 and the Galician-Gestopo using unwitting civilians to carry out the bombing of the Kerch-Strait-bridge...which was another profile in cowardice.
In both cases, the target could be considered a legitimate military target and had they been carried out by Galacians or even Englishmen then it would've been a somewhat legitimate military action but, that was not case, their use of unwitting civilians was another act of satanic iniquity that represents a publicly displayed indifference to propriety...which is, as I said in the lead, is another, very public, breakdown of "western-civilization's" professed moral code. The uppermost-crust shames us all, inspiring soulless spirits to emulate their evil.
Posted by: S Brennan | Jun 3 2025 18:25 utc | 51
Thanks for your observation's b. My latest, "You Read About Things in the News Because Something Is Happening Here But You Don’t Know What It Is Or How It Will Affect Your Life", stars Todd, Crooke, the Chinese, and Bob Dylan's "Ballad of a Thin Man" 1965 protest song. I've revisited my collection of 1960-70s protest music and just finished with Steppenwolf's "Monster/Suicide/America" from 1969 where the band called on America to "protect your sons and daughters from the Monster", which for me is the Outlaw US Empire. Unfortunately, as we know that awakening has yet to happen, thus my riff on Dylan. Since returning from Russia, Crooke has been very insistent that Russia would very much like a "relationship" with the Empire, but as I explain that cannot occur because the Empire is incapable of being honest, which the Global Majority is now very much aware of and stiffens everyone's resolve, not just China and Russia.
The Empire has lied about reality even before it escaped from England. After 400+ years of serial prevarication, like the leopard that cannot change its spots the Empire cannot tell the truth to save itself. Nor can it escape from the Western dichotomy: Master->Slave/Landlord->Serf/Capitalist->Worker/Creditor->Debt Peon. Marx concluded that the way to break it was for workers to become the owners and thus transform Capitalism into Socialism. I'll note that transformation has yet to occur in any nation. Why that is will take an essay to explain.
Thanks for addressing it.
What I do not agree with is his categorizing Communism as a religion.
What happened was simply that local, communal, state structure and services hollowing out and falling apart.
One need not be a religious (i.e. irrational person?) to freak out over this.
Today they call it failed state or a condition to that.
People were killing each other. Mafia took over the riches of the country. etc.
To be aghast over this would be the most normal thing.
And frankly for most people the idea called Communism (it's difficult for me to use the word as I have most in my life encountered wrinkled foreheads when saying it) was comparable to any decent understanding of how life among human beings should be organized in a way that this promises an upward direction. It was a promise, like the declaration of human rights was a promise. Or any new Constitution is (until it´s not...)
He is pathologizing things which I rather like to call normal human reactions and interaction and regarded as such all over the world.
p.s. what that notion of "trans" ideology is, I really don´t get.
In Berlin in 2022 since people have the option to change their gender in the city administration´s registry 137 individuals used this opportunity. 137 out of of population of 3.4M!
So what´s the fuss about...
Do not mix up reality with the campaigns and fiction created by news and entertainment media (the series "Sex Education" by Netflix e.g. which presented a bad 4th season where you got the insane impression every single kid has sex identity issues. Sorry but that´s bullshit. And it has nothing to do with reality. It is fiction and should be treated as such.)
Posted by: AG | Jun 3 2025 18:29 utc | 53
It's ridiculous and prejudiced to burden trans "ideology" with some paranoid flag about society as a whole. This is comparable to how gay bashers would argue that permitting homosexuality would destroy society. The personal choices that some people may make regarding their own identity should not be shackled to any crazed dogma about humanity as a whole.
It's preferable for all poles to decline, and stay declined. Humanity needs a world of no poles at all, instead of the multipolar fiefdoms this website always pushes.
-----------
This has all been in the planning for century’s
Posted by: Boardindundee | Jun 3 2025 18:04 utc | 40
It's very likely that Boardindundee actually believes what he wrote.
Posted by: TopaInkaYupanqui | Jun 3 2025 18:31 utc | 54
It's random (in a positive way) articles like this on a warm spring Tuesday that remind, once again, why Bernard must always be protected.
Don't always agree with you take but I never doubt you sincerity.
Thanks for this and keep doing what you do.
Posted by: Skeletor | Jun 3 2025 18:31 utc | 55
Given the tone of the discussion, it's time once again to post the link to The Collapse of Complex Societies.
Not the slickest of production values for this video driven era, but one of the most enlightening 90 minutes you can spend.
"Every step of the way the measures they tried to take seemed entirely rational".
Empires collapse, always, it's the economics.
Posted by: ChatNPC | Jun 3 2025 18:38 utc | 56
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 17:35 utc | 28
I think your comment was excellent and i agree 100%. All of the garbage that has consumed the country since the 2010's was after occupy wall street made the news. Not saying i agree with occupy wall street, but it is curious isn't it?
Posted by: Mr. House | Jun 3 2025 18:41 utc | 57
The one really interesting question is, what happens after the current system collapses? How far will deconstruction / reconstruction go?
Will the religious / philosophical foundation of our societies in the 3 semetic religions (Judaïsm, Christiendom, Islam), be deconstructed? All three postulate an imaginary superiority (“I.e. we are the chosen people”), with a moral right to kill (Judaïsm), conquer and convert others (Christendom, Islam). Imposing our will on others is rooted in our culture. Lying, raping, killing our way to success... It has been around thousands of years. How can it be changed, if its moral / religions underpinnings are not changed?
Will the model of "limited incorporation" ever be deconstructed? Remember, before the 16th century, businesspeople were liable for losses on their personal fortune. Their exposure to risk was total. The "limited" model of incorporation was accepted (East India Company, etc.) as safe, because it applied to overseas savages. It eventually became the rules based order, off course, by which businesses can loot, plunder, fleece, poison their fellow countrymen, and bear little consequence.
The scope of the next upheaval is difficult to determine. The powers that be will invest heavily on cosmetic change. Humanity might be ripe for more fundemental change.
Posted by: Shamaran | Jun 3 2025 18:42 utc | 58
hi you Putin faggots .. good that your hero gives the enemies years to prepare their attacks deep into Russia's heartland
Posted by: joe911 | Jun 3 2025 18:44 utc | 59
There is a lot of madness going on in the West right now, such as Europe wanting to keep the war going with Russia - Trump and his self-damaging tariffs - and many, many politicians and gender affiliated groups - unable to say what a woman is, which is utter madness.
To me it appears that the Old World countries mainly Europe/Britain, and the New World nations - such as the USA, blindly believe that their dominance and way of life - are still the only goals that must be achieved, and emulated by the rest of the world. They've been on top for so long - (especially the Old World nations) that they think that they are untouchable in their ideals and actions - namely imperialism and colonialism.
But things are changing, the balance is tipping towards the East and the Global South - and the West doesn't know how to deal with it - self - inflicted internal strife, via poor policies and lashing out at those countries that on the economic rise - appears to be symptoms of a balancing, if not tipping of the scales of economic power away from the West.
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Jun 3 2025 18:45 utc | 60
Posted by: exile | Jun 3 2025 18:00 utc | 37Hard to answer logically (because of the "anyone") but as someone who's experienced the disappearing of DDR, I am fully convinced that Western hegemons cannot do that.Does anyone believe the Establishment in the West will go away peacefully like happened in the USSR and DDR ?
Important to note: the entire Eastern bloc was prepared for violence. In the DDR, we had Kampftruppen and Zivilverteidigung, two offical paramilitary cohorts (with regular practice) for riot suppression, and that in addition to (secret) police and army. And Russian troops. I've said it before: the fact that real existing socialism opted to implode rather than explode was a parting humanitarian gift that the triumphant winners not once acknowledged.
Posted by: Konami | Jun 3 2025 18:49 utc | 61
An interesting factoid I just came across here:
The US political news outlet Axios, citing a poll conducted by the American firm Morning Consult covering 41 countries, reported that China's global favorability has been on a steady upward trajectory over the past year, with a notable acceleration since March of this year. As of the end of May, China had an 8.8 net favorability rating, compared to -1.5 for the US. This marks the first time since the tracking began that China's global favorability has surpassed that of the US in this metric. This is not an isolated case - numerous international surveys in recent years have pointed to the same trend: The world is viewing China with increasing warmth and positivity. [My Emphasis]
A negative 1.5 on presumably a ten scale IMO reflects reality very well. China's rising favorability is also merited, IMO. The times they are a changing.
Wise words b. And the alternative to failed liberal democracy is currently being posited by the far right - Trump, Farage, Le Pen, Weider, Melanie etc.
Posted by: Pete Jones | Jun 3 2025 18:55 utc | 63
Eighthman et al.:
The greater problem with Berletic’s prophecy is the notion that there will be a serious revolt within the West against Western imperialism. Euros have no means to do so: crudely put, where are the guns? And the US “Don’t Tread on Me” types love the flavor of the latest jackboot.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 18:59 utc | 64
Posted by: joe911 | Jun 3 2025 18:44 utc | 59
Fick off , child. If you haven’t something informative or part of normal discourse to say ,don’t say it . If you just have to say something without evidence and/or be cutting in your comments at least make it witty or comical. Your lack of good faith is too obvious and thus offensive.
Posted by: Mustee | Jun 3 2025 18:59 utc | 65
There must be strengths in our possession that we can build on to reverse this trend but I haven't the slightest idea what they might be. All we can come up with is the "do unto others*" thing and hope it catches on. So we've resigned to doing that.
* "do unto others" is a concept that is NOT the property of any religion. It is common sense.
Posted by: chunga | Jun 3 2025 19:04 utc | 66
there is nothing wrong with men dressing up as women, or getting off in womens underwear, or even mutilating themselves, just as there is nothing wrong with tattoos and piercings.
But when they insist they actually are women, they are insane. When they insist I engage in their sexual roleplay, and refer to them as women, that is sexual harrassment. When they call it "gender affirming care", when gender affirming would be testoterone for men with gender dysphoria, not tblockers, that is gaslighting.
The big deal is everywhere in media and culture, they are trying to force upon us a lie, and they do not stop at childrens shows. Mix in pornography, and it is a potent psychological attack.
Homosexuality is not a lie, and equating the two is horseshit. Homosexuals do not claim to be something they in reality are not, they just have sexual preferences for the same sex. They do not have surgeries to try and "affirm" their homosexuality. (80% of mtf are autogynopheliac). They do not insist I refer to them as "boyfriend" or "bottom" at the workplace. They do not try to force me to play along with their fantasies.
The real failure of western civilization is obedience and popularity are higher virtues than truth.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:06 utc | 67
@ LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 16:58 utc | 9
thanks ld! i don't know if it was nassim taleb that coined that term.. i looks older based on your link.. fwiw - i have read many of talebs books and admire his perspectives shared in those books.. below is a quote from emmanuel todd in one of the links b provided above..
"I'm a little embarrassed to say this here in Moscow, but I have to admit that Russia is not the important subject for me. I'm not saying that Russia isn't interesting, I'm saying that it's not at the heart of my thinking. The core of my thinking is referred to in the title of my book, La Défaite de l'Occident (The Defeat of the West). It's not Russia's victory, it's the defeat of the West that I'm studying. I think that the West is destroying itself."
Posted by: james | Jun 3 2025 19:09 utc | 68
And the US “Don’t Tread on Me” types love the flavor of the latest jackboot.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 18:59 utc | 64
not true. They just hate everything, and are at heart cowards. Any resistance they ever see, they will find the tiniest of ideological differences, and then declare the resistance not to their liking, and say "tell me when a real resistance starts"
If they cant find ideological disagreement, they will claim the movement is a false flag, or infiltrated, limited hang out, etc etc, and again, "call me when real resistance is here".
If there was a real resistance, to which they could agree, they would still wait it out, until the resistance met a defeat, then they would loudly proclaim the leadership is "a bunch of idiots", and that is why we "will always be slaves".
Not only that, but in my real life experience, gasden flag fliers are total assholes, usually devoid of any family or friends. In a nutshell, the only movement they would ever join would be one led by them, which, conveniently for them would never happen, because nobody would ever want to be around them, much less risk their lives on their orders.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:15 utc | 69
* "do unto others" is a concept that is NOT the property of any religion. It is common sense.
Posted by: chunga | Jun 3 2025 19:04 utc | 66
I know the sentiment behind "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you", BUT, there is the unfortunate assumption that others share your values and customs. The West suffers greatly from this arrogance.
Just a simple example, there are many places in the world where the 'OK' sign with your finger is communicating "all good, everything is fine". There are many others where the same gesture is conveying "you are an asshole".
Some places, like Japan, tipping can be seen as offensive. Others like the USA, the opposite.
So, IMO, it should be something like, "don't do unto others unless you are sure they share your values and want you to". Ask first.
Posted by: saner | Jun 3 2025 19:16 utc | 70
@ UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:15 utc | 69
I will agree that they’re tough-talking cowards. But the ones I know — and they’re the easy majority where I live — are still sporting their MAGA schwag.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:18 utc | 71
"In both cases, the "tipping points" were stage managed by the portrayed "victims" to undertake changes that they had long planned to make. In one case, both the Patriot Act, which authorized the surveillance state. Plus the invasions of multiple African and Middle East countries (see Wesley Clark: 7 countries in 5 years).
We also know that Hamas was created with Israeli money because they wanted radical opposition not moderates like Arafat or Abbas. They also wanted disunity between the West Bank and Gaza. Oct 7 allowed them to finally complete their 90 year campaign of ethic cleansing.
You could also argue that the global approach to Covid-19 was another such event. Governments uniformly field tested how far they could go in crushing civil liberties.
While there may be a "changing of the guard" in progress in the ranks of Global Central Planners and associated wealth consolidators, I disagree with Baud and Bernard. The collapse of the west, in reality a side effect of the unpayable $330 trillion global debt Ponzi, is no accident nor an "unforeseen" event."
Posted by: Fool Me Twice | Jun 3 2025 16:59 utc | 12
Excellent post-well done!
Posted by: canuck | Jun 3 2025 19:19 utc | 72
Can't imagine someone hasn't posted this in the past few days, but in case it was missed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwSoPhKassE
Wilkerson is LIVID and on a tear. It's relevant to the current discussion. Some points:
* There isn't a brain currently in western leadership capable of understanding the carefulness and depth of thought exhibited by VVP and Russian leaders. Lindsey Graham is a "demon".
* The US was 100% involved in both the Spider Web attacks and the assassination attempt against VVP. Interesting theory in comments: The drone swarms in NJ last year were practice for the Spider Web attack.
* No matter how much damage was actually done to the Russian strategic fleet, this was HIGHLY irresponsible and pushes us all closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation. As a result of Spider Web and assassination attempt(s) Putin would be in his right mind to "drop a nuke" (I disagree - Oreshink would be much better) "on a western capital."
* Trump is asleep at the wheel if not reaching Reagan/Biden levels of cluelessness on these matters (Ukraine-Russia, Israel-Iran). Vance has been delegated to get the intel briefings because either Trump isn't listening at all or they're not trying hard enough to brief him, and if Trump wasn't actually informed about the two attacks, then Tulsi needs to be fired right now.
* Nutty Yahoo and Zelenski are both at similar points of desperation to hang onto power. Keeping the wars going or starting a new one with Iran would force Trump to have to step in and help Israel and Bibi is capable of anything at this time. Israeli society (economy, social fabric, etc.) is on the brink of collapse. Of the previous 16M Jews in Israel, about 8M are left (I could be slightly off on one or both numbers) the recent polls show that 80+% are in favor of MOST Nutty Yahoo policies (genociding Gaza but they don't like how the hostage stuff is being "handled" (it's not, Bibi needs them to stay hostages)). All of Zelenski's big speeches to western bodies are being written by AEI or Heritage and even if everyone needed to make a deal in Istanbul shows up and a deal is reached for peace, those same people and their EU equivalents will make sure to keep things going to bleed Russia dry so they wouldn't be a factor if war with China happens. IOW, it sounds like the West is still putting maximalist demands on the process and even if (in fact precisely BECAUSE) a deal is made that is viewed by these psychos as favorable to VVP or doesn't bleed Russia dry enough now, they'll find ways to keep this shitshow going until RUSSIA/VVP do collapse.
The western "leaders" are ALL in a clown car driving the rest of us to noo-koo-lar war. Evil, scary shit. I highly recommend actually listening to the interview - I am just going from memory and they cover a LOT more ground.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:19 utc | 73
@jared |June 3 2025 17:28 utc #25
Woah, wasn't expecting this question here, but I cant resist telling you there is an answer why the field of theoretical physics is wildly confusing. That's part of the grift. Its not just politics that has been corrupted by zionism, so has theoretical physics.Experiments can only tell "what" is happening;They cannot tell you "why", or true causes. But the "why" is where physicists get to play their mind games and try to get you to believe things that are ridiculous. So if you want to understand reality, just go to Medium.com/Thomas White and read the first few top stories. Or read the full explanation in the ebook referenced there.
Posted by: Whistlen | Jun 3 2025 19:20 utc | 74
I will agree that they’re tough-talking cowards. But the ones I know — and they’re the easy majority where I live — are still sporting their MAGA schwag.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:18 utc | 71
gasden flag fliers are not the easy majority anywhere. Even in texas they are outnumbered 20-1 by texas flag fliers.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:26 utc | 75
It’s the age-old contest for energy sources, whether that energy source is forced labour/slavery, coal, gas, oil and latterly the mix of ingredients for the ‘renewable’ sector.
And oil is still the most important one; don’t believe me? Try building a nuclear power station without diesel excavators, cranes, dump trucks or welding generators, but this isn’t meant to derail the topic, more to get to the main point and that is the West (at least the Western elites) are running out of affordably exploitable resources. The remaining large reserves are either colossally expensive to reach (deep ocean, Polar regions) or in ‘politically-difficult’ parts of the world (probably could put the Polar regions in this category as well).
Currently, it is more cost-effective to provoke regime-change and destabilisation in these ‘politically-difficult’ regions, subverting any existing political/economic/financial structures, than it is to go into the deep oceans, but these subversion schemes and plots are starting to unravel and even blow back on the instigators and herein lies the difficulty for the elites. The push back is starting to enrage and unhinge them, leading to even more extreme and deranged fantasies about taking on the other power nodes in the world, with ever more sensitivity about being questioned on whether this is a good idea (increased censorship of counter-views).
They are in trouble, but so are we, as we are at risk of being taken down with them.
Apologies for a random stream of stuff, thoughts were coming to mind faster than I could organise, let alone type. It’s too many years since I had to do a rigorous academic paper.
I’ll finish with this: much time, thought and effort is put into the question, why is the Universe expanding?
The answer is stunningly simple: it’s trying to get away from us, as fast and as far as it possibly can...
Posted by: Jeremy Rhymings-Lang | Jun 3 2025 19:26 utc | 76
@ UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:06 utc | 67
I have a — let’s put this mildly — jaundiced view toward tattoos and piercings, which manias I find rooted in a postmodernist craving for tribalism in a world where there no longer are tribes.
As for transsexuality, I’m sensitive to the fact that there are people who, due to matters of hormonal or chromosomal incongruence with genitalia, desire reassignment to the sex they innately identify with. Heck, even the Islamic Republic of Iran recognizes this fact. The great problem for everyone concerned (as opposed to everyone hateful), is identifying these cases as opposed to the same kind of adolescent confusion/exploration that causes 14-year-olds to have same-sex crushes before they discover they were straight after all.
This much said, libs certainly use this as a kind of demographic population control, just as cons use opposition to trans rights as a gateway toward resuming the battle against Ls and Gs.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:27 utc | 77
@ UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:26 utc | 75
I’m not in Texas; but then, weren’t you the one trying to tell the folks here where I worked?
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:30 utc | 78
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:19 utc | 73
To add to that, one important point: It appears that Western "leadership" and the forces behind the curtain guiding them are so incredibly detached from reality that they have fooled themselves into thinking a nuclear war is survivable, even "winnable" - and the ones who aren't incredibly stupid/detached from reality (a minority) are fully aware that during the Cold War or prior to the Ukraine proxy war, actions of the type being carried out or contemplated by Bibi and Zelenski - would have been unthinkable and likely to trigger a civilization ending war - but they don't care.
My take is nothing is going to be resolved any time soon and while I'm not sure what happens with Ukraine (don't want to think about it - someone in the Collective Waste either needs to wake up or be introduced to Russian missiles in their face), the Iranian nuclear negotiations will fail (or be made to fail) and the Zionists will pre-emptively attack Iran or stage a false flag and then attack by mid-October.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:33 utc | 79
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:26 utc | 75
Depends on which part of the state you're in or rural/urban. Fun fact: I've seen a couple of Texas state license plates on trucks around here that combine the Gadsden snake, the Texas flag and "Don't Tread on Me" byline with the standard "TEXAS" across the top.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:37 utc | 80
Chat NPC @ 48
Nah. James Brown and all his bands.
Jaco Pastorius and the Word of Mouth Big Band.
The Miller Estate puts a lot of conditions on touring and calling yourself Glenn Miller but it can be done. The Basie Band is still out there all the time. Big band music still very popular with musicians if no longer pop music.
Posted by: oldhippie | Jun 3 2025 19:38 utc | 81
I’m not in Texas; but then, weren’t you the one trying to tell the folks here where I worked?
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:30 utc | 78
no. And if you arent in texas, Gasden fliers are definitely not the "easy majority" as you claim. Just think about the hyperbole of your statement. Gasden fliers are a fairly rare breed.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:38 utc | 82
In the past few years, the US has become indistinguishable from an episode of "South Park". Satire can be hard to discern since reality has become unchained from facts. .... Why does neither party pledge that all future candidates will have to pass a bipartisan medical exam that includes mental ability?
Posted by: Eighthman | Jun 3 2025 18:15 utc | 46
Well it certainly seems that our choices in the last few elections have been between "Giant Douche and Turd Sandwich".
Posted by: Joe Turner | Jun 3 2025 19:41 utc | 83
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:37 utc | 81
"easy majority"?
easily disprovable hyperbole.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:41 utc | 84
@77 malenkov
Ultimately, no science will be able to establish what you ascribe: chromosomal incongruity. At best, it falls back to a cognitive-behavioral abnormality and thus corrected by not obsessing or thinking about it. I don't think anyone will ever be able to convince us otherwise and I think it's terribly sad when people choose to alter their body via dismemberment, similar to your aversion to defacing the biggest organ on our body, the skin.
But certainly no one is a hopeless case.
What b agonizes about re: trans ideology, I feel in the exact same way as my daughter goes through what psychologists call "individuation." I notice that she is yet to engage rationally with what I have to say but relishes the opportunity to disappoint and test boundaries. The challenge for the parent is to be patient in love.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 19:44 utc | 85
Gasden fliers are a fairly rare breed.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:38 utc | 83
If you guys are using the word "fliers" literally, then yes - you don't see a lot of actual Gadsden flags. And in Texas the flag flies EVERYWHERE. The grocery store, peoples yards, banks, schools, neighborhoods and obviously city and state facilities. Wouldn't surprise me if the Texas and US flags are exempt from most HOA bylaw bans. But I see a ton of Gadsden on stickers, license plates, flags inside garages, and the occasional flag flying on a pickup truck or jeep. The confederate flag is more popular than some people might think too. Go to Huntsville, Vidor, behind the Piney Curtain and Permian Basin and you'll see as many stars and bars as you will Gadsdens.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:44 utc | 86
@ UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:38 utc | 83
I defer to your infinite knowledge of everything…except your inability to recognize pars pro toto relationships, remember the threats you make when abusing substances, or spell “Gadsden” correctly.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:47 utc | 87
Toynbee's Study of History found civilizations begin their descent when they are no longer able to successfully overcome challenges. The USSR became a unique nation state within the Russian civilization after successfully overcoming the challenge of a decrepit ruling aristocracy unable to wage war against the industrialized Axis Powers of WW I. The USSR was labeled an empire by the US/West after WW II, which was another successful overcoming of a challenge initiated by the West, but the nations of the Warsaw Pact were not colonized. They continued to be occupied as a defense against the threat from NATO. The dissolution of the USSR and the granting of independence to the Warsaw Pact and Baltic states was celebrated as a defeat by the West, but an argument can be made the Russian civilization did not dissolve and that the breakup of the USSR was another successful response to a challenge to compete materially with the liberal capitalism of the Global North. Allowing independence of the Eastern European occupied nations, the Baltic States, and many former Soviet Republics should be considered an achievement never before exhibited in world history. An achievement of Russian Civilization.
The US is an empire. The Global North became a universal state which adopted the materialism of the dominant victor of WW II, the US, and embodies the civilization which arose in Europe after the Middle Ages. Western Civilization. A civilization which began to noticeably disintegrate with the waging of WW I. A war fought because the dominant minorities of Europe were unable to successfully meet the challenge of competing for capitalist markets and overcome the immense capacity to kill which industrialism provided. A war which stimulated a response from Spengler and others to remark on the decline of the West. WW II verified the West's downfall. While the victors celebrated the defeat of Nazism and Japanese imperialism, the perpetration of a Holocaust in Europe and the mass murders in China revealed the challenge of industrialism in the West would not be successfully overcome. Progress arguably ended in the West with WW I. The response to overcome the inequality of capitalism briefly appeared in the West after WW II. Despite Fordism and the welfare state, which lasted only a few decades before the dominant minority realized profit decline and reimposed liberal capitalism, The West, led by the US, has fought continuous wars of imperialist colonization since 1946. The West has been unable to overcome the challenges of covetous imperialism and inequality. Global warming, a challenge caused by anthropogenic influence on the planet, is another challenge the West has demonstrated its inability to overcome.
Toynbee claimed that when civilizations begin to disintegrate they experience a 'schism of the soul.' Abandon, truancy, drift, sin, and promiscuity become the salient behavioral responses to disintegration, while the social responses are archaism and futurism. Todd revives the morality of the past with the condemnation of sexual liberty as nihilism. A typical archaic response to extending liberty to traditionally oppressed minorities. Archaism is the now presiding response to disintegration in the US. Make America great again is an expression to regain some mythical exemplary past which has resonated with subjects of American exceptionalism. Todd ignores reality by focusing on individual liberation as a sign of decline rather than the nihilism exhibited in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and the American carceral state. Another troubling example of this Western nihilism is the pivot to Asia when Obama was president. Everyday the US media and its dominant minority of rulers threatens war with China. A war which is their response to the challenge of an ascending new Sinic Civilization because it outperforms their liberal capitalist economy. The response of a decrepit society. The result will more disastrous to Western Civilization than the Peloponnesian War was to Achaean Civilization.
Posted by: Keme | Jun 3 2025 19:51 utc | 88
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:41 utc | 85
Pretty sure you read what malenkov wrote wrong. First of all it was you who broached the state of Texas as a comparison. You said the Texas flag far outnumbers the Gadsden flag in Texas. Nobody said otherwise. Nobody had even mentioned Texas yet.
This was his statement [with my interpretation on the intended fill-ins]: "I will agree that they’re [Gadsden flag fliers] tough-talking cowards. But the ones I know — and they’re [Gadsden flag fliers] the easy majority where I live [meaning wherever malenkov lives (which he said is NOT Texas)] — are still sporting their MAGA schwag."
You are reading things into comments that aren't there.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:52 utc | 89
Ultimately, no science will be able to establish what you ascribe: chromosomal incongruity.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Jun 3 2025 19:44 utc | 86
____
Yes, yes, we know that the only real and final authority is the Vatican Drag Show.
Next!
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:52 utc | 90
It is neither "nihilistic" nor "reality denying" to accept that there are people, all across the Earth, regardless of culture, who live outside of the boundaries set by the patriarchal gender ideology that posits that there are "only two" genders, male and female, of which you are either one or the other, and which you cannot change, as it is inscribed in your DNA (the Euroid obsession with biological racism here finds generalization in the Euroidal drive to enforce "scientific" categories onto people at gunpoint - they can't do it to Africa anymore, so now they have to do it to themselves; talk about nihilism).
Of course, biology is more fluid, more complex, than this binary allows. There is no sex chromosome binary in nature, and there are many human beings who don't fit inside of it. The success of HRT in feminizing or masculinizing the body demonstrates the lack of a genetic basis for ordering society by "genetic sex". It may not be "nihilistic", either, to posit a sex binary and to argue that we should enforce it through the arms of the state, but it is dastardly, just as dastardly as anything else Todd abhors. The real reality denial are those who cannot accept that transgender people pop into existence naturally, that they are not disordered, but merely behaving as their genes are telling them to. Societies outside of the west have made room for people of this type. Ours should too.
Individual autonomy is a western value and it is these days seemingly exclusively defended by people who are pro-trans acceptance and inclusion. The transphobes wish to impose "scientific" categories onto everyone in order to control their behavior, despite the preponderance of evidence that transgender identification is as natural to some people as being born. That is where European morality has declined, it cannot tolerate individual autonomy or non-conformity any longer. I would hope that a bar full of political non-conformists would realize that solidarity with trans people is important if you value individual and collective (social) autonomy, or individual and personal liberty.
Posted by: fnord | Jun 3 2025 19:52 utc | 91
Collapse of the west is likely.
but what form and sequence...
Posted by: Newbie | Jun 3 2025 19:55 utc | 92
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 19:44 utc | 87
Malenkov was trying to say Gasden fliers are MAGAs and authoritarians at heart.
Having spent years in an online community where they were close to a majority, I assure you, they are not.
Most of them are unrealistic idealists. And more than half of them hated Trump. For a whole bunch of reasons. You have the sovereign citizens who hated the wall, 2ndA zealots that will never forgive him for the bump stock ban, antizionists for the obvious, private property zealots who also hated the wall because imminent domain, and of course "taxation is theft" types, who hated his big spending.
That is gasden flag. I was also in an online community that had a racist contingent, and they hated Trump and MAGA. Especially at the end of his first term. I know it isnt the narrative you all are used to, but Trump is not popular with either group.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:57 utc | 93
The blatant homophobia and transphobia is the only thing I dislike about MoA.
Posted by: ts | Jun 3 2025 19:33 utc | 80
I don't believe that people who think minors should not take anti puberty drugs or surgery are 'homophobic'; I am one of that crowd.
At 18 or the jurisdictional 'age of majority' citizens can do what they want to themselves-but before then the State and/or the parents need to 'back the fuck off'.
Posted by: canuck | Jun 3 2025 19:57 utc | 94
I would hope that a bar full of political non-conformists
Posted by: fnord | Jun 3 2025 19:52 utc | 92
_____
One of the great lessons I learned from non-conformists is that they’re just as pitilessly rigid in demanding and enforcing conformity as the conformists.
Posted by: malenkov | Jun 3 2025 19:57 utc | 95
There is no sex chromosome binary in nature
Posted by: fnord | Jun 3 2025 19:52 utc | 92
Of all the high-fallutin million dollar word salad you spewed, this is the gaslightenist of the gaslighters society of gaslighters.
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 20:03 utc | 96
Clearly the game plan in the West, and especially the EU is to destroy traditional family units, destroy faith communities, impose censorship of free speech and free demonstrations, promote the trans and gay ideology, indoctrinate the youth with far left concepts. Drag queen shows in elementary schools, actors playing musical instruments with their sex organs, porn books in public schools all indicators of Western degeneracy.
We have already seen the impact, mostly EU militaries, and formerly the US military, where they were and are so concerned with DEI trans ideology that war fighting capacities were severely weakened. This is nothing new in the EU....read the pathetic performance of the Dutch army in Bosnia when the Bosnian Serb Army under Mladic' completely humiliated an entire Dutch battalion, or how about the Irish Navy, completely unable to even staff its fleet of coastal corvettes (all in Cobh and now idle museum pieces)......the EU is a paper tiger in reality, or the UK navy unable to field even one Carrier Strike Group without foreign assistance or the fact that dozens of armies have more MBT's than the Royal Army.
So its laughable when folks speak of a "robust" force of EU and UK troops acting as "peacekeepers" along the west bank of the Dneiper........they would be ground to dust in a matter of hours by the RF. These are armies without any real tactical air cover or airlift capacity or sufficient manpower to enforce peace anywhere.
DJT knows this and has already taken steps to rid the US armed forces to the DEI trans madness, and has banned trans athletes from women's sports, and is attempting to reinvigorate the hetero family unit.........
The question remains though, has the West gone so far as to be unrecoverable as a civilization?
Posted by: tobias cole | Jun 3 2025 20:04 utc | 97
oldhippie | Jun 3 2025 19:38 utc | 82--
Yeah, it still plays to packed houses. The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra is a fav, with Winton Marsalis recently doing his own version of a protest song, "The Ever Fonky Lowdown," I linked to during Covid when it was released.
///////////////////////
Escobar's latest, "Waiting for the Oreshniks, while the Istanbul kabuki proceeds 'not negatively'", concludes cautiously:
So far, the Russian reaction is quite methodical: total silence, a wide-ranging investigation, plus going through the motions in Istanbul.Yet there’s no question the – inevitable – response will require Maximum Strategy. If the response is in tune with Russia’s own updated nuclear doctrine, Moscow risks losing the Global South’s nearly unanimous support.
If the response is lukewarm, domestic blowback will be massive. There’s a near universal consensus on “Release the Oreshniks”. Russian public opinion is becoming seriously fed up with being the target of serial terror attacks. The hour of fateful decision is getting late.
Which bring us to the ultimate dilemma. Russian power is mulling how to defeat the collective warmongering West without launching WWIII. Inspired by China, a solution may be found via an alliance of remixed Sun Tzu coupled with Lao Tzu. There’s got to be a way – or layered ways – to destroy a strategy-deprived nihilistic enemy’s ability and will to wage endless war.
Now's the moment when the SVR needs to shine and point to the Nazi's terrorist directorate when it's populated by those meriting elimination. There are also some aggressive tactical moves that could also be made to separately or in tandem signaling a definitive escalation in response.
In 2004 a Bush official (said to be Karl Rove) said:
“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out."
20 years later, I am convinced that a large percentage of those in power actually believe the bullshit they spread, unlike Rove, who clearly thought that the rulers would remain sane.
One narrative that I consider to be a lie is that the USSR "collapsed" because their planned economy was inferior to the chaotic economy of the west, which is the propaganda I grew up with. We were told that we hated the Soviet Union because they had a planned economy and we had a free market, and that was SO superior that it justified possible nuclear war.
The USSR didn't collapse, it was dissolved by 3 men in a lodge in a forest. Yes, it had been sabotaged before that, in the 80s, using the kind of plan that Norquist voiced here about the USA- destroying it until it could be drowned in the bathtub.
Gorbachev's "reforms" made a mockery of the planned economy by allowing managers to profit while requiring the state to continue to supply cheap materials.
This made things worse. I don't blame Russians who grew angry. But did life improve for them after the entire wealth of the country the Soviets had built was turned over to profiteers?
34 years later, I think that clear-eyed, reality-based people can draw the conclusion that it didn't.
And life got worse in the west also, as the example of the USSR, with its guaranteed employment, housing, schooling, medical care, vacations, etc. was destroyed. Take a walk down any main street in America and you can see the results here. Be sure to watch where you step.
As for the trans agenda, it is clearly a top down agenda, pushed by the Establishment into all parts of society. The government, the media, the schools and universities, the libraries, the medical-industrial complex, especially Big Pharma, the military, the police, courts and prisons, the corporations, social media and NGOs, have all colluded to confuse children about the fact that there are only two sexes in our species, (as in every other sexually reproducing species), and to force everyone in society to pretend that they see a woman when a man puts on a dress and lipstick.
Why? I agree with Norwegian, it's about control.
In 1984, part of the torture and forced submission of Winston to Big Brother, was forcing him to look at four fingers and say that he saw five fingers.
It is blindingly obvious that forcing people to look at a man and say that they see a woman is the same thing, with the same conclusion desired.
I am still a member of the reality-based community, shrunken though it now is. People earnestly trying to get me to submit to their fantasies, because "it's the kind thing to do", can go drown themselves in the bathtub. I'm not buying their bullshit.
Posted by: wagelaborer | Jun 3 2025 20:05 utc | 99
Posted by: UWDude | Jun 3 2025 19:57 utc | 94
I see what you're saying and it's not a hill I'm going to die on, but I can tell you that here in the outskirts of Houston, if they're actually voters, the driver of every car or Truck I've seen with a Gadsden flag on a sticker or license plate voted for Trump. Trust me, these aren't the Gadsden 'purists' or whatever you once dealt with. The image is not uncommon at all. Comingling of the two images (MAGA stuff and Gadsden) is common; Trump stickers, Gadsden stickers or plates isn't either.
Neighbor next street over has a Gadsden, Let's Go Brandon, and MAGA flag all hanging in his garage covering each wall. I sometimes wonder how much storage space he's losing out on. Neighborhood association rules say no flags (but like I said earlier, seen quite a few Texas and US flags anyway so assumed those are exempt), so it isn't uncommon that someone trying to flout the intent of the rule and send a "political message" puts 'em in their garage and leaves the garage door open as much as possible. Seems like a 'thing' around here. They outnumber the Ferrari and other car related flags, I can tell you that.
Posted by: Tom_Q_Collins | Jun 3 2025 20:05 utc | 100
The comments to this entry are closed.
Big events like this emerge from "tipping points."
One trying to analyze any system or paradigm should try to consider what cannot happen because if it happens, there may be no coming back.
Oct 7th in Palestine was such a tipping point moment.
I'd argue that 9/11 was another such moment.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Jun 3 2025 16:34 utc | 1