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December 11, 2025
Open (Neither Ukraine Nor Palestine) Thread 2025-284
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Thailand ‘CONCERNED’ by Trump’s Truth post, clarifies there’s NO ceasefire with Cambodia
‘Some points don’t reflect accurate understanding of situation’ — Thai FM
‘Perhaps Trump DELIBERATELY distorted the facts’
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 13 2025 12:45 utc | 101
Try harvesting your own. Its easy …google it.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 13 2025 12:42 utc | 110
—
I don’t believe Sugar Maple is native to where persiflo lives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_saccharum#/media/File:Acer_saccharum_range_map_1.png
Posted by: too scents | Dec 13 2025 12:51 utc | 102
I recommend to let the yoghurt warm up to room temperature before serving to further taste, but also because I may schlabber a bowl down in seconds.
Posted by: persiflo | Dec 13 2025 12:33 utc | 108
lol – thanks for thoughtful tip persiflo. Got a thing for maple syrup but got no money – I don’t think I would lie steal or kill to get it or to own a bunch of Maple trees but you never know…..
“One man liked milk, now he owns a million cows Can you imagine all that milk?”
Tell me that I’m dreaming – Was(NotWas)
Posted by: will moon | Dec 13 2025 13:01 utc | 103
Further to persiflo’s maple syrup comment. My favourite flavour that comes from the cambium of trees is sassafras. And it is another thing that is unobtainium outside of the tree’s regional habitat.
Traditionally sassafras was the “root” in rootbeer. Now no more ’cause the US FDA put an end to that by listing sassafras as a drug.
https://foodprint.org/real-food/sassafras-and-file/
I used to chew the roots like liquorice when I was a young boy.
Posted by: too scents | Dec 13 2025 13:03 utc | 104
Sugar maple (Acer saccarinum) is best but any mayple will do,
Birch sap is great too.
Just simmer down to your desired consontration.
I use Sycamore (Acer psudoplatanoides)
Any Acer is a maple.
Best time to harvest it is a month before them come out in leaf and a few weeks after.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 13 2025 13:26 utc | 105
@psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 7:29 utc: thanks for that post. I’d be interested to hear your views on this subject, follows below:
One thing that China has done masterfully is to engage their entire population in the process of innovation, new product development, small-scale capitalism, and new business formation. The Communist aspect of China sets the compass heading, and does come top-level course-corrections when necessary (wings clipped, a few executions, capital allocations to sectors, state support of basic research, etc.).
The tactical work of new product and business formation is delegated to the capitalist component of their economy. Alibaba was a giant flea market of components-that-can-be-used-to-build-your-business. Eeeeevvveryyone hopped on that band-wagon. (Alibaba was a country-wide Amazon that people used as marketplace for the product they designed and manufactured, often on a very small scale. Output of one small scale outfit was input to another integrator/re-marketer outfit). Alibaba caused a rolling surge-tide of new product and enterprise formation, and the Chinese knew it, and built it and supported it on-purpose.
This notion of marshaling the entire population and directed it toward highly-socially-beneficial actions – the behaviors that actually elevate the society’s standard of living – there’s a particular Chinese genius in this work.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 13 2025 14:29 utc | 107
Are they trying to use Thailand to make “Israeli” behavior look normal?
Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Dec 13 2025 8:31 utc | 104
According to Brian Berletic who lives in Thailand it is the US pushing Cambodia.
Brian Berletic
@BrianJBerletic
·
Dec 12
Thailand Faces External and Internal Enemies… As Thailand fights an external threat –
US-backed Cambodia along its borders, it is fighting an internal threat – US-backed opposition who has attempted to seize power on and off for the last 25 years. This includes through violent US-engineered “color revolutions” and significant US money channeled into education, media, and the political system to reliably influence/turn elections.
It also includes attacks on Thailand’s military and monarchy, two institutions that have safeguarded Thailand for centuries from Western conquest. There are entire parties today backed by the US through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) who have been openly trying to rewrite Thailand’s constitution – including in the middle of this current, armed conflict – driven by NED-funded “NGOs.” Below is when this effort was first launched in 2020 –
it continues today with the same US-funded “NGOs” and US-backed parties pushing it. You can see US-backed activities promoting the constitution-rewrite across Thai universities deeply infiltrated by US government-funded programs. Rewriting the constitution seeks to create a system the US can more reliably interfere in and limit Thailand’s abilities to undo the damage US-backed groups are causing.
It also seeks to minimize the role of the military and monarchy, to prevent any unifying force from opposing US political capture and control. From Latin America to Southeast Asia and everywhere in between, the US continues playing “empire” without pause, just as the recent National Security Strategy paper stated.
Posted by: arby | Dec 13 2025 14:40 utc | 108
If this sort of thing catches on, then it’s only a matter of time until a Chines drone has a rendezvous with a US warship:
“U.S. Special Forces in November boarded a cargo ship in the international waters in the Indian Ocean, securing dual use goods that were being shipped from China to Iran. The operation was reported by the Wall Street Journal on December 12, with U.S. officials describing it as maritime interdiction aimed at slowing Iran’s attempts to rebuild parts of its missile arsenal. The cargo was reported to have been removed and destroyed, although analysts have speculated that it may have been seized for study. Th cargo was confirmed by officials to have had both military and civilian uses, although the widespread characterisation of dual use goods means the nature of the goods in question remains highly uncertain. The operation sets a precedent that is potentially highly concerning for China’s trade interests, as a significant proportion of industrial exports have potential military applications, with their targeting outside the bounds of international law potentially paving the way to widespread attacks on civilian shipping in international waters by U.S. and other Western forces.”
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/us-special-forces-attack-destroy-chinese-cargo
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 13 2025 14:42 utc | 109
Truffles anyone ?
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 13 2025 13:42 utc | 116
—
Syrian truffles are unobtainium and European truffles have been domesticated.
My father in law kept his mushroom field secrets to his death.
I’m curious of how your Sycamore syrup tastes. Sources say it is rather different than Sugar Maple.
Posted by: too scents | Dec 13 2025 14:55 utc | 110
U.S. Special Forces in November boarded a cargo ship in the international waters in the Indian Ocean, securing dual use goods that were being shipped from China to Iran.
Posted by: Jams O’Donnell | Dec 13 2025 14:42 utc | 119
—
Literally piracy on the high seas.
Posted by: too scents | Dec 13 2025 15:01 utc | 111
Sorry for butting in on the maple syrup part. Just caught sight of this in the fascinating comments above.
@ Posted by: waynorinorway | Dec 13 2025 9:03 utc | 105
”Will Tariq Ali’s answer to the ongoing assumptions about China people on MOA bang on about over and again?Lavieja | Dec 13 2025 7:57 utc |”
Looks like a punctuation problem – but I think he/she is attempting to say that Tariq Ali’s ‘opinion’ is that China doesn’t deserve many plaudits for having raised almost all their poorest. Is that correct Lavieja?
Not even for having created more ‘middle class’ as defined by disposable incomes that allow for luxuries and regular overseas vacations for example , then the total populations of the US or Europe!
As many of us on MoA seem to be not Sinophobic , Lavieja seems to be asking (pleading?) that we should maybe be influenced by Tariq Ali’s opinion?
Thats how I seem to read it. Do correct me if I have that wrong.
If I have it correct then I would say to Lavieja that Tariq Ali is NOT a RELIABLE narrator.
He is Establishment. He is a shapeshifted DS creature. Like most of the so-called Trotskyites were trained as the political sheepdogs / lightening rods that the real ‘socialist’ grassroots could be corralled around.
Essentially they became the grandee gatekeepers that allowed Controlled Opposition to start moving the ‘Overton Window’ away from ‘democratic socialism’ and encouraged its motion towards restoring the full Tyranny that we see now all so clearly.
The decades they have influenced, have seen the political grassroots landscape be dragged away from the post war social contract – to the ersatz ‘Labour Party’ of the NuLabourInc – wholly engaged in destroying all these post war gains for the poorest peoples of the U.K.
Currently busy with nailing the coffin lid and deep disposing of the last vestiges of the once envy of the world NHS. Whilst wholeheartedly engaged in their ZioFascist imperialist wars.
One can’t judge a book by it cover and Ali by his ‘colour’.
Which in my opinion he has used as his DS cover.
He has encouraged great Russophobia amongst the ‘lefty/lgb’ sheeple he ‘speaks for’ over the years and he appears to be moving towards Sinophobia in the same manner – sheepdoging his ‘flock’.
These ‘Trots’ have always followed the path of their ‘founders’ ziofascist infiltration of real revolutions.
Right – let’s get back to fascinating tree syrups!
Posted by: DunGroanin | Dec 13 2025 15:06 utc | 112
Warwick Powell on China’s path to now — having lifted millions of people, almost all of China’s poor, out of poverty:
This was a kind of Benjaminian rupture, what he called Jetztzeit, a “now-time” that blasts apart the continuum of empty, homogeneous history and opens space for the oppressed to re-enter history as subjects and not as objects.
Today’s China, in some ways, represents a negation of the Cultural Revolution, by reintegrating elements of Confucian thought, heritage tourism and cultural preservation among what would have, in a different time, been described as vestiges of Chinese feudalism. But this is not a return to the old. It is the negation of the negation: a sublation (Aufhebung) in which the past is reappropriated on sovereign, modern terms, not those dictated by dynastic inertia, nostalgia let alone Western curation.
Modern China does not treat its past as a civilisational museum for the world’s gaze. It curates its own heritage as living memory, often subordinated to, and mobilised in the name of, national and developmental objectives. In doing so, it sidesteps the liberal demand for linear reconciliation and truth commissions. It refuses the Western time-regime that insists all trauma must resolve into liberal democracy.
Posted by: suzan | Dec 13 2025 15:31 utc | 113
Source:
https://warwickpowell.substack.com/p/rupture-memory-and-the-liberal-time?
Posted by: suzan | Dec 13 2025 15:37 utc | 114
About Peter AU1 seemingly permanently gone…I miss his contributions more than canuk who also seems to be gone for now.
That said, change is the only constant and it provides opportunity for growth so breathe into it and best to you Peter for the rest of your life….I don’t expect you to become less irascible.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 7:15 utc | 100
I second that for PeterAU1, psychohistorian; well said.
Posted by: juliania | Dec 13 2025 15:41 utc | 115
Posted by: S | Dec 13 2025 10:38 utc | 106
Thanks S for this review of history writing. It is so much needed to educate us so that no particular interest prevails. The ‘cui bono’ principle must be observed in those professors of history.
I have recently read the “Hidden History” of the run up to WW1 , by Docherty and Macgregor – what an eye-opener that is! One cannot understand the WW2 without knowing what happened before. The propaganda, and the history writing played a huge role.
Posted by: fanto | Dec 13 2025 15:45 utc | 116
Pencil Nebula@75…….it came from Asia? Like from bats? Historically disingenuous. Black death, the Plague, has been around forever, still around today, with outbreaks internationally being recorded. The pathogen requires the perfect conditions for it to spread. 1300s Europe was feudal, many walled towns, where people would congregate for safety, were under siege or being sacked. That form of habitation, lack of sanitation, living with and eating parts of the dead is a prefect petri dish for many pathogens. What contributed greatly to the spread of the disease was the world’s first records of bio warfare. Sacking armies and marauders were treated to catapulted showers of dead bodies, human and animal……this infected those attackers outside the towns and cities who when returning to their homelands spread the disease far and wide…………
Cheers M
Posted by: sean the leprechaun | Dec 13 2025 15:50 utc | 117
Urban Dictionary spells it with a space, but I usually see it without. Either way, fedslop looks like a shoe-in for the new word of 2025:
FED SLOP
A term coined by Candace O when the FBI or 3 letter government agencies give the public garbage information or deliberate lies meant to be misleading.
I don’t believe they are giving the full truth they are dishing up Fed Slop.
by RottenBen December 10, 2025
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fed%20Slop
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 13 2025 15:54 utc | 118
Acronym theft by the known subjects; the IRC is now a different IRC. Not the Red Cross – IRC, but “International Rescue Committee” IRC – with head man David Milliband and a group of advisors like Larry Fink, who is currently involved in rescuing Ukraine.
Posted by: fanto | Dec 13 2025 15:56 utc | 119
@arby | Dec 13 2025 14:40 utc | 118
According to Brian Berletic who lives in Thailand it is the US pushing Cambodia.
I think he is very much correct on this question.
Here is a map over the conflict area https://postimg.cc/9zWX2gcb
The conflict has spread also further south along the border towards the Gulf.
As it happens, at different times I have been to the Buriram province (years ago), and in 2023 I was in Ubon Ratchathani province on the border with Laos across the Mekong river. In 2019 I was able to see the Angkor Wat temple outside Siem Reap in Cambodia, the most impressive place I have been in so many ways. I had wanted to go to the Preah Vihear Temple site (because it is an ancient megalithic site like Angkor), but it wasn’t practically possible then. Less so now.
Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 13 2025 16:03 utc | 120
Two Scents @ 120
You may be right, a blind tasting would be interesting, no problem though jus call it mayple syrup, it’s delecous, and free that tasts good to me.
Posted by: Mark2 | Dec 13 2025 16:10 utc | 121
@ S | Dec 13 2025 10:38 utc | 106
thanks for the summation on the various ways of presenting history with regard to ww2 s… i see this as a lot of intentional dishonesty and omission of facts that are coming out of a bigger geo political agenda that the west holds towards russia.. of course it is ongoing, so the question is, what is the basis for it?? i think it is money and control over resources myself..
i too would like to read the book @ fanto 126 mentions, but have yet to do so… thanks fanto for the reminder..
Posted by: james | Dec 13 2025 16:13 utc | 122
On second thought, I’m not sure “fedslop” should be limited to the emissions of three-letter agencies, or even government spokespeople as an incessant parade of high slop-emission vehicles.
Because lately we’ve seen the birth of the $7K club, of otherwise courageous, independent podcasters such as Beanie Shapiro (aka Dim Tool) and of course Nick Fuentes — you know, the proud general leading an army of Nigerian bots cosplaying as America-First groypers. Usage has already expanded the class of fedslop purveyors to include such ill-assorted merchants of government-aligned shit sandwiches.
Posted by: Aleph_Null | Dec 13 2025 16:23 utc | 123
Pale faced, forked tongue
[Jap are honourable pale faced]
——————–
Japan, Australia agree to deepen security ties to deter China
Japan Today
5 days ago — The defense ministers of Japan and Australia agreed to step up cooperation, a day after Chinese military airc
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 16:32 utc | 124
“The FBI can recruit clergy, prison guards, even minors
The range of potential recruits is surprisingly vast. In serious cases, the FBI may use privileged information from sensitive sources, including lawyers, physicians, clergy, and journalists. Assuming proper authorization, FBI agents may recruit prison guards and other prison officials as informants. The FBI can even recruit minors. If a minor has been emancipated, he or she is eligible to receive service payments for work as an informant. If the minor is not emancipated, his or her parents are to receive the service payments.”
FBI Confidential Human Source Policy Guide
https://theintercept.com/annotation_sets/how-the-fbi-recruits-and-handles-its-army-of-informants/#page-1
From the comments here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1plfyjc/comment/ntsi0t0/
Posted by: GreatLakesObserver | Dec 13 2025 16:36 utc | 126
@ arby | Dec 13 2025 14:40 utc | 118
Berletic could well be correct, but one must remember that if he said anything critical of the Thai monarchy or military, he might find himself PNG in his country of residence, if not a long-term guest of the “Bangkok Hilton”.
Posted by: malenkov | Dec 13 2025 16:37 utc | 127
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 16:32 utc | 134
#######
All they have is talk.
I do think we’re getting closer to something dramatic happening.
China has no use for Japan.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 16:37 utc | 128
@ Tom Pfotzer | Dec 13 2025 14:29 utc | 117 about China’s style of what I call creative destruction…thx
I think what China is doing is very different from the Western approach of profit packets that inherently don’t want to work with others to compromise their IP.
If you live in a culture that provides for basic necessities and fosters cooperation over competition and understand the need for ongoing creative destruction of society as it advances…..change is the only constant.
Can China keep the creative destruction process going? I think the world needs a frontier like the stars to absorb all the creative energy that China and others will produce and hope others see that need like I do.
Is China perfect? Hello no! but they have a humanistic focus to their efforts instead of the God Of Mammon cult cancer humanity has been living with for 2K years.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 16:38 utc | 129
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
‘Stronger than ever’:
US backs Japan in dispute with China over radar incident
2 days ago
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 16:38 utc | 130
Berletic makes, what I think, is an important point.
The Empire never stops.
They talk about peace deals and Accords but they never stop hustling for hegemony.
The minute the Empire relents will be the moment of its defeat.
Sadly, if the Empire ended, many would keep its aims going. If not the Americans, then the British, if not the British, then the Japanese, and so on and so forth…
Empire is a political entity and a mind virus. The first can be eradicated, the second is much more difficult to confront.
And Imperial citizens aren’t even feeling desperation yet…
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 16:44 utc | 131
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 16:37 utc | 138
—————–
1960
Gen Montgomery visited China
Monty
‘Are you fearful of a resurgent Jp ?’
MZD
‘Im more concerned about that enabler of jap militarism , that super power across the Pacific’
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 16:46 utc | 132
They are doing it.
People have stopped talking about Gaza and Epstein. Stopped talking about tariffs and fishermen.
The focus has been placed on China.
Now what will virulent Sinophobe Tucker Carlson report?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 16:50 utc | 133
lachaussette | Dec 12 2025 18:11 utc | 68 ……………..
Aspirational jargon to resell the myths of “capitalism”?
Posted by: Cynic | Dec 13 2025 16:52 utc | 134
@ Cynic | Dec 13 2025 16:52 utc | 144
You read that?!…
Posted by: malenkov | Dec 13 2025 16:54 utc | 135
I am Brian. Born in the gray sprawl of Dagenham, where the noise never ceases and the days blur into endless sameness. Yet beneath the surface of my routine, working in that car parts store in Poplar, I carry a secret. A pulse that beats to a different rhythm. I am part of the Wayland of Saxon Brotherhood. Twelve souls bound by an ancient symbol: a hammer striking metal on a blacksmith’s furnace. We believe that through ritual, through the alchemy of sound and substance, we can summon the Ancients, those primordial echoes of consciousness beyond time.
Today, we set forth on a pilgrimage, a voyage into the whispers of the past. Our destination: Kennet Long Barrow, a silent cathedral of stone and memory. But first, we pay homage at Wayland’s Smithy, placing our home-fashioned iron blades among the stones, tokens of our craft, offerings to the Saxon master himself, the father of fire and forge.
As dawn approaches, we arrive at Kennet Long Barrow, the horizon just beginning to blush. The air is heavy with anticipation. We unpack our tools, an array of artifacts designed to pierce the veil. A tripod, an ultraviolet lamp cloaked in darkness, a strobe pulsating like a heartbeat, puffball fungi with their spores swirling in slow motion, a granite polyhedron, precise in its dimensions, and a second tripod with a laser homing pointer aimed at Polaris, the celestial anchor of our ritual.
Inside the long barrow, we set our stage. The central tripod cradles the granite pyramid, its quartz core shimmering with unseen potential. The UV lamp is positioned beneath, ready to cast an otherworldly glow; the strobe at the rear, awaiting activation. We take our places, two Brothers per chamber, the puffballer stationed at the tripod, the conductor overseeing the symphony of signals.
We begin with a whisper. Soft hums, a collective breath synced in perfect sequence, each Brother inhaling in turn, sustaining the frequency. It’s a living waveform, a sine wave of shared consciousness. The puffball spores ignite in the UV haze, filling the chamber with motes of fungal fog, dancing in Brownian motion. The strobe flickers, capturing their chaotic ballet.
The conductor, a master of resonance, modulates our hum, tuning it until it resonates at the piezoelectric frequency of the quartz in our granite pyramid. At this precise moment, the strobe cuts out, and the fungal miasma becomes a canvas for transformation. The spores, under the influence of the piezoelectric discharge, morph into geometric forms, complex, shifting, alive with intent.
As the resonance intensifies, our pineal glands synchronize, a collective consciousness tethered to the frequencies we conjure. In sequence, we strike up our Chillums, inhaling a hit from that three letter substance.The miasma thickens, the boundary dissolves, and then, the emergence.
Before us materialize the Ancients. Not as shadows, but as geometric entities woven with the fabric of their ascent. A fusion of pain and beauty, evolution and enlightenment. Their faces, if they can be called that, are a tapestry of fractured light and shadow, embodying the truth of their journey. They speak without words, an understanding that bypasses language, delivering a message that trembles on the edge of comprehension.
But first, they demand a mantra:
“I am you and what you see is me.”
We repeat it as one, our voices merging into a singular resonance that ripples through the fabric of reality.
And then, the message unfolds, an echo from the beyond, a whisper of the origins of consciousness itself. I feel it in my bones, in the flickering light of the fungi, in the resonance humming through my skull. We have touched the edge of eternity, and in that moment, I am no longer just Brian from Dagenham, I am a conduit, a vessel, an echo of the Ancients’ ascent.
Wayland’s Message:
Brothers and sisters, I speak now from a place beyond your daily noise, a place where the whispers of the ancients ripple through the fabric of existence. The chaos you see, wars, divisions, the relentless march of the beast, are but shadows cast by a deeper silence. An illusion meant to keep you in sleep, distracted from your true nature.
Understand this: you are not merely soldiers in a world of turmoil. You are sparks of divine consciousness, woven into the very fabric of the cosmos. The primal forces that seek to enslave your minds and fragment your hearts are but the remnants of a dying domain, an old beast clawing to hold its grasp on reality.
In this grand game, true strength is humility, an acknowledgment that your power lies not in domination, but in the quiet dignity of your presence. Walk with compassion, speak with kindness, and remember: every soul you meet is another piece of the divine puzzle. The wisdom you seek begins with recognizing your own vulnerability and embracing it with grace.
The geopolitical chaos, those headlines and conflicts, are fleeting illusions, mere echoes in the vast silence of eternity. The real battle is within. It’s a choice: to be swayed by fear or to stand rooted in love. Cultivate awareness, the ability to observe your thoughts and reactions without attachment. In that space, you reclaim your sovereignty and begin to transcend the domain of the beast.
The beast’s domain is the realm of the ego, driven by hunger, control, and suffering. But evolution is inevitable. It starts with awakening, realizing that you are more than flesh and bone, more than conditioned reactions. You’re threads in the eternal tapestry, sparks of the divine light waiting for recognition. Your journey is a return to that light, transforming from beings driven by instinct into beings guided by wisdom.
You are not separate from the universe. You are the universe itself, experiencing its own reflection.
Your survival depends on awakening to this truth, living with dignity and humility as co-creators within the great unfolding.
So I say to you: do not fear the chaos. Do not be deceived by the shadows. Instead, look inward. Cultivate love, patience, and understanding. Stand firm in your truth. The divine is within you, waiting patiently for your acknowledgment. When you do, you transcend the domain of the old beast and step into the eternal dance of unity.
Watch carefully. The universe listens, and it responds in time.
Wayland of Saxon
In the silence that follows, I stand there, trembling but whole, knowing that we have glimpsed the unseeable, touched the infinite, and returned with secrets woven into our very essence.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=kJOKuCfcagw&pp=ygUMZHViIGZ4IHNoaW5l
Posted by: lachaussette | Dec 13 2025 16:56 utc | 136
Now what will virulent Sinophobe Tucker Carlson report?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 16:50 utc | 143
————–
Carlson the Great White HOpe
‘China fuck off from our turf’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPO6JHjPhpk
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 16:56 utc | 137
Posted by: Exile | Dec 12 2025 18:59 utc | 69
#####
I think the war on drugs has been a great success for the Empire,
Black families are destroyed and CIA proxies in the form of cartels are non-state militias.
The war on drugs has created pretexts to clamp down on travel and trade, for financial monitoring.
A never ending crisis which necessitates a never ending series of investigations and investments.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:02 utc | 138
Posted by: lachaussette | Dec 13 2025 16:56 utc | 146
#####
While I appreciate the creativity, the bar really could do with less AI content.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:04 utc | 139
The empire never stops.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 16:44 utc | 141
——————-
MZD
‘The imperialists desire to destroy us has never ceased for one minute’
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 17:05 utc | 140
@psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 16:38 utc
PsyH: All good; Chinese culture has delivered a context that yields out more cooperation.
Next question:
Is it possible to create sub- cultures within West, specifically US, that replicate some, even many, of the cultural traits that benefits China so well?
Adjunct Q: is it possible to design a culture? Possible to inculcate that design?
3rd order Q: If it’s possible to design and inculcate, what are the mechanics of “inculcate”?
Posted by: Tom Pfotzerf | Dec 13 2025 17:08 utc | 141
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 16:38 utc | 139
#####
I second this comment.
Like or dislike China, they are leading the Axis, and through that, the world, towards a future for humanity.
The alternative is Epstein kiddy diddling and obese spray tanned gauche Florida Zionism.
One’s choice should be simple.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:08 utc | 142
Posted by: Tom Pfotzerf | Dec 13 2025 17:08 utc | 151
#####
The engineer and strategist in me says yes.
The pragmatist in me says, not in your lifetime.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:10 utc | 143
Pale faced , forked tongue.
Starmer ..
‘China poses ‘real national security threats’ to UK, ‘
YouTube · Sky News
1 week ago
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 17:14 utc | 144
But that’s really it, isn’t it?
Who is ready to commit to something bigger than themselves, bigger than their short lifetime?
That’s a big difference between East and West.
Time preference.
If you want everything now, you will have less later.
These are fundamental conditions of human action.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:19 utc | 145
Are we willing to work for the benefit of other people’s children? People we will never meet?
Are we going to do the hard work of improving the human condition in ways we and our direct descendants will not benefit from materially?
Everything in Western culture is geared to self-gratification, from easy credit, to entertainment, to drugs (booze is a drug).
How to reverse/alter that when the “head of the beast” so-to-speak is pushing for more individualism and pleasure seeking?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:26 utc | 146
@ Tom Pfotzerf | Dec 13 2025 17:08 utc | 151 who is asking how to replicate social things you think are good.
I have only gotten to the point of understanding that all we have to share with others is the example of how we live our lives….and I am working hard on that.
That said, I am a strong advocate of planning like China does because that provides opportunity to determine cooperative intention/goals/vision and all the rest to support…..more later
Let me leave you and others the latest from my healer
Why Thoughts Have Power
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 17:28 utc | 147
Further to @85:
NDP Blocks Anti-Genocide Activist Yves Engler’s Leadership Bid Over His Opposition to Canadian Imperialist Aggression
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/12/12/bzda-d12.html
“…The message to the ruling class could not be clearer: The NDP will ruthlessly police its own ranks to ensure that no one who challenges Canadian imperialist interests – on Ukraine, Gaza or any other front – can speak from within its leadership.
That the party responds to a candidate associated with mass anti-genocide protests by branding him a threat to ‘safety’ and ‘values’ is a self-exposure of its role as a loyal instrument of the state.”
http://www.yvesforndpleader.ca
Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 13 2025 17:28 utc | 148
Starmer
‘China is our existential threat’
MInd you, Starmer is scheduled to visit China next month yet he’s piling it on,,..
GOV.UK
UK clamps down on China-based companies for reckless and irresponsible activity in cyberspace2 days ago [sic]——————
uk
‘Chinese embassy approval again postponed due to spy concern’
[sic]
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 17:31 utc | 149
To Tom and others about setting that example of our lives that others might strive to achieve.
We have to look no further than our esteemed host
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 17:31 utc | 150
Adjunct Q: is it possible to design a culture? Possible to inculcate that design?Posted by: Tom Pfotzerf | Dec 13 2025 17:08 utc | 151
Yes. The answer is in the very word we have been given to use, ‘culture’.
Everyone on this rock has been ‘cultured’ in this world-scale petri dish for many, many generations.
Posted by: GreatLakesObserver | Dec 13 2025 17:59 utc | 151
Who is ready to commit to something bigger than themselves, bigger than their short lifetime? asks LoveDonbass | 155 in the context of China. Indeed, it is a well-established point in chinese philosophy (courtesy of Mentius) that everyone has something which, to them, is more important than their own lives.
Indeed, as psycho noted, blog host Bernhard is a brilliant and inspiring example.
Posted by: persiflo | Dec 13 2025 18:26 utc | 152
Tucker Carlson visits Palestinian children maimed by the ongoing genocide.
“This is courageous. Thank you Tucker.”
(Deranged part of me, which is also probably the most intuitive and honest part of me): “Like the Charlie Kirk murder, is this just the Jews showing us what they can get away with? Rubbing our nose in it? I notice “away with it” also can be rewritten as “a way with it.””
…
Feel no need to engage Iin discussion about which media figures are Fed-Ops. At this point, I think we should say they are all until a legitimate movement opens up that makes startling moves towards isolating the U.S. from the rest of the world.
As it stands, and for a legitimate movement to come forth, the system that exists will need to collapse, most likely in the form of abandoning the dollar as that which we entrust ourselves to.
If there are such things as skinwalkers, which I don’t think exist, then they will fade into the background for a thousand years. Most likely, they are just a people so deeply alienated from an originary understanding of interpersonal relations, that, collectively, they have isolated themselves through wounded pride from a medicine that would heal their affliction.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 13 2025 18:28 utc | 153
Enough of FUKUSA aka AUKUS BS, lets talk about something real for a change.
The FUKUS [F UK US] consulates in HK boasted no less than 5000 spies, er, ‘diplomats’ in their heydays.
CIA , MI5 spooks used to hatch their destabilisation caper over yumcha at the corner tea house, quite a cozy lifestyle back then.
FUKUSA support for HK ‘separatists were open secret, exactly like their sponsorship for the Taidu.
Far from hiding it, they feted HK separatists and Taidu in Washington, LOndon , a in your face provocation to China.
Fact is,
FUKUS proconsul was caught red handed briefing HK agent provocateurs in a hotel suite , 2019
One of the field commanders in the 2019 riots was a known CIA agent.
To be continued…
Posted by: denk | Dec 13 2025 18:34 utc | 154
For : Johan Kaspar from the “Frozen assets” thread About : traveling in West Africa
Mauritania and Senegal are not directly affected by the region’s security problems, but each country is affected in its own way.
Senegal is a member of the same regional groupings as the three “AES” countries supported by Russia (Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger).
These are the WAEMU, the union of eight countries that share the same currency, the CFA franc, and ECOWAS, the alliance of 15 countries in the zone that have a common external tariff.
As such, Senegal participated in imposing sanctions against these three countries, in accordance with the unions’ governing texts. This led to political tensions that have since been resolved.
The three countries where the coups occurred have begun their withdrawal from ECOWAS but continue to participate in WAEMU. This means that there is free movement of goods and people, and no customs duties between Senegal and these three countries, and that they use the same currency.
But Senegal itself, while not plagued by terrorism and having experienced only one attempted coup over 60 years ago, is going through a severe political and economic crisis. The party that won the march 2024 elections claims to have uncovered a hidden debt of several billion, which has led to a change in the country’s status with the IMF, resulting in the suspension of a disbursement. The country’s adjusted debt exceeds 100% of GDP (119% I guess) a rare occurrence in Africa.
Meanwhile, the winning political duo of the elections, the president-elect and his prime minister, are in open conflict.
Indeed, the president only became a candidate by default, replacing the current prime minister who was imprisoned and barred from participating in the elections by the previous regime. Now that they are in power, the historical leader wants to reinstate a hierarchy contrary to that of the republic. This would be a simple matter of domestic politics if it weren’t for Senegal.
Historically, in this country, all political protests have been accompanied by street demonstrations and civilian deaths. For this reason, the return to work of the prime minister, currently on extended leave out of the country, will need to be closely monitored.
Posted by: Sebgo | Dec 13 2025 18:53 utc | 156
For : Johan Kaspar from the “Frozen assets” thread
About : traveling in West Africa
Mauritania is a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, along with Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia. There is a diplomatic rift between Algeria and Morocco over the Western Sahara issue, a former Spanish colony claimed by Morocco and whose independence is supported by Algeria. Added to this is the situation in Libya, which has brought the organization to a standstill.
But before that, Mauritania was a member of ECOWAS. The country’s position also makes it a West African nation, even though its largely Arabized population and its own currency set it apart.
It was also part of the G5 Sahel, the alliance established to combat terrorism in the Sahel (along with Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Chad).
Mauritania never contributed troops to the G5 Sahel, but it did host a training center for the alliance. This center was never able to function properly due to a lack of funding. It effectively ceased to exist after the withdrawal of the 3 countries from the ESA.
Mauritania itself has not been affected by terrorism on its territory since 2011, although it did occur in previous years. While cross-border attacks are still possible from Mali, this is far from the capital.
Politically, Mauritania has experienced alternating periods of democratic elections and coups d’état since its independence.
The last coup d’état was in 2008, and since 2014, there have been democratic and peaceful elections. The current president was elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2024 for a five-year term.
In short, there is little security risk in visiting these two countries at present. However, it is advisable to avoid going out in the streets of Dakar, the capital of Senegal, during demonstrations.
Posted by: Sebgo | Dec 13 2025 18:56 utc | 157
As was posted on the current Russia thread:
A delightful video by Orthodox brother Alex who often showcases vintage, modern, and western weaponry from a range on the front, has released a very detailed video on kinzhal. If you not fluent, there are english subtitles closed caption person can turn on. Also on rutube should it vanish.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Erq8n7Vb4Enjoy and God bless.
Posted by: NJH | Dec 12 2025 17:43 utc | 53
I just watched it, and will break down the most important points here. I don’t know who Alex is, but his presentation is clear, precise and professional, lending a feel of semi-official information.
- Kinzhal is derived from Iskander with a few modifications in fuel, thermal shielding, and sensors
- Design goal was 2,000km precision strike; due to the INF treaty an air launch concept was pursued
- The Mig-31 was found feasible but needed extensive modification for the task, including removal of the radar; OSINT figures cite an inventory of 10 Mig-31K
- Kinzhal uses inertial navigation, mid-course update by logging onto GLONASS (which necessitates a flight maneuver to briefly rid it from the plasma bubble) and terminal homing using an optical seeker
- Plasma bubble? Yes, both Iskander and Kinzhal cruise at depressed trajectories of about 50km height. Terminal velocity of Kinzhal is Mach 3, enabling the seeker to work
- Radar (Patriot) does pick up the plasma bubble, even if it is impenetrable, allowing for a firing solution
- There have been intercepts; one photographed example apparently was hit by shrapnel from a Pak-2
- Heavy volley fire has been used against Ukrainian air defense installations with success
- A modernized Kinzhal, fielded since late 2025, is said to be “virtually elusive” due to evasive maneuvering during final approach; intercept rates for mixed volleys are now down from 37% to 6%
Mating the ground-launched Iskander with another pre-existent platform to enable air launch is quite crafty, I’d comment.
Posted by: persiflo | Dec 13 2025 19:00 utc | 158
Posted by: Sebgo | Dec 13 2025 18:53 utc | 166
#####
Senegal is all-in with France. No one can stay in the CFA Franc and exercise political sovereignty.
All of these “organizations” are proxies for French rule. That is why AES left ECOWAS to form its own sovereign bloc.
IIRC, the Senegalese PM has pan-Africanist sympathies (which is why he was targeted for incarceration, IMO)
The President (Faye) does not; they were only able to run together to lend credibility to the actual French-approved candidate.
Now that deception is no longer necessary as AES is dangerously gaining widespread support across the continent.
France is about to lose it all, thanks to Russia and China’s asymmetric diplomatic strategy, freeing colonies (slaves) from their pens.
France has soaring poverty and social dysfunction, and it’s really a bad time to lose the last of its colonies.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 19:12 utc | 159
psychohistorian@17:28
I found the following extract helpful but the whole song is better
“Every thought felt as true, Or allowed to be accepted as true by your conscious mind, Take roots in your subconsciousBlossoms sooner or later into an act, And bears its own fruitGood thoughts bring forth good fruit, Bullshit thoughts rot your meatThink right, and you can flyThe kingdom of Heaven is within
Free your mind and your ass will follow”
Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts – Funkadelic
Posted by: will moon | Dec 13 2025 19:24 utc | 160
I used to chew the roots like liquorice when I was a young boy.
Posted by: too scents | Dec 13 2025 13:03 utc | 114
The wood contains small amounts of eugenol, which protects the gums from bacteria and gum disease. Cloves are an alternative source of eugenol and can be used for the same purpose, if you can deal with the strong clove taste.. The Hindus use Neem sticks, and you can buy small bottles of Neem oil in many places.
There’s a lot of benefits in certain wood oils, but largely excluded from mainstream medical practice. There’s also some degree of toxicity of course but that’s true of most things in high doses … including what the doctor sells you.
There’s an Australian tree with the same name, and similar wood oils … but not really the same as the North Americas Sassafras. Unfortunately the trees are huge and no one can find space to put them.
https://resources.austplants.com.au/plant/doryphora-sassafrassassafras-yellow-canary-or-golden-sassafras-or-golden-deal/
Posted by: Tel | Dec 13 2025 19:30 utc | 161
Various outlets yesterday reported an interdiction back in November by the US of a Chinese cargo ship bound for Iran – allegedly ‘dual-use’, allegedly justifed. I am guessing the leak was done in hopes of giving the world an impression of fairness. “Officials said the ship was allowed to proceed following the interdiction, which involved special operation forces.”
https://www.google.com/search?q=tanker+Sri+Lanka+Iran+China+November
Posted by: JustSomeOldGuy | Dec 13 2025 19:40 utc | 162
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 19:12 utc | 169
As I’ve already said, France has been losing ground in Africa in general for a long time
Long before Niger severed ties with France, the uranium mines were already in Chinese hands. And the Russians were exploiting Burkina Faso’s gold well before 2022.
This is irreversible; 53 of the 55 African countries already have China as their primary trading partner.
As for the CFA franc, the best example is Viktor Orbán and his country, Hungary, which is in the EU and also in the Eurozone, but which asserts its sovereignty.
France lost its control over the CFA franc well before 2022, and if there are still ties with the leaders of our countries, it’s no longer for that reason.
It’s important to understand that cultural, historical, and political ties remain from the colonial era between the political classes. These people studied in France and in French, in the same schools, and were classmates.
Many simple things remain unchanged simply because of language, like textbooks or medication leaflets.
Of course, Westerners want to regain control in Africa; they are trying. But it’s difficult to fight against the march of history.
For those of us who have been dreaming of that for years, the struggle is elsewhere now : the economy, freedom, democracy and true sovereignty.
We don’t want to leave France to become vassals of Russia, China or Turkey by local puppets as in the past.
And it seems some russians or russophiles just can’t understand that.
Posted by: Sebgo | Dec 13 2025 19:40 utc | 163
@ will moon | Dec 13 2025 19:24 utc | 170 about message music
I was more into Moody Blues and their
Days Of Future Past
In Search Of The Lost Chord
A Question Of Balance
On The Threshold Of A Dream
To Our Children’s Children’s Children
and more…..YMMV
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 19:41 utc | 164
LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 17:04 utc | 149
JoBlo
First reactions to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey prologue: breathtaking, jaw-dropping, “biggest movie ever made”
…
Yahoo News Canada: Canadian boycott of U.S. hitting border states hard: Congressional report
CIC News: Skilled workers in these occupations can get a work permit within two weeks
CBC: ANALYSIS | Alberta separatists reapply for referendum question, boosted by new UCP bill
`The Squirrel’:Trump demands Fed listen to him as he lines up new leader: ‘I’m a smart voice’
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 13 2025 19:50 utc | 165
As for the CFA franc, the best example is Viktor Orbán and his country, Hungary, which is in the EU and also in the Eurozone, but which asserts its sovereignty.
…
And it seems some russians or russophiles just can’t understand that.
Posted by: Sebgo | Dec 13 2025 19:40 utc | 173
#####
Is Orban truly sovereign, or does he make proclamations and statements claiming that he is? Europeans (and Orban is a Zionist’s Zionist) are very good at saying things, but not very good at following through. Orban plays the important role of whipping boy and gadfly to Western Europe. If he did not exist, the EU would have to create him. He is the Ron Paul of Europe. Except Paul helped give birth to thousands of babies as a doctor in Texas, and Orban condones Bibi killing 10s of thousands in the name of Jesus Christ.
As to the Russian angle, life is not perfect. If Africa is going to get help from anyone, the Russians and Chinese are infinitely better choices than the West.
And make no mistake, Africa needs help. Africa is fractured and has no modern history of internal collaboration.
When Africa is together and strong, it can reset its terms with the Axis.
Until then, it is too early to be prideful. Now be cunning and patient. Make plans and build strength.
Make use of the access to Russian nuclear power and Chinese military flying schools.
America and France were not going to give you any of that.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 19:59 utc | 166
The Chinese are restoring the environment using solar panels
YT short, 1 minute 20 seconds
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/es31ThrRZw8
Shades of Russia using pencils to write with in zero gravity, low-tech elegance.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 20:15 utc | 167
Scientist claims he’s the first person to capture an image of the elusive Dark Matter, click the link and scroll down a wee bit – to see the image.
Scientist says he is first person to ever ‘see’ dark matter
Posted by: Republicofscotland | Dec 13 2025 20:34 utc | 168
@ LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 19:59 utc | 176
Indeed. Orbán talks big but is too addicted to EU handouts to pose serious opposition. Fico is better: also ultimately powerless, but with less puffery — and less Zionism.
Posted by: malenkov | Dec 13 2025 20:35 utc | 169
@ Republicofscotland | Dec 13 2025 20:34 utc | 178 with the link about Dark Matter being found “Out There”…thx
This Dark Matter stuff is part of everything including you and I. It doesn’t just exist out in the universe somewhere. Humans know a little bit about 5% of the composition of the universe but they manage to convince billions that there is this human looking god of it all.
That said, scientists aren’t going to get funded if they admit to the public how ignorant we are, eh?
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 20:51 utc | 170
Posted by: malenkov | Dec 13 2025 20:35 utc | 179
######
I have been skeptical of any “hero”, particularly when talked up by Tucker.
I believe, absent hard evidence, that most personalities are elevated purposefully.
Whose and for what purpose?
I do not know.
But my Spidey sense goes off when Tucker starts talking anyone up. Tucker is Candace is Tim Pool is Alex Jones is Steve Bannon. Fuentes is just on the outside but slowly being brought into the fold.
It’s a network of voices boosting each other (social proof effect) to push pro-state messaging at the end of the day.
Not a surprise that Tucker saw maimed Gazan children in Qatar, he’s been carrying water for Qatar for at least a year now.
Hello will freeze over before he goes to Iran or China, like he did with Russia.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 20:53 utc | 171
60,000 Multimillionaires Own 3 X More Than Half The World’s Population
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/12/11/rzdx-d11.html
“A new report from the World Inequality Lab, the product of 4 years of comprehensive research, finds that economic inequality on a world scale continues to increase by leaps and bounds with vast wealth concentrated in a tiny handful of billionaires and centi-millionaires.
As the report’s forward declares:
‘The data presented here are striking. The richest 10% of the global population own close to three-quarters of all wealth, while the poorest half held barely 2%. Fewer than 60,000 multi-millionaires now control more wealth than half of humanity combined. With most countries, the bottom 50% rarely possesses more than 5% of national wealth.”
‘The so-lu-tion rev-o-lu-tion.’ Eat the rich.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 13 2025 20:58 utc | 172
Eat the rich.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 13 2025 20:58 utc | 182
I’d rather use them for compost for fertilizing animal feed crops. I’l like to have a couple of food chain links between the rich and myself!
Posted by: malenkov | Dec 13 2025 21:09 utc | 173
Rather than the unproductive “eat the rich,” how about creating a culture that holds the rich to high standards and punishes anyone with malicious intent?
We can destroy the rich, but there will just be more rich again, and the cycle will continue.
It’s Harrison Bergeron all over again. People who are taller, smarter, healthier, see better, better at whatever dimension to be measured. Resenting or punishing them for achieving great results is a misuse of their “talent” IMO. Better to inventivize them to use their talents for the good of everyone. Make it “profitable” to be charitable, kind, helpful, productive…
Envy is ugly and base. It is used to divide and misdirect people.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 21:20 utc | 174
@184 Love
Well, according to Rene Girard, there is good mimesis and bad mimesis.
Good mimesis would be to look at your neighbor who is raising their children with love and support. To realize that same capacity is in you, however, is important, because you do not want mimesis to tip over into envy, which is the feeling that something outside of you that you deserve is being unfairly denied you and that it is up to YOU to correct this unfairness.
Bad mimesis, for example, would be America’s concept of the marketable-image: happiness when you buy McDonald’s, wholeness when you wear Nikes, completion when you arrive in the middle class.
The emptiness after all these things attained persists and yet TPTB keep finding new ways to instill bad Mimesis into our hearts (social media being the most glaring example).
- Interesting that Rene Girard also posits that although “envy” as a stumbling block is the last commandment of the 10 that you should avoid, it governs the rest (i.e. you would only kill your neighbor for his wife because you covet (envy) what is outside you and you feel has been unfairly denied from you).
The elites, Frankists, jews, whatever, understand this notion intuitively and it governs their entire paradigm of false shepherding (leading us to what Girard calls “false trancendence”).
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 13 2025 21:31 utc | 175
Is it possible to create sub- cultures within West…
Adjunct Q: is it possible to design [and inculcate] a culture? …
3rd order Q: If it’s possible to design and inculcate, what are the mechanics of “inculcate”?
Posted by: Tom Pfotzerf | Dec 13 2025 17:08 utc | 151
******************
I think the answer is yes to all three questions. Cultures don’t arise out of nothing. It is possible to promote real thought that influences behavior. That process can spread, but it is slow – at a generational scale of change.
The problem is that the same mechanism also works destructively – and also almost instantaneously. Witness the outbreaks of mass hysteria…
Posted by: General Factotum | Dec 13 2025 21:34 utc | 176
Hugo Chavez: ‘How Cowardly is the Army of Israel’ (& vid)
https://x.com/afshinrattansi/status/1999876390309544053
“They are cowards. They bomb innocent people…how cowardly is the army of Israel to attack an innocent, sleeping, resting people, and claim to be defending their people.
Meanwhile, CIA asset Corina Machado pledged to move Venezuela’s Embassy in Israel to occupied Jerusalem if she is installed in Miraflores as the leader of Venezuela by theUSandIsrael. Now can you see why theUSandIsrael have wanted to see the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed?”
Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 13 2025 21:36 utc | 177
@Psychohistorian, LD, GreatLakesObserver, Persiflo and by now, surely others:
Tom: “Can you shape culture”?
LD: if you’re in it for the long haul. Gotta put others first over your own short-term interests.
PsyH: Look at B. He’s an altruist. He’s looking beyond himself.
Tom: Is that all B’s doing, looking selflessly beyond himself? (thanks, and kudos, B). Any other roles w/r/t culture design, inculcation he’s playing? Are there any other culture-shaping roles being played by Barflies @ MoA?
Tom: “Can you design and then inculcate a _sub-culture_?” (remember, a social unit as small as a family or circle of friends is a legit ” sub-culture”. So the question is “how big do you draw the circle”, or maybe more accurately, “which members of the dominant culture are in your sub-culture?”
I’m not playing word-games. The question is “can you design a culture”, and the answer is of course you can. We see many examples. Religion. US marines. Wokes. Feminists. Marlboro Men.
There are many entities _hard at work_ to define and inculcate and even _enforce_ the boundaries and norms of a culture (however big the circle is). The so-called “Overton Window” is a cultural construct, and that window moves around quite a bit, depending upon which sub-culture you happen to occupy at the moment. Right?
“So if Hollywood and the priest and the Cool People at the Country Club can design, set, enforce and otherwise operate a culture, how come you and I can’t?
What are we missing?
This is a very germane question. “Controlling the narrative”. Symbolism of social standing. Shun-methods. All tools of the trade. It is time we took a closer look at this”?
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 13 2025 21:38 utc | 178
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 13 2025 21:31 utc | 185
######
I could not carry on with sanity if I did not believe that I can control how I respond to things.
No one can put anything into my heart any more than someone could make me kill my parents.
For bad ideas to take root, there must be fertile ground, which can include a lack of social support (family and peers) and a weak sense of identity.
If we huddle together, we can survive the cold nights.
That is a choice you and I must make as individuals. We can’t blame abstractions and shadows. We can, but the result will be bad. If we take accountability, we have a shot, even if it is only a small one.
The elites (a euphemism for countless cohorts of scumbags) are trying to destroy us and are trying to manipulate us.
As individuals, will we let them? And if we’re damned by not trying, can anyone feel bad for us?
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 21:41 utc | 179
Al Jolani must be in though spot now. Sucking up to everybody and sitting his ass on too many chairs at once. Now one of his Al Qaeda/Daesh buddies killed 3 American imperial troops and of course the US empire will need to perform another collective punishment on the “natives”. Winning the local hearts and minds Fallujah style.
Posted by: xor | Dec 13 2025 21:50 utc | 180
So, russian supporters are big time anti-immigrant freaks. Yet, I don’t see them complaining about the huge ethnic recomposition happening in russia
Aside from the brothers, Putin is replacing head for head, every russian killed in Ukraine with Indian migrants
Wives are happy!
Posted by: Rock | Dec 13 2025 21:58 utc | 181
@ Tom Pfotzer | Dec 13 2025 21:38 utc | 188 who needs to go study how the Mormon religion/cult started
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 22:21 utc | 182
https://rt.com/india/629121-official-russia-ready-welcome-indian-migrants
Posted by: Rock | Dec 13 2025 22:28 utc | 183
‘Eat the rich’ (or better yet, as suggested by malenkov, composting instead) has nothing to do with ‘envy’ and everything to do with destroying a contagious and terminal parasitic infection before it ultimately ‘eats’ and destroys its host community.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 13 2025 22:41 utc | 184
Posted by: Rock | Dec 13 2025 21:58 utc | 191
#####
China and Russia have dozens of ethnicities and subgroups in their populations.
A Russian isn’t necessarily a Slav. They might be from “old believer” German Christian stock. They might be Jewish. They might be Chechen (Muslim), Tartars, Buryats, or Nenets from the tribal regions of the north. All are Russian.
China likewise has many subethnicities. Han, Mongol, Tibetan, Uyhgur, Hui, Manchu, etc.
The West could learn from how they have integrated disparate ancient rivals under one flag.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 22:43 utc | 185
@ Tom Pfotzer | Dec 13 2025 21:38 utc | 188 who needs to go study how the Mormon religion/cult started
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 13 2025 22:21 utc | 192
**************
And even more instructive would be to look at how Scientology started.
Posted by: General Factotum | Dec 13 2025 22:45 utc | 186
Don’t know if this one should be here or the EU thread
Current President of the European , António Costa and his ministers sure knew how to chose their aids.
Costa got grilled because his chief of staff thought their office was a bank, wads of cash in champagne boxes
Meanwhile his former justice minister outdid him, her aid watched child porn (4 to 14 yo) in his office and personally abused and filmed quite a few.
Fits in the general picture of EU rulers.
https://www.portugalpulse.com/former-ministers-aide-detained-for-child-abuse-and-child-pornography/
Posted by: Newbie | Dec 13 2025 22:53 utc | 187
@189 Love
I am so glad you are here to bounce thoughts off of. I don’t strictly view you as an object for this, but I don’t detect any kind of agenda in your thoughts other than your affiliation with Islam which does not bother me one iota.
…
I remember being in a psych 101 lecture a million years back and the instructor was pontificating on the all-powerful force of marketing and image-proliferating of modern capitalism. I raised my hand and simply asked: “What about irony?” The meaning of the question being that one can intuit or “decode” the message of advertising in the opposite way intended. John Carpenter’s “They Live” being an illustrative example of this: the protagonist sees a modern billboard advert depicting a vacation of a husband and wife lounging carefree on beach chairs in front of a beautiful ocean; in the next frame, the hero dons a pair of sunglasses and he sees the black and white lettering “Marry and consume,” where the idyllic picture is now completely replaced. It’s a great scene. Has been memed-to-death. Carpenter is a great, working-man’s director, similar to George Romero. Round it out with Terry Malick, and you have my three favorite American directors.
But as Kierkegaard, who wrote his most well-known books using various pseudonyms while intending for his authorship to be “without authority,” established in Either-Or, you can not live ironically.
The hero of “They Live,” in the end of the film, destroys the mechanism the alien-force uses to enslave the population; thus, the antagonists are no longer able to beam the mind-control messaging (“Marry and consume”) without being noticed. The result of this, however, offers nothing to grasp onto in the end. Sure, the destruction of the ability to create somnambulists is destroyed, but the ending message is negative and destructive. It is not “upbuilding.” Furthermore, as the counter-narrator, Judge Vilhelm in second part of Either-Or lays out: to exist in a negative or ironic way is, in the end, to invite ruin. It ends in smoke. The brilliance of the young man, the original narrator of Part I is laid to waste and unable to progress into ethical-commitment by virtue of the leap of faith, a place, indeed, that the young man is able to skewer and lambast mercilessly and who the Judge is only able to retort by trying to persuade the young man that only through faithful-commitment may our heart be at rest and where we can protect the innocence of a wife. “Marry and consume” does not sound so bad after all.
But this creates a problem for me as a contemporary-engager with Kierkegaard, and that is precisely the great evil done by the west in the name of westerners. Certainly, I am a member of the “Marry and consume” class of people in the west. I am not ready to strap a bomb to my chest and run into the local municipal building: I have a kid to feed. And an innocent wife to look after. This whole reality has created an impossibly-heavy mantle to try to wear as I go about my daily life. The art of Francis Bacon certainly comes to mind when thinking about the plight of the modern-mind being flayed and stripped like meat in the face of the evil we encounter daily by trying to make sense of it.
But if you go back to the Aesthete of Part I of Either-Or, I am still convinced by Kierkegaard that this is still a life of ruin. If you have never witnessed your child being born, you will never understand what it is like to safeguard a life, not only their physical needs but also the spiritual one as a human being needing to realize the love of God in their innermost sanctum. You will never know what it means to enter into Hell for the good of the Other. This is the power of parenthood that is reflected and brought to material completion in Jesus Christ descending into our state to draw us all to him.
That’s all for now. Be well Love.
The birds have their nests and the foxes their holes. But you were homeless, Lord Jesus, with nowhere to rest your head. And yet you were a hiding-place where the sinner could flee. Today you are still such a hiding-place, and I flee to you. I hide myself under your wings, and your wings cover the multitude of my sins.
~Soren Kierkegaard
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 13 2025 22:57 utc | 188
‘Eat the rich’ (or better yet, as suggested by malenkov, composting instead) has nothing to do with ‘envy’ and everything to do with destroying a contagious and terminal parasitic infection before it ultimately ‘eats’ and destroys its host community.
Posted by: John Gilberts | Dec 13 2025 22:41 utc | 194
Umm, I knew that 😉 but couldn’t resist. Although I was thinking about the final scene in John Waters’s Desperate Living as I wrote that.
Posted by: malenkov | Dec 13 2025 22:58 utc | 189
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 13 2025 22:57 utc | 198
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I am not very familiar with Kierkegaard and so cannot offer much commentary in that direction.
They Live was a big moment for me as a child, part of an awakening to how the world is, rather than how most people (in the West, for sure) believe it to be. The metaphor of the glasses revealing the world around us as one big delusion, where we are fed upon by aliens that human elites have sold out to.
I do not believe this is a life of ruin. I believed, long before I reverted to Islam, that life is a test, that my soul is immortal (energy cannot be destroyed), and that this is part of the process every soul must pass through.
So, as evil, depraved, painful, and wicked as life can be, the test is mine to handle that and measure my responses towards accordingly.
Evil is done by people in the cohorts we belong to by circumstance. Those are not our “sins”. IMO, our job is to rise above that and do better, even if no other person notices. We do it because it is logical, rational, and compassionate. Those are the only reasons we need, even if a supreme creator is not giving those instructions.
That heavy mantle feels to me like a Christian thing, which IMO, is laden with a lot of guilt, even if the person hasn’t sinned by intention.
Part of what appealed to me about Islam is that there is no concept of original sin. We were all born (psychologically/emotionally) perfect and usually end up going astray due to environment and/or social influences.
The task then becomes to find our way back to the truth and live to the best of our ability in accordance with it.
I am going to desist; there are several at the bar who become very agitated when eschatological matters are discussed.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 23:31 utc | 190
@PsychoHistorian, General Factotum.
Guys, ya drive me crazy. Always going for the long-bomb pass. Didja ever hear of incrementalism??
Gah.
🙂
Q on the table remains: can ordinary people design, select/recruit for, set up a culture that:
a. Reinforces the behaviors they want, behaviors which somehow get the members where they’re going
b. Meets the needs of the sub-culture participants such that it’s rewarding enough to tell others about
And that doesn’t have wacko-elements that wreck things … and just does what’s best long-term interests of the people that opt themselves in.
What’s it take? Keep it simple. What are the 5 or 10 elements that have to be present for the culture to be worth having & evolve / perpetuate itself?
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 14 2025 0:16 utc | 191
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 13 2025 23:31 utc | 200
Like a wheel/
Going spinnin’ …
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 14 2025 0:18 utc | 192
@LD “The task then becomes to find our way back to the truth and live to the best of our ability in accordance with it.”
Exactly. and since we’re immersed in a culture that exerts massive influence on us, way more influence than we exert on _it_ … maybe we should narrow scope some (remember your proj management principles… match resource to load, and either expand resource or constrain load to get into balance) and think about what it takes to design and implement a culture that gets us where we’re going.
and don’t try to do too much at the outset. iterate. experiment. theorize. design. test. incrementalism is your friend.
And you can do it right where you are. No heroism or long treks thru trackless deserts of indifference and resistance is required. Simply figure out what you need – the tools – pick a place, and start in.
We (and I include me in this) Barflies only seem to get excited about the impossible.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 14 2025 0:22 utc | 193
@200 love
You must exist in a paradise (or is it an echo chamber?) if you are able to go through your daily life railing against TPTB and the Jews with impunity as only a Diogenes of Sinop could do. If you are that bold, perhaps you are without a family or children to raise and so can be that bold.
For the rest of us, nestled amongst the full-tilt Jewish cancel-culture we inhabit, we have to measure our words carefully. This brings a certain amount to guilt for our powerlessness in not speaking truth to power. I suppose that is why I am here as a form of exercise where if I were not able to engage with I might have to self-soothe in other debaucheries.
I think this scene from Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line is one of the greatest put to film and it perfectly encapsulates the predicament of modern man clinging to his own island yet being nipped at the heels by an anxiety that they can not ever be rid from.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 14 2025 0:23 utc | 194
‘When men were men and sheep were safe’…
A. L. Lloyd – Across The Western Plains
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UXWoaUIptPU
Posted by: Ornot | Dec 14 2025 0:59 utc | 195
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 14 2025 0:23 utc | 204
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I have learned that measuring words won’t save you if they come for you.
They aren’t going to pity an inferior goyim who was meek.
If you’re afraid of death, then I have bad news for you. You’re going to die one day. It is inevitable. How you choose to live between now and then is your story.
I used to worry about someone coming after my family to get to me. They may. If they want to, I cannot stop them. Again, do my loved ones go down with me, bowing and begging? They, too, will feel the pain if it comes, and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. My holding my tongue won’t protect them.
I had an epiphany earlier this year watching live streams from Yemen. I think I understand now why the Prophet PBUH said that the Yemenis were the best of believers.
If one believes in God, then death is no big deal; their time on this plane was always temporary. And if one believes in God, a person cannot die unless God has willed it so.
It is atheists who need to fear death, not believers. For atheists, it is game over, no replays remaining.
Posted by: LoveDonbass | Dec 14 2025 1:11 utc | 196
Oops. Tracy v. Iran https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onsc/doc/2016/2016onsc3759/2016onsc3759.htmlPosted by: Laurence /canuck | Dec 13 2025 22:25 utc | 381
Ooops. Banned Sock Puppet speaks CanLII (Canadian Legal Information Institute) is Canada’s primary free online source
Posted by: Bully Gone | Dec 14 2025 0:11 utc | 386
Add to cart, Bully?
Posted by: Laurence | Dec 14 2025 1:13 utc | 197
In response to
”
We (and I include me in this) Barflies only seem to get excited about the impossible.
Posted by: Tom Pfotzer | Dec 14 2025 0:22 utc | 203
”
In my city I am working with others to reduce the speed limit on street sections without sidewalks to 20 mph from 25 mph and we are doing this partly because we can’t get the city to put in the sections of missing sidewalks….like the one near me that doesn’t have sidewalks and so has people with baby carriages on the street that is also a bus route…..sigh
Yes Tom, this is impossible shit but somebodies have to do it.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 14 2025 1:25 utc | 198
@207 love
I have already been killed once. Actually a few times.
When TPTB decided to fire any civic employee who did not concede to having an experimental drug therapeutic jammed into their bloodstream, that was sure-as-shit violence (by the state monopoly). And didn’t qualify for unemployment either because I wasn’t following my employer’s code of conduct (apparently there was a clause in my contract that says an unproven medical intervention must be submitted to).
I have been mobbed, too, as a result of the depression that arose from the fallout of said axing. I drifted into another line of labor and ran into a group of Ne’er-do-wells who were hostile towards a civic-minded employee like me who they viewed as an archetypal “company-man.”
Was at a grave low at that point. I pray for removal of that bitter-cup everyday, but must concede to His will if He wants it like that.
What else am I going to do? Become a liberal-calvinist or Hindu that believes some people are just born to eat shit? No thanks.
Posted by: NemesisCalling | Dec 14 2025 1:28 utc | 199
@ NemesisCalling | Dec 14 2025 1:28 utc | 210 who is encouraged to read
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job:_A_Comedy_of_Justice
Sorry to read that your life choices have proved to be very difficult
Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 14 2025 1:34 utc | 200