INTERNATIONAL CODE OF SIGNALS: CODE FLAG “U” – YOU ARE STANDING INTO DANGER!
America is the Titanic and our Iceberg is something called “Inversion”.
I tried to draw attention to this in August 2014 by quoting that Times Of London headline of 22 October 1957 which delightfully summed up the British Elites inverted view of their own importance. For Millennials and Generation “X”, you may not get the humor but by 1957 Britain was in no position to be superior about anything, having had to endure multiple indignities as its empire imploded, including its failed Suez military intervention in 1956.
I will deliberately mix metaphors yet again; There is fog in the channel and we, on board the U. S. S. Titanic, are steaming at full speed towards an iceberg called “Inversion”. I can see it because living in Australia, the land “Down Under”, I am inverted. Tucker Carlson can see it and has desperately signalled the bridge but the captain isn’t listening. Vladimir Putin can see it, tried to warn us and settled for smashing our steering wheel and jamming the engine telegraph at “full speed ahead” after we abused him for his temerity in considering that Russia should be treated as an equal. The Chinese can see it and are content to watch as we destroy ourselves. The rest of the world can see it and are watching with delight. The passengers don’t know it, yet, but perhaps the smarter ones are edging towards the lifeboats.
Poor Tucker Carlson, his fate is certain; Its the same as Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s bosun; According to “The Oxford Book Of Ships and The Sea”, in 1707 Sir Cloudesley Shovells fleet was heading for the entrance of the English channel in bad weather with no navigational sight, a bosun came to him and explained that he had been navigating himself, keeping a log, and warned that, according to his calculations, the fleet was heading for the rocks; Sailors were forbidden from by law navigating – Shovell had him hanged from the yardarm. However, karma is a bitch:
“Shovell’s flagship, the second-rate HMS Association, struck the rocks near the Isles of Scilly at 8 pm on 22 October (2 November, by the modern calendar) 1707. HMS Association went down in three or four minutes, with none of the 800 men that were on board saved,[4] according to sailors watching on the first-rate HMS St George. Four large ships, HMS Association, the third-rate HMS Eagle, the fourth-rate HMS Romney and the fire ship HMS Firebrand all sank.[9]
With nearly 2,000 sailors lost that night, the Scilly naval disaster was recorded as one of the greatest maritime disasters in British history.[9]“
Watch Carlson being interviewed.
We keep acting as if we are in the drivers seat. What if we aren’t? Has anyone actually read what Putin says instead of watching CNN’s slanted interpretations? What happens if the rest of the world decides that instead of being “the indispensable nation”, we are the Pariah and Putins Russia is the paradigm – inversion.
The demise of the Republic has been proposed frequently and persistently since it’s inception. This is not new, nor will it ever stop. It is just the excuses that change. Just as one example, it was an American who first walked on the moon and reading Putin’s version of Mein Kampf will not fair any better than the original.
Lars, but this time we are doing it to ourselves!
I don’t think it is as bad as some want us to believe. I was at the gym at 4:30 am and so were others. If it is that bad, why bother? A lot of Americans complain and always blame others. Some think it was much better at earlier times, but that requires forgetting some of the less than stellar conditions. I came here in 1965 and I see improvement in many areas, just as I see where things could be improved. A lot of thing were up in the air when I arrived and for a few years afterwards, but the Republic survived and will continue to do so, except for those who the glass is always half empty.
Final Exam.
Multiple Choice. Circle your answer and we will contact you about what you’ve turned into.
A) The glass is three fifths full, with five or six dead flies on the bottom of the glass.
B) The glass is overflowing and there are three rat embryos swimming in it.
C) The glass was stolen. The contents were removed secretly and then the glass was dropped off the Empire State Building. The person who arranged the theft and destruction of the glass is now President.
F&L,
A true optimist would see the flies and embryos as some good extra protein. As for option ‘C’, hey, think of all the glasses that weren’t stolen. Back in 1965 lots of glasses were stolen – if memory serves me – but now it’s just this one; a big one to be sure, but just one. Ignore the guy who was brained on the sidewalk below the Empire State Building on the way to the gym. The gym is 99.9% full this morning – minus only one member!.
This is a very well designed – and funny – test. You do have your moments of brilliance.
Eric,
Thanks. While reading your reply this popped up on my TV.
Vasya Priyanikov – Blondinki & Brunnetki
https://youtu.be/2YJMbGWdI2Y
Meanwhile, this is excellent brief coverage of the Avdeevka debacle which may not have been published when TTG went to press with his account. Unclear how accurate their conclusion is re Sayonara to Zelensky. My own personal mildly paranoid idea was that Z intentionally arranged to kill off Azov (3rd Separate Assault Brigade) and thereby free himself from their grip which might allow him to negotiate a peace settlement without getting himself knocked off. Wishful thinking?
Regime change is coming – to Kiev:
Zelensky may soon be forced out on account of the bloody battle loss at Avdiivka.
https://asiatimes.com/2024/02/regime-change-is-coming-to-kiev/
Washington has fondly hoped that it could bring about regime change in Russia. Now it seems even more likely that there will be regime change, but not in Russia – in Kiev.
The catalyst for regime change in Kiev is the bloody and now ended battle over Avdiivka.(Continues at link).
You do have your moments of brilliance.
He does. Hilarious.
Lars
You compare the US with itself.
In today’s global economy you have to take into account the competition.
Decades ago, Russia was trying and failing to make a socialist economy work. Today it is a capitalist country with a resilient economy.
During the so called US golden years, the Chinese were running around chasing and killing sparrows.
Today, they are the 1st economy in the world.
India is no longer a colony but a multi-trillion dollar economy. Many other countries have rapidly advances as well.
The US and the West still have the money printing press and many other financial and technical advantages.
However, since it has decided to weaponize these advantages, the rest of the world is building alternatives.
Moral advantage ? LGBT and woke vs traditional values.
What else ? Military power ?
Could you have imagined during the 60s a country like Iran pounding a US military base with ballistic missiles ?
The US (and the West in general) used to be an example others strived to follow. Now it is struggling more and more in all departments.
wiz,
In the years after WWII, the US homeland was unscathed, all facets of the economy were running full blast. Much of the rest of the world lay in ruins with destroyed industries and severely damaged societies. Of course we were a hegemon. That was not healthy. We’ve now arrived at a multipolar world. Are you longing for the days of the US being a hegemon with the rest of the world prostrate at our feet? I don’t.
TTG
The US is a hegemon still, and it is actively trying to increase and expand control over other countries.
This creates friction points with countries like Russia and China and IMO is unnecessary and brings about a lot of misery.
If instead of trying to foment coups and sowing instability the US really tried to form partnerships and not try to control everything, the world would be a better place.
The next war between Azerbaijan and Armenia is also something that could be easily prevented
if Russia and the US worked together.
Ukraine is a good example of an uncessary conflict. And if Russia let NATO gobble up Ukraine, next on the neocon menu would
be Belorussia, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and ultimately Russia.
The forces that drive the US hegemony are not only satisfied with external control but will increasingly use their toolset to control their own population.
The absolute hegemony needs to be resisted, whether it is a Chinese, Russian or the US one.
wiz, I disagree, very strongly.
The USA still *thinks* it is the hegemon, and is acting as if it were still the hegemon, but to be honest I think it is writing checks it can’t cash.
The situation now looks to me like the situation as it existed pre-1914. Great Powers that had existed for a long time took to thinking that they were eternal, and acted as such.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire? Still a big fish – an Empire, fer’ chris’ sake – so if it wants to beat up on Serbia then who’s gonna stop it?
Except by 1918 the Austro-Hungarian Empire was gone, but Serbia was still there.
The Ottoman Empire? Centuries upon centuries of history. A big cheese in world affairs. If it entered the war on the side of the Germans then that’s a deal-breaker.
Except.
Except.
Except.
Except that by 1921 the Ottoman Empire was no more. Gone. In the dustbin. Yesterday’s man.
The USA looks very, very much like those old-fashioned empires: living on past glories, utterly convinced of its eternity. Certain that it can achieve its aims by force of will alone.
It can’t. It’s cruising for a bruising, and when it happens they will be the last people on the planet who will understand what just hit ’em.
The USA has existed on three decades on picking on pissant countries and throwing them up against the wall. Just to prove that it can.
But it has run out of easy-beats.
China? Don’t make me laugh.
Russia? No, don’t go there.
Iran? Hmmm. Maybe. Maybe not.
Probably not.
If you think otherwise then you are really, really, rolling the dice. And not wisely.
When you came here in 1965, the US represented nearly 40% of global GDP, down from 50% just after WWII.
Today, the US represents 13% of global GDP. People need to be honest. Economic success is directly related to military power, political influence, etc. Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far. The US has fallen SO FAR from where it was in 1965 that it should be considered a different country. We speak loudly, make unrealistic demands backed by a sanctions program that is unprecedented in human history. Domestically we have transformed into a bizarre circus that has swept all our traditional values and morals into the trash heap. We are behaving as if it’s 1992 and we just got the news that we are the lone superpower. It’s time for reality to intrude, and it does have a tendency to do so. Take off your rose-tinted glasses.
Walurs,
What’s the “we” you speak of? There are plenty of foreigners who colluded to bring on the Russia Hoax and hamstring the administration of the man who defeated Hilary. They would be happy to see America reduced in stature as they think they could then pick up the pieces and continue to play the “great game” like they and their ancestors have done for a few centuries now. Certainly you haven’t forgotten that Australian ambassador’s contribution to the hoax.
Yes, foreigners colluded in the Russia hoax but it was a domestically constructed hoax. As I said to Lars, we are doing this to ourselves. Sure, Russia and China may be greasing the skids underneath us, but it’s all our own work. We have delusions of grandeur and our policy choices are being built on them.
They would be happy to see America reduced in stature as they think they could then pick up the pieces and continue to play the “great game” like they and their ancestors have done for a few centuries now.
walrus, I agree the Russia hoax was an American creation*, somewhat. Curiously enough, it both worked and didn’t. In and outside.
* an ad hoc election campaign creation? Democrat paranoia? Since we poked the bear, it has to respond…
But why are you avoiding the “they” vs. “us” claim above? Which is a bit silly but reminds me of the subjects prevalent during Trump’s first reign on SST and beyond. We’ll see.
Walrus,
Ambassador Downer was hardly part of a domestic hoax creation.
Alexander Downer has long had a question mark hanging over his head regarding where his loyalties lay.
Not to his party whip when he was a member of Parliament. Not to the Crown.
Think of another English-speaking country.
So, yeah, the fact that the con-man spoke with an Aussie accent (a most toffy Aussie accent, it must be said) does not mean all that much.
It has about as much meaning as the fact – and it is a fact – that Joseph Mifsud spoke with a foreign accent.
But that fact didn’t make the Russia-Hoax a Maltese intelligence operation, and more than Downer’s buffoonery make it an Australian intelligence operation.
It didn’t, becauce Mifsud didn’t work for the Maltese IC, just as Downer wasn’t recruited by ASIO.
Well, at least the Titanic was a sort of natural disaster. The Captain didn’t deliberately ram the iceberg. The recent catastrophic decline in Western credibility and reputation for competence is more analogous to us knocking holes in the damn boat ourselves.
Great to see you posting again Walrus, your analogy and Tucker’s part in it as navigator calling out imminent danger is spot on. My comment concerns Tucker’s latest warning of extreme danger in his one hour interview with Mike Benz of the Foundation for Freedom Online.
What Mr Benz describes is another inversion which, if anything, imperils the Republic to an even greater degree. Benz sets out in great detail how the information warfare machine that was built as an aid to foreign policy (right up to and including the ability to conduct color revolutions via social media manipulation) has been turned inwards and is now wielded as a tool of domestic policy. The result today is that the very concept of “democracy” has been redefined to be synonymous with the consensus decision-making process of the military-security establishment. Benz describes military grade information and psychological warfare tools deployed against US citizens, with the aim of preventing a danger to this consensus. Censorship of dissident opinion online is one of the major results. In this inverted world, the Deep State’s status quo has become “democracy”. All this has been achieved via an archipelago of Pentagon-funded NGO information guardians with wildly Orwellian-sounding names.
It is important to note that Benz’ point is not Red/Blue issue. He actually says that the same weapons currently being used to suppress mostly MAGA narratives would be used against an outlying presidential candidate from the Left (e.g. another Bernie Sanders). The Russia collusion hoax was the just the first predicate used for weaponizing domestic information warfare. The warped internal logic of status quo as “democracy” has now reached a stage on insanity few understand. For example, a tweet questioning the validity of mail-in ballots in elections can be considered a threat to national security, as it is now legally a cyber attack on ‘critical infrastructure’. Such a system deems 1A rights subordinate to the protection of the Deep State’s Narrative – regardless of the consequences.
Congress is lost at sea. Fear and paranoia of largely illusory ‘threats’ have driven it to set a course towards turning the US into a full blown police state. Tucker is certainly brave to speak up, I hope he does meet the same fate as the bosun.
BA,
I think Benz has it right. He is describing what is happing quite accurately.
Col Lang himself once made a similar, though brief, observation and closed by commenting something like, “I never thought it would come home to roost” (that’s from memory and probably isn’t exactly the word choice he used, but the sentiment is the same. He didn’t think he’d see the day when those military grade tactics were used on the domestic population). The point being that Col Lang recognized the now ubiquitous information and psychological operations as being real; not paranoid fantasy.
That said, that kind of operation being directed at the American people is nothing new. A good historic example of the same would be Edward Bernays and Woodward Wilson’s collaboration to get Americans on board for war in Europe during World War One. Some truly shocking and ruthless manipulation of Americans occurred – and those few who were immune to the methods, and dared to speak out, were dealt with less subtly.
What is different now, in my opinion, is that Americans are less possessed of common less and less self-reliant than they were over a hundred years ago (increased reliance on government due to increased urbanization and breakdown of family structure, more affluent and therefore more time to ponder – and perhaps accept – weird philosophies, more coddled generally and further divorced from biological realities) and the government/media complex has the ability, via high tech, to brainwash typical Americans, en masse, 24/7 + analyze the impacts of the brainwashing real time in order to adjust, refine and customize (for specific audiences) the messages for greater impact on target. It’s as if some information threshold has been breached and the human ability to filter and discern has been overwhelmed.
This is perfect. Should be on 1000’s of big billboards all across the nation,
What is different now, in my opinion, is that Americans are less possessed of common less and less self-reliant than they were over a hundred years ago (increased reliance on government due to increased urbanization and breakdown of family structure, more affluent and therefore more time to ponder – and perhaps accept – weird philosophies, more coddled generally and further divorced from biological realities) and the government/media complex has the ability, via high tech, to brainwash typical Americans, en masse, 24/7 + analyze the impacts of the brainwashing real time in order to adjust, refine and customize (for specific audiences) the messages for greater impact on target. It’s as if some information threshold has been breached and the human ability to filter and discern has been overwhelmed.
Rod Keener,
I agree with Eric Newhill. Our ability to digest the information presented to us has diminished. I think a lot of that is due to the amount of information that now washes over us. In the past, there was much less information. We had time to think about it, savor it and form opinions informed by our own thought and reasoning. Think back to the days of pamphleteering and committees of correspondence. We could mull over that information and discuss it with people we’ve known all our lives at the tavern… in person. Those were the days. Now it’s a fire hose of information and disinformation coming too fast to adequately process and from sources we know nothing about. Our conversations are reduced to tweets and memes on our idiotic smart phones.
TTG,
These days even the gas pump yacks “news” stories at me. I think that people can’t help but subconsciously absorb messages. As for me, it pisses me off that I can’t even enjoy relative peace and freedom when fueling up my vehicle. It gets me despising the powers that be for launching a never ending assault on my senses. If the SOBs really had good ideas based on truth, then they wouldn’t have to hyperactively try to pound what they’re selling into my head. Like you said, they talk to me (not at me) once or twice, I’d take my time to think it over and accept it – or, if they’re idiots or liars, tell them to take a hike.
It’s like you can’t turn them off ( cue Hunchback of Notre Dame, “The bells! The bells!”). You need a f’ing smart phone and computer to do anything in civilization these days, including simply work, travel, or buy a part for your car. Once you’re online, they come right at you, ready or not.
Eric Newhill,
Philip K Dick anticipated our modern world all too well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_Pitch_(short_story)
James
Thanks for that, I’d not read Sales Pitch before. Very enjoyable.
TTG
I trust you’ve not succumbed to a smartphone yet? I will go to my grave without one and I might start to beleive there is some hope for mankind when usage of the accursed things starts to drop off. We are lost otherwise.
An adblocker on my computer keeps me ad free online – and sane.
Well said Eric. However the US Civil War broke out even longer than 100 years ago when, and to borrow from one of your observations, the American people should arguably have been even more practical and in possession of common sense than now or during Wilson’s era. And the Civil War is a perfect historical example of the breakdown of the US government, as now, and as is the focus of Walrus’s essay. All the political and governing arrangements of history were provisional and temporary, and can’t be otherwise. Populations increase, migrations occur, wars are fought, winners get overly fat, wealthy and decadent.
My own reading of analysis and review of the powerful press apparatus and it’s barrons such as Hearst and the government propaganda operations of the BBC in WW1, and the other state’s such as the third Reich under Goebbels and the Stalin era USSR leave me with the impression that we’ve all been here before. The impression of pervasiveness contemporarily is profound though as you say, gAs pumps to smartphones via the electric synopticon. Synopticons in and of themselves though are as old hat as prostitution however, espionage being the 2nd oldest profession etc. It’s a pleasure to read you when you’re eloquent as here and not throwing a million or so helpless victims to the crocodile pits.
Not?
Yes
Barbara Ann,
“the same weapons currently being used to suppress mostly MAGA narratives would be used against …”
Governor Kathy Hochul says:”I think that this is really an extraordinary, unusual circumstance that the law-abiding and rule-following New Yorkers who are business people have nothing to worry about….”
Rule 1 – donate to Democrats
Rule 2 – do what Democrats tell you to do.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4474774-hochul-tells-ny-businesses-not-to-fear-about-trump-verdict-nothing-to-worry-about/
Clown word is pulling out all the stops….
Barbara Ann,
I listened to that interview of Benz. He knows his subject… well… at least one side of it. Listening to his historical review, one could assume that only the US has ever engaged in pushing propaganda and similar activities. In both Greece and Italy, we were fighting the Kremlin for control of those governments. We were fighting each other throughout the world. I’m surprised Benz didn’t bring up the Guatemala coup d’état. That was probably our most egregious act of regime change, overthrowing a democratically elected socialist-leaning government after branding it as communist. The United Fruit Company was also none too happy about the prospects of greater workers’ rights. Nor was the post-war period the beginning of our propaganda activities. Yellow journalism is what got us into the Spanish-American War and gained us our own “colonial empire”.
He starts from the premise that the Russia hoax was, indeed, a hoax. I think that’s quite a leap unless you assume the crux of the matter was a direct case of collusion between Trump and the Kremlin. Insisting on that is very likely wrong, not a hoax, but wrong. What did occur was Russia applying some fairly sophisticated propaganda (reflexive control) techniques, primarily through social media, in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. Few russophiles are willing to accept that. Our government didn’t see it fully until well after the election. They saw a cyber attack and not much else. By the 2020 election government efforts to stop similar operations from both Russia and China proved fairly effective. Those efforts did involve cooperation between government agencies and media companies.
And that’s where Benz sees a problem. I do think he has a point here. But unregulated manipulation of information is also a problem. Companies like Twitter (X), Facebook and TikTok secretly manipulate that flow of information to achieve hidden objectives. It’s the nature of these social media platforms and our growing addiction to them that makes them dangerous. Benz sees the EU Digital Services Act as a real danger to the viability of current social media platforms. One of its tenets is severely limiting targeted advertising on large and very large platforms. This is the core money maker for these platforms and a core capability of modern propaganda operations. At one time, the internet and the internet’s forerunners existed without the manipulative algorithms that enabled that targeted advertising. It was harder to find information, but it was mostly free from manipulation. I’d rather see the internet go back to those days when a user had to think for themselves and search for information rather than being mindlessly spoon fed a toxic mixture of information, disinformation and misinformation by hidden algorithms.
Another danger seen by Benz is that governments decide what information is illegal and must be removed by social media platforms. The only solution to that very real problem is that government lists of illegal information must be totally transparent. That’s definitely a goal worth pursuing.
I hope he does meet the same fate as the bosun.
It’s a little mean, to wish your hero such a bad fate. No?
It is not going to happen, of course, in the US of A. But will Julian Assange end his life in a US high-security prison? May well happen.
Walrus,
The story about a bosun doing his own navigating is a myth, as is the claim that seamen were banned by law from navigating. Bosuns were common seaman and had no access to the captain’s charts, and no law of the sea about banning anyone from “navigating” ever existed.
While on the subject of myths, Tucker’s 1/6 tape. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUihhwql7JU
Tucker is a disgraced journalist and a damn liar. He tells me we are bound for the rocks? Stay the course, hoist stunsails!
Mark,
Disgraced journalist? Does that term also describe the Russia Collusion Pulitzer Prize winners?
Mark, thank you for your reply.
The reference, from “Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall, Vol. 2, by William Bottrell, [1873],” which was probably the source of the Oxford reference:
“The Admiral was returning with his fleet from Toulon, when, on the evening of the 22nd October, 1707, his ship struck on the Gilstone, about three miles and a half from St. Agnes; and in a few minutes afterwards she went down, and everybody on board perished, except one man, who saved himself by floating on a piece of timber to a rock called Hellweathers,—about two miles and a half from the Gilstone,—where he remained some days before the weather permitted any boat to approach and take him off to St. Agnes.
He is said to have stated that the day before the Admiral’s ship was wrecked, one of the crew, who was a native of Scilly, and well acquainted with the channel, represented to Sir Cloudesley that the course the ship was taking would bring her on Scilly rocks. The Admiral and his officers were incensed at the man’s interference; and because he persisted in affirming that the ship’s way was wrong and would bring them to destruction, Sir Cloudesley Shovel—rather summarily, one might now think—condemned the man to be hanged for insubordination and endeavouring to excite a mutiny.
When the poor fellow was tied to the mast, preparatory to his being suspended by his neck, from the yard-arm, he begged, as a last favour, that a Psalm might be read before his execution. His request being granted, he selected the 109th,, and repeated certain imprecatory portions of it after the reader; and the last words he uttered were to the effect that Sir Cloudesley Shovel and those who saw him hanged should never reach the land alive.
His body, shrouded in a hammock, with a shot to sink it, was cast into the deep, and but little heed paid to the dying sailor’s sentence. Shortly after, however, the sky, had been gloomy all day, much darker; black, lowering, hung over the fleet like a funeral pall, and the gale rose to a violent tempest. Then the hanged man’s curse was dreaded; and lo, to the crew’s consternation, they beheld his corpse—divested of its rude winding-sheet—floating near the doomed ship, which it closely followed, with its face turned towards her,—in all her varying course, through eddying currents,—until she struck on the Gilstone; when the hanged man went down with the ship and his messmates.
At this unfortunate time there perished, besides the Admiral, several officers, and about two thousand men, belonging to then “Association” and other vessels of the fleet.”
Walrus,
A fable created nearly 70 years after the incident. The contemporary accounts made no mention of it.
Yes, I did seem a bit harsh about Tucker, and it may seem I missed the truth and/or relevance of some of his comments. However, when Tucker is right it’s in the manner of a stopped clock.
Very much agree that would have been very wise to treat Russia with respect, but the invasion of Ukraine rendered that moot. I should’ve included this in my first post, and regret the tone of it, as it today seems to me to be borderline insulting and I have much respect for you, but I’m afraid the “treat Russia with respect” ship has sailed. Now is not the time for it.
Mark, well I guess it was a myth after all. As for the art of navigation, although I can’t yet find a reference my understanding is that it was a closely guarded secret -only officers and very senior NCO’s learned and practised celestial navigation because that made mutiny more difficult – the mutineers could be told that they would never see their homes again.
Incidentally, that was the argument my father used when his Moro crew mutinied on his voyage to Australia during WWII. They were going to behead him and then return home with a BS story about him falling overboard.
Walrus
Have you ever done a post (here or SST) on your father’s escapade, or if not would you care to now? Otherwise where can I read about it? Thanks.
I had thought the Moros were a seafaring people. Weren’t they historically trading and pirating throughout Malaysia, Indonesia, & Borneo as well as the southern Philippines? They should have been capable of navigation. Or did Spain turn them into landlubbers back in the 16th Century?
Walrus,
The art was kept to the officers, which is why on the Bounty Fletcher’s inclusion had been key. Early 18th century marine navigational charts were classified as well. Took a lot of work to make those things.
Sounds like your dad had an interesting voyage. That last bit going into port must have been sticky indeed.
P. S. Even if Tucker Carlson is a disgraced journalist and a pederast to boot, that doesnt change the facts he alleges – which can be checked. Our leader Col. Lang always implored us to separate the source and the accuracy of information.
To put that another way, just because Tucker Carlson says “Moscow supermarkets are full of goods” doesn’t make them empty.
I wonder if Tucker ever heard of ‘Potemkin Villages’?
leith
Tucker is poorly advised if he thinks his credentials as an American patriot are burnished by telling Americans how much better everything is in Russia. He should quit doing these propaganda pieces, they detract from his interviews.
Or heard of a dog and pony show. He grew up way too rich and in elite circles to understand it all.
I doubt very much that the term “Potemkin Village” applies to anything in Moscow.
Maybe the Moscow train stations are also fake?
Walrus –
So says the guy who reminded us all just a few days to: separate the source and the accuracy of information”. Does that only apply for Tucker?
Yeah Right –
Those Moscow train stations weren’t built by Putin and his oligarch pals. They were built by Communist workers led by Lazar Kaganovich, a Ukrainian Jew, based on British designs. “When Kaganovich was placed in charge of the Moscow Metro project, he first had to import British engineers with the technological know-how and experience drawn from working on the London Underground.”
Mark Logan,
Tucker’s takes on Jan 6th are indeed the weakest planks of his program, and I can only think that he feels his support for Trump necessitates it. Glenny-pooh Greenwald goes along with Tucker on this. Tucker has his own incomplete and flawed (though not totally incorrect) analyses of ongoing happenings. He’s prominent, very wealthy, articulate and clever but really doesn’t represent a gold standard on anything. There’s no need to rely on him. But people do because he has his platforms.
Tucker came cross as a smarmy little boy. He was out of his depth during the Putin interview. I can’t believe people ever taking him seriously.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/02/21/qehv-f21.html
You might enjoy that review of the interview. Putin fans won’t. A present for TTG.
Walrus, a quick follow up comment if I may.
There is another iceberg out there; Israel. Given the extreme inverted nature of the US/Israeli relationship, together with the current mood in Israel, this one really does have the potential to turn the US into a pariah.
Judge Napolitano is another navigator trying to raise the alarm and this morning he interviewed the ever wise Alastair Crooke (see Judge’s YouTube channel). The news is grim. Aside from the risk of a Rafah ground incursion (which would surely result in Biblical scenes on TV screens worldwide) Crooke assesses that another war on Israel’s northern border is a matter of when rather than if. Israel has 3 divisions parked up there right now.
For anyone interested, the Israeli press recently published extensive details from a think tank report on the likely consequences for Israel of such a war. While judged not “existential” they are nothing short of catastrophic. The authors were also at pains to point out that the Israeli public is simply not materially and psychologically prepared.
https://newmedia.calcalist.co.il/magazine-08-02-24/m01.html (in Hebrew)
BA,
Not everything conforms to the same concepts. Israel but prevail over its Muslim enemies because those enemies will come directly after us once they are done killing all of the Jews. The Muslims are not like you and me; not one bit. It is a huge mistake to think that they are – and you wouldn’t like living under their rule, especially if you really are a woman and the name is not part of some kind of legend. Heck, you wouldn’t even be posting on this forum in Muslim culture. Actually, this forum wouldn’t even exist in Muslim culture. You could try, but you’d die.
You may, in response, call me whatever stupid western culture based mean name you want to (e.g. “racist”, “bigot”, “hillbilly moron”, “Archie Bunker”) in defense of a culture that really is bigoted, like psycho-blood thirsty-Archie Bunkers with machine guns and suicide vests – and swords and stones for uppity women – I’ve heard them all and don’t care. And you can be a starry eyed bleeding heart fool about poor little victimized Muslims all you want. I am right about this – and you are wrong. This is a binary situation. There is no coming to understand the other side’s point of view on this topic.
Israel will fight an existential war and the US will assist. It will be bloody as hell, but the Muslims will be defeated.
The Europeans were the ones who persecuted the Jews for centuries not the Muslims. In the holy land and elsewhere in the Muslim/Arab world Christians, Muslims and Jews coexisted in relative harmony, not so in Europe where the persecution of Jews led to the holocaust. It was not till Zionism and the Nakba that Zionist Jews were reviled by the Arabs/Muslims and Arab Christians.
Gordon.your crape is no way jose
The mufti,he was shifty.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Anti-Jewish_pogroms_by_Muslims
mcohen,
Yes he was. So was the Pope. That is why Jews need a land of their own.
Gordon,
what happened in Mecca and Medina after the Prophet made his famous pronouncement?
The Muslim and Pravoslavie have coexisted for centuries in Russia. I will call you “whatever stupid western culture based mean name you want to (e.g. “racist”, “bigot”, “hillbilly moron”, “Archie Bunker”)” because that is what you are. I married into a Russian family. There are Pravoslavie Russians, Muslim Tatars, Muslim and Christian Bashkir. No-one judges anyone by the colour of their skin, eyes, hair or beliefs, only by the colour of their heart. From your comments, I can see that the colour of your heart is BLACK!
I can trace my Jewish matrilineage back to the 1700s, more than enough to have the “Right of Return” to a place that none of my ancestors every set foot in.
You are one sick and twisted individual.
Now Mr. Newhill, you are talking rubbish.
Indonesia is a Muslim country – all 273 million people. Our family company traded there for 40 years. I had my honeymoon there. bali is a fantastic tourist destination. I’ve dived in Sulawesi and travelled extensively there. Women are perfectly free, there is booze and a laid back lifestyle. Of course if you want you can see pockets of radical islam, but they are few and far between. There are parts that are predominantly Christian as well.
Walrus,
Bali is Buddhist. The rest of Indonesia is Muslim and they have definitely been involved in widespread violence and suppression of non-Muslims.
Not so. Indonesias official policy is “Pankasila”. There are very few religious frictions, not so racial tensions with Chinese. Sulawesi has a very active american led Baptist evangelical congregation, Bali is more Buddhist/animist. For Hard line Islam you need to visit ACeh province, the Dutch, Japanese and Indonesian army still makes little impression on them but hey! The Acenese are great singers and every second restauarant has an Aceh choir
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9KgvIHBcto
It is composed of five principles, there is nothing in it about Islam at all:
Ketuhanan yang Maha Esa (Belief in the one and only God[note 1])
Kemanusiaan yang adil dan beradab (Just and civilized humanity)
Persatuan Indonesia (The unity of Indonesia)
Kerakyatan yang dipimpin oleh hikmat kebijaksanaan dalam permusyawaratan/perwakilan (Democracy guided by the inner wisdom in the unanimity arising out of deliberations among representatives)
Keadilan sosial bagi seluruh rakyat Indonesia (Social justice for all the people of Indonesia)
The legal formulation of Pancasila is contained in the fourth paragraph of the preamble of the Constitution of Indonesia.
Walrus,
There is always an under current of jihad in these countries and it occasionally erupts into violence. Any Muslim country is a potential base for jihadis.
Indonesia is no exception.
https://thediplomat.com/2022/10/in-indonesia-a-rising-tide-of-religious-intolerance/#:~:text=In%20November%202020%2C%20a%20Christian,more%20than%20eight%20kilometers%20away.
Eric –
Barbara Ann’s essential point is that our support for Israel in this current context is set to turn the US into a pariah internationally if it already hasn’t. Her observation is more than timely and apt – in this morning’s news reports I read that Prince William (UK) has come out strongly against the human rights debacle in Gaza. He is the heir to the throne and more – his dad has now suffers from a fatal illness so his statement is highly relevant. I wouldn’t have mentioned it were it not accompanied by the news that the US government has finally pushed officially for a ceasefire. See:
https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/19/politics/us-un-security-council-temporary-ceasefire-draft-intl/index.html
F&L,
Why would a lion allow itself to be shamed by poodles into acting like a poodle? What are the poodles going to do? Stop seeking protection from the US (see the UK and EU military weaklings)? What’s China going to do? Stop sending us cheap crap to sell at Walmart? I don’t think so. So we’re down to the “international community” doing some impotent name calling. Yawn.
By the way, alligators are going to eat someone. I don’t believe that you can change their diet and hunger. So let them eat our enemies.
I wonder if Prince Willy didn’t speak up more out of alarm at the damage to shipping rather than horror at mass killings – see sinking of the UK’s Rubymar.
Eric Newhill
I was a starry eyed bleeding heart fool in respect of the treatment of the blacks by the Boers. Had I lived through that time, I’d have been a starry eyed bleeding heart fool in respect of the treatment of the Jews and others by the Nazis. I am merely being consistent in opposing the actions of an Ashkenazi supremacist cult masquerading as a Western nation. I have far more in common with the average Muslim than I do with the likes of Smotrich, Ben-Gvir and the Amalek-smiter in chief, Bibi Netanyahu.
In terms of Western culture and its enemies, I’d highly recommend a book: You Gentiles by Maurice Samuel, written in 1924. It contains some very interesting insights on the true nature of Western civilization. Samuel’s views on moral systems are right up there with Nietzsche too.
Barbara Ann,
But there is a difference. The Jews aren’t going to come after us some day, neither is any faction in South Africa.
I do not think you have much in common with the average Muslim. However, on that note, I never see the value in referring to the average. The average doesn’t accomplish much trouble (or much good) in life. It’s the type A personalities 2 standard deviations from the mean/avg that do the moving and shaking. In order to make great strife the type A set just needs the average cohort to be culturally/archetypically susceptible to the brand of manipulation and motivation that is being deployed.
Do you think the average German wanted WW2 and all the horrors that it involved? Of course not. But Hitler and his crew knew the right packaging of messages and symbols to get them goose stepping down the war path. It’s the same with the Muslims. Their culture – especially their religion – has them primed for following their fanatical type A leadership’s evil machinations.
That [the above] is, of course, true of any society. However, it is more true of Muslims due to who they are, their history, education levels, how they live and what they believe.
Eric
In my humble opinion
Hezb will never sacrifice s.lebanon for the Palestinians.All attacks up to now are a diversion
They will attack Israel from the westbank and on Palestinian soil.
Those jihadis who supported hamas in Gaza came from the south.Yemen etc.
The biggest threat from Israel is the West bank area where the heaviest fighting will take place
Those jihadis come from the east and north.
No real fighting will take place outside the West bank. it will be on israeli and west bank soil.
The settlers in the West bank will be forced to flee.They must be settled in north Gaza
South Gaza must remain under Israeli military command indefinitely.Border permanently sealed.
The route 98 road must be considered a defensive line.The golan will be a main area of contention
IMHO.
1.The real objective for Israel must be Judea and Samaria becoming part of Israel proper.
2.Rafah must be banked for security.Surrounded border sealed
3.West bank settlers relocated to n.gaza in event of extreme danger in Judea and Samaria.
On the other hand a political settlement is the other route.One state.Israel.
Israel,Gaza,Judea,Samaria all one state.
No 2 states,no gaza and no westbank jihadi enclaves
Never again.
mcohen,
All sounds sensible to me.
I do not understand these people who think two states will solve the problem instead of just create a jihadi base for attacks on Israel.
Ah…..they can’t look at the jihadis because that upsets them and justifies Israel. So they see poor oppressed – and extremely honest! – victims instead. Missiles and murders? They’re Freedom Fighters.
It’s all Marxist story telling and antisemitism.
Eric,
Your comment screams of someone who has never known Muslims or spent time in Muslim communities. Now we have already pointed out that Middle Eastern Christians are also very subversive.
I know you are half Middle Eastern yourself, coming from the subservsive Christian background of people like Habbash, Said, Ashrawi etc. It clearly isn’t a religious thing. Is there something genetic about Middle Easterners that make them subversive, no matter what religion they are?
Exactly how much time have you spent in the Middle East or other Muslim nations and/or communities? Do you have any Muslim friends? What publications and media do you read coming from the Muslim world? What languages do you speak that would allow you to read the media yourself or do you have to rely on others to translate and maybe misrepresent what is being said?
I would also point out your comments sound exactly like classic European anti Semitic discourse. So the Jew haters were wrong, but when you replace the word “Muslim” for “Jew” and spew the same exact Nazi tropes, you are right?
For you it isn’t the “Eternal Jew” it is the “Eternal Muslim”. Seriously, take a second and think about it. I know where you are coming from. I came from a family where Muslims were seen as the lowest of the low. One of the reasons my father loved Israel so much is because they killed Muslims. I grew up around a father whom you would get along greatly with. However, he wouldn’t have liked you because he thought all Middle Easterners, yourself included, were genetically predisposed to be SHPOS. He wouldn’t give you a pass because you are not Muslim. He was too aware of the Christians in the region who drove anti-Israel and anti-Western resistance.
Your hatred of Middle Easterners smacks more than a bit of self hate. You remind me of the Nazi skinheads out there who later turned out to be Jewish. It isn’t your fault….you didn’t chose to be Middle Eastern, but it seems you fanatically want to hate anything coming from the Middle East. It is unhealthy.
Stefan,
Nope.
I am a man of science. I study populations, polls, etc.
But the science isn’t even all that necessary. You’re asking everyone to ignore the obvious. Entire countries with mottos reading “Death to America”. Not to mention all the terrorist activity, suicide bombings, etc.
I don’t hate middle easterners. You keep falsely saying that. I don’t like Muslims and understand that Muslims are a threat to our way of life.
You always want to ignore the Christian Middle Easterners and their radical agendas. George Habbash. Had a chance to read up on this Christian Middle Easterner who was response for the deaths of so many Israelis, hijacking of planes ect? You are aware that the first car bombing, post 1948, was done by a Christian Middle Easterner right? The first car bomb was done by a Jewish terrorist group years before.
I guess it would be a rhetorical question to ask if you have read one of the dozens of books written by Edward Said….the Christian Palestinian who is still at the forefront of Palestinian resistance 20+ years after his death. Long time professor at Columbia.
If you dont like the actions of these types it does nothing but show that it is Middle Easterners that are the problem, not Muslims.
Unless, of course, you are one of those subversive, radical Middle Eastern Christians? Maybe the Trump supporting and racism is just a ruse?
Stefan,
I don’t like people who celebrate the murders of innocent people. You like to just glide past all of the Palestinians and other Muslims who party in the streets, joyful over events like this Oct 7th and 9/11/2001. Those are your and Barbara Ann’s “average” muslim. Your hero went and shot up some Israeli’s yesterday, including a pregnant woman.
Your heroes are sick subhumans and they all need to be terminated. They are beyond redemption. Islam needs to be erased. It has perpetually bred that kind of rabid animal since its inception – even the prophet was infected.
Barbara Ann: “The authors were also at pains to point out that the Israeli public is simply not materially and psychologically prepared.”
Five hours later Eric enters the chat to provide confirmation of the truth of that assertion.
Eric Newhill: “Israel will fight an existential war and the US will assist. It will be bloody as hell, but the Muslims will be defeated.”
If you say so. Four suppositions, one after the other, and I don’t believe that any of them have any basis in fact.
1) Israel will fight as if this is as-easy-as, and as a consequence will have its ass handed to it on a plate by Hezbollah
2) The USA will send lawyers, guns and money (RIP, Warren Zevon) but other than that its “assistance” will be limited to stymying the Security Council.
3) Yeah, you might be right about that one. You may be mistaken about who bleeds more.
4) Nah. Won’t even be close. Hezbollah has been trained to fight armies. The IDF has been trained at killing civilians. It won’t be a fair fight.
Eric Nehwill
Although I don’t agree with your stance on the Israeli-Palestine conflict, it seems to me that your observations regarding the modern world are spot on. I’d just add that one of the reasons cash should stay as a paying method (I’d even put in the Constitution of my country) is to buy time before the big brother comes and starts controlling people-s money (like Trudeau). That’s why the Dutch and the Scandinavians are not smart by preferring cards as paying methods, reminds of Revelation 13:17.
Jovan,
100% agree. Cash, guns, speech should not be compromised one minuscule fraction of an iota under any circumstances.
Two morsels with generous servings of diabolical murderous conspiracy. Pasted translation below dashed line. How farfetched?
——————
Today:
https://t.me/nonetutto/1510
The Ukrainian authorities are opening the Boryspil airport. This was expected. There is no talk about civil flights yet.
Dec 20, 2023
https://t.me/nonetutto/1510
Gradually driving himself into a situational impasse, V. Zelensky, according to some sources, is developing a scenario of large-scale provocation, a new act of world tragedy, similar to the scenario of Bucha and Irpen, inspired from London.
The Boryspil airport, which is preparing to launch, will begin to carry flights with mobilized people from all over the country in test mode. The air harbor has already begun accepting cargo flights and releasing aircraft from Western airlines that had been parked since March 2022. Together with British specialists, the SBU can shoot down a civilian aircraft with a portable MANPADS on takeoff or landing at the airport, so that a few days later the SBU will detain a citizen of Ukraine, who is “an employee of one of the Russian special services,” who will testify and admit that he carried out the order from Moscow. There may be 30-50 people on the flight from among those mobilized from one of the western regions.
The terrorist attack itself could be prepared by the first ten days of March in order to cause reputational damage to the presidential campaign in Russia.
Coincidence: some British specialists plan to arrive in Kyiv in early January, 25 places are ready for them in a Kiev hotel not far from the British Embassy and the SBU bunker office, where the department’s central office has moved.
According to this possible scenario, one of the secondary tasks, in addition to the main narrative of the terrorist attack, will be the unity and cohesion of Westerners and residents of the central and eastern regions of Ukraine in the face of the aggressor and strengthening mobilization and solving its currently unrealistic tasks.
Igor Sechin’s 35 yr old son dies of “a detached blood clot” three days after Alexei Navalny? OK. Some ailments are contagious. BTW, the “thrombus” or detached blood clot cause of death has been withdrawn in Navalny’s case last I looked. Officially there’s no COD yet.
https://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-putin-ally-son-dies-strange-circumstances-ivan-sechin-rosneft-1871417
2 links worth a quick read / one claims the US and UK have suffered their largest naval defeat since WW2 via the Houthis. The Rubymar sank today. Why can’t they sink navy ships if they can do this?
https://t.me/infantmilitario/120175
This one is about deep penetration into Russia via coordinatation of US, UK, France and Ukraine, especially geospatial collaboration.
https://t.me/infantmilitario/120177
I’ve read almost everything according to the topic brought by Walrus.
If I may be so bold as an irresponsible outside observer, it seems to me that there are several icebergs, and lots of them.
Among those causing problems:
-Press and media. No need to elaborate.
-Justice and lawyers. It’s far too expensive, too dependent on money.
-FBI: Has paid informers everywhere. Uses provocation. All very dangerous for freedoms.
-Health: far too expensive for the service provided. Infant mortality and adult death rates are mediocre.
-Voting system: the large number of contests, settled in a curious way, are indicative of a defective system.
Democracy is a sensitive technology. Without an indisputable voting system, capable of representing different opinions without legal battles, the democratic mechanism is at risk.
Let’s go further: the only judge of the peace is the voter. Not justice nor dollars.
I must say that I fear for the future here at home. By tradition of stooges (which we are) we adopt US trends, with a delay, 10 to 15 years on average. If the USA is the mirror of our future, I don’t want it. There’s nothing desirable about it.
“Democracy is a sensitive technology. Without an indisputable voting system, capable of representing different opinions without legal battles, the democratic mechanism is at risk.”
No, democracy is not at risk from any technical problem, democracy is at risk from cultural decay, the unwillingness to compromise with whatever the opposing side claim, i.e. partisanship.
And this is not a specific US problem, most Western nations are probably in even worst shape.
I beg to differ.
The ‘partisan’ article concerns dialogue or the absence of dialogue prior to the vote.
But it’s the technicalities of the vote that are your problem. Of course, with a faulty system, the ‘partisan’ spirit can develop after the vote by challenging the results in court.
Most European countries have a system that works as it should.
Germany and France certainly have the best. Probably also UK and Austria, but I know less or not at all.
Pah Walrus!
Obviously you’re not paying the quality attention to ISW you’re expected to.
Duty Sir. Mind your duty!
Damn the torpedoes … (well not the obvious torpedoes) But full steam ahead anyway!
Tucker has gone bush
one of the strongest signs of weakness in the American Experiment is that it has produced the likes of Tucker, & that anyone anywhere takes him seriously.
Ked,
How is Tucker’s reporting/interviews any worse than what the mainstream media throws out there every day?
The guy let Putin talk and we got to hear it. Then he made a few observations about life in Russia. What was he supposed to do? Whip out a Makarov and shoot Putin in the face and then run off the interview set shouting “Sic temper tyrannis”?
I’d one of the strongest signs of weakness in the American experiment is that we have a senile old drooler as POTUS and a rampant cancel/censorship culture.
1937 Time Magazine Man of The Year was Hitler. That was back before America had become a collection of weeny AI controlled drones afraid of free speech and free thinking
Eric –
It was 1938, not 37. And it was a hit piece on Hitler not any kind of phony glorification of a murderer like Tucker’s puffery regarding Putin.
Leith,
My bad – yes, it was 1938.
It wasn’t totally a hit piece, it was fair and balanced, IMO.https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,760539-5,00.html
I keep hearing hearing about Putin as a murderer. Someone who criticized Putin dies and everyone assumes Putin did it. Epstein dies in prison and we’re told to accept that it was suicide. Putin invades Ukraine for whatever shaky excuse. The US invaded Iraq for whatever shaky excuse. Putin becomes very wealthy in office. US Politicians become very wealthy in office. I see Putin as a fairly standard authoritarian and certainly not anywhere near Hitler levels.
Time noted Hitler’s substantial accomplishments and noted his, even at that stage of the Reich, bad record on human rights, which, again, well exceeded any alleged travesties committed by Putin to date, but, more importantly were obvious and indisputable.
So Tucker let the man talk and then observed some positive aspects of the society. The travesties are not as blatant as Hitler’s. Therefore, not as notable.
You are lacking the same understanding that TTG is. You guys just cannot seem to grasp how fed up we are with all of the BS coming out of the deep state/media complex. It wants us to believe that sanctions are crushing Russia, that Russians are subhuman Orks, etc.
Tucker is not so much showing Russia/Putin as he did because he is a traitor or whatever you guys want to make of him. He did it a) because Russia is apparently a much improved place full of decent people and well stocked stores and that should be of interest b) as an act of rebellion against our own Putins in the deep state/ media complex. If they (you?) only knew how much they are hated. Then again, they might, which is why they are always trying to attack conservatives and erode our civil liberties and right to self defense.
Yes, the beltway is every bit as bad as a Putin and the media is like the old Pravda. Tucker is a rebel against that and so are his followers. Like I said in a comment on a recent thread, it’s Putin/Russia as catharsis. Comprende?
Eric –
That Time article ran on and on regarding Hitler’s bad side, including his Party’s ‘gangsterlike storm troopers”. Definitely a hit piece. Time has often named notorious dictators as person of the year. Their Editors are asked “to choose the person or thing that had the greatest impact on the news, for good or ill — guidelines that leave them no choice but to select a newsworthy — not necessarily praiseworthy — cover subject.”
Attack conservatives? I’m a conservative. Or used to be when that word had real meaning. I guess the MAGA crowd would have called me a RINO. My drift off from the Grand Old Party started to get underway back when Limbaugh the Oxycontin addict ruled the airwaves with hate speech against other Americans.
By the way your Deep State is not monolithic. It also has pro-Trumpers as well. The same for the Beltway and the Media. The Amerikanskii version of Pravda lives on both sides of the political divide.
Leith,
My point was that Hitler actually had storm troopers that really were oppressing Germans in 1938. It was obvious. However, Putin does not have storm troopers oppressing Russians all over the place.
You’re comparing two fruits, apples and oranges. Hitler was off the charts evil and Putin pretty much run-of-the-mill.
If there are conservatives in the deep state they sure aren’t showing up to the game.
Eric, when I first read his crap on the Weekly Standard in the ’90’s & then saw him perform on cable, I concluded “what a shallow twerp… on the make.” nothing since has modified that initial take – his haplessness w/ Vlad confirmed. btw, right wing media is mainstream – may’ve missed that shift over the past 15 yrs. I pay minimal attention to mainstream anything – it’s a quality issue.
my standards are such that I require his interviewer to be more like George Kennan. or Fiona Hill – Vlad would need his pet dog at his side for comfort.
Time Man of the Year? it’s not about goodness, it’s about impact. trump missed his shot forever when he ginned up his own covers & plastered them in his golden bathrooms.
unfortunately, Biden is ok, given the alternative… but I’m condemned to be a realist… a relativist… & I’ve been around. & I find the incapacity to view trump clearly … for what he is, what he does & what he will bring to the nation if he (& his hangers-on) again come to power to be an American tragedy. it has nothing to do w/ ideology, Deep State or any of that common bs… it has to do w/ abject surrender to the worst aspects of the human soul.
In Yiddish taka means “is that so”.Tucker like eric here just might have some great great chosen blue blood.
https://jel.jewish-languages.org/words/1334
Any suggestions on who to take seriously
Ked and other Carlson haters; to quote Plato, “Just because an idiot says the sun is shining, doesn’t make it dark outside”. Carlson may be the worst person in the world but the facts he alleges are capable of being checked.
What he has said include that:
1. Sanctions on Russia appear to have not only failed but stimulated the Russian economy. (in accordance with the Walrus law of opposite government policy outcomes).
Is anybody seriously saying that the Russian economy is in tatters? Can they prove it? Drone strike numbers, artillery shelling frequency and full supermarket shelves suggest otherwise.
2. The Russian standard of living has dramatically improved under Putin’s leadership.
3. Russian society is law abiding and deeply conservative – they are not slavering orcs.
4. Putin is a popular leader.
5 Russians are 100% behind Putin and they expect to win the Ukraine war.
Is this an illusion? All of the above are checkable facts.
If they are true then we are in trouble because we have not only not weakened Russia, we have strengthened it. (cue Nietzsche)
walrus,
Agreed on all 5 points. A lot people who have an open mind and from time to time been watching Russia since 2007 (Putin’s Munich speech) know these too.
Tucker is just a talking head repeating these facts/opinions, but had no idea about substance of Putin’s argument so did not know how to challenge or asking follow-up questions.
You are right about “to quote Plato, “Just because an idiot says the sun is shining, doesn’t make it dark outside””.
A little town of 50,000 in Sverdlovskaya. It fell on hard times with the collapse of the Soviet Union, with three out of the four major industries reduced to non-entities. Over 15,000 inhabitants left for better opportunities. Since 2001, things have stated to improve. From 2022 improvements have accelerated drastically.
As my daughter and I drive around and see the latest improvements, we look at each other and laughingly say, “Sanctions!” Apartment and housing renovations are going gangbusters, so much so that good electrical and plumbing workers have a huge backlog. I’ve had to wait six months to get electricity connected to my garage, and it looks like it will be another three months before I reach the top of the queue.
1. I can verify the full supermarket shelves. On-line shopping with Wildberries and OZON is huge. Truckloads of items are delivered to each pick-up point daily. I get nappies for my daughter, via Wildberries or OZON, because the supermarkets don’t carry the bulk packets. I order today, they arrive tomorrow.
2. Absolutely true.
3. People lose their bankcards and get them back the same or next day, same for mobile phones.
4. 80% is a reasonable figure for the level of support. Even my ex-wife’s great aunt and uncle, who are staunch Communists, and who vote KPRF in every election, except for the Presidential election, there they vote for Putin.
5. I wouldn’t say 100%, more like 90-95%. They expect to win, but would also like it over ASAP. And there’s a great deal of sadness over the huge numbers of Ukrainians who are dying. As well as sadness for their own boys and men. Every death in town is reported, and funeral dates are publicised. Billboards in town show who the latest 200s are.
1) sanctions don’t win Serious Wars. they’re part of it. this war is both novel & classic. one small aspect of the novelty was that Westerners (even billionaires) got sick of Russian oligarchs in sight while Russia invaded a neighboring country unnecessarily. & of course solidarity of the West. which shockingly didn’t act like the dead concept many expected… maybe even desired… in the West. do people expect war w/o sanctions in play? {btw, Tucker’s Moscow supermarket sweep was to a French-owned store… maybe he should check out an Aldi’s here too.}
2) thank God Communism was such a complete failure for The People.
3) that’s what centuries of enforced authoritarian culture will do for ya! & they can keep it … even as the former Socialist Republics crawl / run away. {btw, everyone demeans / dehumanizes adversaries in war. its the human thing to do.}
4) you’ll never find me endorsing cults of personality or unfettered populism! there’s plenty to be said for a republican form of fair democracy.
5) Russians have never been 100% into anything… except perhaps survival (which they excel at, after centuries of training). oh… also vodka & chess.
frankly Walrus, the points strike me as platitudes, which (by definition) can usually gather enough facts around them to suffice for contention among alternative sets of platitudes. {a critical process… the basis for identifying determinative issues.}
let’s not drag poor FN into it – he gets blamed for EVERYTHING. & credited too – what a guy. speaking of focused dudes, Vlad’s 3 years into a war that’s growing more like a rearward time travel tale in one of those alternative dystopian sci-fi novels (“if only the Imperial Guard had machine guns at Waterloo!). & the NATO alliance is more united than they could’ve possibly become otherwise … w/ Vlad’s leadership to credit.
@ked
You just sound like a replacement for “disappeared” Billy Roche.
Poorly effective propaganda, same sponsor?
while you sound like a trite old pop tune you can’t get outta your head. enjoy.
Walrus et others.
An interesting article from Top War/Military revue (which I call ‘the red army journal’).
The title is significant:
“The future of Russia: poverty and archaization”.
https://en.topwar.ru/236310-buduschee-rossii-bednost-i-arhaizacija.html
Renovated cities are brilliant. The abandoned countryside is miserable. Young people flee them. Only retirees remain.
Beware, this newspaper sometimes indulges in self-flagellation. That’s no reason to belittle this particular article.
To confirm, I’ve seen two video reports on Russian villages far from everything. No services, doctors and the like. Isbas abandoned and baouchkas living in poverty… Exactly what the article describes.
For my part, having lived (much further west) in this kind of village, I know that social life and mutual aid are intense. It’s a happy place. And even the smallest issue of Reader Digest (French edition) is enough to make you dream!
Come come gentleman.A certain segment of society,taka,is praying putin the orthodox will sort that bloody mess over at the holy of holies once and for all.
What with the wogs running wild and those spitting schnordim behaving badly it has become too much.
And
The messiah (((666))) who came is coming again.aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhchooo
Many people from different countries around the world are voting with their feet enduring perilous journeys to find their way into the United States. That is the most important metric to judge the future of the United States
By the same token, many hard working, God fearing Christians are enduring the Soviet bureaucracy that remains in Russia, to become residents of Russia. Canadians, USians, South Africans, Australians, Germans, Nigerians, amongst others. I’m one of the odd ones, who’s not Christian. All are welcomed with open arms by Russians.
I need to get my Police Report apostilled. There was a two month backlog in Australia, but only two or three days at the Moscow Embassy. I took the risk and brought it with me to Russia. From Woop-Woop Sverdlovskaya, I can courier it to the Moscow Embassy, but I cannot get it returned. In steps a friend of a friend. He’ll take the time from his busy life, to go to the Embassy, pick up my apostilled documents, go to a courier company, and send them to me. Why? This is what Russians do.
Meanwhile Russian churches are informing on anyone who asks for a prayer to be said for Navalny.
Says the BBC – not credible.
Walrus –
So says the guy who reminded us all just a few days to: separate the source and the accuracy of information”.
Don’t disparage the BBC, it’s an excellent source of information about the current narrative and the objectives of the (international) Borg.
we must stop them before they improve our self image!