I have been thinking (a lot) about Mark's concerns regarding the accuracy of the history lesson Putin administered to Tucker. The more I think about it, Putin's lesson was incomplete and thus likely inaccurate in many respects. For just a few examples, Putin did not explain the impacts of the internal political conflicts in Russia during the later years of the Romanov reign, nor the impacts of World War I and the resulting redrawn European national boundaries and Germany's loss and financial devastation, and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, followed by the Russian Revolution, the ascendancy of European Zionism, the establishment of the Soviet Union, the rise of Nazi Germany, and World War II. All of these events had undoubted impacts on what became, and what is, "Ukraine".
In the end, however, I give Putin a pass, because my takeaway from the history lesson is that the question of "Ukraine" is far older and deeper, and more difficult and complex, and in all likelihood, more existential than most all Americans realize, and this must have been Putin's basic point.
As for me, I conclude that we have no business financing a war there that entails the real risk of World War III. We should sue for peace and be done with it.
Congratulations. I was thinking about all of that after transcribing Crooke and Judge Nap. Crooke thinks Putin is erudite. I won't argue that, except to say that, if so, it doesn't show through from his historical narrative--which comes across as pretty standard Great Russian chauvinism. OTOH, my impression during the interview was that both Putin and Tucker were, at times, skirting real issues that both were aware of. That's the incompletion part, and from that standpoint I can understand the argument that Putin was primarily speaking to Russians and only secondarily to Westerners. Each audience would have played a role in Putin skirting certain issues. That would fit in with the very canny--although not infallible--Putin we're now familiar with.
I was working last night on the Crooke material--he's a Middle East specialist and doesn't have a deep knowledge of Russian history. It struck me, as you now mention, how important WW1 is--in many ways--for Russia. That Putin's Russia is still struggling with the aftermath of WW1, whereas most of the talk is of WW2. Putin's focus on Poland is, I suppose, normal for a Russian. It's red meat for Russian nationalists, especially for the role that Polish propagandists played in portraying Russians to the West as Asiatic barbarians. But as Putin himself pretty much admits, Poland wasn't much of a factor after 1654. Poland could be an irritant, as in 1830 and 1860, but was never a serious threat or rival to Russia after 1654--except for that propaganda issue. Putin's suggestion that the Poles brought their troubles on themselves by being so "uncompromising"--because they didn't want to permit either the Nazi Wehrmacht or the Red Army transit through Poland--is bemusing, to say the least. What could have gone wrong with that, right? Well, except that it all *did* go wrong anyway. As I've said, historically speaking, that was inevitable.
Anyway, I'll be working on this, and will try to avoid beating around the bushes that Tucker and Putin did.
The remarkable similarities between Zelensky and Netanyahu jump off the page: both need war to stay in power (and alive); both can only win their wars by dragging Uncle Sam into the quagmire. I see a dark future for both these gentlemen.
I did not know the US is the guarantor for one Israeli credit rating -- bonds, I think?
<< Israel's backed senior unsecured rating has been affirmed at Aaa. The related issuances benefit from an irrevocable, on-demand guarantee provided by the Government of the United States of America (Aaa negative) with the government acting through USAID. The notes benefit explicitly from "the full faith and credit of the US" and as per prospectus, USAID is obligated to pay within three business days if the guarantee is called upon. >>
Thanks for the helpful update, which confirms Helmer's source's analysis. The analysis was written before the Moody rating came out and that tends also to confirm the source's claim that pressure to withhold the rating had been exerted.
Because the third world insurrections we thought were the only wars we'd being fighting didn't require torpedoes. The navy was for show and intimidation and as mobile air bases.
Why, by the picture your links paint one would think the US and it's miniscule nearly-trillion $ military budget couldn't afford to protect, uh, it's own border or something!
Tis' a hard thing being in the midst of a moral and physical (world presence/leadership, etc.) decline we are seeing unfolding in real time. I'll suggest haven taken God out of all things Officially USA is resulting in this on going demise. Always my best at ya Ray! (WrH)
Spare a thought for we Europeans, Wayne. America can still pull things around. It has loads of natural resources and enough ornery people left to fight the maniacs. Here in Euroland, our economy has been wrecked by our own stupidity and neocon mendacity. If I slip across the Rio Grande, would you employ me as your gardener? :)
For those who can endure more on Euroland’s assisted suicide, here’s the 2 Alexes at the Duran, link below. Though they do an impeccable political analysis of the slow-moving train wreck that is Germany, they don’t bring up the Nazi factor…why?…
We're blessed to have so many great commentators on the alternative media circuit. Normies don't know what they are missing. As Churchill said, the Germans are either at your throat or at your feet. We see this even today. They are either behaving aggressively towards their own citizens as they did during Covid and as they are now towards the AdF (Worse than Hitler!!!), or displaying grovelling self-flagellation towards the green movement or immigration lobby. It's mesmerising watching them commit suicide. Will they ever wake up?
Hey S'21 and Cas, hope you and yours are doing great! Too funny, Cas, too true as well. BTW Steg, no need to slip across. Each Migrant suffrage representative gets about $40K worth of benefits - from Medical to Auto-renewing cash cards w/built in food-stamps.
Regarding the USsA - what is pathetic is the largess available here stateside and the Elite insane Rule-The-World behavior are in such conflict. Shoot, if we'd mind our own business and worked our resources, including the once broad-based Free Enterprise mental amazingness, we'd be truly able to lead the world. However, corrupt thinking includes laziness. The MIC are full of the amazingly rich who swell in value as other lives are simply wasted catching all the munitions being expelled that were bought and generate those profits. I've often wondered what Yakov Smirnoff thinks now - "America - What a Country!" Me these days? Amerika. What. a. Country. Truth and tragedy are what make humor really good. Together, Yakov's phrase today means nausea in action. My Best to you both! (WrH)
I have been thinking (a lot) about Mark's concerns regarding the accuracy of the history lesson Putin administered to Tucker. The more I think about it, Putin's lesson was incomplete and thus likely inaccurate in many respects. For just a few examples, Putin did not explain the impacts of the internal political conflicts in Russia during the later years of the Romanov reign, nor the impacts of World War I and the resulting redrawn European national boundaries and Germany's loss and financial devastation, and the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, followed by the Russian Revolution, the ascendancy of European Zionism, the establishment of the Soviet Union, the rise of Nazi Germany, and World War II. All of these events had undoubted impacts on what became, and what is, "Ukraine".
In the end, however, I give Putin a pass, because my takeaway from the history lesson is that the question of "Ukraine" is far older and deeper, and more difficult and complex, and in all likelihood, more existential than most all Americans realize, and this must have been Putin's basic point.
As for me, I conclude that we have no business financing a war there that entails the real risk of World War III. We should sue for peace and be done with it.
Congratulations. I was thinking about all of that after transcribing Crooke and Judge Nap. Crooke thinks Putin is erudite. I won't argue that, except to say that, if so, it doesn't show through from his historical narrative--which comes across as pretty standard Great Russian chauvinism. OTOH, my impression during the interview was that both Putin and Tucker were, at times, skirting real issues that both were aware of. That's the incompletion part, and from that standpoint I can understand the argument that Putin was primarily speaking to Russians and only secondarily to Westerners. Each audience would have played a role in Putin skirting certain issues. That would fit in with the very canny--although not infallible--Putin we're now familiar with.
I was working last night on the Crooke material--he's a Middle East specialist and doesn't have a deep knowledge of Russian history. It struck me, as you now mention, how important WW1 is--in many ways--for Russia. That Putin's Russia is still struggling with the aftermath of WW1, whereas most of the talk is of WW2. Putin's focus on Poland is, I suppose, normal for a Russian. It's red meat for Russian nationalists, especially for the role that Polish propagandists played in portraying Russians to the West as Asiatic barbarians. But as Putin himself pretty much admits, Poland wasn't much of a factor after 1654. Poland could be an irritant, as in 1830 and 1860, but was never a serious threat or rival to Russia after 1654--except for that propaganda issue. Putin's suggestion that the Poles brought their troubles on themselves by being so "uncompromising"--because they didn't want to permit either the Nazi Wehrmacht or the Red Army transit through Poland--is bemusing, to say the least. What could have gone wrong with that, right? Well, except that it all *did* go wrong anyway. As I've said, historically speaking, that was inevitable.
Anyway, I'll be working on this, and will try to avoid beating around the bushes that Tucker and Putin did.
Towards the end of this interview -
How Not to Win the War, but the Peace - Stephen Kotkin | Endgame #174 (Luminaries) (youtube.com)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdo5VRuZd5k
Kotkin notes the American public will need to be informed of our new strategy (winning the peace vs the war) in regard to Ukraine.
The remarkable similarities between Zelensky and Netanyahu jump off the page: both need war to stay in power (and alive); both can only win their wars by dragging Uncle Sam into the quagmire. I see a dark future for both these gentlemen.
Agree, but methinks Zhou himself would fit right in to your comparison!
Very helpful and informative synthesis! Moodys just downgraded Israel's bond rating on Friday (Feb 9). https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-moodys-smotrich-netanyahu-economy-4272d00b1626a4a8390a84def7196d99
https://ratings.moodys.com/ratings-news/415081
I did not know the US is the guarantor for one Israeli credit rating -- bonds, I think?
<< Israel's backed senior unsecured rating has been affirmed at Aaa. The related issuances benefit from an irrevocable, on-demand guarantee provided by the Government of the United States of America (Aaa negative) with the government acting through USAID. The notes benefit explicitly from "the full faith and credit of the US" and as per prospectus, USAID is obligated to pay within three business days if the guarantee is called upon. >>
Thanks for the helpful update, which confirms Helmer's source's analysis. The analysis was written before the Moody rating came out and that tends also to confirm the source's claim that pressure to withhold the rating had been exerted.
* credit rating, not bond rating
Drone defenses at U.S. Jordan Tower 22 base were minimal and radar was broken 80% of the time, and radar is a 50 year old design.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/airman-secret-drone-ops-run-us-base-jordan-where-3-soldiers-killed-40-wounded
Your tax dollars are work. But think of the diversity!
Production was stopped on new torpedo for 20 years? And now there are issues restarting production…
https://www.navytimes.com/naval/2024/02/06/supplier-bottlenecks-threaten-us-navy-effort-to-grow-arms-stockpiles/
Because the third world insurrections we thought were the only wars we'd being fighting didn't require torpedoes. The navy was for show and intimidation and as mobile air bases.
G'day Ray, Hope you and yours are doing well!
Why, by the picture your links paint one would think the US and it's miniscule nearly-trillion $ military budget couldn't afford to protect, uh, it's own border or something!
Tis' a hard thing being in the midst of a moral and physical (world presence/leadership, etc.) decline we are seeing unfolding in real time. I'll suggest haven taken God out of all things Officially USA is resulting in this on going demise. Always my best at ya Ray! (WrH)
Spare a thought for we Europeans, Wayne. America can still pull things around. It has loads of natural resources and enough ornery people left to fight the maniacs. Here in Euroland, our economy has been wrecked by our own stupidity and neocon mendacity. If I slip across the Rio Grande, would you employ me as your gardener? :)
Hey Steg, I hear there’s a French-American high school now in San Diego! You’re more than qualified!
Ha! The only problem, ML, is that I speak French but don't speak American! :)
Not to worry! As Henry Higgins reminds us, in America, they haven’t spoken it for years!
For those who can endure more on Euroland’s assisted suicide, here’s the 2 Alexes at the Duran, link below. Though they do an impeccable political analysis of the slow-moving train wreck that is Germany, they don’t bring up the Nazi factor…why?…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaxPTAWe6nY
We're blessed to have so many great commentators on the alternative media circuit. Normies don't know what they are missing. As Churchill said, the Germans are either at your throat or at your feet. We see this even today. They are either behaving aggressively towards their own citizens as they did during Covid and as they are now towards the AdF (Worse than Hitler!!!), or displaying grovelling self-flagellation towards the green movement or immigration lobby. It's mesmerising watching them commit suicide. Will they ever wake up?
Hey S'21 and Cas, hope you and yours are doing great! Too funny, Cas, too true as well. BTW Steg, no need to slip across. Each Migrant suffrage representative gets about $40K worth of benefits - from Medical to Auto-renewing cash cards w/built in food-stamps.
Regarding the USsA - what is pathetic is the largess available here stateside and the Elite insane Rule-The-World behavior are in such conflict. Shoot, if we'd mind our own business and worked our resources, including the once broad-based Free Enterprise mental amazingness, we'd be truly able to lead the world. However, corrupt thinking includes laziness. The MIC are full of the amazingly rich who swell in value as other lives are simply wasted catching all the munitions being expelled that were bought and generate those profits. I've often wondered what Yakov Smirnoff thinks now - "America - What a Country!" Me these days? Amerika. What. a. Country. Truth and tragedy are what make humor really good. Together, Yakov's phrase today means nausea in action. My Best to you both! (WrH)
Ps., I almost forgot the free Cell Phone and Service plan! Come on in Steg!!!