"That’s the foolishness part. It’s typical of America’s default libertarian theory of everything—Homo Economicus is all it takes to understand everything."
True enough, but I would add that it's just as much a typical myopia that confounds the "Neos." History records manifestations of Homo Economicus reaction and implementation over time. Add the layers and the natural human tendency to demand instant solutions, results in the "slegehammer effect," otherwise known as "swatting flies on windows with a baseball bat."
Also worth pondering Caplan's irrationality theory.
I might add that there is a far greater likelihood that the USA will fracture into various components via secession rather than the Russian Federation being broken up into various pieces by the machinations of the Globalists. Russia is far more homogeneous socially and culturally than the US is currently, and we are becoming more balkanized by the day. If Kamala is selected to be president in November, there will be real discussion among various governors about the feasibility of secession.
" The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, an independent U.S. government agency with members from the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and departments of defense, state, and commerce, has declared that decolonizing Russia should be a “moral and strategic objective.” "
The West Is Preparing for Russia’s Disintegration
Amid war in Ukraine, some strategists are setting their eyes on the “decolonization” of Russia itself.
Nice to hear that your wife's recovery is coming along. My sister, an avid marathoner now in her mid-sixties, struggled with iliotibial band (ITB) pain (and orthopedist bills) for decades until one doc in her running club suggested dry needling a while back. ITB issues immediately resolved, as did some lower-back nerve involvement when they expanded the treatment. Hoping you two get a similar result.
Is that map really a UN product??? Talk about "saying the quiet part out loud." As a map nerd for as long as I can remember, I must admit that it looks like one of my creations while watching Sesame Street in the mid-70s. Who knew I was only a Crayola 96-pack away from world domination? "Caspia"....seriously??? Sounds like something you'd stir into your coffee or apply to a lip fungus. Clown world...
No, not a UN map. I've seen that map elsewhere but can't place it. However, for an idea of the kind of stuff floating around out there--and you know that Russians know all about these fantasies:
I am deliberately leaving the "Jewish" component aside.
Firstly, I consider this whole story of a "Jewish world conspiracy" to be a decades-old PSYOP of the secret services.
Secondly, an accumulation of actors of Jewish origin proves nothing in this respect. Let us remember that for many centuries, Jews concentrated on the banking and usury trades because they were prohibited from holding public office and practicing many trades. So over those centuries there was a concentration of capital in Jewish hands. This also meant political influence and kingmakers.
Thirdly, not all Jews are the same. Spirituality and the observance of religious obligations and rules are practiced with varying degrees of strictness or not at all. Business is business, math is math. In the ranks of the 1%, it is primarily about profit, power and influence on a global scale. Nationality, especially if you have several citizenships, and patriotism are probably just a melancholy mood for the powerful individuals. In view of recent developments, who has left Israel en masse? The wealthy and highly educated.
I tend to think that Israel has been installed and instrumentalized by the British and the US as a tool for their interests since its founding. I do not deny that "Jewish" capital can influence decision-making through the traditional corruption of Western politicians and aristocrats in Europe and the USA.
No, as before, from the perspective of the 1%, the BRICS and the developments associated with them must be eliminated. If this does not succeed, then the 1% will lose their influence on the global markets and their profit rates based on manipulation. Every war, every sanction, every coup, every election manipulation in the world has to do with this war.
Key global issues include control over supply routes, raw materials, energy, legislation, organizational structures, world organizations and institutions and much more. These are the driving forces and the Rubicon has already been crossed. Now it is a question of victory or defeat. At best, this war can only bring temporary ceasefires. But it will end in victory or defeat.
I also suspect that the globalist project "The Great Reset" has failed and is now only being installed in the West to suppress social uprisings. Plandemics, wars, chaos, controlled civil wars, global economic crisis etc. can be tools for a "Black Swan" to restart the money-debt system. Probably by means of CBDC. People will be so desperate and in fear that they will be grateful to their "liberators". Some intelligent people knowing full well that these are our executioners and owners. However, the mass of people are unconsciously leading a life like a flock of sheep.
My wife asked me why I torture myself with the constant search for knowledge. I replied because I wanted to understand. My wife asked me back: "Why? What for? What do you gain from understanding it? You're just torturing yourself with it.". I can't disagree with her. But ever since I read my first book at the age of 7, I have started to think. And thinking can no longer be deactivated. And my mouth always says what I think.
Because the regimes have already crossed the line from censorship to inquisition, we have to expect every evil for us in the future. It's getting worse and worse.
I've repeatedly tried to be clear that all of this is more complicated than just it's about the Jews. Thus my reference to Shaffer's Cold War mentality, which is also on display or peeks through with other military commentators. Russo-phobia was being decried in pamphlets as early as 1836 by Cobden, in Britain--which remains a center for Russia hate and has been for nearly two centuries. OTOH, there is ample evidence that influential Jews--the "bankers" you refer to--have played a significant role, and continue to do so. Hudson is not wrong about the ethnic grievance motive, nor is Shaffer--who uses code words like Trotskyite.
Re not all Jews being the same, there is truth in that, but there is also truth in the fact that for the better part of two millennia the overwhelming influence on Jewish culture has been the Talmud. That is a major unifying factor, no matter whether individual Jews are observant or not or to whatever degree. No different than the influence of Christian teaching on even non-believers in the West, and definitely not to be discounted. The Talmud has shaped Jewish "values" and attitudes. I don't discount profit motives in human affairs, but that's pretty much taken for granted in the US--it's the other factors that people need to be reminded of.
Was Israel "installed and instrumentalized" by the UK and US. Most likely by the UK. However, again, it's more complicated. Israel never would have come into existence but for the influence of influential Jews--your "bankers".
As I have already written, I do not want to focus so much on the subject of Judaism. It was important to me to point out the real interests behind the current world war, with all its areas of conflict. In my opinion, these are not theologically based. Nor are they ideological. It is a stagnation of Western culture, economy, social standards, military power and a complete decline in the moral and ethical code. In the history of mankind, the decline of a hegemon and empire has always led to previously oppressed, colonized peoples, nations and countries using this weakness to free themselves from domination and oppression by the hegemon. In Russia, after a brief phase of subversion by Western corporations, this process began in the 1990s, and in China much earlier. I would say in the 1950s.
While the empire, the USA, exhausted itself in countless wars, China concentrated entirely on developing its own economy, education and social system. One must greatly admire the iron discipline, continuity, efficiency, intelligence, organization and determination of the Chinese.
The USA is a rich nation. But this wealth is increasingly unevenly distributed. A large part of the population lives in abject poverty and the wage-dependent population can just about survive on their jobs. The middle class is shrinking. The oligarchs, on the other hand, dictate to society and intervene in even the smallest areas of people's lives. At present, they even dictate what can and cannot be said.
China is harshly criticized by the West for its one-party system. Strangely enough, surveys in more than 130 countries have shown that the Chinese people are number one in terms of satisfaction with their government. I have forgotten the name of the institution that conducted this research. But I know it is a Western institution.
The BRICS are emerging (peaceful) societies and are rapidly attracting other countries and regions to join in this process and share in the benefits of this cooperation.
I fundamentally reject what you're saying--that the current conflict arises from relatively recent causes. I pointed out that Russo-phobia was a well recognized phenomenon in the UK no later than 1836--in fact it began in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, well before the "Great Game" in Central Asia began. In other words, it began when the UK was a rising world empire, not a declining one. This is precisely why Dmitry Medvedev termed Britain Russia's "eternal enemy." British and US military adventurism in Russia 1919-1920 also occurred before these nations were declining powers.
"I do not want to focus so much on the subject of Judaism."
The subject is not Judaism as such. It's the central role influential Jews have played and continue to play in the Western war on Russia. To ignore that is to provide a fundamentally distorted version of history and of current events.
" I pointed out that Russo-phobia was a well recognized phenomenon in the UK no later than 1836--in fact it began in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, well before the "Great Game" in Central Asia began. In other words, it began when the UK was a rising world empire, not a declining one."
No, I'm not disagreeing here. Absolutely not. I completely agree with that. Nor that over the centuries Jews have become very influential. I hinted at that in my first comment. We do not disagree on this.
For me, thousands of years of human history are not a series of episodes. I see human history as a river. The racism of Western colonialists resulted in unbelievable cruelty. But ultimately it was always about land, raw materials, gold and strategic control over certain regions.
Pressure always meets resistance. And this resistance is currently being manifested by the BRICS and other nations.
Great update as always Mark! I’m listening to a fantastic podcast series at the moment called History of the Crusades. Each episode is 30 mins and it was created by a Tasmanian woman Sharyn Eastaugh who has a truly extraordinary knowledge of the subject. She tells the stories and describes all the characters in a very vivid and contemporary way. But it’s made me realise that human beings haven’t changed very much in centuries. Evil, greed and certain manifestations of religion have always driven us to engage in terrible wars and inflict appalling suffering on our fellow humans. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/history-of-the-crusades/id567051894
Those Neocon/Anglo-Zionist Ideologues, N./A.-Z.I. Trotskyites, are a loathsome bunch of evildoers. They absolutely do not practice self loathing, as that would require them to possess at least a very small quantity of morality, their self-assured fake rectitude is the only thing that they have left.
Listening to that interview, Shaffer said a few more things I thought were interesting,
1. He says the number of Marines sent to the Middle East so far is evacuate-our-people size, not invade-Israel's-enemies size.
2. He says he thinks Iran does have the bomb. Ritter also says this. I appreciate Liam Cosgrove, as many others, trying to publicly hold Blinken to account for his statement in July that Iran is "weeks away".
3. He says Ukraine was going for control of a nuclear weapons plant at Kursk, not just control of a nuclear power plant. If so, I think that element has been seriously de-emphasized in media, main or alternative.
4. He says that in wargaming, nobody ever de-escalates once nuclear weapons have been used. It always escalates.
#1 That's what anybody who understands military matters has been saying. I'm marginal in that regard, but I've been saying that, too. However, that's with regard to boots on the ground type stuff. We do have the Navy in the region and AF at various bases.
#2 It's possible. They'd be fools not to, at this point. Until recently their policy of doing without made strategic sense, but the threats are too real now.
#3 I picked up on that, too. He was in military intel, so maybe he has good sources. I haven't heard that elsewhere, although it's true that that is a research facility, not just a power plant. I'm skeptical re his claim that nuke warheads were being stored that close to the border.
I told you those people in Israel were nuts. What! You did not believe me ? :). The other item no one mentions, is the Temple. They want to rebuild it. I suspect current Israeli leadership wants to have their own country hit hard. That way they can blow up the Dome of the Rock and blame it on Iran. That is a suspicion only, but I have an ugly feeling that this is what this war is all about.
The Neocons. They are ideologically driven crazies. Ever watch Dr. Zhivago? They are the commissar in the army unit. Fanatically driven, with their logic based on Marxist theory principles instead of reality.
Shaffer: Yep he mentions the econ point. But he did mention the Neocons and their hatred for Putin as a driving point. I think that the Neocons have never forgiven Putin for saving Russia. That's what Putin did, he saved Russia. Under Yeltsin, Russia was a failed state suffering under crony capitalism sponsored by the West. It was a Weimar 2.0 project that the West loved: decadent, corrupt, materialist, crime ridden, amoral and decaying industrially and culturally. Russian had a high: suicide, drug and alcoholism rate. Why? Because there was no hope. Putin stopped all that. That is why the Neocons hate him and they want revenge.
And people need to see the parallels here. Look at the current state of affairs in the United States. You see the same patterns of degradation. You see the crushing of hope. Weimar 2 .0 is what the Neocons want for us too.
"Under Yeltsin, Russia was a failed state suffering under crony capitalism sponsored by the West. It was a Weimar 2.0 project that the West loved: decadent, corrupt, materialist, crime ridden, amoral and decaying industrially and culturally."
Exhibit A: The exploits of 'Americans' Bill Browder and Andrei Shleifer in 1990s 'Weimar' Russia..
https://forward.com/news/391446/kissinger-says-the-white-house-was-a-war-between-the-jews-and-the-non-jews/
Why stop at 7 new northern Eurasian states when you can have 41 or 43?
https://postsocialism.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/free-russia-map-clowns.jpg
We should just ratchet up the sanctions a bit more and I'm sure the Russians will see the error of their ways and simply 'decolonize' themselves.
Then they'll probably all vote to join NATO, don'cha think?
Yep, and Putin will voluntarily resign as a show of goodwill:-)
"That’s the foolishness part. It’s typical of America’s default libertarian theory of everything—Homo Economicus is all it takes to understand everything."
True enough, but I would add that it's just as much a typical myopia that confounds the "Neos." History records manifestations of Homo Economicus reaction and implementation over time. Add the layers and the natural human tendency to demand instant solutions, results in the "slegehammer effect," otherwise known as "swatting flies on windows with a baseball bat."
Also worth pondering Caplan's irrationality theory.
I might add that there is a far greater likelihood that the USA will fracture into various components via secession rather than the Russian Federation being broken up into various pieces by the machinations of the Globalists. Russia is far more homogeneous socially and culturally than the US is currently, and we are becoming more balkanized by the day. If Kamala is selected to be president in November, there will be real discussion among various governors about the feasibility of secession.
Interesting to think about eschatology relative to the “neocons,” Russia (ROC), Ukraine as well as Israel.
Mark, not sure if you have posted anything regarding it, but the CIA Director did a public interview this week.
https://youtu.be/gLQishfXtFs?si=o0xI5ejgBPWLQDU5
"But the war in Ukraine has exposed Putin as a disillusioned, feeble man not worthy of the image he had cultivated, Sumlenny argued. "
Sergej Sumlenny
https://www.fpri.org/contributor/sergej-sumlenny/
But who are the Lunatics ?
Those making wild-eyed claims
Or those paying for those ' reports ' and ' advice '
and on occasion I imagine believing it ?
I do not seem to find any one addressing these claims either pro or against
I had imagined some that Paid for these ' reports ' might be thinking
How could be be so stupid Why did you tell us this garbage
Why did you mislead us You are an idiot
But maybe not
" The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, an independent U.S. government agency with members from the U.S. House of Representatives, Senate, and departments of defense, state, and commerce, has declared that decolonizing Russia should be a “moral and strategic objective.” "
The West Is Preparing for Russia’s Disintegration
Amid war in Ukraine, some strategists are setting their eyes on the “decolonization” of Russia itself.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/04/17/the-west-is-preparing-for-russias-disintegration/
US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Congressional Briefing
Decolonizing Russia: A Moral and Strategic Imperative
=================================
It is silent for the first 11:53 hopefully cued in
https://youtu.be/-iGtFXs9gvo?t=713
Nice to hear that your wife's recovery is coming along. My sister, an avid marathoner now in her mid-sixties, struggled with iliotibial band (ITB) pain (and orthopedist bills) for decades until one doc in her running club suggested dry needling a while back. ITB issues immediately resolved, as did some lower-back nerve involvement when they expanded the treatment. Hoping you two get a similar result.
Is that map really a UN product??? Talk about "saying the quiet part out loud." As a map nerd for as long as I can remember, I must admit that it looks like one of my creations while watching Sesame Street in the mid-70s. Who knew I was only a Crayola 96-pack away from world domination? "Caspia"....seriously??? Sounds like something you'd stir into your coffee or apply to a lip fungus. Clown world...
Thanks for the encouragement!
No, not a UN map. I've seen that map elsewhere but can't place it. However, for an idea of the kind of stuff floating around out there--and you know that Russians know all about these fantasies:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=proposals+for+breaking+up+russia&iax=images&ia=images
Yes, I definitely remember the talk of "decolonizing" Russia. Lunacy.
More:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=map+of+decolonized+russia&ia=web
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=neocon+proposals+to+break+up+the+russian+federation&t=ffab&ia=web
Truly, the devil is abroad.
I am deliberately leaving the "Jewish" component aside.
Firstly, I consider this whole story of a "Jewish world conspiracy" to be a decades-old PSYOP of the secret services.
Secondly, an accumulation of actors of Jewish origin proves nothing in this respect. Let us remember that for many centuries, Jews concentrated on the banking and usury trades because they were prohibited from holding public office and practicing many trades. So over those centuries there was a concentration of capital in Jewish hands. This also meant political influence and kingmakers.
Thirdly, not all Jews are the same. Spirituality and the observance of religious obligations and rules are practiced with varying degrees of strictness or not at all. Business is business, math is math. In the ranks of the 1%, it is primarily about profit, power and influence on a global scale. Nationality, especially if you have several citizenships, and patriotism are probably just a melancholy mood for the powerful individuals. In view of recent developments, who has left Israel en masse? The wealthy and highly educated.
I tend to think that Israel has been installed and instrumentalized by the British and the US as a tool for their interests since its founding. I do not deny that "Jewish" capital can influence decision-making through the traditional corruption of Western politicians and aristocrats in Europe and the USA.
No, as before, from the perspective of the 1%, the BRICS and the developments associated with them must be eliminated. If this does not succeed, then the 1% will lose their influence on the global markets and their profit rates based on manipulation. Every war, every sanction, every coup, every election manipulation in the world has to do with this war.
Key global issues include control over supply routes, raw materials, energy, legislation, organizational structures, world organizations and institutions and much more. These are the driving forces and the Rubicon has already been crossed. Now it is a question of victory or defeat. At best, this war can only bring temporary ceasefires. But it will end in victory or defeat.
I also suspect that the globalist project "The Great Reset" has failed and is now only being installed in the West to suppress social uprisings. Plandemics, wars, chaos, controlled civil wars, global economic crisis etc. can be tools for a "Black Swan" to restart the money-debt system. Probably by means of CBDC. People will be so desperate and in fear that they will be grateful to their "liberators". Some intelligent people knowing full well that these are our executioners and owners. However, the mass of people are unconsciously leading a life like a flock of sheep.
My wife asked me why I torture myself with the constant search for knowledge. I replied because I wanted to understand. My wife asked me back: "Why? What for? What do you gain from understanding it? You're just torturing yourself with it.". I can't disagree with her. But ever since I read my first book at the age of 7, I have started to think. And thinking can no longer be deactivated. And my mouth always says what I think.
Because the regimes have already crossed the line from censorship to inquisition, we have to expect every evil for us in the future. It's getting worse and worse.
I've repeatedly tried to be clear that all of this is more complicated than just it's about the Jews. Thus my reference to Shaffer's Cold War mentality, which is also on display or peeks through with other military commentators. Russo-phobia was being decried in pamphlets as early as 1836 by Cobden, in Britain--which remains a center for Russia hate and has been for nearly two centuries. OTOH, there is ample evidence that influential Jews--the "bankers" you refer to--have played a significant role, and continue to do so. Hudson is not wrong about the ethnic grievance motive, nor is Shaffer--who uses code words like Trotskyite.
Re not all Jews being the same, there is truth in that, but there is also truth in the fact that for the better part of two millennia the overwhelming influence on Jewish culture has been the Talmud. That is a major unifying factor, no matter whether individual Jews are observant or not or to whatever degree. No different than the influence of Christian teaching on even non-believers in the West, and definitely not to be discounted. The Talmud has shaped Jewish "values" and attitudes. I don't discount profit motives in human affairs, but that's pretty much taken for granted in the US--it's the other factors that people need to be reminded of.
Was Israel "installed and instrumentalized" by the UK and US. Most likely by the UK. However, again, it's more complicated. Israel never would have come into existence but for the influence of influential Jews--your "bankers".
As I have already written, I do not want to focus so much on the subject of Judaism. It was important to me to point out the real interests behind the current world war, with all its areas of conflict. In my opinion, these are not theologically based. Nor are they ideological. It is a stagnation of Western culture, economy, social standards, military power and a complete decline in the moral and ethical code. In the history of mankind, the decline of a hegemon and empire has always led to previously oppressed, colonized peoples, nations and countries using this weakness to free themselves from domination and oppression by the hegemon. In Russia, after a brief phase of subversion by Western corporations, this process began in the 1990s, and in China much earlier. I would say in the 1950s.
While the empire, the USA, exhausted itself in countless wars, China concentrated entirely on developing its own economy, education and social system. One must greatly admire the iron discipline, continuity, efficiency, intelligence, organization and determination of the Chinese.
The USA is a rich nation. But this wealth is increasingly unevenly distributed. A large part of the population lives in abject poverty and the wage-dependent population can just about survive on their jobs. The middle class is shrinking. The oligarchs, on the other hand, dictate to society and intervene in even the smallest areas of people's lives. At present, they even dictate what can and cannot be said.
China is harshly criticized by the West for its one-party system. Strangely enough, surveys in more than 130 countries have shown that the Chinese people are number one in terms of satisfaction with their government. I have forgotten the name of the institution that conducted this research. But I know it is a Western institution.
The BRICS are emerging (peaceful) societies and are rapidly attracting other countries and regions to join in this process and share in the benefits of this cooperation.
I fundamentally reject what you're saying--that the current conflict arises from relatively recent causes. I pointed out that Russo-phobia was a well recognized phenomenon in the UK no later than 1836--in fact it began in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, well before the "Great Game" in Central Asia began. In other words, it began when the UK was a rising world empire, not a declining one. This is precisely why Dmitry Medvedev termed Britain Russia's "eternal enemy." British and US military adventurism in Russia 1919-1920 also occurred before these nations were declining powers.
"I do not want to focus so much on the subject of Judaism."
The subject is not Judaism as such. It's the central role influential Jews have played and continue to play in the Western war on Russia. To ignore that is to provide a fundamentally distorted version of history and of current events.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Schiff#National_loans
" I pointed out that Russo-phobia was a well recognized phenomenon in the UK no later than 1836--in fact it began in the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, well before the "Great Game" in Central Asia began. In other words, it began when the UK was a rising world empire, not a declining one."
No, I'm not disagreeing here. Absolutely not. I completely agree with that. Nor that over the centuries Jews have become very influential. I hinted at that in my first comment. We do not disagree on this.
For me, thousands of years of human history are not a series of episodes. I see human history as a river. The racism of Western colonialists resulted in unbelievable cruelty. But ultimately it was always about land, raw materials, gold and strategic control over certain regions.
Pressure always meets resistance. And this resistance is currently being manifested by the BRICS and other nations.
Great update as always Mark! I’m listening to a fantastic podcast series at the moment called History of the Crusades. Each episode is 30 mins and it was created by a Tasmanian woman Sharyn Eastaugh who has a truly extraordinary knowledge of the subject. She tells the stories and describes all the characters in a very vivid and contemporary way. But it’s made me realise that human beings haven’t changed very much in centuries. Evil, greed and certain manifestations of religion have always driven us to engage in terrible wars and inflict appalling suffering on our fellow humans. https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/history-of-the-crusades/id567051894
Those Neocon/Anglo-Zionist Ideologues, N./A.-Z.I. Trotskyites, are a loathsome bunch of evildoers. They absolutely do not practice self loathing, as that would require them to possess at least a very small quantity of morality, their self-assured fake rectitude is the only thing that they have left.
Listening to that interview, Shaffer said a few more things I thought were interesting,
1. He says the number of Marines sent to the Middle East so far is evacuate-our-people size, not invade-Israel's-enemies size.
2. He says he thinks Iran does have the bomb. Ritter also says this. I appreciate Liam Cosgrove, as many others, trying to publicly hold Blinken to account for his statement in July that Iran is "weeks away".
3. He says Ukraine was going for control of a nuclear weapons plant at Kursk, not just control of a nuclear power plant. If so, I think that element has been seriously de-emphasized in media, main or alternative.
4. He says that in wargaming, nobody ever de-escalates once nuclear weapons have been used. It always escalates.
#1 That's what anybody who understands military matters has been saying. I'm marginal in that regard, but I've been saying that, too. However, that's with regard to boots on the ground type stuff. We do have the Navy in the region and AF at various bases.
#2 It's possible. They'd be fools not to, at this point. Until recently their policy of doing without made strategic sense, but the threats are too real now.
#3 I picked up on that, too. He was in military intel, so maybe he has good sources. I haven't heard that elsewhere, although it's true that that is a research facility, not just a power plant. I'm skeptical re his claim that nuke warheads were being stored that close to the border.
#4 Of course.
On your mental health day, you write about the mentally ill. Very apt.
I told you those people in Israel were nuts. What! You did not believe me ? :). The other item no one mentions, is the Temple. They want to rebuild it. I suspect current Israeli leadership wants to have their own country hit hard. That way they can blow up the Dome of the Rock and blame it on Iran. That is a suspicion only, but I have an ugly feeling that this is what this war is all about.
The Neocons. They are ideologically driven crazies. Ever watch Dr. Zhivago? They are the commissar in the army unit. Fanatically driven, with their logic based on Marxist theory principles instead of reality.
Shaffer: Yep he mentions the econ point. But he did mention the Neocons and their hatred for Putin as a driving point. I think that the Neocons have never forgiven Putin for saving Russia. That's what Putin did, he saved Russia. Under Yeltsin, Russia was a failed state suffering under crony capitalism sponsored by the West. It was a Weimar 2.0 project that the West loved: decadent, corrupt, materialist, crime ridden, amoral and decaying industrially and culturally. Russian had a high: suicide, drug and alcoholism rate. Why? Because there was no hope. Putin stopped all that. That is why the Neocons hate him and they want revenge.
And people need to see the parallels here. Look at the current state of affairs in the United States. You see the same patterns of degradation. You see the crushing of hope. Weimar 2 .0 is what the Neocons want for us too.
I
"Under Yeltsin, Russia was a failed state suffering under crony capitalism sponsored by the West. It was a Weimar 2.0 project that the West loved: decadent, corrupt, materialist, crime ridden, amoral and decaying industrially and culturally."
Exhibit A: The exploits of 'Americans' Bill Browder and Andrei Shleifer in 1990s 'Weimar' Russia..