Prigozhin may be a psycho warlord but he sure has a sense of humor:

A notable start with a troll or AI bot. These threads are deteriorating.

At least it isn’t cloaked.

Did you hear the Barrett Crawford podcast? He said Steve Kirsch is a secret agent.

Celebrating the new OT with

😁Open Thread Humor😂

Open [MORE] for the rest.

PEACE 😇

Did you hear the Barrett Crawford podcast? He said Steve Kirsch is a secret agent.

Nope. Have little time for news. Even less for talking heads whose talk changes nothing. So, neither of these names sounds familiar. Am I missing something of importance?

Barrett is Kevin Barrett. There are three people’s names in my comment. : )

Kevin Barrett is on the front page of Unz . com every day.

Is Twitter Blue an invalidation of the network state?

I mean, if one believes the idea that it was supposed to make it a free speech platform and remove the need for advertising.

(yes, I know it is siloed and not on the blockchain, but if you can’t make a free speech platform by getting enough people to sign up for $8/month, then what can you make?)

There are three people’s names in my comment.

Indeed, now I see. I didn’t even know that Barrett and Crawford are two different people.

Kevin Barrett is on the front page of Unz . com every day.

There are quite a few people who have columns at Unz. Some are smart, some not so much, some are interesting most of the time, some occasionally, some never. In terms of interest, this series of threads is going downhill IMO. Nothing lasts forever. Life goes on.

Why is Indiana Jones a paedophile?

What does it say (if anything at all) about America that guys as Indiana Jones and the commentator on here, Mikel, are paedophiles?

Lazy antisemitism is sadly too frequent on the Internet, but is this literally an issue of stereotypical Jewish perverts controlling Hollywood inserting filth into American society…. or a stunning subliminal social commentary on the sinister side of certain Americans that is too often masked by their unEuropean concept of wealth, fake smiling and “fake it to you make” BS mentality?

I must say I didn’t notice it the first time I watched the first film ( very entertaining) but years later, rewatching realise that he is ( ridiculously unnecessary to the film story) written in script as a paedophile.

What scenes in the first movie gave this impression?

Don’t understand the reference to Mikel. But was thinking that if they wanted Phoebe Waller-Bridge to replace Indy and be in her own series, they should have gotten started when she was a teenager.

BTW, I feel like like I have seen enough movies that I’m at a point where I can often recognize when a film has been made by Jews. And I don’t necessarily mean filth or subversion. For example, I thought Now You See Me was a very Jewish film. Was it subversive? Maybe, a little, but not by modern standards. (Though, am not recommending).

I almost think I could do the same thing with Japanese, if they were somehow switched out but the scripts kept the same. (Translated and mildly localized)

I think he is a better actor than the clown.

Ok, here is a different topic.

What is your opinion of Dr. Peter Duesberg’s long-standing theory that HIV does not cause AIDS or any other serious disease? If I recall correctly, he claimed HIV is a “harmless passenger virus”. He may have written that it is too simple a virus to have the effects claimed for it, but it is possible I am not remembering that part correctly.

Can you point out invalid assumptions or flaws in his reasoning?

Apologies if I have asked this question before.

Have a laugh UNZ crowd:

Video Link

So what’s the status of the war right now? Bakhmut fell but it appears to have no military significance. The Ukrainian spring/summer/fall offensive is supposedly still in the works.

As for Prigozhin, I think he is mostly right about the stuff he says: the Kremlin/MOD/army are incompetent and that the war has been a strategic disaster, but I think he exaggerates the magnitude of just how bad Russia’s situation is on the front. My money is still on Russia holding the line against any Ukrainian offensive launched this year. I don’t buy Prigozhin’s casualty figures for the UkAF in Bakhmut, but I do believe they suffered worse, if still comparable, losses to what Wagner suffered. I’m not sure about other parts of the front.

Indiana Jones and the Insufferable Feminist

This may be the failure that gets Kathleen Kennedy fired. Among the leaks are:

• The first pass at the movie killed Indy in the past & stranded FemJones. That would have allowed them to reboot Raiders of the Lost Ark for “Modern Audiences”. The Ark is a Judeo-Christian artifact. What would an “SJW parody Ark” release? Rainbows and unicorns? A herd of Lizzos spring forth to trample the Nazis?

• The necessary re-shoots to undo that mistake have pushed production costs over $350 million.

• Kennedy will be terminated if FemJones and the Dial of Karen is not profitable. And, with budget bloat that means box office needs to be over $1 billion.

She has been more persistent than Nosferatu, so calling her gone is tricky. But, there is hope. If Kennedy is successfully purged, odds are the recently announced Rey Palpatine movie will be cancelled.

PEACE 😇

What is your opinion of Dr. Peter Duesberg’s long-standing theory that HIV does not cause AIDS

Sorry, never thought about it and never read his book.

Five years ago I would have likely dismissed it off-hand as a crazy theory. However, by their coverage of BLM riots, 2020 elections, January 6 “insurrection”, covid “pandemic”, and “mRNA vaccines” Western MSM and “scientific” journals demonstrated that a lie of any magnitude is not too big and preposterous for them. Thus, if I were investigating the subject, I would dismiss everything coming from the imperial patch, including “scientific” articles, and search for info exclusively from sources that are not dependent on the empire in any way. I cannot predict what such an investigation would reveal.

Why is Team EU antagonizing Putin? (1)

German ambassador to Poland: ‘Nord Stream pipelines were a mistake’

I am the last person to claim that Germany has always made the right decisions. Nord Stream II and Nord Stream I were mistakes,” he admitted.

When asked about the governments responsible for these decisions, Bagger mentioned various German federal governments, including those under Angela Merkel. When asked about Angela Merkel recently receiving the highest state decoration, Bagger answered: “It is not my place to interpret the Federal President’s intentions, but 16 years of governance cannot be reduced to a single decision.

“Different federal governments, one after another (led to the mistake),” he claimed, adding, “Yes, Angela Merkel’s too.”

Is this an admission that the Scholz administration blew up 3/4 of NordStream capacity? After all, according to Germany, NS were mistakes. One cleans up after mistakes. Also remember, Green Party zealots in his Traffic Light coalition loathe hydrocarbon power.

PEACE 😇
__________

(1) https://rmx.news/poland/german-ambassador-to-poland-nord-stream-pipelines-were-a-mistake/

So what’s the status of the war right now?

Russia has missed its chance to inflict a devastating defeat on Ukraine and vice versa (whether either country could have been actually persuaded to come to terms by such a defeat is questionable). Russians KIA in Bakhmut were convicts often lifers who had a few weeks training. Ukraine lost a higher proportion of more valuable troops. Ukraine tried to stop Wagner taking Bakhmut, but couldn’t. There hasn’t been a Ukrainian victory since November, and Russia’s Bakhmut operation style is costly, interminable and totally lacking in creativity.

Ukraine has been using its best equipped, trained and most determined and rested brigades such as Azov in a minor operation around Bakhmut, where they have been up against the VDV. Both sides seem to have a limited number of units that are trusted to fight hard.. Neither side seems to have much faith in the traditional combined armed offensive operations that all armies were preparing for prior to the war.

Both Russia and Ukraine seem to be able to cope fairly well with anything the other side throws at it and I do not expect much in the way of technological fixes to change that. Ukraine is good, it has has not been overrated. but its prospects of a war ending victorious campaign are now as over hyped as Russia’s were at the begining of the war. It can be expected to last another full year at least.

George Handel’s Dixit Dominus completed in 1707 when he was 22.

I like how animated all the performers are. 🙂

This one is priceless, so brutally honest. Prigozhin talking about leaving Bakhmut and the regular troops taking over.

“War correspondent: You said you will transfer the positions. Is there a readiness to accept them?

Yevgeni Prigozhin: By the Ministry of Defense? There should be. Because this is the Russian army. If the readiness to accept is not there, then we have to make appropriate conclusions. If the private military company Wagner cannot pass on the positions because the Russian army is not ready to take over them, that means that the private military company Wagner has become a level higher than the Russian army. But that wouldn’t be entirely right from the point of view of statehood. That’s why they should take over [the positions]. If they are unable to take over, then the appropriate individuals who are responsible must shoot themselves.”

Because of the invasion:

“Ukraine has become a country that everyone knows. Like ancient Greece in its prime”.

It is possible Prigozhin is positioning himself to run for president, if Putin steps down. He would style himself the successful commander and the peace candidate.

Emulating retired General Dwight Eisenhower, who won the US presidency during the darkest period of the Korean war after campaigning on the promise that he would go to Korea and, presumably, bring an end to the Korean war (which he did by agreeing to split the country into two), Prigozhin could campaign on a platform of going to Ukraine and making a deal with Zelensky.

https://asiatimes.com/2023/05/yevgeny-prigozhin-for-president/

זלנסקי ופריגוז’ין יחד יאמרו: “שלום לעולם!”

Endless wars, endless arms race, endless criminality, and endless
diseases prove that the British philosopher John Gray was right when
he described us as “weapon-making predatory primates.”
Source: John Gray – “Straw Dogs – Thoughts on Humans and Other
Animals” (2002). We’re still extremely primitive as a species. Considering
that right now we’re producing the greatest extinction event in millions
of years, it’s clear that our planet would be better off without us. In
fact, a credible case can be made that every new discovery and every
new invention are now bringing us closer to self-annihilation, thus solving
Fermi’s Paradox.

More specifically, there is no question that Europe, in competition with
the Middle East, is the most accursed region on Earth. In particular,
examining the last 1500 years, it is Germanics (esp. Germans and
Swedes), and to a lesser extent the Russians, that have distinguished
themselves as Europe’s top predatory beasts. Here’s the Germanic history
in one sentence: from the Sack of Rome in 410 AD by the Visigoths
to the Sack of Warsaw in 1944 by the Germans – 1500 years, and no
moral progress. Germans always mention Dresden, surprised that
1500 years of making enemies in Europe has finally caused the
world to overreact, as if they never heard of Newton’s Law of Action
and Reaction. The very existence of Germany is an excellent argument
against the claim that the world was created by an omniscient and
benevolent God. Read Jean-Paul Sartre’s thoughts on the German
occupation of Paris, and the Germans treated Paris with kid gloves
compared to Warsaw. As to Sweden. it is probably the most
contemptible nation in Europe, still addicted to making killing
machines. On a per capita basis it’s the biggest Merchant of Death
in Europe.

Based on all this, one should be permitted to engage in a little fantasy.
If Britain, instead of conquering India and North America, had
focused its attention and energy on conquering the European
continent, esp. Germany and Russia all the way to the Urals,
Europe would’ve been so much better off compared to being conquered
by Germany and Russia, predatory beasts who can’t even rule
themselves, let alone rule others. But, as we know, scum rises to
the top, so what has actually happened is not entirely a surprise.
But one can dream, e.g. Europe ruled jointly by Britain and France.

Leave Mikel in peace (on the other hand, he must be doing something right when he’s being attacked from both pro-Ukrainians and pro-Russians).
Don’t understand the reference to Indiana Jones either…is it because it’s implied Marion (or whatever her name is) was underage (presumably a teenager?) when she first had a relationship with Indiana Jones? That’s not really pedophilia.

I think the question you and other Poles need to ask yourselves is: What have we done to offend God so much that he regularly uses Germans and Russians to scourge us for our sins?
Unless you do that and repent sincerely, there is no hope for Poland.

Those “Free Russians” used US-made military vehicles for their incursion:
https://www.ft.com/content/0b57c31b-814d-4554-91d8-d49b066cea69

Really amazing, literal Neo-Nazis use military equipment donated by the US for a raid on uncontested RF territory, and the reaction throughout the West essentially is “No big deal” or even nonsense like “Bilhorod, not Belgorod”.
In theory it should be possible to support Ukraine in the attempt to get back as much of the territory lost since February 2022 as possible and still set certain limits to prevent things from spiraling out of control into total catastrophe. In practice it seems like far too many people in the West have taken leave of all good sense.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/09/the-worst-case-climate-change-scenario-could-look-like-this-we-need-to-avert-it/

Some people plan decades ahead.

A man’s gotta earn his pay you know.

Poland will overtake UK in economic prosperity by 2030, with Romania surpassing it by 2040. They are vying to by the 51st state by hosting missile bases and otherwise licking American ass and so benefit accordingly .

Ukraine and Britain thought they could spurn their destiny to be a client states of the respective hegemonies. As a result are both in geriatric decline. Poland is on track to have Europe’s most powerful army.

For decades the British defence budget has been raided (to fund social spending without raising taxes), the UK’s capabilities are now pitiful.

The main difference is immigration Britain had a calendar year net immigration record of of 600.000, . No one wants to go to Ukraine, really. Given its extremely low birthrate and emigration problem, what is left of Ukraine after the war ceases will be have to sell off its land to Western agribusiness, and be subject to the Polish lords’ arrendators. Plus la change

Sometimes wish that Hollywood was on the blockchain so we could see a true accounting of all the money they spend.

Also, these Steven Seagal movies, wherever they are made. Can’t believe that they are not some laundering operation.

Once saw a Japanese movie One Cut of the Dead made for about $25,000. Won’t say it was the best movie I ever saw, but I appreciated how it was an inversion of a standard zombie story. Makes a lot of these big budgets borefests seem ridiculous.

Ukraine has been using its best equipped, trained and most determined and rested brigades such as Azov in a minor operation around Bakhmut, where they have been up against the VDV

Ukraine has been saving its best equipped and most highly trained troops for the coming offensive. There have certainly been some elite and foreign troops in Bakhmut but for the most part they have been sending less trained ones there, eastern Ukrainian villagers with little training, ex-convicts, etc. These are not the dregs of society like the Wagner convicts but they are far from the elite.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/36-hours-in-bakhmut-one-units-desperate-battle-to-hold-back-the-russians-72e30f01

KOSTYANTYNIVKA, Ukraine—Pvt. Oleksiy Malkovskiy, an unemployed father of three, fired a rocket-propelled grenade for the first time in his life on the front lines of the battle for Bakhmut in February.

Russian troops were assaulting one of the apartment blocks that his group of 16 draftees, many of whom had been enlisted days earlier and given no training, had been assigned to defend.

Ukraine and Britain thought they could spurn their destiny to be a client states of the respective hegemonies.

Britain isn’t a US client state? I would have thought it’s the prime example.
Anyway, I don’t buy the “Poland as the next great power” hype. They will go down with the rest of Europe, and they will deserve it.

Really amazing, literal Neo-Nazis use military equipment donated by the US for a raid on uncontested RF territory, and the reaction throughout the West essentially is “No big deal” or even nonsense like “Bilhorod, not Belgorod”.

Why should territory that is literally used as a staging area for attacks that kill Ukrainians be off limits to forces armed by the Ukrainians?

As for the political ideology, those guys do not seem to be nearly as brutal as the people that Russia has sent into Ukraine. Or as brutal as various other forces America had armed, also.

As for the political ideology, those guys do not seem to be nearly as brutal as the people that Russia has sent into Ukraine.

At least some of them are undoubtedly literal Neo-Nazis. Isn’t the argument that Ukraine is somehow fighting for “European values” and its “European future”? Well, I’m hardly a fan of what “European values” today means in mainstream political discourse, but it is what is is…do you think using Russian Neo-Nazis as proxies is compatible with any of that?
There’s also the issue that Ukraine supposedly promised the US not to use US weapons (like those armoured vehicles) for attacks on RF territory. One may debate if that applies to Crimea whose annexation has never been recognized after all. It definitely applies to Belgorod though. Does Ukraine just ignoring such promises and doing it anyway indicate it’s a reliable “ally”?

At least some of them are undoubtedly literal Neo-Nazis. Isn’t the argument that Ukraine is somehow fighting for “European values” and its “European future”?

By this argument, any deal with Stalin during World War II rendered British and American claims to fight against tyranny invalid.

I disagree.

Just as the West made a deal with the genocidal despot Stalin in order to safeguard democracy in Europe, so Ukraine uses some Nazis to safeguard its own European path and future.

So although it is distasteful, it is not contradictory and not without precedent.

There’s also the issue that Ukraine supposedly promised the US not to use US weapons (like those armoured vehicles) for attacks on RF territory. One may debate if that applies to Crimea whose annexation has never been recognized after all. It definitely applies to Belgorod though

1. When Russia declared Kherson and Zaporizhia to be just as Russian as Belgorod, it weakened such distinctions. It’s actions do not come without a price.

2. The agreement was with the US government, not with you or with internet commentators. If the US government tolerates it, there is no problem. For all we know there was some back room winks and nods about this.

I’m not going to enter into a long argument about this, but I think there’s a good chance this kind of attitude will come to hit Ukraine like a boomerang in the long run (of course provided there isn’t a nuclear war before). There’s no reason why the solidarity and patience of Western Europeans should be unlimited. If it runs out, good luck to Ukraine is all I can say.

The agreement was with the US government, not with you or with internet commentators. If the US government tolerates it, there is no problem. For all we know there was some back room winks and nods about this.

It would be unconstitutional for Not-The-President Biden to attack Russia (even by proxy) without a Declaration of War, or at least an AUMF. Are you suggesting that the occupied White House has committed another crime?

GR is correct. These attacks cannot have been authorized and will backfire. Americans do not want WW III. What is the only way to stop Zelensky from misusing U.S. gear? Do not give it to them.

And, that is where we are headed: (1)

Biden’s Running Out of Ukraine Money? Good.

The mainstream media is in a panic over the fact that of the $48 billion appropriated for Ukraine, only $6 billion remains. That won’t be enough to sustain “Project Ukraine” for more than a few weeks. With the tide of US public opinion turning overwhelmingly against throwing more money down the corrupt black hole called “Ukraine,” even unprincipled politicians are going to start listening to the emerging progressive/conservative alliance in Congress that’s had enough.
…
With President Biden clearly flailing – and with the surprisingly strong primary challenge of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – we should look for lawmakers to begin abandoning “Project Ukraine” in droves. That movement, led by principled conservatives and progressives, will sink forever the neocon “Project Ukraine” and thus save us from global nuclear annihilation. Hopefully after this disaster, Americans will turn against neocons once and for all.

“Project Ukraine” is a European Elite directed effort. Lets see if Macron & Scholz will pay for their war. More likely, they will fold and recall Ray Epps Zelensky to the EU.

PEACE 😇
__________

(1) https://www.unz.com/rpaul/bidens-running-out-of-ukraine-money-good/

Of the three items that caused me to break my self-imposed exile and post to the OT’s again, this “Open Thread Humour” post wasn’t one of them. Still, I have to wonder, just how much more fat can the heffer in that pic “accept”? If her intention was to prove that human adiposity knows no fixed limit, she’s made me a believer.

The first item was actually Yahya’s admirably patient but ill-fated attempt to school dopey dmitry on – actually, baby-step him through – the very basics of hereditarianism. Despite the latter’s many confident assertions on the topic, he evinces no familiarity with the literature whatsoever. Indeed, his thoughts – the spasmodic outbursts libtards deceptively call ‘reflections’ – bear more in common with a wonky 1st gen chatbot than anything an intelligent interlocutor would recognize as ‘thinking.’

And speaking of wonky 1st gen chatbots, is AK’s deliberately styling his posts as one and declaring himself to be an ‘object’ [okay bro] supposed to accelerate the acceleration or something? Or is the more prosaic explanation that his descent into total mental faggotry is nearing completion?

Lastly, I’m beginning to fear for the mental health – uncertain in the best of times – of that nagging wench LatW. Is it just me, or does her attempt to land a low blow on Mikel (“you’re not Anglo-American” – a dig out of date 50 years ago) signify a mind at the end of its tether?

See because the equation’s really quite simple. Ukraine wanted out from under Russia’s thumb, fine. There was going to be a price to pay, and Ukraine could have simply chosen to pay it and gone on their merry way. Break-ups, after all, are messy. But for one reason or another they allowed themselves to be neoconned into thinking they could have it all, that they wouldn’t need to pay any price – they could even make Russia bear all the costs. Well, they made their bed, they can now go lie in it.

Or is the more prosaic explanation that his descent into total mental faggotry is nearing completion?

It could be a calculated attempt to distance himself from his initially enthusiastic support for the Z fiasco, so he can continue to have an English-speaking audience, maybe even return to Britain or the US and mingle with Effective Altruists, AI enthusiasts and transhumanists again. AK has always had a pronounced interest in money and status (reflected also in his description of “rightoids” as permanent losers), maybe he’s realized betting on Russian nationalism wasn’t a good career choice.
If he really self-identifies as an object (whatever that would mean, doesn’t bear thinking about too much), that would of course be a pretty scary example of mental illness (though not as much as trannyism, at least he hasn’t indicated a desire to have any body parts chopped off).
Anyway, welcome back, I had wondered why you didn’t post here anymore.

By this argument, any deal with Stalin during World War II rendered British and American claims to fight against tyranny invalid.

Well duh, of course they weren’t “fighting against tyranny.” That’s schoolboy morality play hokum. They were fighting for what they perceived were their geopolitical interests. In America’s case, you could argue they got it right. In Britain’s case, it was obvious decades ago they horribly miscalculated. (How in the world could things have possibly gone worse for them in the event of a German victory? To ask it is to laugh.)

Now there’s a thought: get back in the good graces of the important people by inaugurating an entire new ism – “objectism” – to captivate the libtards. “Sure, society socialized me into being a person, but they did so without my consent, so why I should I be forced to remain one? I demand the right to unperson myself. I am henceforth but an object!” Would he stoop that low, make a Jerry-Springer-for-intellectuals-style fool of himself? Well, if you’ve got so little left to lose, why the hell not.

I think the question you and other Poles need to ask yourselves is: What have we done to offend God so much that he regularly uses Germans and Russians to scourge us for our sins?

Poles and Ukrainians sinned by turning on each other in the 17th century. All later misfortunes were made possible by that.

Fortunately the long overdue reconciliation is underway. Enemies of each are not happy about that.

Ukraine and Britain thought they could spurn their destiny to be a client states of the respective hegemonies.

Britain isn’t a US client state? I would have thought it’s the prime example.

You are right to display some incredulity.

As you no doubt know, the US and UK have been in a ‘special relationship’ since about 1900, a relationship only just short of an outright political union. Effectively then, the US and UK have been back together now for as long as they had (at least officially) been apart due to the 1776 Revolution, ie about 120 years.

[In the years immediately prior to the turn of the century formation of the ‘special relationship’, there had been a big push in the US corporate mass media for the open reabsorption of the United States back into the British Empire (!) – see 1898 article linked below in the then hugely influential Atlantic Monthly as an example – an idea which didn’t ultimately fly as, after all, people in the United States had been being taught for the past hundred plus previous years that the British Empire, with its kings, red coats, and prison hulks, was the most evil thing upon the face of the Earth:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1898/07/the-essential-unity-of-britain-and-america/636614/

So, the powers that be backed off for a short time with their open US/UK reunification plans, and then more or less did it anyway, with their now somewhat hidden effective reunification known as the ‘special relationship’.]

Since the 1900 rapprochement, the US/UK has done just about everything together, particularly in the area of warfare, the ‘world wars’ most notably.

Anyway, I don’t buy the “Poland as the next great power” hype. They will go down with the rest of Europe, and they will deserve it.

No comment about anyone ‘deserving it’, and not that I desire or wish it in any way, but sadly, I think you might well be largely correct.

I think the general idea of tptb of the US/UK is that Russia, Ukraine, and both Eastern and Western Europe, are to destroy each other in WWIII.

This is said with the caveat that the overwhelming hubris of the US/UK may well be blinding them to their own impending destruction in this looming world war.

Fortunately the long overdue reconciliation is underway.

The only thing holding that “reconciliation” together is actually common hatred of Russia and Russians. Apart from that, it’s difficult to see by what standard Poles and Ukrainians could be said to be “brothers”. In culture, religion etc. the eastern half of Ukraine must have been influenced much more by Russia than by Poland over the last four centuries. And the part of Ukraine that was intertwined with Poland until fairly recently…well, Poles were butchered en masse there during WW2, and the people responsible for those massacres are still revered as national heroes in Galicia.

Enemies of each are not happy about that.

I don’t consider myself an enemy of Poland. Nor do I fear a threat by some Polish-Ukrainian behemoth, imo this PLC larping is laughable and will come to nothing (except as US client states living on borrowed strength). I’m fed up with Eastern Europeans though. In Western Europe after WW2 there was at least an attempt at genuine cooperation, far from perfect of course, but at least some willingness to move beyond the past for mutual benefit. When I see how far too many Poles and Balts have been acting during the current crisis, I can only feel that one was deceived when those countries were admitted into the EU. Apparently it was never more than a vehicle for them for their petty chauvinistic projects. At the moment this is papered over because the war in Ukraine is still going on, but at some point the tensions between East and West may be lead to a permanent break. Hopefully the EU could then be re-constituted among the original members only. As I wrote above, in that case, good luck to Poland and Ukraine!

LGBT_NPC

If you sum all the digs at NPCs over the years Karlin is definitely in the top ten. Now he proudly identifies as one!

Apparently he didn’t get the memo that proud social rejects go for Anarchist.

In wars the elite units always do the bulk of the fighting, regulars are just there to hold ground, and surprisingly few even fire their weapon.

Pretty clear that almost the entire European political are beholden to the US, either through financial incentives or compromised, people like Corbyn are quickly hurried off the stage.

A few changes in the US State Department, and a negro is to replace Milley, some see escalation, I don’t.

It is the biggest battle of the war and Ukraine predictably gave ground after ignoring US advice to not waste resources there. It was Zelensky not his military advisors who decided to defend Balhmut and as he is a politician there was likely some political objective in Zelensky’s mind. If so it worked because the Russians fighting their way into Bakhmut led to the US suddenly agreeing to supply F16s.’

This is shaping up to be like the relationship with South Vietnam inasmuch as Ukraine gets military aid but uses it in ways the US does not like The tail waging the dog. Worse is better for Ukraine, because the US cannot afford the loss of face entailed in a Ukrainian capitulation. Zelensky’s strategy is contains an inherent tendency to escalate into a Russia -America cofrontation.

However, if the Russians think they are winning they are getting stronger on the psychological level. To keep giving ground while inflicting casualties might be advantageous for Ukraine in material and manpower terms, yet it would give Russia a very real morale boost from advancing. What you are suggesting about the battle would seem to be a dubious strategy for Ukraine unless it results in them getting weapons that can make a huge difference.

Really amazing, literal Neo-Nazis use military equipment donated by the US for a raid on uncontested RF territory, and the reaction throughout the West essentially is “No big deal” or even nonsense like “Bilhorod, not Belgorod”.

This ‘Operation Barbarossa’ in miniature was of course a deliberate provocation (amongst likely others) aimed at the psyche of the Russian people by the US/UK’s shameless use of their Ukrainian proxies, the intent of which is to ultimately escalate the fighting into WWIII territory. [As always in this unfortunate conflict, the idea of peoplehood is all around being quite purposely ‘poison pilled’ with subtle and not so subtle ‘Nazi’!TM connections, ie ‘Ukrainian Nazis’ here, and Russian ‘Wagnerites’ there, etc.]

The powers that be of the US/UK desires to escalate this into not only WWIII, but into a thermo-nuclear war. Atomic bombs are simply another tool to them in the general breaking up of peoples and nations, and in reducing the Earth’s population down to five hundred million souls.

It helps to realize that people’s lives enmasse are seen by them as wholly expendable ‘units’. Not their own lives, of course, but other people’s lives.

[Their lengthy historic involvement in slavery, first chattel, and then wage slavery, ie the so called ‘cheap labor/’mass immigration’ system, will harden a person’s heart this way.]

Iraqi Information Minister reviews
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
Tom O’Neill & Dan Piepenbring
Little, Brown, and Co. 2019; 521 pp

The title is not accurate and the book is only for readers who enjoy getting lost in Manson minutiae. I enjoyed it and you might too.

What it really is: a memoir of O’Neill’s twenty year quest to get to the bottom of the Manson murder case of August 1969. He succeeds in shooting fifty holes in the Bugliosi Helter Skelter story. He abysmally fails at figuring out what happened. He relentlessly runs to the end of ten or more blind alleys. He finds out next to nothing about the CIA.

He does find two documents which will be new to all in storage facility boxes after digging through a few hundred of these. At the UCLA Jolly West storage facility he finds correspondence West to/from Gottleib where West admits to experimenting with LSD without patient consent on humans in the 1950’s which is contra to countless West denials over the years. In a Los Angeles Manson case storage facility he finds a Bugliosi notebook which places key witness Terry Melcher at Spahn ranch on several occasions after the murders which is contra to Melcher’s sworn testimony.

This is the total meaningful material he has to show for twenty years of dogged work during which he lived like a pauper and accumulated a huge debt. And also became a lesson for the ages that one should beware fighting monsters lest you become a monster.

This part was fascinating: he claims (which seems like it might well be true) that if you elicit perjury or perform perjury in a Los Angeles court in 1969 in a criminal trial you are exposed to the exact penalty as the defendant. That is, Melcher’s perjury against Manson who was subject to the death penalty could have gotten Melcher and Bugliosi the death penalty. I wonder when the last time a perjurer got the death penalty, if ever.

Also there is an important lesson about sources. Bugliosi is one of many people cited who (1) tells O’Neill some cockamamie salacious story early on about the events of 30-40 years ago, and then (2) proceeds to die of old age before those paths of inquiry get far. Why anybody would believe any of those parts is mysterious. Some of these stories are spectacular and ridiculous. One of them is supposed to be evidence for CIA involvement.

One thing that is clear is that the Manson family was protected by somebody somewhere high in the power pyramid right up to the point where Bugliosi got involved and concocted the Helter Skelter horror fantasy. There are several (8? 9? I lost count) documented arrests for serious crimes where they were turned loose on the authority of somebody up the ladder from frustrated cops. The arrest records are in the substantial footnotes. All of the old lawyers and prosecutors and cops interviewed were in unanimous agreement: Manson was connected. O’Neill never found out who. CIA or FBI or whoever.

It was only a guess, he conceded, but an educated one, based on his thirty years on the job. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard the theory. One of my LASO sources had wondered if Manson “had his finger in a bigger pie.” Having been in the office’s intelligence division, he’d seen stuff like this before. “What happens in those situations is either he’s giving up somebody bigger than himself or he’s on somebody else’s list as far as a snitch, or he’s ratting out other people.”

interview with Lewis Wetnick, former deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles, p. 173.

Everybody can stop reading at page 173. That is the money shot.

There are some great pictures. He briefly had a deal for a documentary with Errol Morris who took this one of O’Neill in his study with some of his accumulated source material:

led to the US suddenly agreeing to supply F16s.’

I’ve seen claims that the Ukrainians can’t easily do maintenance etc. on F16s, so either there would have to be Western technicians etc. on the ground in Ukraine, or the planes would have to operate from bases in Poland. Both options would obviously have a lot of potential for escalation. Do you know, if this is correct or is it scare-mongering?

Potential mental horror incoming for Kremlin fans – natgas may soon return to covidian price levels in EU;)

Some European short-term natural gas prices could briefly dip below zero this summer if sluggish demand doesn’t catch up with a growing supply glut.

Such an event — where producers effectively pay someone to take their gas —is looking ever more possible with prices collapsing to pre-crisis levels, according to traders at the annual E-World energy fair in Essen, Germany.

It’s something that hasn’t happened since October 2006 when UK within-day rates briefly fell below zero after a new supply pipeline opened amid mild weather. Similar forces are at work now, with prices crashing as inventories fill fast, consumption sputters and strong wind and solar output. Markets for countries with limited storage like the UK have a higher chance of hitting zero.

“Individual regional gas markets in Europe could go negative when you have hours and days with renewable production,” Peder Bjorland, vice president for gas trading and optimization at oil major Equinor ASA, said in an interview. “There is quite a big distance from the price level we see now and to the single-digit and negative prices, and a lot can happen on that route.”

European gas stockpiles are above seasonal norms at about 66% full, and some expect storage sites to be topped as early as August, long before the start of the heating season. At the same time, lower prices are yet to revive industrial demand, with some buyers delaying gas purchases until market rates fall even further.

“If everything continues like this, we are going to be full fairly early during the summer, by September or October, and then it all depends on how early winter kicks in,” said Gyorgy Vargha, chief executive officer of Swiss trading firm MET International. “In a very short term, for a few days if the storage is full, we could see some single-digit prices potentially because of the physical bottlenecks.”

Dutch front-month gas, Europe’s benchmark, fell to near €26 ($28) per megawatt-hour Thursday. It’s down about 66% this year and trading at a fraction of the €342 peak reached in August.

In the short-term market, where negative prices are most likely to occur, the Dutch day-ahead contract changed hands at about €28 a megawatt hour. The equivalent UK prices have also declined.

While rare in gas markets, negative prices are increasingly frequent in electricity trading, and strong wind generation during a low-demand weekend can easily push rates below zero. It’s much more volatile than other commodities because there isn’t yet a solution for storage on an industrial scale.

Even so, a lot of factors need to align for near-term gas prices to turn negative, and there are ways to avoid a big crash. For instance, more storage can be found via floating liquified natural gas cargoes. Or, as a last resort, traders may utilize the vast storage capacity in Ukraine.

Prices can still spike, whether from supply outages at LNG plants to the risk of a complete shutoff of Russian pipeline flows. And demand may still pick up from industry.

“If none of the bullish factors materialize and with no Ukrainian storage and no floating on a grand scale, then for a few days prices may fall below €10 a megawatt-hour,” MET’s Vargha said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-25/europe-s-gas-traders-watch-for-sub-zero-price-in-summer-glut

Not-The-President Biden was very explicit about no U.S. planes. His regime will allow other nations with existing stock to transfer theirs. Unlike the end-of-life USSR planes, these countries need F-16’s for their own use.

During the G7 summit held from 19 to 21 May in Japan, US President Joe Biden gave permission for other countries to deliver F-16 fighter jets – manufactured by the U.S. company Lockheed Martin- to Ukraine.

  

As the producing country with the largest stockpile (936 active aircraft), the U.S. has however already pledged to take part in the training of Ukrainian pilots to use the F-16. As the data in our chart shows, after the Americans, it is Turkey that has the most F-16s (243 aircraft). Following them are Israel (224), Egypt (218), South Korea (167), Greece (153) and Taiwan (136 and 66 on order). Together with the United States, these countries own three-quarters of the world’s F-16 fleet. Other European countries also have several dozen F-16s in stock, such as Belgium (52), Poland (48), Denmark (43) and the Netherlands (29).

It is unclear how many are on offer and when they could be put unto service. You are correct that major maintenance would likely have to be done in Poland, Greece, and/or Turkey.

The whole proposal sounds like PR rather than substance. The time line for the effort does not mesh well with the facts on the ground. Odds are high that the fighting will be over before the first F-16 is transferred.

PEACE 😇
__________

(1) https://www.zerohedge.com/military/these-are-all-countries-use-f-16-fighter-jets

Prigozhin could campaign on a platform of going to Ukraine and making a deal with Zelensky.

He can pay reparations in oil & gas.

When Russia declared Kherson and Zaporizhia to be just as Russian as Belgorod, it weakened such distinctions. It’s actions do not come without a price.

This is a great point. Putin used to say that “Russia has no borders” with a smile. Everyone in the audience laughed in agreement. Russia has no borders – meaning, it doesn’t end anywhere, it can go and stomp on her neighbor all it wants. Well, they hexed themselves, since now Russia literally has no borders (unless they start enforcing them).

This is how war works, it has an internal logic, an internal dynamism of its own (as described already by Heraclitus).

As to some of the Russian nationals who went to Belgorod (within the Volunteer Corps), some of them are national socialist and White nationalist. Some are just Russian ethnonats. Some are driven mainly by anti-Putinism. The reason I object to them being called Nazis or even neo-Nazis is because the original Nazis from Germany walked into an ethnically foreign territory with the aim to genocide it. These guys have never had such intentions. They just want a Euro friendly, mono-ethnic environment in their own home country. And Ukraine is almost like home to them anyway. But I agree that we should be careful here, since many Americans may not like this or misunderstand it.

You are correct that major maintenance would likely have to be done in Poland, Greece, and/or Turkey.

It’s already the same for the artillery pieces and tanks sent to Ukraine, so that in itself shouldn’t change much.
Thanks for your informative comment.

Yahya will hate the nigger & he will like it!

GHOSTBHUSTER KHALSA
NIGGER MARAN VALA PATSHAH

I don’t know what I pressed to get on this side of tiktok but I never wanna leave pic.twitter.com/SiqPREx9yb

— Eli‎꧁꧂🌍۞ (@erallover) May 23, 2023

This is how war works, it has an internal logic, an internal dynamism of its own

That’s your standard argument which is supposed to justify and excuse everything (you’d probably also use it if Ukraine managed to re-conquer Crimea or all of Donbass and “removed” disloyal elements there). In a banal sense, it’s of course true, Putin set the dynamic in motion with his invasion, on a moral level he and the chauvinistic Russians who cheered it on have no grounds for complaining. However, that doesn’t absolve Western policy-makers from their responsibility towards their own citizens not to get involved in a direct war with Russia. Which means they can’t give Ukraine a blank check to do what it wants, no questions asked.

he must be doing something right when he’s being attacked from both pro-Ukrainians and pro-Russians

Lol, how true. I’ve managed to put Gerard and LatW on the same camp. Perhaps another one of those common instances where Russians and Ukrainians inadvertently prove to be much more similar to each other than they’d like to admit to themselves.

There’s a difference though. Everybody knows that Gerard is the big buffoon of this blog, never to be taken seriously, but my argument with LatW yesterday was much more representative of the unavoidable tensions that are building up in this war. As others have mentioned, there was clearly an element of mental imbalance. We were peacefully discussing matters of little importance, such as ocean temperatures, and all of a sudden she snapped and went on a tirade accusing me of being OK with the killing of children (!).

On the other hand, we are in the middle of a very bloody war that nobody sees an end to. People get very emotional, especially those close to the conflict, and it is illusory to think that rational discussions are possible in these circumstances. I should have known better from my experience in the past. I may have misunderstood this but I think that LatW once mentioned her having some Ukrainian ancestry. I remember this caught my attention because that would explain many of her comments. Not that it matters much and she has no need to clarify anything but I understand that keeping your calm when your people are being bombarded and killed by the thousands on the battlefield is not easy.

In any case, I don’t know what’s going in Europe but in the US I see the contrary of what I predicted some months ago, when I said that the Republicans would accuse the Democrats of being too weak with Russia during the presidential campaign. This was at a time when Biden was resisting pressure to get more deeply involved and adopting one of the most cautious positions in the West. What I see now is an increasing number of rank and file Republicans and some state representatives in different places adopting an anti-Ukraine rhetoric. Even on the left RFK is mobilizing a part of the Dems against US involvement in the war.

I’m sure most people still support Ukraine in the US but Ukraine is in an unstable position where its popular support in the US depends on the MSM continuing to present a propagandistic view of the conflict. Very few people in the US know anything about what happened in Donbass prior to this war or how the US pushed a revolution that alienated a part of the Ukrainian population. They will probably never learn about any of this but in a country like the US you cannot count on the population following meekly what the ever more hated MSM tells them. They proved that they won’t when they elected Trump and voted again for him in 2020 in much higher numbers than expected.

At a fundamental level, the reality of the extremely generous security guarantees that we have given the EE countries and that LatW resented being reminded of yesterday is going to continue being there. Contracts where one party gets much more than another are intrinsically unstable and the beneficiary shouldn’t push it too much. Let’s put it this way: if people in EE believe that they are entitled to the security guarantees that they have from the Western countries and that ordinary citizens in the West truly support this commitment, they should not have any objections to a Swiss-style referendum, with equal opportunities to both parties to make their case, where the question is clear and unambiguous: “Do you agree with our country going to nuclear war to prevent Russia from invading X, Y and Z countries in EE?” I think I know what the answer would be on both sides of the Atlantic, except for maybe somewhere in Scandinavia.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has met former President Donald Trump to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

The meeting took place on Thursday, during Mr Johnson’s visit to the United States.

This week Mr Johnson has also met Republican politicians in Texas and Mr Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo to shore up support for Ukraine.

Mr Trump has previously described Mr Johnson as a friend but their stances on the Ukraine war differ.

Mr Johnson has been a vocal supporter, visiting Ukraine several times and calling for the West to provide more weapons to the country.

Mr Trump, on the other hand, has previously refused to commit to sending military aid to Ukraine if he returned to the White House and would not say who he thought should win the war.

The US has committed $46.65bn of arms and equipment to Ukraine over the past year, making it the largest donor of military aid to the country, followed by the UK, which has committed $7.16bn.

The pair have met several times before, including on the sidelines of the 2019 G7 summit in France.

When Mr Johnson became prime minister, Mr Trump described him as “a good man”, adding: “They call him Britain Trump.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65724800.amp

When Russia declared Kherson and Zaporizhia to be just as Russian as Belgorod, it weakened such distinctions. It’s actions do not come without a price.

I wonder if the Kremlins see these areas as they were in 1990 at the end of the Soviet Era, when the distinctions between Ukrainian and Russian were seen differently. Perhaps they have not acknowledged that a higher percentage of Russians have left these areas (or been driven out) leaving relatively more Ukrainians.

I think AK is too much of a control freak to be an Anarchist.

Ukraine is in an unstable position where its popular support in the US depends on the MSM continuing to present a propagandistic view of the conflict.

I think that’s true. Support for Ukraine among the public in Western states is superficial. It could easily flip, if Ukraine were seen as ungrateful or not much better than Russia. Which is why crazy antics like sending Neo-Nazis in US-made armoured vehicles into Russia might prove to be rather-counterproductive for Ukraine in the end. Of course there’s a hard core of Ukraine supporters who will come up with rationalizations for anything, but they’re a minority (albeit one that is very prominent in the media).
Anyway, much of course depends on how the Ukrainian offensive that’s supposed to begin soon (or has it already begun?) turns out. That should clarify things somewhat.

It’s ok these non-Russian E Euros tend to be short-sighted.

W Euros will get conscripted & just collateral damage molotov-ribbentrop em.

:shrug:

Fools and their dignity are easily parted.

ਅਕਾਲ

Don’t know about his direct culpability, but it is remarkable that FDR became president after this:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_sex_scandal

We were peacefully discussing matters of little importance, such as ocean temperatures, and all of a sudden she snapped and went on a tirade accusing me of being OK with the killing of children (!).

You had chastised Ukraine saying that you have to constantly be on the lookout for a bunker to hide your kids in because of how they act. So I simply threw this is in to remind you that Ukrainian kids are already dying.

But what made me flip out was that you said that Prigozhin is better than Putin. Even if I shouldn’t have flipped out, it is still pretty scandalous when a self-righteous Westerner who used to be dissecting poor Ukrainians for every possible “human rights” transgression (proven or unproven), all of a sudden praises someone who went to prison for 9 years and who is clearly an imperialist fascist supported by possibly tens of millions of imperialistic fascists. Not to mention other antics such as the sledge hammer. Which would be hilarious if it were in a movie, but not in real life.

You tried to offer an answer and an explanation to that, I’m not sure I fully understood it.

It is looking stalemate-y. I’m guess Ukraine probably doesn’t launch a large offensive this year but if it does, I expect it to fail. I’m not sure any large scale Ukrainian offensive success is even possible until Ukraine is able to neutralize Russian air superiority, and I would imagine that is at least a year away

Muh triple-boostered population isn’t stopping support for Ukraine till it’s down to eating newspapers.

You underestimate the hive-mind dedication of W Euros – which has been their main historic strength.

‘Centralized morality’ the individualism of W Euros means they have no alt centre to confide or plan dissent in.

The support may be superficial in a sense, but as you cannot be sure whether the man next to you is a sincere believer you can never discuss it openly.

Ie everything in that society is superficial – doesn’t mean it’s not real.
—
Just my 2c counter-points welcome’d.

Very strange story, one wonders what motivated those undercover sailors.
I suppose the most charitable explanation would be that they took part in homo sex as a necessary sacrifice to bring the real homos to justice. Doesn’t seem very likely though.

“Do you agree with our country going to nuclear war to prevent Russia from invading X, Y and Z countries in EE?”

This type of specific intended scaremongering demagoguery would work even if there would be named some internal US states like California or New York – little doubt there would be popping up some loud paid or even honest “rationalizators” in Utah or Florida about Putin being real genius ruler or too much gay democrats living in those states, so it’s not worth doing nuclear war and US even would be a better place because of getting rid of it, lol

This type of specific intended scaremongering demagoguery would work even if there would be named some internal states like California or New York

No, it wouldn’t, that’s total nonsense.
There’s no intrinsic reason why Americans or Western Europeans should care much about who rules the Baltic states, your NATO membership was essentially an act of charity. imo one mostly determined by the perception of the Baltic states as essentially Western in the sense of Huntington’s model.
This is also one of the reasons why Ukraine’s quest for NATO membership was always bound to be much more controversial. No matter how much AP will try to pretend otherwise or what Lithuanians may think because of some dim memory of their 15th century empire, Ukraine was never really part of the West, however defined, and isn’t really seen as such by most Westerners.

Alright, time for another round of my highly-demanded movie reviews. Since we are approaching mid-year, and I have been slacking off on the reviews, I will be writing a mega-post to make up for the last few months. Here are my previous movie-related posts:

Part One: https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-198/#comment-5589298

Part Two: https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-201/#comment-5666844

Part Three: https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-205/#comment-5747933

2022 Round-Up: https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-205/#comment-5746438

I’ve watched a total of 58 movies in the period starting from January 2023, which comes to a rate of roughly 12 movies per month. I could’ve watched more if I freed up some time, but I’m happy with the books-to-movies balance I’ve established. I think it’s wise to maintain an equilibrium between the two mediums, so that the brain receives an adequate supply of mental and aesthetic nourishment from these respective sources. There is some overlap, but books primarily provide knowledge, while movies function as a source of beauty.

Here are my top 15 movies watched this year so far, in order:

1) Socrates (1971 – Rossellini – Italian)
2) The Godfather I (1972 – Coppola – American)
3) The Godfather II (1974 – Coppola – American)
4) Burnt By The Sun (1994 – Mikhalkov – Russian)
5) Woman In The Dunes (1964 – Teshigahara – Japanese)
6) Annie Hall (1977 – Allen – American)
7) Wild Strawberries (1957 – Bergman – Swedish)
8) Europe ‘51 (1952 – Rossellini – Italian)
9) Winter Sleep (2014 – Ceylan – Turkish)
10) Belle de Jour (1967 – Bunuel – French)
11) Return To Dust (2022 – Ruijun – Chinese)
12) Taxi Driver (1976 – Scorsese – American)
13) 2001: Space Odyssey (1968 – Kubrick – American)
14) A Moment Of Innocence (1996 – Makhmalbaf – Iranian)
15) Wedding In Galilee (1987 – Khleifi – Palestinian)

My assessment of world cinema has changed somewhat since last time I posted. In terms of quantity and quality of cinematic output, the Americansky still reigns supreme, with a solid repertoire of middle and high-brow movies produced to a high standard of excellence (though of course with a lot of garbage thrown in – but that is true of every national cinema). I’ve also decided to downgrade Iranian cinema from its place alongside the Americano, to a position equivalent to Russian and Japanese cinemas, since I realized the quantity of good Iranian movies pales in comparison to American movies, even when the population differential is taken into account.

I tend to instinctively lump British cinema in with its Anglo compatriot across the Atlantic, given the similarities & connections between the two industries (were Hitchcock and Kubrick British or American directors? Doesn’t matter imho – potatoe, potato). But if British cinema were separated from American, it would rank just below at number two. The British are skilled at producing solid middle-brow movies such as Death Of Stalin, Christmas Carol, Get Carter, Darkest Hour, Lord Of The Rings, Life Of Brian, In The Loop, Shaun Of The Dead, The Trip, and Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels. Again, the Anglo capability to combine intelligence with entertainment is unsurpassed, and that is why they occupy the pre-eminent position in my estimation of world cinema.

European cinema has experienced some improvement in my rankings, owing to a few excellent movies I’ve watched, and my discovery of the Italian genius, Roberto Rossellini, whose movies I’ve already touched on before. The other excellent movie was Wild Strawberries, by the arthouse circuit’s favorite ex-Nazi, Ingmar Bergman. I’ve also written a review on this movie previously, lauding it for the elegant cinematography, intelligent characterization, and subtle pathos (but also criticizing the pseudo-philosophy and surrealism). The 1967 French movie Belle de Jour was also an unexpectedly charming film, much better imo than Buenuel’s other supposed masterpiece, Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, which I couldn’t bring myself to finish all the way through. European directors definitely possess the capability and potential to surpass Anglo-American cinema in quantity and quality, if it were not for their tendency towards pretentious surrealism and lazy obscurantism. But i’ve written enough on this topic before, so will stop here.

Russian cinema remains an enigma wrapped in mystery – highly variable in quality, with a few great movies skewing the curve just enough to earn a top place in my rankings, but a boatload of guided sleep meditations disguised as movies to go along with them. Characteristic of this venerable country’s cinematic tradition, I find Nikita Mikhalkov to be the most alluring Russian director i’ve watched thus far. He is capable of producing outstandingly intelligent, yet simultaneously schlocky snoozefests such as Without Witness, Barber Of Siberia, and Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano. At the same time, his 1994 film Burnt By The Sun was one of the best movies i’ve watched so far, and I’ve touched upon its merits before here. I believe Russian directors can produce more first-rate films if only they’d take cues from the Americansky instead of the Francusky. The script-writing (always the base of any great movie) potential is already there given the wealth and depth of Russian literature, but the cinematographic techniques are disappointingly lackluster. Again, there is a reason why American high-brow movies are watched all over the world, while Russian movies remain in obscurity. It is due to the entertainment factor.

Over in the East, Japanese and Iranian cinemas continue to produce some very high-quality, and what is more important – unique, movies, which are really quite stellar, but often difficult to access. I’ve watched comparatively fewer Japanese and Iranian movies than Western or Arabic ones, but their quality tends to be more consistent than other regions around the globe. Woman In The Dunes was an astonishingly intelligent and captivating thriller, and I think would appeal to a wide range of people, despite it being a bit artsy/avant-garde. I’ve also watched another of Teshigahara’s films, Pitfall, which was good but not quite enough to earn a position in my list. The Chinese movie Return To Dust was an excellent piece of cinematic realism; it stays with you long after viewing. It also happens to be one of the two 21st century movies on my list, which gives me some hope that Chinese cinema can develop into a top-tier cinema someday (I will need to watch more Chinese films to arrive to a conclusion).

The most interesting movie I’ve watched this year was the 2014 Turkish drama Winter Sleep. It contains perhaps the most intellectual dialogue I’ve encountered thus far, which in retrospect is not surprising, given it is an adaptation of a Chekhov novella. I’ve watched two other Chekhov-inspired movies, Unfinished Piece for the Player Piano and My Uncle Vanya, both of which addressed high-brow topics unusual for a film. But like these two movies, Winter Sleep suffers from an overload of melancholy, which when compounded by the snail’s pace, Turkish linguistics, and Anatolian drabness, makes for unpleasant viewing. These are the reasons this movie fails to earn a 10/10 in my book. But the dialogue really is quite astonishing; the topics addressed include: aesthetics, popularity, philanthropy, nietzscheanism, satyagraha, habits, expertise, criticism, creativity, trust and siblings. The casting decisions were top-quality, the music classical, and the execution flawless. From an objective standpoint, one of the best movies i’ve watched this year, though sadly not a personal favorite.

Hey ! Welcome back !

I feel like the public would benefit from a book about the history of cracking down on gays – I mean, which were the failures and which were the most effective methods.

Apparently, this Arnold guy thought it was a good idea to use gays to infiltrate gay networks. There is a certain logic to it (Isn’t that what Project Veritas did?) – but evidently he let it get out of hand.

And altogether, it seems like a small payoff, 13 homos (assuming all) to get 17. Unless perhaps we suppose the courtmartialed were super-gays spreading syphilis everywhere. But then that raises its own issues.

It has successively been Javelins, switchblade drones and HIMARS that would stop Russia short. Now it is F16’s and soon it will be ATACMS. All can hurt the Russians, but it will not be able to stop them. At bottom the Ukrainian strategy since 2014 has been to get America to fight Russia and when they get F16s and ATACMS they will have a way. The cross border raid by Ukraine into Russia proper was done was using Humvees, and that was deliberate. The F16 will be used similarly. Kiev has only one way to go: inveigle the US into a war with Russia.

I feel like the public would benefit from a book about the history of cracking down on gays – I mean, which were the failures and which were the most effective methods.

Don’t see the benefit, they’re not really hidden these days.
There’s an upcoming election in my city, and one of the candidates is depicted together with his “husband” in his election brochure. They’re shown taking a walk with their Golden Retriever. imo the choice of that breed (dumb, non-threatening and regarded as a family dog) is deliberate, so voters don’t think so much about the anal intercourse the owners are probably engaging in.

What I see now is an increasing number of rank and file Republicans and some state representatives in different places adopting an anti-Ukraine rhetoric. Even on the left RFK is mobilizing a part of the Dems against US involvement in the war.

I’m sure most people still support Ukraine in the US but Ukraine is in an unstable position where its popular support in the US depends on the MSM continuing to present a propagandistic view of the conflict.

I concur.

The 🇺🇦fad🇺🇦 may be mile wide but it is inch deep support, like being a “Sanctuary City”. Platitudes are easy. When there is a call to actually sacrifice, how many will do so? Where does Ukraine show up on an important issues list? It is not top 10.

Headed into a major election cycle, supporting Kiev is simply not going to register. Again, the question about cuts are “When?” And “How large?” The best Zelensky can hope for is only a 50% drop in transfers, and it could be a 75%+ decrease. A foreign war that cannot be won is a political liability.

PEACE 😇

With each other? Or, with the dog?

What are you implying?

PEACE 😇

No, it wouldn’t, that’s total nonsense.

At least some greasy williamses or radical centers would disagree, if we’re assuming them being as real existing US’ians and not RF’ians pretending to be such;

There’s no intrinsic reason why

Just as there was no intrinsic reason why Americans or real* Western Europeans should care much about who rules tiny spot of half-Berlin in the middle of internationally recognized Warsaw pact zone:

*considering mental status of Germany as part of Western Europe was nowhere near certain at the time as ideas of Mittel Europe being distinct entity from Western Europe were rather mainstream.

Public opinion is generally top down, and this is especially true in affluent democracies.

Europe will not, come what may, ever spend more than 1-2% of their GDP on Ukraine/the war. As long as the elites universally believe that Ukraine must be supported at that level, the European populations won’t rebel. It’s simply too small an amount of wealth to revolt over.

If spending on the war were something like 10% of GDP, then you’d be looking at an eventual revolt.

No matter how much AP will try to pretend otherwise or what Lithuanians may think because of some dim memory of their 15th century empire, Ukraine was never really part of the West, however defined

The ignorant my assume so, but those familiar disagree with your claim. Hundreds of years spent as part of Poland or Lithuania or Austria have made an impact. Ukraine is certainly more Western than places like Bulgaria.

The only thing holding that “reconciliation” together is actually common hatred of Russia and Russians

No.

Ukrainians are very grateful to Poles for sheltering their women and children when this was needed. They truly acted like a brotherly people. Poland is the most popular country in Ukraine.

And many Poles admire Ukrainian bravery.

Apart from that, it’s difficult to see by what standard Poles and Ukrainians could be said to be “brothers”. In culture, religion etc. the eastern half of Ukraine must have been influenced much more by Russia than by Poland over the last four centuries

Not quite. Even under Russia, Polish influence was powerful. The Kiev Mohyla Orthodox Academy for example used Polish and Latin as languages of instruction and was on a Jesuit model. Generations of local elites studied there. Last ethnic Polish mayor of Kiev was charge as late as the 1890s.

And the part of Ukraine that was intertwined with Poland until fairly recently…well, Poles were butchered en masse there during WW2, and the people responsible for those massacres are still revered as national heroes in Galicia

But not for the massacres. And with no Polish claims, hard feelings have mostly disappeared and relations are very good. Galician and Polish off the boaters often mingle abroad, using each other’s buildings and such. They are very similar people. A Ukrainian contractor I know often hires Polish construction workers, and western Ukrainians often work in Polish stores. I once saw Poles partying at a Ukrainian National Home, under a portrait of Bandera on the wall.

Eastern Ukrainians are more similar to Russians, but so many Easterners have been working in Poland (or now sent there for safety) that this may be changing.

scaremongering demagoguery

This is much more simple than you make it to be. I wouldn’t expect in my wildest dreams that a majority of Lithuanians would be willing to get fried in a nuclear war to prevent the Spaniards from subjugating a Basque independentist uprising. Or to defend Spain’s sovereignty over its African enclaves for that matter. It’s just a ridiculous thought. Of course you wouldn’t.

I would have to be mad to demand that level of solidarity when everybody in the EU fights tooth and nail for the last scraps on the economic table. In fact, quite recently Poland and some other EE nations closed their borders to Ukrainian agricultural exports. That’s how deep inter-European solidarity goes when it starts affecting people’s everyday matters, such as their pockets.

However, we have all got accustomed to pretend that Article 5 doesn’t exist or that Article 5 applied to a conflict with Russia would not easily lead to a nuclear exchange. To me this war has proven that sliding to a nuclear conflict is much easier than I would have ever thought a year and a half ago. Everybody has made their intentions very explicit: we will defend every inch of NATO territory and a world without Russia is not a world worth living in. Human nature is what it is and the military leaders making these threats will find it very difficult to back down if the other side ignores them.

I don’t know why discussing these things openly should raise any blisters among us. It’s just bringing in the open a situation our leaders put us all in without asking anyone. I’m not even blaming EEs. I wasn’t paying any attention at the time but I’m sure the pressure came from the West. Brussels imposed NATO membership to all EE applicants to the EU, just like they had done previously to the Mediterranean members of the Union. In the 80s the ruling socialists in Spain were strong-armed by Brussels/Washington to join NATO if they wanted to join the Common Market and President Felipe Gonzalez had to convoke a referendum where he campaigned in favor shortly after having won the elections campaigning against it.

I’m not against defense treaties per se. But first of all, they need to be truly defensive, not expansionist. And second, they must be transparent and reflect the true interests of the population, without committing them to dangers they would never accept if asked openly. What we have right now is a mockery of democracy, both in the West and in EE.

with their Golden Retriever

Am surprised it wasn’t a black dog. Seems the politik thing now.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_dog_syndrome

Have you ever read Columella? Have heard he recommended black guard dogs, with the justification that they were hard to see at night. Thought it might be because of some link with aggression that he didn’t understand. But I read someone claim he was talking about painting the dog or dying its fur. Some say that the Irish painted their wolfhounds – am not familiar with a direct source, but IIRC, the dogs of the mythical hero Finn McCool had improbable colors.

Of course, there was some study that noted golden English cocker spaniels were more aggressive, but I think that is breed dependent. Have known golden retrievers that would not flinch if you stepped on them.

Nixon’s Checkers dog was a black and white cocker spaniel. I assume American. Not sure if the colors have the same associations in the American breed.

Am thinking about this paragraph in Cline’s 1177 BC book:

It should be emphasized that these two kings (of Amurru and Ugarit) were not necessarily related at all, even by marriage. Not all were, and not all appreciated this shortcut approach to diplomatic relations. The Hittites of Anatolia seem to have been especially prickly in this regard, for one Hittite king wrote to another king: “Why should I write to you in terms of brotherhood? Are we sons of the same mother?”20

Tonight I know I will have nightmares about Soros finding some ark that spews out stampeding Lizzos.

I keep trying to think scientifically and dismiss it: even if cardiovascular was not a problem, there must be a limit to her speed based on the shearing stress put up on the leg bones by all that mass. But, then again, Gronk ran fast, even though he was of a similar weight.

Tonight I know I will have nightmares about Soros finding some ark that spews out stampeding Lizzos.

A dream with Soros is already a nightmare, w/o any Lizzos.

I think he is a better actor than the clown.

The Jewish chef has had enough of Putin. He was clearly trolling him in that video.

He may even be making a deal with the clown.

Prigozhin has understandably grown tired of bunker dwarf.

I guess a mass murdering chef can grow tired of a mass murdering dwarf if he is incompetent.

Huh.

You really are a vampirestein.

Notice that these issues like Arming Ukraine never get on the ballot. By the time all the important decisions are made it’s all set in stone.

There’s a “whiff of sulphur” in Ukrainian nationalism.

LMAO – something that literally harms mostly the Pindossi LNG export cartel to the EU is what a retard like you is celebrating? These are your masters you are disrespecting you dumbfuck.

Russia is now focusing since operation Z on our reliable partners in Europe, so these are the ones on long-term, pipeline contracts anyway you idiot……..so the least effected by the content in your comment.

Though we are also a significant player in the LNG to Europe market, our supplies have not been sanctioned, and remain the same volumes…….but US supplies now 5 times more than us……or according to the BS you have linked to – 0 dollars extra earned!

Almost as dumb as your Lithuanian dipshit mathematics “skills” of twice as many Lithuanian earthworms dying than are born in a year is “population growth”……..we have EU scum mathematics saying “gas supplies replaced”, when LNG now not from Russia is about 1/7th of daily pipleline Russian gas that was delivered before Operation Z!

Dumb POS.

Also, gas storage in EU is finite you imbecile, about 25% of annual usage stored – in zero way does them being filled early actually solve the core of the problem.

Tonight I know I will have nightmares about Soros finding some ark that spews out stampeding Lizzos.

A dream with Soros is already a nightmare, w/o any Lizzos.

Your refuge in a mere nightmare will not succeed.

The IslamoSoros has impregnated Lizzo. The begat destroyer is named… LIZZILLA. It is the omen of the end of time…. Hopefully…

If LIZZILLA exists and time does not end… That is even worse…

PEACE 😇

You really are a vampirestein.

I’m not Jewish.

Your dwarf dictator however has a Nosferatu Hebrew in charge of the main front that appears ready to turn against his master.

You get upset with me for not cheering the dwarf dictator and yet he not only made a Jewish chef extremely rich but let him build up a private army.

That is looking like a poor judgement on the part of Putin who seems to think it is a good idea to have a Jewish chef and a defense minister with zero military training run a war. Both simply knew Putin and were appointed like mobsters. Amusingly the Jewish chef is doing better than the minister.

You also have terrible judgement given that you are still more offended by a forum poster in the US than a mass murdering dwarf who makes annual trips to Israel and brags about being friends with Netanyahu.

Your mind is a complete mess. Your mistake was emotionally attaching yourself to a dictator who was known to poison the opposition before this war even started. Someone willing to kill the opposition instead of debating them is a complete coward and criminal.

I’m unclear if you meant to, but I don’t see how this post contradicts anything that Sean said. If anything, it makes the Ukrainian position seem grimmer. It raises the question as to how much “good” fighting forces they have if they are resorting to such low grade conscription.

I’m aware the the Russians are doing similar things with low grade cannon fodder, but my impression that for them it is more about expediency than desperation.

I’m honestly not sure if AK is trolling or not by identifying as a BBQ’ed Plantain or whatever he feels his true nature is. At this point though the world has gotten so whacked that who can disentangle it?

However, anyone who ironically identifies as a BBQ’ed Plantain should remember the ironclad rule of nature that if you enjoy something ironically for any length of time the enjoyment will cease to be ironic.

Thanks for posting this! I will definitely check some of these titles out. Personally, I probably only watch 12 movies a year so I tend to be picky on what I spend my time on. I really do appreciate you passing on obscure gems that I would certainly never stumble across otherwise.

AK has probably been affected by Yegor Prosvirnin’s demise. If he’s not trolling, then it’s depression.

PMC Wagner Group leader Y. Prigozhin visiting Wagner Group fighters in part of its network of base camps.

Notice Wagner Chechens and Buryats are among the warriors. 🤙

Prigozhin is never far from his men making sure they are meeting or exceeding their responsibilities and also… pic.twitter.com/iGtozoDR5W

— James Porrazzo (@JamesPorrazzo) May 26, 2023

Given how close he appears to be put himself to the combat zone, you really have to wonder at how Prigozhin’s not been shot with a HIMARS missile or killed in some other clever assassination attempt like Dugina was killed. It’s a Kosher Life, very Hollywood. It’s like he’s keeping Good Company with the Company and there is some other agenda surrounding him.

Surely, it couldn’t be that difficult to find him as he’s continuously grandstanding on the mountains of Russian corpses the Ukies are generating in the ranks of the Punishment Battalion Mobiks? Just find the pile of Russian skulls and there you’ll find Nosferatu himself feeding on their sacrificed flesh. Amirite?

The war I had anticipated as far back as 2014 was to exploit the legal question of Russia’s presence in Crimea. Now it looks like how a Russian Chinese alliance might form and under what conditions it will fight.

These lovely little wars can get out of control so fast.

But not for the massacres. And with no Polish claims, hard feelings have mostly disappeared and relations are very good. Galician and Polish off the boaters often mingle abroad, using each other’s buildings and such. They are very similar people. A Ukrainian contractor I know often hires Polish construction workers, and western Ukrainians often work in Polish stores. I once saw Poles partying at a Ukrainian National Home, under a portrait of Bandera on the wall.

Worth noting that Ukraine will also have a lot of much better heroes as a result of the current war, so it can venerate them much more than Bandera & Co. and thus improve its relationship with Poland and Poles even further.

Eastern Ukrainians are more similar to Russians, but so many Easterners have been working in Poland (or now sent there for safety) that this may be changing.

Donbass Sovoks are very similar to Russians but Russia really fucked them over since 2014. Either letting Ukraine quickly crush the Donbass uprising or quickly annexing the Donbass into Russia would have both been superior options to the course of action that Russia actually pursued there in real life: Eight years of warfare and massive economic decline.

but it is what is is…do you think using Russian Neo-Nazis as proxies is compatible with any of that?

Better that they (and/or Ukrainian Neo-Nazis) serve as cannon fodder than more decent Ukrainians. A lot of more decent Ukrainians have already given up their lives in this war, after all.

Ukraine was never really part of the West, however defined, and isn’t really seen as such by most Westerners.

Central and Western Ukraine belonged to Poland until the 17th and 18th centuries, Western Ukraine was a part of Austria-Hungary as late as the early 20th century, and Ukraine was briefly included in the German sphere of influence in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Had that treaty held, Ukraine’s western orientation would have likely been more solidly acknowledged by now. Ukraine itself would probably be in much better shape as well by now in such a scenario due to it having German tutelage for over a century within a grand German-dominated Mitteleuropa, one that could have perhaps eventually become an alternative version of the European Union.

This is also one of the reasons why Ukraine’s quest for NATO membership was always bound to be much more controversial.

Well, Ukrainian public opinion itself was opposed to NATO membership, sometimes solidily opposed to this, until 2014. Nowadays Ukrainians want to join NATO even in southern and eastern Ukraine by overwhelming margins. How times change!

Do a review of Welcome to the Dollhouse. And Another Day in Paradise (1998). And A Simple Plan (1998).

I think you’d really like the latter two, particularly Paradise. The film features Natalie Wood’s daughter. I’m not certain how you’d feel about Dollhouse.

Since you seem to really enjoy boring foreign films where nothing happens, you’d probably also like Kiss or Kill (1997), although I personally am not crazy about it.

A mainstream film back from before mainstream films became 100% junk that is somewhat interesting is The Boys Next Door (1985). The film features the most well done ass kicking scene I’ve ever seen, it scared the shit out of me as a kid. Also the film manages to really take you back into 1980’s Los Angeles, a world that no longer exists.

Is this the first time you watched those movies in your top 15 list? If so, gotta say, it’s rare to come across an English-speaking adult who hasn’t watched at least one of the Godfathers.

I might have asked you this before, but since you mentioned him, have you seen the Iranian movie Close-Up, about someone trying to impersonate the director Makhmalbaf?

West Berlin should have been exchanged for Thuringia lol. Or at least that’s what apparently some people actually argued in favor of during the Cold War.

These guys have never had such intentions. They just want a Euro friendly, mono-ethnic environment in their own home country. And Ukraine is almost like home to them anyway. But I agree that we should be careful here, since many Americans may not like this or misunderstand it.

If only these guys could actually get Russians to breed like Israeli Jews or, for that matter, like Nazi-era Germans if these guys will ever come to power in Russia.

I agree that the West should avoid direct war with Russia in this war unless Russia actually uses nukes and/or chemical weapons within Ukraine, but I suspect that the West will need to give Ukraine some sort of legally binding security guarantees that it (the West) will fight for Ukraine in the event of a future Russo-Ukrainian War. These security guarantees can be either NATO membership or some arrangement outside of NATO, such as the one proposed here:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/ukraine/nato-membership-case-security-guarantee-ukraine

Have some kind of international (UN?) peacekeeping force be stationed in Ukraine after the end of the war which includes NATO countries but is led by a non-NATO member (such as an Indian). The NATO presence in this international force will indicate that NATO would be prepared to go to war for Ukraine in the event of a future Russo-Ukrainian War. If necessary, this guarantee can be in writing, in the form of a legally binding document/treaty between NATO and Ukraine.

Ukraine is very important for the West since a pro-Western Ukraine means a larger EU in the long-run if Ukraine can actually successfully clean up its corruption issue. This means even larger economies of scale for the EU. I also support Turkish EU membership for the same reason and also because Turks are fairly moderate and also fairly intelligent Muslims on average.

These people are zeros.

Neuralink cleared for human trials

Neuralink – Elon Musk’s brain-implant company – said on Twitter that it has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct human trials. The company has been building a device that can be surgically inserted into the brain to sync up with computers, potentially treating conditions such as paralysis and blindness. Previous trials had only been done on animals, and an earlier bid by Neuralink to win FDA approval was rejected on safety grounds. The FDA has yet to comment, but experts have warned the brain implants would require extensive testing to overcome “technical and ethical challenges.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65717487

Brain implants help paralysed man to walk again

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-65689580

Is this the first time you watched those movies in your top 15 list? If so, gotta say, it’s rare to come across an English-speaking adult who hasn’t watched at least one of the Godfathers.

Nah, I’ve watched the Godfather trilogy before when I was 13-14. This was the only re-watch on the list.

Come to think of it, it is indeed rare to come across an English-speaker who hasn’t watched the Godfather. I mentioned it before to a group of people, and nearly everyone is aware of it on some level.

I wonder what sort of impact this would have on society. I remember when I watched it as a teenager, I became completely enamored with the gangster way of life, wanted to emulate Don Corleone. I later figured out that mobsters were mostly psychotic dolts who ended up dead or prison before age 50, but that’s not the really the main impression given by the Godfather movie. Its portrayal of Vito Corleone as a soft-spoken, loyal, wise, generous, and caring father can really cause lots of people to admire him, and some impressionable young males to wish to emulate him. Michael Corleone is perhaps less sympathetically portrayed, but still you can see how some may idolize him.

In The Republic, Plato spoke forcefully of the need to censor poetry and theatre which encourages young Athenians to adopt corrupt/immoral practices. This corruption primarily occurs when otherwise admirable heroes perform these immoral actions. I think the Godfather would definitely fall under the Platonic censor; which begs the question: is it worth it to ban works such as the Godfather from public viewing, lest it corrupt the youth into thinking gangsterism is admirable? Suppose the movie did cause a young male to head down the path of criminality. Would it be sufficient cause to censor one of the greatest works of cinema, and indeed art, known to man?

A thought to ponder.

have you seen the Iranian movie Close-Up, about someone trying to impersonate the director Makhmalbaf?

No, I was put off from Kiarostami by that horrid arthouse garbage, Certified Copy. But perhaps I’ll give him another try, I hope his Iranian films are less Euro-influenced than the above-mentioned flick.

@Greasy

Since you seem to really enjoy boring foreign films where nothing happens

I suppose that’s true; though I also despise many plotless, slow-paced foreign movies. The key factor that distinguishes the good ones from the bad is charm. I can watch Annie Hall for 24 hours on repeat, even though nothing significant really happens, because it is full of clever jokes, likeable characters, and beautiful visuals. But some charmless, depressive arthouse I shall not tolerate.

Thanks for the recommendations, will check some of them out.

Just as there was no intrinsic reason why Americans or real* Western Europeans should care much about who rules tiny spot of half-Berlin in the middle of internationally recognized Warsaw pact zone:

Would the US really have risked nuclear war just over Berlin? I’m far from convinced. And if so, it didn’t really make any sense tbh. Might have been better to just give West Berlin up (given the long-term trajectory of the city and its demographic composition today it was a pretty pointless exercise anyway).

considering mental status of Germany as part of Western Europe was nowhere near certain at the time as ideas of Mittel Europe being distinct entity from Western Europe were rather mainstream.

There were hard power reasons for keeping West Germany out of the Soviet sphere, it contained a major concentration of industry, and if all of Germany had fallen to the Soviets, defense of Western Europe would have been very difficult. If all of Western Europe had fallen under Soviet hegemony, the US would have been geopolitically isolated (though I’m not sure how much of a real risk that actually was, apart maybe from the earliest phase of the Cold War).
As for the cultural argument: Yes, I know, Sonderweg and all that. But Germany was an integral part of Latin Christendom, it participated in all the major cultural developments. Baltic States also belong essentially to the Western, “Latin” sphere, albeit somewhat at the margins. That’s why their accession to NATO wasn’t that controversial in the West, despite the practical obstacles like their Russian minorities and the difficulties of their defense. I think the Russians view it in similar terms, that’s why they eventually accepted the status of the Baltic states as NATO members. Ukraine is something very different, at best a contested space torn between East and West. That’s also one of the reasons why the conflict over it is so dangerous.

Ukrainians are very grateful to Poles for sheltering their women and children when this was needed. They truly acted like a brotherly people. Poland is the most popular country in Ukraine.

Strange argument, given how many Ukrainians there are now in Germany, with privileged access to the welfare system. This can hardly be the determining factor.

Even under Russia, Polish influence was powerful.

Maybe, but that still would only make Ukraine somewhat of a hybrid zone. And today it seems to me far more Ukrainians have relatives in Russia (and vice versa) than in Poland (unless one counts very recent immigrants). The Russian language is widely used in everyday affairs in a large part of Ukraine…maybe that will change because of the war and the anti-Russian sentiment it has understandably generated. But Ukrainians will hardly start speaking Polish instead.
Anyway, none of that means Russian claims on Ukraine are legitimate. But I think I’m justified in claiming that Ukraine isn’t really seen as “Western” even by most Americans in the way Britain or France, or even Poland, would be seen…and that has consequences (or at least should imo) for the kind of sacrifices people are willing to make on its behalf.

But not for the massacres.

Ok, I suppose Germans could then start honouring Waffen-SS divisions again, as long as it’s specified it’s only for the defense of East Prussia or something similar.
I mean, come on, that level of sophistry is really a bit much.

West Berlin should have been exchanged for Thuringia lol. Or at least that’s what apparently some people actually argued in favor of during the Cold War.

Never heard of that, I think you’re mixing it up with what actually happened in 1945. iirc one of my grandmother’s brothers who had been at the eastern front got as far as Thuringia in early 1945 where he was taken prisoner by the Americans. When the Americans withdrew from Thuringia in summer 1945 in exchange for their occupation zone in Berlin, they handed over all their pows to the Soviets, and he was transferred to the Soviet Union (Caucasus iirc).
Granted, he admitted life was horrible for everybody in the Soviet Union because of the lack of food, so at least in that regard there was no reason to complain.

Wonder how much of the decline since about 1970 was really related to the falling off of the energy use curve in the US, due to regulation. Not getting off the gold standard (to which things like brutalism are often attributed) but energy specifically and the regulations on nuclear power.

Was the past so optimistic about the future because everyone was seeing the dramatic growth in energy use? And is that why China seems like it was optimistic in recent history? Not sure how true now.

Have you ever read Columella?

No, that’s one part of Latin “literature” I’m going to skip.
Surprising that quite a few of these agricultural writers have survived (e. g. Cato’s only extant work), one wonders if they actually were useful.

Nixon’s Checkers dog was a black and white cocker spaniel.

Erich Honecker had a cocker spaniel. It was totally spoilt and allowed to do what it wanted. Even bit the STASI bodyguards.

….. has understandably grown tired of bunker dwarf.

The Israeli PM, who was acting as a go between for possible negotiations, said Zelensky worries he was a targeted for assassination’s and received an assurance through the Israelis from Putin that he was not a target, whereupon Zelemsky came out and held a press coference in the street and showed the press how fearless he was. And Klitchko the giant had some things to say about how despite the Americans telling him everything, Zelensky refused to belive that there would be an invasion and as a result left Kiev far more vulnerable than it had to be.

The Jewish chef has had enough of Putin. He was clearly trolling him in that video.

Prigozhin hever even says anything bad about Surovikin (the likely designer of the Bakhmut operation), I cannot see Prigozhin going postal at Putin. Even if he was secretely a sensitive soul upset at the losses, Russians are not that excitable. They move just fast enough.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/0Akf_OfD2fk

Anyway Prigozhin has came to the fore through the war in Ukraine. Prigozhin is a self made man rather than an ideas one, he is a driver of the workforce as when was the head of the troll farm that was supposed to have aided Trump to get elected, now as Prigozhin himself says he never was a chef because he can’t cook but he is the Kremlin’s butcher. Wagner’s convicts are totally disposable so what does it matter if they all get KIA?; cheaper than keeping them in prison. Did you see that footage of an ear shatteringly near miss by Ukrainian artillery on Prigozhin, where he instantly jokes to the cameraman though the dust: “Are you alive” … Good or there would be no one to make the film”. On the previous open thread I posted the bit a second later where he was chortling.

Putin may be behind the pessimistic tone of late on Russian state TV, because he wants to create a patriotic fervor that he can mount a more complete mobilisation on the back of. Prigozhin’s bitching and complaining is doubtless authorised to a considerable extent. He is prolly acting as a cat’s paw for Putin to pressure the army, which would be unseemly for him to do directly as head of state. Prigozhin is said to call Putin ‘Papa’. I think that really is how close they are.

Re: What have we done to offend God?

Contrary to Christianity 1.0, I don’t believe God is the Creator of the world we see,
and God is definitely not in the business of punishing anyone. I subscribe
to Christianity 2.0 which is still in its infancy, and is yet to emerge into
the cultural mainstream. Its origins go back to New England Transcenden-
talism (esp. Emerson) and the New Thought Movement (e.g. Mary Baker
Eddy’s Christian Science). In Christianity 2.0 we are regarded not as sinners but
rather as students and the world is seen as a spiritual school. When we have ,
pleasant, uneventful lives, this simply means that we have chosen to learn at a
slower pace. If we want to learn faster, then we choose a challenging life with
more suffering. So suffering is definitely not regarded as divine punishment.
God is merciful, and everyone is saved eventually, even Hitler and Stalin.
Except we typically don’t use the term ‘saved’ but rather ‘awake’ or ‘enlightened.’

Poland, specifically, has been in many ways a maternal country. It was noticed
that Poland was hardly affected in ca. 1350 when the Black Death killed as
many as 30-50% of the West Europeans. Perhaps that’s when many Europeans
began to feel, “When you’re in danger, run to Poland.” What probably helped
was that in the 1500s Christianity in Poland began to be interpreted as a form of
pacifism. Poland even refused to have a standing army. This was during
the Religious Wars when the West Europeans (esp. Germanics and French)
were butchering each other with glee. The Germans even descended to
the level of cannibalism. Predictably, thousands of Europeans ran to
Poland, esp. Italians, Scots, and Jews. Jews felt they found themselves
in paradise, and immediately had a population explosion. In the years
preceding the French Revolution, hundreds of French noble families
ran to Poland (note: not to Germany), and spent the
revolutionary years in Poland. In the late 1930s the German Jews
finally started coming to their senses, and began to escape to Poland.
But by then it was too late. So the fact that Poland is now hosting
2.5-3 million Ukrainians is one more example of Poland acting as
maternal country with refugees seeking safety under her ample skirts.

Actually, Polish Christians, e.g. in the last 150 years, were mostly spared
the kind of suffering that befell the Germans and the Russians (and
Ukrainians). With the Germans, it was like a wrecking ball hit the
whole country and the entire population, esp. if we take seriously
the claim that millions of Germans were killed after May 1945. I just
hope that Germans have learned their lessons. But, unfortunately,
the Germanics have always been known as slow learners.

I think the Godfather would definitely fall under the Platonic censor; which begs the question: is it worth it to ban works such as the Godfather from public viewing, lest it corrupt the youth into thinking gangsterism is admirable?

Godfather was rated R, Restricted. 13-14 year olds were not supposed to be able to watch it without their parents or at least an adult accompanying them. Gangsterism was not a factor. It was Sonny shagging Lucy upstairs at Connie’s wedding reception.

Surprising that quite a few of these agricultural writers have survived

I thought Xenophon was quite interesting, but of course I never read his agricultural stuff. And I read him filtered.

Personally, am fascinated by the dogs of the ancient world.

One dog in Iran that I think might be an old survivor is called the Sarabi or Persian Mastiff. (Am sure it has changed some)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarabi_dog

Don’t know if I am mistaken about this, but what is remarkable to me is that it seems to live a long time (12-17 yrs) for such a large breed of dog (up to 90 kg). Perhaps, this somehow indicates that it is an old breed.

Here at home we’ll play in the city
Powered by the sun
Perfect weather for a streamlined world
There’ll be spandex jackets for everyone
On that train all graphite a glitter
Undersea by rail
Ninety minutes from new york to paris
(More leisure for artists everywhere)
A just machine to make big decisions
Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision
We’ll be clean when their work is done
We’ll be eternally free yes and eternally young

Donald Fagen
I.G.Y.

Poland even refused to have a standing army.

Probably because its selfish nobles didn’t want to pay the taxes necessary for it. End result of course was that Poland lost its independence.

In the years preceding the French Revolution, hundreds of French noble families ran to Poland (note: not to Germany)

Plenty of Huguenots fled to Prussia.

In the late 1930s the German Jews finally started coming to their senses, and began to escape to Poland.

Poland didn’t even want to let Jews with origins in Poland come back:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_expulsion_of_Polish_Jews_from_Germany#Origins
Poles have at least some things they can be legitimately proud of…why do you have to make such made-up claims that can be easily refuted?

I just hope that Germans have learned their lessons.

It’s not really in our hands (see my original comment).

“Ukrainians are very grateful to Poles for sheltering their women and children when this was needed. They truly acted like a brotherly people. Poland is the most popular country in Ukraine.”

Strange argument, given how many Ukrainians there are now in Germany, with privileged access to the welfare system. This can hardly be the determining factor.

There are more refugees in Poland, and the help has been very grassroots (i.e., Poles often taking Ukrainians into their homes, Poles who have apartments were donating them for use). At my cousin’s church in Poland (he is 3/4 Polish and church is Roman Catholic, in central Poland) the parishioners donated time and money to build an apartment building for refugees. This sort of thing is commonplace.

Combine this with consistently strong military aid and political support (Germany has stepped up but at the beginning and during Merkel’s long rule this had not been the case). Polish volunteers have been coming to Ukraine to fight, also.

Also cultures and languages are similar.

Btw the one couple in my family who have stayed in Germany are expecting a child. The husband is already being productive and working. These are probably the kinds of refugees Merkel foolishly hoped the Syrians would be. Not that having large numbers of foreigners is necessarily a good thing, even if they are not parasitical or violent.

“Even under Russia, Polish influence was powerful.”

Maybe, but that still would only make Ukraine somewhat of a hybrid zone

Culturally yes. Russia itself is a hybrid semi-Western place. So in Ukraine, you have a more-Western-strongly-influenced-by-Poland (that would be one word in German) hybrid of a hybrid. At what point does it cease being “Western?”

The Russian language is widely used in everyday affairs in a large part of Ukraine…maybe that will change because of the war and the anti-Russian sentiment it has understandably generated. But Ukrainians will hardly start speaking Polish instead.

Russian is being replaced by Ukrainian as the language of use. Most people are capable of speaking both and these are switching from the language no longer seen with prestige as the language of Pushkin or high arts or cool urban people, but rather the language of invaders, crude looters and rapists.

The Ukrainian language is loaded with Polish loan words (as English is with French words, for similar reasons, though Ukrainian may have more). Pronunciation and grammar is closer to Russian, but vocabulary closer to Polish. Polish-speaking people who visit Ukraine comment that the street and store signs look like Polish written in Cyrillic.

Westernism goes beyond language. Politically speaking Ukraine has a democratic more grassroots political culture, probably inherited from Poland (Ukrainian nationalists might give credit to ancient Rus, avoidance of Mongol yoke and Muscovite rule for centuries). Cossack councils, Radas, etc. In modern times, Ukrainians are used to voting out presidents (or taking to the streets effectively if a president wants to become a despot) and to voting for local leaders. Contrast with presidents for life in Russia and Russified Belarus. And this sort of thing exists also in local politics. People just take voting and meaningful elections for granted.

It’s a more bottom-up approach that fits with the Western political culture and contrasts with Russia’s top-down ways.

The post-Yanukovich military reforms in which Ukrainian armies, like Western armies, have strong NCOs and where local commanders take more initiative reflect that also.

But I think I’m justified in claiming that Ukraine isn’t really seen as “Western” even by most Americans in the way Britain or France, or even Poland, would be seen

That is indeed probably the perception but it’s not an accurate one (understandably, Ukraine has been kind of obscure, why should average Westerners know much about it?).

But not for the massacres.

Ok, I suppose Germans could then start honouring Waffen-SS divisions again, as long as it’s specified it’s only for the defense of East Prussia or something similar

I suppose, but the big problem is the context that Germany started the war, while Banderism despite its inexcusable brutality was basically an anti-colonial movement.

Ukraine is certainly more Western than places like Bulgaria.

If by ‘Ukraine’ you mean Lviv I’d agree. If you mean Kiev or Kharkiv I’m not so sure. This is the problem with Greater Ukraine people. They talk about one of the largest states in Europe as if it were some natural indivisible homogeneous entity.

In your view, why would Asians having average high test scores in the US, support the divergent economic development where Asia is many times more poor than Europe for most of the modern history, or difference of Nobel Prize per capita e.g. Switzerland vs. China. Switzerland winning 1 Nobel prize, for each 300,000 citizens. China winning 1 Nobel prize, for each 155 million citizens. Also how would it hindcast in the 18th, 19th, 20th century.

There are three separate questions here which need to be unpacked:

1) Are there differences in mean IQ between different groups of people?

2) Are these differences caused mostly by hereditary or environmental factors?

3) Do these differences in IQ play any role in predicting economic outcomes?

My answer to the first question is a clear-cut yes. We know just using our eyes that different races exhibit different phenotypical characteristics such as skin color, height, facial structures etc. and it is folly to pretend as if these differences do not extend further beyond the skin. There is ample experimental evidence demonstrating that different groups of people, both within and across nations, score differently on IQ tests. Almost no-one denies the truth of statement number 1, but the cause of these differences is up to debate.

You are in the camp that dismisses any here hereditarian explanation for these differences, by bringing up all sorts of environmental factors which you think impact IQ scores. Two such factors you brought up were urbanization and literacy rates. I pointed out that even within the same nation – America – where urbanization and literacy rates are comparable between groups (i.e. these variables are controlled for), East Asians still outscore whites by a 5-6 point gap. I should also mention that China (urbanization: 64.7%) also outscores European countries like France (urbanization: 81.24%) by roughly the same rate, despite being less urbanized (Ron Unz chimed in that East Asians are less susceptible to environmental depressors than other races, so that may add some nuance to my comparison). Literacy is a better explainer of the IQ gap between groups, but that is only applicable when comparing a poor, illiterate nation with a wealthy, literate one. You still have to explain why two groups with near-universal literacy, such as whites and East Asians in the US, score differently on IQ tests.

You are now moving on to the cultural bias argument to explain differences in IQ. My response is this: why on Earth would the people who invented and developed the IQ test (i.e. white Americans) create a test that would be culturally biased in favor of East Asians, and against themselves? Why the sharp gap between white Jewish scores, East Asian and white Gentile scores, even in the same regions of the US? As Murray and Herrnstein point out in the Bell Curve, there have been hundreds of studies seeking to establish bias in testing by evaluating its validity in predicting external results; whether in schools, universities, the armed forces and other professions. To quote from their book: “Overwhelmingly, the evidence is that the major standardized tests used to help make school and job decisions²⁷ do not underpredict black performance, nor does the expert community find any other general or systematic difference in the predictive accuracy of tests for blacks and whites.²⁸”

Referring to accusations of culturally-loaded bias:

The technical literature is again clear. In study after study of the leading tests, the hypothesis that the B/W difference is caused by questions with cultural content has been contradicted by the facts.³¹ Items that the average white test taker finds easy relative to other items, the average black test taker does too; the same is true for items that the average white and black find difficult. Inasmuch as whites and blacks have different overall scores on the average, it follows that a smaller proportion of blacks get right answers for either easy or hard items, but the order of difficulty is virtually the same in each racial group. For groups that have special language considerations— Latinos and American Indians, for example—some internal evidence of bias has been found, un-less English is their native language.³²

The cultural bias argument doesn’t work for people brought up more or less in the same linguistic sphere. Environmental factors can be important in explaining some of the differences between developed nations and underdeveloped ones, but they lose relevance when comparing groups brought up in a similar first world environment. That is why statistically representative samples of groups in developed countries is my preferred means of arriving at genotypic IQ.

As for question no. 3, you dismissed the strong IQ-GDPpc correlation by accusing Lion du Giraffe of statistical ignorance and ascribing Eastern European development to EU funding. I pointed out that South Korea (along with Taiwan and other East Asian nations) developed just fine without EU funding. There are other arguments I could make refuting the notion that EU funding is solely responsible for EE’s development but I can’t be bothered to expand on this point anymore tbh. I’ve put too much effort on this post already.

As for China’s underperformance in Nobel lauretes relative to IQ, I’ve touched upon this question here: https://www.unz.com/isteve/math-vs-reading-test-score-tilts-internationally/#comment-5332386. I agree that as China develops and acquires more wealth, it’s scientific productivity will increase. But HBD factors play some role too.

The Ukrainians are scooping up ethnic Russian 18 year olds (seen as suspect) and sending them to the most dangerous parts of the front. ‘Good’ Ukrainian 18 year olds are getting left to get on with their civilian lives in many cases. Very many of the Ukrainian refugee falilies in Western Europe are ethnic Russians with sons approaching call up age.

The Ukrainians are scooping up ethnic Russian 18 year olds (seen as suspect) and sending them to the most dangerous parts of the front. ‘Good’ Ukrainian 18 year olds are getting left to get on with their civilian lives in many cases. Very many of the Ukrainian refugee families in Western Europe are ethnic Russians with sons approaching call up age.

There are more refugees in Poland

Per capita, sure. Probably even in absolute numbers, but the difference is less pronounced there. There are about a million Ukrainians in Germany who have fled the war.
imo the real difference, as you yourself admit, is political, because many Poles have adopted a hardline attitude where the conflict is seen in very simple terms and where all the difficult questions about war aims (e. g. regarding Crimea and Eastern Donbass, the eventual necessity of some sort of negotiated solution vs trying to destroy Russia as a great power, maybe even break up the RF) are answered the way Ukrainian nationalists want them to be answered.

Westernism goes beyond language. Politically speaking Ukraine has a democratic more grassroots political culture, probably inherited from Poland (Ukrainian nationalists might give credit to ancient Rus, avoidance of Mongol yoke and Muscovite rule for centuries). Cossack councils, Radas, etc.

The cossacks also didn’t want to be oppressed by Polish nobles though. Sure, in hindsight the decision to opt for Tsarist Russia (Khelmnitsky’s mistake or treason, or whatever one wants to call it in that interpretation) may be regretted, but it’s not like it happened for no reason at all. There was also a religious dimension, which I feel you may play down too much because of your own Greek Catholic affiliation.
I’m also not sure how democratic Ukraine today is, Zelensky’s government seems quite authoritarian. Though I’ll admit much of this might be excused as wartime emergency measures, and over the last 30 years there was certainly a marked contrast with Russia’s political culture.

That is indeed probably the perception but it’s not an accurate one (understandably, Ukraine has been kind of obscure, why should average Westerners know much about it?).

Maybe. But for me the question is pretty simple: Should we be willing to risk nuclear war for “Crimea is Ukraine” to the same extent one would have before 1989, if the Soviets had launched an attack towards the English Channel? I think that would be insane. Support for Ukraine can’t be unconditional and include the entire wishlist of Ukrainian nationalists.

while Banderism despite its inexcusable brutality was basically an anti-colonial movement.

Is that an argument you would tell Poles face to face? Do you think it would be convincing?

and

Nobel Prize per capita e.g. Switzerland vs. China.

This is a misleading comparison, Switzerland wins twice as many Nobels per capita than Germany, is there some human capital superiority of the former?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Nobel_laureates_per_capita#Scientific_prizes

More appropriate is Japan (the ceiling for Orientals) has about the same laureates per capita as the Slavic countries.

East Asians have more docile, prosaic personalities. As an example here’s a Chinese living in Germany who in his channel only talks about salaries, houses, cars, Kindergeld, being a landlord, etc. He seems very happy there, and unconcerned with Ukraine, de-industrialization, Climapolitik, etc.

Here’s a German in China who says he’s a China-Rapper mit deutschem Migrationshintergrund, and talks about more provocative topics.

Would the US really have risked nuclear war just over Berlin?

One day, Kennedy ordered US troops to break through a street barricade that had been erected and march into East Berlin. Their ammunition had been confiscated ahead of time by their officers, but I believe they still had their guns. Supposedly, Soviets had orders to shoot them if they had gone a block further.

But I don’t think there are any modern parallels in terms of support. Context is key. West was much more homogeneous and less polarized back then. USSR seemed like a serious global hegemon. Finally, we have seen what became of Berlin (and elsewhere) despite all the rhetoric.

considering mental status of Germany as part of Western Europe was nowhere near certain at the time

Germany is very well-watered in terms of navigable rivers and canals. It was always going to develop more liberally than Eastern Europe, IMO.

My reading of the IQ literature seems to include complete ignorance of test taker motivation. Children who have been indoctrinated since birth that scoring high on tests is their reason for existence have a really huge advantage on making high scores over children who could not care less.

If you ever spent any time in an average public school you know there are many many of the latter.

The IQ test score is largely misinformation. It does work very well for the one function it was designed to perform–reduce attrition rates at elite institutions.

There is no question it glorifies the lifestyle. And you’re quite correct the real life variety is doltish, sociopathic and uncultured. (I knew a few people like that when I was younger.) So did The Republic have it right, then? It’s late here and I don’t want to overload my brain too much. Briefly though, banning it probably wouldn’t do much. These activities existed well before they were put on screen, and even if some people are attracted by the (totally fallacious) glamor, it’s doubtful that anyone who wasn’t already far gone would ever be inspired to actually go through with it just because they saw the film.

Close-Up is quite an interesting film. Definitely not some pretentious arthouse crap. I’m not really sure precisely why I decided to sit through it the first time I saw it. If you had described it to me beforehand I would probably would have thought, “lol fuck that.” But I started watching and for some reason I really wanted to see how the investigation would proceed and how things were handled by a social and legal system markedly different from my own.

And I would second Greasy’s “recommendation” (if that’s what it was) of A Simple Plan. I saw it when it first came out. Back then, I was monumentally uninterested in the lives of simple people from the hinterlands, and there were a couple of times I came close to turning it off. But it was marketed to me as a “thriller,” a genre I was very much into, so I persevered and I was glad I did. At the time I thought, “what a clever plot.” When I watched it again as mature adult, I was better able to appreciate the fine performances, particularly Billy Bob Thornton’s, and reflect on how true it is that random events can sometimes cause our lives to spiral out of control – or perhaps more specifically, how greed can cause us to compromise our morals – in this case leading decidedly unvillainous people to do decidedly villainous things.

In the 1930s Poland was already 10% Jewish (by far the largest
percentage in the world) while Germany was only 0.8% Jewish
so it was natural for Poland to be reluctant about accepting even
more Jews, esp. because by then they had developed a bad reputation
(e.g. at Versailles Jewish activists argued vehemently against Poland
regaining independence). Poland was also 15% Ukrainian so those
Ukrainians who lived in Poland were protected from Holodomor
so even then Poland was in effect acting as a protective maternal country.
Of course, Jews will never accept the moniker ‘maternal’ in reference
to Poland but anyone who expects Jews to offer gratitude has
a lot to learn about history. I’m not saying the Polish are perfect
(although it has been mentioned that Poland and Japan have
perhaps the world’s lowest levels of social dysfunction (murder,
rape, abortion /at least in Poland/, mass shootings /none in Poland/
etc), and, as I said, humanity is still spiritually very
primitive compared to our potential.

There could be something to the motivation argument.

But it’s difficult to quantify motivation.

I think a fair assumption would be that motivation would be correlated with class.

That is, working class people generally tend not to care as much about IQ and such autistic nonsense as much as bourgeois kids.

But here is the thing: IQ variation still holds when controlling for SES. That is, there is a wide variation within the same class. If you’ve ever attended a school where most people were of the same cultural and class background as you, you’d know intelligence runs the gamut. And IQ is good at ascertaining this variation.

On an ethno-racial level, you’d have to explain why Ashkenazi Jews score 7-10 points higher than East Asians. Again, there is difficulty in quantifying motivation, but I highly doubt Ashkenazim are more motivated to score well on standardized tests than East Asians. You couldn’t get a more autistic group than East Asians (no offense). So the motivation explanation leaves much to be desired, although I think there’s something to it.

so it was natural for Poland to be reluctant about accepting even more Jews

Ok, but you literally claimed the opposite in your previous comment. Why are you making claims that can easily be refuted?
Anyway, if it wasn’t obvious my original comment about God punishing Poland was trolling. I don’t wish any ill on Poland, despite finding many of its current policies extremely misguided.

I cannot see Prigozhin going postal at Putin.

Going postal implies some type of attack. I think it is more likely that he will just leave. He has connections in Africa.

Prigozhin’s bitching and complaining is doubtless authorised to a considerable extent. He is prolly acting as a cat’s paw for Putin to pressure the army, which would be unseemly for him to do directly as head of state. Prigozhin is said to call Putin ‘Papa’. I think that really is how close they are.

No he is tired of Putin and was trolling him in that video. That wasn’t trolling for Ukraine to leave two guys in charge of Bakhmut.

He recently said that Ukraine is now stronger thanks to the invasion:
https://news.yahoo.com/wagner-boss-prigozhin-says-putins-150151878.html

He isn’t acting for Putin.

Putin is in a predicament with Prigozhin. If he tries to kill him then it will further undermine morale and the war. Prigozhin is pretty clever and wouldn’t make it easy. It could backfire and lead to Wagner switching sides or consorting with the Russian military.

This is not orchestrated as Larry C Johnson has suggested. Putin is not that creative and relies on brute force. He was a paper pusher in the KGB and not an agent in the field. He has the personality type that prefers direct orders which is problematic when in charge of something that requires creativity like a war. He isn’t well read on military strategy and relies on underlings.

Prigozhin may have decided that the war simply isn’t winnable.

The latter would not surprise me. He seemed not himself in his last interactions here, and not just in an “identifying as an object” way.

He seemed rather restrained or even chastened and much less bombastic. That is hardly surprising if one has had their worldview shaken up significantly.

But in the end, I agree with you that AK is a smart perceptive guy and it’s unfortunate to see him go down reality escapist rabbit holes.

Re: Poland and Japan

Right now Poland and Japan are having a bit of a love affair,
which is understandable considering that the two countries
are on either side of Russia, and Russia has historically been
their common enemy. The Japanese living in Poland say that
in Japan you always have to be ready for a major earthquake
and summers in Japan are extremely humid – your shirt gets
drenched in sweat when you walk to work – neither condition
exists in Poland. Moreover, politeness is highly regarded in
both countries. Actually, even more in Japan. In Japanese
grammar there are 5 or 6 levels of politeness depending on the
situation. There are now Japanese vloggers living in
Poland who speak nearly perfect Polish whereas I know
Russian vloggers living in Poland who, even after a few
years, still refuse to learn Polish.

Come to think of it, it is indeed rare to come across an English-speaker who hasn’t watched the Godfather.

You’d have to count me as one. It’s not an omission for any particular reason. Maybe I’ll watch is sometime.

This corruption primarily occurs when otherwise admirable heroes perform these immoral actions.

This seems to be a modern cinema obsession. Heroes are cast as “complicated” which means increasingly morally compromised and villains are given a “sympathetic and nuanced” treatment in which they are elevated.

I’m all for avoiding overly simplistic moral calculus which can become cartoonish but it’s also important to have exemplars to look up to in popular culture. It’s certainly a trend that has gone way too far in an anti-social direction.

Think there might be something to what you say and Japan might be shifting from a traditional Germanophilia to a new Polonophilia.

For example, heard that the term “Zawsze (always) in Love” is employed in this series, connected to a blonde hapa character. (Japan has never been strong on patterns of inheritance for hair and eye color)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisekoi

Of course, Germanophilia has always been a very minor strain, and Japan is in decline, so it may not amount to much.

Fun fact you dumb cretin – Russia was completely absent of syphilis until Poles brought them to our lands in the 17th century.

Christianity for the Poles is more like football team support than actual religious activity – even Albania and Bosnia are more practicising Christian than the Poles, despite being Muslim.

I think AK has genuinely become an a-statist (like atheist but for states). That it is not about realignment. Understandable on a lot of levels, IMO. Neither US/UK/Russia/China looking so hot right now from a futurist perspective.

And though some level of scientific progress comes out of the US, you could argue the opposite, that it’s syphoning brains and resources into a bureaucratic, barrier-filled, and parasitic system. (Think FDA and the investment needed to bring drugs to market, or nuclear regulation).

Not sure about identifying as a thing, but I don’t think I can interpret it as anything but trolling.

As always when The Godfather is mentioned on a forum I direct you to The Godfather as Political Metaphor by Samuel Francis:

It is a principal thesis of The Godfather that American society is a Gesellschaft at war with the Gemeinschaft inherent in the extended families of organized crime, and it is the claim of the novel and even more intensely of the films that the truly natural, legitimate, normal, and healthy type of society is that of the gangs. It is a claim buttressed by the savage depictions not only of the corrupt justice offered by America to Bonasera but also of virtually every character in both book and films who is not Sicilian and therefore is not part of the criminal Gemeinschaft: Kay Adams herself, the liberal WASP college girl who has no conception of the brutal forces that lie under and around her small social island; Jack Woltz, the vulgar and sex-obsessed Hollywood producer; Captain McCluskey, the crooked Irish cop who is in the pay of Sollozzo; Moe Greene, the Las Vegas gangster based on Bugsy Siegel; and in Part II of the film series, Nevada Senator Pat Geary and Hyman Roth, a fictionalized version of the late Meyer Lansky. Roth indeed is the most articulate and attractive of these representatives of the American Gesellschaft, and except for Kay, who is merely a child, most of them share certain characteristics. All of them are motivated mainly by avarice, and the cash bond is the only one they acknowledge or understand. Most also lack self-control; they lose their tempers unnecessarily and insult and try to cheat men with whom they want to do business, and some are slaves to sexual lusts that the prudish Don Corleone considers infamia. Lacking the natural bonds of Gemeinschaft through strong family attachments, the characters who represent Gesellschaft are bound only by their personal appetites, and it is through their appetites—greed, anger, lust, obsession with revenge served not cold but piping hot—that they usually meet destruction.

By contrast, the Gemeinschaft of the Corleone family is embodied in Don Corleone himself, well-known for his humility, his caution, and his devotion to family. “A man who never spends time with his family can never be a real man,” he tells his godson, Johnny Fontane, who has been unmanned by Hollywood Gesellschaft, but the remark is really addressed to his real son Santino, who is preoccupied with sex. “Even the King of Italy didn’t dare to meddle with the relationship of husband and wife,” the Don tells his own daughter when she complains that her husband is beating her. Outside the bond of family and friendship, outside the Gemeinschaft, Don Corleone believes, man cannot be man, and men who put their trust in the contrary type, represented by the American Gesellschaft, have ceased to be fully human and lack the virtu that Machiavelli commends. “You can act like a man,” the Don roars at Fontane when the singer weeps and whines in despair about his misfortunes. For all the contrast between legitimate and criminal society, at last, when the final mask is torn off, there is no difference at all; the Corleone family is based on fraud as well as force, and it does indeed melt into and become indistinguishable from America.

Moreover, politeness is highly regarded in both countries.

I can believe politeness is more highly valued in japan than in most places but is it really any more important to Poles than to, say, the British or Americans?

Four star general Valerii Zaluzhnyi is far more important to the war effort of Ukraine (contacts with Western armies), than Prigozhin is to Russia; Zaluzhnyi has disappeared from view, the rumour is he has been seriously injured in a Russian missile strik. Judging by hs failure to appear and scotch the rumour it is true, and Ukraine has no one with his level of authority, therefore Zelensky is going to start interfering in military decisions. Furthermore the Russian forces are no longer pinned in Bakhmut , or on its flank, and unless Zaluzhnyi was shadowed by his successor and constantly took him into his full confidence as to the plan for victory there will be an additional delay before the Ukrainion offensive. Russia is closer to fire and air superiority than Ukraine and so Ukraine is likely suffering an unfavourable attrition ratio, so not benefiting from extra delay. But they need a victory to keep the Western aid coming. If and when it comes the Ukrainian ofensice will

Many historians consider the fatal error of Nicholas II to have been taking his taking personal command of the war. And the Kremlin is suspicions of having a military man with a popular following, so Putin understands he must appear to stand above military decisions Hence, Prigozhin calling the RusFed minister of defence and army commander “fat cats” skulking in luxurious offices fulfils a useful function for Putin.

Prigozhin spent the best years life in pris0n and was almost 30 when released–became a billionaire. That is a hell of a comeback. Prigozhin faced all sorts of bloodcurding threat The man has grit, and a hard charging personality (like many great entrepreneurs he was a competitive athlete in his youth). He has allies in the army such as Surivikin, (who Prigozhin never criticises), but however annoying Prigozhin may be is he is worth it; a man like that is always worth it because he is a driver who can take a bunch of criminal reprobates /mercenaries and get results .

I didn’t know about the “Zawsze in Love” term in connection with
the Nisekoi series in Japan. Thank you

AK has probably been affected by Yegor Prosvirnin’s demise. If he’s not trolling, then it’s depression.

Trolling and depression often seems linked with him. I think he’s downbeat for a more prosaic reason: Russia isn’t overrunning Ukraine, his fantasies of “imperial Putin” turned out to be a hoax.

If you look back at what me and Unz wrote before the invasion (we were both skeptics), our basic assumption was that Putin was fundamentally interested in a negotiated settlement and not conquest of Ukraine.

We got the invasion wrong (we thought it was saber-rattling) but we got his motives right. AK actually drank his own kool-aid and thought Putin was some kind of imperial conqueror when he just invaded in a half-hearted attempt to overthrow the Kiev govt in order to either install pliant puppets and/or force negotiations. Everything that has happened since then follows this pattern.

I think AK’s blackpilled state of mind basically stems from his fundamental misread of Putin’s motivations, which is pretty hilarious if you think about it since he lives in the country, pays very close attention to its politics etc. He should’ve known better, but he didn’t.

—

On a more cheerful note, the so-called energy crisis in Europe has all but subsided. Natural gas prices are back to their pre-Covid range. Gas reserves are running way ahead of historical median.

But more importantly than that is the massive increase in renewable energy. Gas consumption in Europe is simply never going back to its old peak. 2023 will be a year of stagnation/recession due to the lagged effects of massive rate hikes but going out of this year into the next will be a permanent shift away from Russian energy.

Russia had its chance at energy blackmail and they blew it. Worse, even their supposed ally China is now dillydallying on buying more gas. Not a great moment if you were a vatnik coper fantasising about keeping a chokehold over Europe with your gas.

—

Recent poll shows attitudes towards the war in a number of EE countries.

Nothing too surprising. Slovakia and Bulgaria have always been pro-Russian shills. Greece would be in a similar range if they were added.

What was a pleasant surprise to me was Czechia. It wasn’t long ago when they had a president like Zeman, who was very sympathetic to the Russian point of view. Seems they’ve had a structural shift.

The most pro-Russian countries in the EU are also the weakest and most irrelevant, which is why I think the hysteria from the Poles is misplaced.

At some point in the future, there will have to be a rapprochement with Russia but this unfolding clusterfuck has to play itself out first. I still believe that Russia will win this war militarily but winning the war is the easy part. They’ve permanently lost the Ukrainian public and will be hated as occupiers. Terrorist attacks and/or sabotage will likely continue for years to come. Ask the Americans how well that combination went in Iraq or Afghanistan. The invasion was a foolish mistake with no clear endgame.

This would require a whole essay but at least 3 levels of politeness
are built into the Polish grammar. People still address each other with
“Pan”(lit. Lord) and “Pani” (lit. Lady). The distinction between You (“Pan”)
and Thou (“ty”) is extremely important. People might know each other
for 10 years before they switch from Pan to ty. I recall how my aunt got
offended when as a grown man I addressed her as “ty” (per ty, as they
say in Polish). The distinction between You and Thou, of course still
exists in French and German. The young are a little more informal,
and many in speaking constantly switch between Polish and English,
so everybody is addressed as “you.”

They really are giving Prigozhin quite a lot of airplay of late.

https://www.euronews.com/2023/05/22/prigozhin-is-the-inevitable-product-of-putins-russia-that-is-now-coming-back-to-haunt-it

‘It is clear that Prigozhin’s ambitions cannot be curtailed, as he is the type of character who lives for times like these — bloody and chaotic,’ Aleksandar Đokić writes.

Prigozhin is the Inevitable Product of Putin’s Russia That is Now Coming Back to Haunt It

The frightening grimace of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the infamous leader of the Wagner Group, amidst one of his ever-increasing rants as of late, has already become an internet meme.

The scene from early May captured Prigozhin’s most theatrical media appearance, in which he threatened and cursed at the Russian military leadership – the Minister of Defence Sergey Shoygu and Army’s Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

How is a violent outburst of an owner of the most notorious paramilitary mercenary group in the midst of a Kremlin-led war of aggression possible in a centralised, full-blown autocracy, which its own political leadership is, in fact, trying to run as a totalitarian system?

This is the ultimate question, as any debate on Prigozhin should be focused around the way Russia’s elites are made and how they tend to operate…

…Meanwhile, no one without trusted inside source in the Kremlin or other type of intelligence knows how much power among the elites Putin has left.

Can he control Prigozhin like before? Can he order Prigozhin to be assassinated if he disobeys? Does he even receive all the information he needs to make a cold, calculated, yet rational decision? The answer is uncertain.

What is clear is that Prigozhin’s ambitions cannot be curtailed, as he is the type of character who lives for times like these — bloody and chaotic.

In Prigozhin’s eyes, the world is his oyster. What does Prigozhin want? Like any mafioso, he wants the world; he wants everything.

That’s why he’s getting stronger while ordinary Russian officials too involved in corruption for personal gain get weaker.

Just find the pile of Russian skulls and there you’ll find Nosferatu himself feeding on their sacrificed flesh. Amirite?