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Here’s a new Open Thread for all of you. To minimize the load, please continue to limit your Tweets or place them under a MORE tag.

Obviously, Seymour Hersh’s account of the Nord Stream pipeline attacks is the big current story:

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/how-america-took-out-the-nord-stream

My own article from last year summarizes a great deal of the background information:

https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pravda-of-pipelines-and-plagues/

I’d also recommend this RT segment featuring Ray McGovern, former head of the CIA’s Soviet analyst section and also the Morning Presidential Briefer. According to a participants, one of his German contacts allegedly confirmed the details of Hersh’s account:

Video Link

And here’s Glenn Greenwald’s discussion of the story and the reaction of the American MSM:

Video Link

 
• Category: Foreign Policy • Tags: Open Thread, Russia, Ukraine 
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  1. The Winnipeg or NY Jets for the Kiev regime makes as much sense:

    The Kiev regime will need recently resigned Western F15 pilots to effectively fly this plane within a 3 year or more period from the present. It takes 3 and probably more years than that to effectively fly this plane.

    • Replies: @Mikhail
    @Mikhail

    That's it takes three and probably more years than that to learn how to effectively fly this plane.

    , @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Mikhail

    I agree. Give the New York Jets to Kiev.

    There was a thing on Facebook a couple years ago where nobody, not even the people in New York, care about the Jets.

  2. Mr. Unz,

    The new thread is appreciated.
    _____

    Some complain that Skallagrim is too theatrical. So, I offer a more serious review of the Messer.

    PEACE 😇

  3. @Mikhail
    The Winnipeg or NY Jets for the Kiev regime makes as much sense:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO75E139NbY

    The Kiev regime will need recently resigned Western F15 pilots to effectively fly this plane within a 3 year or more period from the present. It takes 3 and probably more years than that to effectively fly this plane.

    Replies: @Mikhail, @Emil Nikola Richard

    That’s it takes three and probably more years than that to learn how to effectively fly this plane.

  4. Chronology:

    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    US says Russia lying.

    Germany says Russia financially liable.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 really broken.

    Russia says Germany running out of gas and will freeze.

    Germany says Russia must open Nordstream 1 but won’t use Nordstream 2.

    Russia refuses to open Nordstream 1, but wants to open Nordstream 2.

    Nordstream 1 gets blown up.

    Nordstream 2 still functioning.

    Russia says again, Nordstream 1 broken, so Germany must use Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

    Putinists online declare NATO will collapse because US blew up pipeline Russia wanted and not pipeline US wanted because anonymous sources said so.

    Germany and US increase funding for Ukraine, send tanks together, cooperation and continue to refuse opening Nordstream 2.

    [MORE]

    Russia still stuck outside Bakhmut, having mobilised, and using military that online Putinist declared would be in Paris in 2 weeks.

    China continues to accept Russian people subsidised oil in exchange for limiting aid to Ukraine, polite words to Russia, free coffee for Putin and not recognising Crimea as Russian.

    Online Putinist declared total Russian geopolitical victory.

    • Troll: YetAnotherAnon
    • Replies: @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    You are a cranky new age nutcase.

    , @A123
    @Leaves No Shadow

    While entertaining, it does not resemble reality. Try this instead:

    The German Greens hate hydrocarbons

    Greens join German Government

    Greens kill NordStream to stop hydrocarbons

    High energy prices kill German economy

    Green party cannot back down

    Germany forced to find expensive substitutes


    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.
     
    Then why are the Germans desperately constructing LNG import terminals? (1)

    PEACE 😇
    __________


    (1) https://www.dw.com/en/germany-scholz-opens-countrys-first-lng-terminal/a-64134715

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    , @Gerard1234
    @Leaves No Shadow


    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

     

    NS2 can only be functional at half the capacity after the attack (which with it illegally prevented from launching by Pindostan German courts would have needed several months for required pressure to be able to do that), which, in a sane world , would have stopped you from writing this garbage at source.
    I see that American BS and "fake it till you make it" doctrine is like a religion

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

     

    For the last time you cretin - Germany doesn't laugh and has "prepared" for months by:

    1.Using much less gas ( about 1/8th)
    2.Repeat...Consuming much less gas
    3.Buying Russian LNG throughout the SMO. Russian LNG exports to Europe are about 25% of America's to Europe. Expect American and Russian LNG exports to increase even more to EU - but note for obese American retards that their LNG could never come close to replacing Russian pipeline gas
    4.Germany still buying Russian pipeline gas for most of 2022.
    5. It was always about AFTER winter of 2022/23

    Europe has basically had to waste 700 billion to 1 trillion USD in government bailouts to energy companies and subsidies to the public to pay for the high energy prices . Thats not practical money that defeats Russia - like by switching to different gas sources at premium price or building replacement infrastructure for different energy like NPP...Thats completely evaporated money . EU + Britain GDP is about 19-20 billion USD , so that is 3.5-5% of EU GDP eradicated in practical terms.. More importantly that is a much , much bigger percentage of government spending on schools, hospitals, social programs etc that are now thrown in a ditch. The EU-UK lemming populations should be rioting at this disgrace - but coronavirus seems to have given them the same practical effects as a lobotomy


    All because of trying to keep the parasitic 404 as a gas transit country - i.e have Russia fund the military of this freakshow . These "bailout" packages are over 2-3 years, Ukraine transit money was about 2 billion per year. So basically the "geniuses" or should that be cruel satanists of NATO have sacrificed maybe $1 trillion or 700 billion.......to force 1 country to pay another (fake) country $6 billion.......an amount NATO has since more than paid over to 404 anyway. You could not make up this freakshow!
     

    Replies: @Greasy William

  5. It’s funny, I just last week made a comment to Yahya on the other open thread that the source of all human conflict and unhappiness is the feeling that we are somehow existentially incomplete and inadequate – an idea that I had had before, but had just been suggested to me by comments on that thread in a new and forceful way – and today I pick up – somewhat randomly – a book by Rambachan on the Vedanta of Sankara in which this idea is laid out in the most remarkably lucid and forceful form, as the basis of Vedanta.

    And yet there are people who say that there is no great spirit that guides our lives and all is chance 🙂

    …for Advaita, suffering is present in the insistent sense of self-lack, self-insufficiency, and incompleteness. It is experienced as a fundamental sense of insecurity of self. The desire to overcome this uncomfortable sense of uncertainty about the value of oneself is often the propelling drive behind the insatiable acquisition of wealth, power, and fame. Such pursuits become, too often, futile efforts to add value to oneself.

    Rambachan has a wonderful quote on the religious quest, taken, I think, from Hindu tradition – to gain the already gained, to accomplish the already accomplished 🙂

    (the idea being, that ignorance of our true nature causes our sense that we are incomplete. In reality, we are Brahman, and must only wake up to that fact, not add anything to ourselves)

    In various forms I’ve encountered this before – in the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says that one does not gain a single thing from enlightenment, and in the Zen tradition, Huang Po says it is like searching for a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead.

    In the wonderful Gnostic Hymn of the Pearl, which had a significant influence on Christianity and was a prevalent spiritual sensibility throughout the late ancient world (Gnosticism, that is), the same idea is given eloquent voice – that we are forgetful of our true natures, and that is the source of our suffering (the Gnostics, of course, added the element that there are sinister spiritual forces keeping us in bondage, which Paul took over into Christianity).

    But it’s nice to see once again this ancient truth – which may be the most important possession of humanity – once again expressed. It had somewhat faded from view in my own life, and yet it is really the summit of spirituality, and the cure for modernity. It’s something that should never be forgotten.

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    There was a time when I was deep into this Eastern Wisdom too. But then I realized, if it is so simple -


    a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead
     
    - why it is so hard...? Can truth have only accidental realizations in this world, through the enlightened? Why should actually the way to the truth be so hard and for the chosen - shouldn't truth be shining like the Sun upon everyone?
    There must be a catch here.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Anon 2

  6. @Leaves No Shadow
    Chronology:

    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    US says Russia lying.

    Germany says Russia financially liable.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 really broken.

    Russia says Germany running out of gas and will freeze.

    Germany says Russia must open Nordstream 1 but won't use Nordstream 2.

    Russia refuses to open Nordstream 1, but wants to open Nordstream 2.

    Nordstream 1 gets blown up.

    Nordstream 2 still functioning.

    Russia says again, Nordstream 1 broken, so Germany must use Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

    Putinists online declare NATO will collapse because US blew up pipeline Russia wanted and not pipeline US wanted because anonymous sources said so.

    Germany and US increase funding for Ukraine, send tanks together, cooperation and continue to refuse opening Nordstream 2.

    Russia still stuck outside Bakhmut, having mobilised, and using military that online Putinist declared would be in Paris in 2 weeks.

    China continues to accept Russian people subsidised oil in exchange for limiting aid to Ukraine, polite words to Russia, free coffee for Putin and not recognising Crimea as Russian.

    Online Putinist declared total Russian geopolitical victory.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @A123, @Gerard1234

    You are a cranky new age nutcase.

    • Agree: Mikhail
  7. @Leaves No Shadow
    Chronology:

    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    US says Russia lying.

    Germany says Russia financially liable.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 really broken.

    Russia says Germany running out of gas and will freeze.

    Germany says Russia must open Nordstream 1 but won't use Nordstream 2.

    Russia refuses to open Nordstream 1, but wants to open Nordstream 2.

    Nordstream 1 gets blown up.

    Nordstream 2 still functioning.

    Russia says again, Nordstream 1 broken, so Germany must use Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

    Putinists online declare NATO will collapse because US blew up pipeline Russia wanted and not pipeline US wanted because anonymous sources said so.

    Germany and US increase funding for Ukraine, send tanks together, cooperation and continue to refuse opening Nordstream 2.

    Russia still stuck outside Bakhmut, having mobilised, and using military that online Putinist declared would be in Paris in 2 weeks.

    China continues to accept Russian people subsidised oil in exchange for limiting aid to Ukraine, polite words to Russia, free coffee for Putin and not recognising Crimea as Russian.

    Online Putinist declared total Russian geopolitical victory.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @A123, @Gerard1234

    While entertaining, it does not resemble reality. Try this instead:

    The German Greens hate hydrocarbons

    Greens join German Government

    Greens kill NordStream to stop hydrocarbons

    High energy prices kill German economy

    Green party cannot back down

    Germany forced to find expensive substitutes

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

    Then why are the Germans desperately constructing LNG import terminals? (1)

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://www.dw.com/en/germany-scholz-opens-countrys-first-lng-terminal/a-64134715

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @A123

    Here is VVP stating that Europe must open Nordstream 2 and that he'll never deliver by Nordstream 1, literally just before someone blows up Nordstream 1 and not Nordstream 2, thereby fulfilling exactly what VVP wanted, and no one else wanted, except that German gas reserves were sufficient, which he could not have known, but the Americans and Germans playing him did.

    https://youtu.be/gwr52HNIYks

    It is like with Leopard 2s. Their delivery was arranged long before the kabuki over whether they would be or not concluded. Unsurprisingly, given that they share all of the same values, the German and American elites are thick as thieves and play people who buy into this "American occupation of Europe" fantasy like a fiddle.

  8. The Greenwald video is a particularly good example of explaining the way “of the way” that Victoria Nuland is the President of Ukraine no matter who the Americans vote for and no matter who the Ukies vote for.

    The lull in the fighting, between Donbass separatists and the Kiev government in Ukriane, coincided by Cohenicidence with her removal from power during Trump’s presidency. Between 2017 and 2021 the fighting more or less stopped.

    Will anyone rid the region of this troublesome woman? Trump did.

    • Replies: @A123
    @Wokechoke


    Will anyone rid the region of this troublesome woman [Victoria Nuland]? Trump did.
     
    Samantha Power is also back. (1)

    Within the statements reported from his 2022 victory speech, Prime Minister Orban warned citizens of the NATO and western allied countries about the manipulation of Ukraine and how he views the Zelenskyy regime: […] “while speaking to supporters on Sunday, Orban singled out Zelenskyy as part of the “overwhelming force” that he said his party had struggled against in the election — “the left at home, the international left, the Brussels bureaucrats, the Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president.”

    This put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the crosshairs of the western alliance, specifically the EU and U.S. bureaucrats who use their power, position and intelligence apparatus to manipulate foreign nations. A year later and now we see USAID Administrator Samantha Power in Hungary openly discussing her seeding of the NGO’s and political activist systems in order to generate yet another color revolution.

    https://rumble.com/embed/v26o6gs/

     

    Trump 2024 will get rid of her too.

    #LetsGoBrandon 😇
    __________

    (1) https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/12/heads-up-state-dept-operative-and-usaid-administrator-samantha-power-is-in-hungary-seeding-another-color-revolution-deep-state-ukraine-2-0/

    Replies: @QCIC

  9. @Wokechoke
    The Greenwald video is a particularly good example of explaining the way "of the way" that Victoria Nuland is the President of Ukraine no matter who the Americans vote for and no matter who the Ukies vote for.

    The lull in the fighting, between Donbass separatists and the Kiev government in Ukriane, coincided by Cohenicidence with her removal from power during Trump's presidency. Between 2017 and 2021 the fighting more or less stopped.


    Will anyone rid the region of this troublesome woman? Trump did.

    Replies: @A123

    Will anyone rid the region of this troublesome woman [Victoria Nuland]? Trump did.

    Samantha Power is also back. (1)

    Within the statements reported from his 2022 victory speech, Prime Minister Orban warned citizens of the NATO and western allied countries about the manipulation of Ukraine and how he views the Zelenskyy regime: […] “while speaking to supporters on Sunday, Orban singled out Zelenskyy as part of the “overwhelming force” that he said his party had struggled against in the election — “the left at home, the international left, the Brussels bureaucrats, the Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president.”

    This put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the crosshairs of the western alliance, specifically the EU and U.S. bureaucrats who use their power, position and intelligence apparatus to manipulate foreign nations. A year later and now we see USAID Administrator Samantha Power in Hungary openly discussing her seeding of the NGO’s and political activist systems in order to generate yet another color revolution.



    Video Link

    Trump 2024 will get rid of her too.

    #LetsGoBrandon 😇
    __________

    (1) https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/12/heads-up-state-dept-operative-and-usaid-administrator-samantha-power-is-in-hungary-seeding-another-color-revolution-deep-state-ukraine-2-0/

    • Replies: @QCIC
    @A123

    That video tells the story. A really creepy person bragging about working to ruin other people's lives.

  10. @Sher Singh
    "Satan tells you to not fuck niggers"
    "We're all one race the human race"

    https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/777363024196796426/1073051757699158026/charismatic_churhc.mp4

    https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/777361459130138627/1073426401014861876/329214891_911959403264868_1304064747119195603_n.mp4

    Replies: @QCIC

    That’s different.

    The first one.

  11. @A123
    @Wokechoke


    Will anyone rid the region of this troublesome woman [Victoria Nuland]? Trump did.
     
    Samantha Power is also back. (1)

    Within the statements reported from his 2022 victory speech, Prime Minister Orban warned citizens of the NATO and western allied countries about the manipulation of Ukraine and how he views the Zelenskyy regime: […] “while speaking to supporters on Sunday, Orban singled out Zelenskyy as part of the “overwhelming force” that he said his party had struggled against in the election — “the left at home, the international left, the Brussels bureaucrats, the Soros empire with all its money, the international mainstream media, and in the end, even the Ukrainian president.”

    This put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the crosshairs of the western alliance, specifically the EU and U.S. bureaucrats who use their power, position and intelligence apparatus to manipulate foreign nations. A year later and now we see USAID Administrator Samantha Power in Hungary openly discussing her seeding of the NGO’s and political activist systems in order to generate yet another color revolution.

    https://rumble.com/embed/v26o6gs/

     

    Trump 2024 will get rid of her too.

    #LetsGoBrandon 😇
    __________

    (1) https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/12/heads-up-state-dept-operative-and-usaid-administrator-samantha-power-is-in-hungary-seeding-another-color-revolution-deep-state-ukraine-2-0/

    Replies: @QCIC

    That video tells the story. A really creepy person bragging about working to ruin other people’s lives.

    • Agree: Mikhail
  12. @Mikhail
    The Winnipeg or NY Jets for the Kiev regime makes as much sense:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO75E139NbY

    The Kiev regime will need recently resigned Western F15 pilots to effectively fly this plane within a 3 year or more period from the present. It takes 3 and probably more years than that to effectively fly this plane.

    Replies: @Mikhail, @Emil Nikola Richard

    I agree. Give the New York Jets to Kiev.

    There was a thing on Facebook a couple years ago where nobody, not even the people in New York, care about the Jets.

  13. AP says:

    @ Beckow from previous Open Thread

    Ukraine shrunken to its purer Ukie population, getting rid by any means of the remaining Russians or Russian-speakers, and a full embrace of the West with focus on Poland. It doesn’t have much of a chance to be implemented, but as a goal it meets the basic rationality.

    This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has. No further shrinking is necessary.

    It would be – based on how the war goes – a mono-ethnic 10-20 million country

    If 2/3 of the refugees outside of Ukraine return to Ukraine, the current territory would have around 30 million people. A stalemate at the current lines (give or take Bakhmut and some other settlements) is the most likely result. Though Ukraine taking back more territory towards the Crimean corridor and rural Luhansk is not unlikely. (I doubt that Ukraine will be able to storm large cities like Donetsk)

    If Ukraine loses more territories in the East such as Zaporizhia city or Kharkiv (unlikely) it will be a few million less than that.

    If Ukraine loses Eastern territories plus Odessa (very unlikely) it will be down to 20 million or so.

    The worst case and extremely unlikely scenario would be Russia taking Kiev and all the pre-1939 Soviet territory. This would leave Ukraine with around 12-15 million people, depending on how many refugees settle there from the other side of the Iron Curtain. This territory would be about 140,000 sq. kilometers in size (the map below, plus Transarpathia with Uzhorod and Bukovyna with Chernivtsi) and would thus be slightly larger than Hungary + Slovakia with a similar population of those two countries combined.

    It would be poor, but picturesque. Young people would be leaving, ‘tourists’ would visit for the bars and security conferences.

    Nonsense. Lviv is a beautiful city that attracts young settlers. And it offers plenty of well paid programming jobs. The city’s population has already increased by 150,000 as a result of this war. Entire companies with their young employees have moved to Lviv from places like Kharkiv. If Kiev were lost, many of the young from that city would move to Free Lviv rather than leave Ukraine entirely, and with peace many would return from where they have been refugees in places like Poland. It would most likely be a million plus city (before the war it had a population of about 750,000).

    It would resemble Bulgaria-Romania-Moldova, its best parts would be like eastern Poland or even eastern Slovakia (both quite poor).

    Eastern Poland (which doesn’t have any large cities like Lviv) has a per capita GRP of around ~$11,000 which is a lot higher than Belarus’s $8,567. Within western Ukraine, rural Volhynia and Zakarpattiya would probably be similar to that, while Galicia (Lviv) would be significantly higher.

    Romania has a per capita GDP that is slightly higher than Russia’s. And that is with its large gypsy population included.

    Bulgaria is a lot richer than Belarus, and that is with its large gypsy population.

    Moldova is a small, isolated country, it is a stupid comparison.

    Well, go for it. But then why are Ukies dying in large numbers to keep half of Donbas? Why did they start bombing civilian cities and killed (3k?) people to keep them in Ukraine?

    Because if the Russians take Donbas they will try to take more. Russians will try to take what they can until they are stopped. Better to stop them in Donbas than to allow the Russians to turn Dnipro, or Kharkiv, etc. into wastelands.

    Why are men up to 50-60 years old being hunted all over Ukraine so they can be put in the eastern trenches? Why?

    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.

    You have no answer to that because you refuse to accept the crucial, decisive element of the situation: Nato (Washington) is not interested in what happens in Galicia+ (even in Kiev), whether they have call centers

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers. Median salary for programmer in Lviv was $3,000 per month in 2021:

    https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/lviv-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,4_IC3537517_KO5,22.htm

    who sells them trinkets

    The largest cable manufacturers for German cars is in Lviv oblast. Those are not “trinkets.”

    Their goal is much simpler: an armed Ukraine in Nato without Russians with eventually bases, missiles as usually. That’s what they want

    That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.

    But NATRO was and will be a remote possibility. Though the possibility has increased since the Russian invasion.

    Nato is a military pact, it has attacked around 5-6 countries in the last 20-25 years

    Which one of those countries that NATO attacked has nuclear weapons?

    NATO has kept Russia out of countries, though.

    (incl. Serbia very brutally in the middle of Europe).

    1,2000-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estmates.

    A small fraction of the amount of civilians killed by Russia in Chechnya or Ukraine. Places that didn’t have NATO protection.

    If Nato had not moved aggressively to absorb Ukraine there would be no war.

    Repeating a lie doesn’t make it true. There is no war over Finland joining NATO. Finland hasn’t joined NATO yet, so there is no NATO protective shield. And Finland is much closer to getting in than Ukraine ever was. Yet Russia isn’t moving against Finland. So clearly the problem is not a nation close to Russia joining NATO.

    The problem is Ukraine leaving the Russian World forever. Ukraine is strategically important for Moscow, if Moscow wants to be some sort of Great Power. The Russian Empire and the USSR both included Ukraine.

    As our former host correctly summarized, between EU integration and de-Russification policies, Ukraine was leaving Russia behind and cutting itself off completely, becoming as foreign to Russia as Poland, and this was the last chance for Russia to take it back, or to at least salvage as much of it as possible. They hoped to get it all (at least outside Galicia and Volhynia), but will settle for as much as they can.

    Regarding your denials: ‘but they postponed it year after year!” – are you really that stupid? That’s how it is done, the goal is the same, the implementation and timing are based on circumstances.

    The fact that they never moved forward is more meaningful than their empty declarations year after year.

    BTW, you ignored my statement about NATO as a rule not accepting any country than has ongoing territorial disputes. Russian lackeys like you were bragging how, by seizing Crimea and Donbas, Russia made NATO entrance for Ukraine impossible. It was a brilliant move by Putin.

    But now you claim that Ukraine was going to enter NATO anyways, and had to be stopped.

    Were Russian lackeys like you lying then, or lying now?

    Or were you too stupid to keep track?

    The Ukie Constitution literally says that Ukraine will join Nato.

    It still does, that hasn’t changed. It says that EU and NATO are strategic objectives. Crimea and Donbas are also part of Ukraine according to the Constitution.

    And NATO still declares that Ukraine will join NATO. So these things haven’t changed since Russia’s invasion.

    What has changed, is that Ukraine’s military has integrated far more with NATO’s military, and had proven itself as a battle-tested worthy potential member of NATO. So, as I wrote, odds of NATO membership have impr0ved as a result of this war, from 5% to 25%.

    • Replies: @Greasy William
    @AP


    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.
     
    The pro Russian blogger "Slavland Chronicles" says that none of the young men in the families of his Ukrainian relatives have been called up nor do they have any fear of being called up. The press ganging videos that we see on Twitter are likely responses to crisis situations that pop up at various places on the first line of defense. Ukraine has been using cannon fodder to hold the front line while building up the real army in reserve.

    I'm not interested in which side is right, I'm interested in which side is winning. And Ukraine is clearly winning if you look at the conflict from a bird's eye view and ignore all the minutia that people online sperg about.

    Replies: @AnonfromTN, @LatW

    , @Beckow
    @AP


    This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.
     
    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it. Just remember, attempting a genocide of an ethnic group is a crime and trying it against a larger, stronger group usually doesn't work. The enthusiasts will face consequences.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers....
     
    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k "IT workers" in the Lviv region, around 70-80% work in customer support, that generally means answering phones or messages. It has some research, but the overall impact on the Ukrainian economy is very marginal, 2-3%, a lot less than in other EE countries. $3k, are you kidding? that's what a good barista makes.

    That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.
     
    It was the Ukies who started to murder the Russians in Donbas in 2014-15, nobody disputes that. You live in a lala-land of your retarded slogans.

    1,200-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estimates.
     
    Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria...all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you? How can you simply gloss over it? That shows dishonesty and hypocrisy so deep that none of your statements mean much.

    Your point about nukes is true, but military plans can account for that - a fatally weakened, surrounded, check-mated Russia would have a hard time defending itself even w nukes. That's why being right on the border in close proximity and having the Russia-hating Ukies ready was so important. At a minimum it would keep Russia powerless. You want that, so you, but naturally Russia doesn't want it.

    And stop w Finland: a peaceful, rational country w 5 million people. There is simply no comparison to the Russo-phobic fuming madmen in Ukraine. You make no sense when you try to compare Finland (or Estonia) to Ukraine. Think before you write nonsense.


    Nato never moved forward is more meaningful than their empty declarations year after year.
     
    The 'not meaningful' and 'empty' was not the way it was presented - that is your desperate spin. It was unquestionable that Nato would get Ukraine at the first opportunity - if you don't get that you are too naive. At least argue reality and not silly evasive narratives. If you think that 'territorial conflict' would prevent it you have no understanding how weasel institutions work: they simply paper over it, declare it something else. What matters is the intent, not how exactly Nato would do it. People who deny it are not serious or idiots.

    Nato has been pushed out of Ukraine unless Kiev wins the war in a big way. Nato will feed the conflict, but probably not join in. After Ukies are bled and surrender large parts of their country, Nato will pontificate but stay out. Russia with the war changed the strategic balance.

    Replies: @AP

  14. @A123
    @Leaves No Shadow

    While entertaining, it does not resemble reality. Try this instead:

    The German Greens hate hydrocarbons

    Greens join German Government

    Greens kill NordStream to stop hydrocarbons

    High energy prices kill German economy

    Green party cannot back down

    Germany forced to find expensive substitutes


    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.
     
    Then why are the Germans desperately constructing LNG import terminals? (1)

    PEACE 😇
    __________


    (1) https://www.dw.com/en/germany-scholz-opens-countrys-first-lng-terminal/a-64134715

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    Here is VVP stating that Europe must open Nordstream 2 and that he’ll never deliver by Nordstream 1, literally just before someone blows up Nordstream 1 and not Nordstream 2, thereby fulfilling exactly what VVP wanted, and no one else wanted, except that German gas reserves were sufficient, which he could not have known, but the Americans and Germans playing him did.

    It is like with Leopard 2s. Their delivery was arranged long before the kabuki over whether they would be or not concluded. Unsurprisingly, given that they share all of the same values, the German and American elites are thick as thieves and play people who buy into this “American occupation of Europe” fantasy like a fiddle.

  15. AK is wrong about aliens. If anything, NPR, rap, jazz, and autotune Madonna will keep them away – radio aposematism.

    Maybe, you can shoot some rock at the Earth at half the speed of light. But, maybe, the Earth is just a robotic deer, and the game warden will nab you, and then subject you to a million years of listening to Cardi B’s worst song on a loop.

  16. This is funny:

    [MORE]

    • LOL: Ivashka the fool
    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    I don't find it funny because I don't have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.

    Instead, it is just nonsense. There are no lack of beautiful people on American television. Instead,there is a lack of truly ugly people. Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking! Even though British people are the best looking people in the world, of course.

    Replies: @songbird, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms, @Barbarossa

  17. @songbird
    This is funny:
    https://twitter.com/WorldWarWang/status/1625165049848541184?s=20&t=sLKKFn3AKc1deDwIzfYW-g

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    I don’t find it funny because I don’t have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.

    Instead, it is just nonsense. There are no lack of beautiful people on American television. Instead,there is a lack of truly ugly people. Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking! Even though British people are the best looking people in the world, of course.

    • Replies: @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    I don’t find it funny because I don’t have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.
     
    Rachel Maddow is a substantial fraction Middle Eastern (a fact surely known by Anglin), but that is besides the point. She is an ugly lesbo, and that is the main thing.

    Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking!
     
    Are you talking about the show made in 1995? (haven't seen it) Maddow wasn't even on TV, until 2005, and then not as the lead.

    The beauty standards of the Anglophone media (and some others) have degenerated substantially, since 1995.

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

    , @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
    @Leaves No Shadow


    There are no lack of beautiful people on American television.
     
    Agree. And it's a net loss for China to have Western men of Anglin's profile to boost for it.

    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn't at all.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxdJHYIjvEE

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @LatW

    , @Barbarossa
    @Leaves No Shadow


    There are no lack of beautiful people on American television.
     
    Actually, I would say that there is no lack of fake looking people on television. The fakeness takes on a strange ugliness when it gets to point. Madonna makes that point! I tend to prefer women that look like humans rather than space aliens, so the Kardashians et. al. are straight out!

    I rather like older movies for the relative normality of the actors.

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @songbird, @Leaves No Shadow, @QCIC

  18. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    It's funny, I just last week made a comment to Yahya on the other open thread that the source of all human conflict and unhappiness is the feeling that we are somehow existentially incomplete and inadequate - an idea that I had had before, but had just been suggested to me by comments on that thread in a new and forceful way - and today I pick up - somewhat randomly - a book by Rambachan on the Vedanta of Sankara in which this idea is laid out in the most remarkably lucid and forceful form, as the basis of Vedanta.

    And yet there are people who say that there is no great spirit that guides our lives and all is chance :)

    ...for Advaita, suffering is present in the insistent sense of self-lack, self-insufficiency, and incompleteness. It is experienced as a fundamental sense of insecurity of self. The desire to overcome this uncomfortable sense of uncertainty about the value of oneself is often the propelling drive behind the insatiable acquisition of wealth, power, and fame. Such pursuits become, too often, futile efforts to add value to oneself.
     
    Rambachan has a wonderful quote on the religious quest, taken, I think, from Hindu tradition - to gain the already gained, to accomplish the already accomplished :)

    (the idea being, that ignorance of our true nature causes our sense that we are incomplete. In reality, we are Brahman, and must only wake up to that fact, not add anything to ourselves)

    In various forms I've encountered this before - in the Diamond Sutra, the Buddha says that one does not gain a single thing from enlightenment, and in the Zen tradition, Huang Po says it is like searching for a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead.

    In the wonderful Gnostic Hymn of the Pearl, which had a significant influence on Christianity and was a prevalent spiritual sensibility throughout the late ancient world (Gnosticism, that is), the same idea is given eloquent voice - that we are forgetful of our true natures, and that is the source of our suffering (the Gnostics, of course, added the element that there are sinister spiritual forces keeping us in bondage, which Paul took over into Christianity).

    But it's nice to see once again this ancient truth - which may be the most important possession of humanity - once again expressed. It had somewhat faded from view in my own life, and yet it is really the summit of spirituality, and the cure for modernity. It's something that should never be forgotten.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    There was a time when I was deep into this Eastern Wisdom too. But then I realized, if it is so simple –

    a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead

    – why it is so hard…? Can truth have only accidental realizations in this world, through the enlightened? Why should actually the way to the truth be so hard and for the chosen – shouldn’t truth be shining like the Sun upon everyone?
    There must be a catch here.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective

    If someone told you that you will realize Truth immediately but would cease to exist, would you accept that?

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Another Polish Perspective

    , @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I don't have an answer for that. Various traditions offer different answers - in Christianity, it's a result of the Fall. In Hinduism, it's the Kali Yuga - things inevitably decay before they are renewed. In Gnosticism and early Christianity, it's dark spiritual powers on high - the Archons of this world, powers and principalities, that keep us in bondage. Another answer is that each soul has particular lessons to learn. I think they all, symbolically, get at the truth.

    On the other hand, these truths are so universally attested to in all four corners of the earth in all the great traditions that Truth is in a sense "easy" and universal.

    At any moment, at any time, anyone can change their life and access these truths. It's open to anyone, always. Of course, you must change your life and behavior to really be able to see certain things, and the world does indeed seem to be organized to stop you from living the correct way and from accessing these truths - there does seem to be some malign force opposing you (this Gnostic sense is probably behind all the silly conspiracy theories that are flourishing - the feeling is quite justified, although the theories are ridiculous).

    But these questions aren't really relevant to you losing or maintaining an interest in Eastern (it's Western, too) wisdom, APP - the fact is, these truths must be tried, you have to live according to them. If they don't utterly transform your life, then they simply aren't true :) That's all there is to it.

    The promise is quite simple - it's not some reward in the afterlife, but bliss (ananda) here and now, as a result of living by these truths, it's the peace that passeth understanding, now.

    The fruits of the Spirit, after all, are - " ..
    love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control".

    The promise is for now - it's quite pragmatic. If it doesn't bring joy, then they are lies. If correct practice still doesn't let you "see", then they aren't true.

    But - this requires a kind of "faith", as all adventures do. Not blind faith, but the faith to experiment. There is an old Hindu anecdote about a blind man undergoing an operation to restore his vision - the doctor tells him it's a success and if he opens his eyes he will see. But he doesn't believe them and refuses to open his eyes :) Without faith, you can't discover the truth of anything.

    As for the rest of mankind, eventually, all come to truth - that we are all immediately there isn't so significant.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    , @Anon 2
    @Another Polish Perspective

    It isn’t as hard as many people think. I recommend “A Course in Miracles” (1976)
    and its sequel “A Course of Love” (2001). They basically say that we are gods and
    goddesses in training. We live in a slow universe for our own protection.
    We do create our own reality but very slowly. If our wishes became manifest
    faster, we’d destroy ourselves due to all the negativity present in our conscious
    and unconscious minds. So first we need to purify ourselves. Once you purify
    yourself, you’ll be amazed how quickly your wishes become manifested.
    It’s an empirically observable fact.

    Fortunately, Poland and Czechia are Late Mature- Early Old Soul countries,
    meaning that they’ve become very purified already. Hence the “Holy Poland”
    meme. Poland has one of the lowest levels of social dysfunction in the
    world, e.g., extremely low levels of murder, rape, and abortion.
    Unfortunately, the United States is a Late Young Soul country and Western
    Europe is Early Mature Soul level, so both are fairly primitive compared
    to Poland or Czechia. There are much more sophisticated models of
    the Evolution of Consciousness in existence, e.g., by Ken Wilber, America’s
    most translated philosopher, or by Michael Washburn whose approach
    employs the tools of Analytic Psychology. However, the Infant-Baby-Young-
    Mature-Old Soul level sequence is the easiest to present in a blog like this
    one. The Michael teachings are a good reference. I presented a very detailed
    version of this model on this blog 3-4 years ago.

    If you’re interested in psychedelics, then I recommend the writings of
    Thaddeus Golas, evolutionary thinker famous for his mega bestseller
    “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment.” Golas was in fact a Polish-
    American thinker, with a degree from Columbia University. He witnessed
    it all, Greenwich Village in the 1950s and San Francisco in the 1960s-‘70s.
    A fascinating man. The U.S. is very uncomfortable for the Polish - we tend
    to be Late Mature-Early Old souls whereas Americans, being Young Souls,
    genuflect before the Unholy Trinity of Wealth, Power, and Fame. As a result
    we have very little in common.

  19. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    There was a time when I was deep into this Eastern Wisdom too. But then I realized, if it is so simple -


    a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead
     
    - why it is so hard...? Can truth have only accidental realizations in this world, through the enlightened? Why should actually the way to the truth be so hard and for the chosen - shouldn't truth be shining like the Sun upon everyone?
    There must be a catch here.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Anon 2

    If someone told you that you will realize Truth immediately but would cease to exist, would you accept that?

    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Charles Manson wrote a song about that. It was a big hit with the Brian Wilson Neil Young party set.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool

    The choice of Pointless Existence Without Meaningful Truth versus
    Pointless Truth Without Meaningful Existence is a false one.

  20. To Coconuts and S, about the topic discussed by Charles Maurras in the excerpt posted by Coconuts.

    I was going to write a lenghty and unhinged rant, same as usual, and then I learned that someone (Rolo Slavskyi) has published some Shafarevich’s translation on Unz Review.

    https://www.unz.com/article/postscript-to-the-three-thousand-year-old-enigma/

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-elusive-jewish-solution/

    • Thanks: Coconuts
    • Replies: @S
    @Ivashka the fool

    Thanks for the two intriguing articles. They both make many good points and are a very good description of the present situation.

    Any Euro people wishing to survive will have a lot of rebuilding to do, and probably be starting off small in size and number.

    , @Coconuts
    @Ivashka the fool

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-elusive-jewish-solution/

    There is an interesting quote in the above post:


    He conceptualized society as a living organism, or rather, that one’s ethnic group is an extension of oneself. His reasoning is simple: a tribe helps protect the individual. A tribe and then a society grows around an individual like a protective hide grows around a boar. Better yet, individuals can be compared to the cells in a body. Castes or types of individuals are organs in this metaphor.
     
    About the views of Lev Gumilev.

    It reminded me a bit of Maurras' idea of human societies as something like organisms:


    Societies are certainly not exactly the same as large animals and individuals are not simply subordinate component cells of them. But equally, they are not an example of the 'pooling' or 'sharing' of self-interest and of the choices of individuals that, in law, are known as associations.

    Societies are not voluntary associations, they are natural aggregates.

    They are not chosen or elected by their members. We choose neither our blood nor our country, nor our language, nor our traditions. The society we are born into is imposed on us. The need for human society is part of our nature.
     

    I think Aristotle might have been the first to set out an organic view of human societies?

    Maurras thought the problems with hidden ethnic oligarchies could be solved by the establishment of a decentralised, corporatist monarchy, because the king would have enough independent power to control them, and the familial, organic structure of political society would make their existence and activities more obvious. He was writing pre-globalisation though, in the early 20th century.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  21. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    There was a time when I was deep into this Eastern Wisdom too. But then I realized, if it is so simple -


    a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead
     
    - why it is so hard...? Can truth have only accidental realizations in this world, through the enlightened? Why should actually the way to the truth be so hard and for the chosen - shouldn't truth be shining like the Sun upon everyone?
    There must be a catch here.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Anon 2

    I don’t have an answer for that. Various traditions offer different answers – in Christianity, it’s a result of the Fall. In Hinduism, it’s the Kali Yuga – things inevitably decay before they are renewed. In Gnosticism and early Christianity, it’s dark spiritual powers on high – the Archons of this world, powers and principalities, that keep us in bondage. Another answer is that each soul has particular lessons to learn. I think they all, symbolically, get at the truth.

    On the other hand, these truths are so universally attested to in all four corners of the earth in all the great traditions that Truth is in a sense “easy” and universal.

    At any moment, at any time, anyone can change their life and access these truths. It’s open to anyone, always. Of course, you must change your life and behavior to really be able to see certain things, and the world does indeed seem to be organized to stop you from living the correct way and from accessing these truths – there does seem to be some malign force opposing you (this Gnostic sense is probably behind all the silly conspiracy theories that are flourishing – the feeling is quite justified, although the theories are ridiculous).

    But these questions aren’t really relevant to you losing or maintaining an interest in Eastern (it’s Western, too) wisdom, APP – the fact is, these truths must be tried, you have to live according to them. If they don’t utterly transform your life, then they simply aren’t true 🙂 That’s all there is to it.

    The promise is quite simple – it’s not some reward in the afterlife, but bliss (ananda) here and now, as a result of living by these truths, it’s the peace that passeth understanding, now.

    The fruits of the Spirit, after all, are – ” ..
    love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”.

    The promise is for now – it’s quite pragmatic. If it doesn’t bring joy, then they are lies. If correct practice still doesn’t let you “see”, then they aren’t true.

    But – this requires a kind of “faith”, as all adventures do. Not blind faith, but the faith to experiment. There is an old Hindu anecdote about a blind man undergoing an operation to restore his vision – the doctor tells him it’s a success and if he opens his eyes he will see. But he doesn’t believe them and refuses to open his eyes 🙂 Without faith, you can’t discover the truth of anything.

    As for the rest of mankind, eventually, all come to truth – that we are all immediately there isn’t so significant.

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    A perceptive person will realise that Archons et co. are perhaps more powerful than all the sparks of Light around them - Archons move and enslave the sparks of Light, not vice versa.

    Student of Wisdom will soon thus realize that in all these theories the matters of evil are much more convoluted than the Matters of Good, so perhaps focusing more on the former is the right choice if our final goal is the Truth which perhaps makes us aware that neither Good is so good as we wished, nor the Evil so evil as we were told, and yet the opposition does exist.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @HeavilyMarbledSteak

  22. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    I don't find it funny because I don't have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.

    Instead, it is just nonsense. There are no lack of beautiful people on American television. Instead,there is a lack of truly ugly people. Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking! Even though British people are the best looking people in the world, of course.

    Replies: @songbird, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms, @Barbarossa

    I don’t find it funny because I don’t have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.

    Rachel Maddow is a substantial fraction Middle Eastern (a fact surely known by Anglin), but that is besides the point. She is an ugly lesbo, and that is the main thing.

    Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking!

    Are you talking about the show made in 1995? (haven’t seen it) Maddow wasn’t even on TV, until 2005, and then not as the lead.

    The beauty standards of the Anglophone media (and some others) have degenerated substantially, since 1995.

    • Troll: Yahya
    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @songbird


    She is an ugly lesbo, and that is the main thing.
     
    She has chosen to grow into that. She was the apple of her parents' eyes when she was attending Castro Valley High School. The probability is high (~.95) she has hated all men starting with daddy for a very long time. This has nothing to do with Freud. Freud can tell you close to zilch about modern California.

    (She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her. She is an industrial level of un-likable.)

    Replies: @songbird

  23. @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective

    If someone told you that you will realize Truth immediately but would cease to exist, would you accept that?

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Another Polish Perspective

    Charles Manson wrote a song about that. It was a big hit with the Brian Wilson Neil Young party set.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    Charlie Manson is one talented individual.

    I liked his take on Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan:

    https://youtu.be/XaSnkjqeY-U

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

  24. @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    I don’t find it funny because I don’t have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.
     
    Rachel Maddow is a substantial fraction Middle Eastern (a fact surely known by Anglin), but that is besides the point. She is an ugly lesbo, and that is the main thing.

    Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking!
     
    Are you talking about the show made in 1995? (haven't seen it) Maddow wasn't even on TV, until 2005, and then not as the lead.

    The beauty standards of the Anglophone media (and some others) have degenerated substantially, since 1995.

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

    She is an ugly lesbo, and that is the main thing.

    She has chosen to grow into that. She was the apple of her parents’ eyes when she was attending Castro Valley High School. The probability is high (~.95) she has hated all men starting with daddy for a very long time. This has nothing to do with Freud. Freud can tell you close to zilch about modern California.

    (She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her. She is an industrial level of un-likable.)

    • Replies: @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her.
     
    If The Picture of Dorian Gray had one message, it was that Oscar Wilde did not like women.

    But I get tired of this feminist rhetoric that masculine men hate women. They don't, and normal women don't like soyjacks.

    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Yahya

  25. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @songbird


    She is an ugly lesbo, and that is the main thing.
     
    She has chosen to grow into that. She was the apple of her parents' eyes when she was attending Castro Valley High School. The probability is high (~.95) she has hated all men starting with daddy for a very long time. This has nothing to do with Freud. Freud can tell you close to zilch about modern California.

    (She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her. She is an industrial level of un-likable.)

    Replies: @songbird

    She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her.

    If The Picture of Dorian Gray had one message, it was that Oscar Wilde did not like women.

    But I get tired of this feminist rhetoric that masculine men hate women. They don’t, and normal women don’t like soyjacks.

    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your reply has nothing to do with my comment, so I give up.

    But, just one more thing, you think you come across as masculine?

    Replies: @songbird

    , @Yahya
    @songbird


    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

     

    Maddow isn't even 1/8th Middle Eastern; you twit.

    ScarJo looks Germanic/Nordic.

    Jennifer Connelly looks Black Irish or Italian.

    Would pass as Middle Eastern if a few facial features were tweaked though.

    Wouldn't mind accepting her to the fold. She was born in Cairo after all.

    Is also beautiful and intelligent.

    You can keep the other two.


    Yahya once went ape, when I said I thought blacks do not have a culture,
     
    I don't recall commenting on that. Though I'm open to being wrong. You are welcome to provide a link to my comment.

    Blacks do have a culture; both in Africa and America. The former is primitive and the latter depraved; but they are distinct cultures nonetheless. You are conflating "bad" with "nothing".


    but I don’t think that Euros really have a modern culture either, at least at scale, which, if anything, is even more disgraceful. It is mostly coasting on past glories, and our modern culture is diversity, and it is basically impossible to dissociate from those elements, and degenerate at that.

     

    There are pockets of creditable high-culture in Europe. Most of it is indeed "coasting" on previous accomplishments; but that is both a sin and a virtue. It can be good to preserve the achievements of one's ancestors; whether in literature, music, film, art or architecture. I don't see the issue with performing Bach or Mozart in a French cathedral every weekend. Many non-European peoples also tend to replay the same music from their golden ages. The Ancient Egyptians maintained the same aesthetic for thousands of years. On the other hand, innovation and creativity are also worthy endeavors. Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing. Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans; likewise Alexandria was for a millennia the most culturally productive city in the Western world. The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.

    I don't think anyone has a finger on the causes of Western cultural decline. Some posit a general downward trend starting in WW1; though I view the timeline as variable depending on cultural activity. Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century. James Huneker in Old Fogy contended that "no great music [has been] made since the death of Beethoven". That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.

    @Latw


    Irish German maybe?
     
    Anglin doesn't need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.

    Apparently Irish-Americans now think themselves Aryan ubermenschen.

    The deracination must've gotten to some of them. Very sad really.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Coconuts

  26. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I don't have an answer for that. Various traditions offer different answers - in Christianity, it's a result of the Fall. In Hinduism, it's the Kali Yuga - things inevitably decay before they are renewed. In Gnosticism and early Christianity, it's dark spiritual powers on high - the Archons of this world, powers and principalities, that keep us in bondage. Another answer is that each soul has particular lessons to learn. I think they all, symbolically, get at the truth.

    On the other hand, these truths are so universally attested to in all four corners of the earth in all the great traditions that Truth is in a sense "easy" and universal.

    At any moment, at any time, anyone can change their life and access these truths. It's open to anyone, always. Of course, you must change your life and behavior to really be able to see certain things, and the world does indeed seem to be organized to stop you from living the correct way and from accessing these truths - there does seem to be some malign force opposing you (this Gnostic sense is probably behind all the silly conspiracy theories that are flourishing - the feeling is quite justified, although the theories are ridiculous).

    But these questions aren't really relevant to you losing or maintaining an interest in Eastern (it's Western, too) wisdom, APP - the fact is, these truths must be tried, you have to live according to them. If they don't utterly transform your life, then they simply aren't true :) That's all there is to it.

    The promise is quite simple - it's not some reward in the afterlife, but bliss (ananda) here and now, as a result of living by these truths, it's the peace that passeth understanding, now.

    The fruits of the Spirit, after all, are - " ..
    love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control".

    The promise is for now - it's quite pragmatic. If it doesn't bring joy, then they are lies. If correct practice still doesn't let you "see", then they aren't true.

    But - this requires a kind of "faith", as all adventures do. Not blind faith, but the faith to experiment. There is an old Hindu anecdote about a blind man undergoing an operation to restore his vision - the doctor tells him it's a success and if he opens his eyes he will see. But he doesn't believe them and refuses to open his eyes :) Without faith, you can't discover the truth of anything.

    As for the rest of mankind, eventually, all come to truth - that we are all immediately there isn't so significant.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    A perceptive person will realise that Archons et co. are perhaps more powerful than all the sparks of Light around them – Archons move and enslave the sparks of Light, not vice versa.

    Student of Wisdom will soon thus realize that in all these theories the matters of evil are much more convoluted than the Matters of Good, so perhaps focusing more on the former is the right choice if our final goal is the Truth which perhaps makes us aware that neither Good is so good as we wished, nor the Evil so evil as we were told, and yet the opposition does exist.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Another Polish Perspective

    1. There's no such thing as "archons".

    2. Theories of evil are necessarily more convoluted because it is illusory.

    Otoh, I don't think it is unhealthy that you treat these things as real. The descriptive word "illusion" does not mean the descripted phenomenon lacks power, or even personality. Just that it only exists as something partial.

    3. Light is there shining brightly, but humans turn away and cower, for fear of what it might reveal about themselves. And this is why they find truth so difficult, even maddening. Introduce bits of it too big for them to them, and watch them go insane.

    4. When people say you would have to give up existence to live in truth, they mean you would have to give up what you currently falsely identify as you. A set of lies and copes and fears.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Barbarossa

    , @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I'm a non-dualist, so I don't believe in two independent opposing principles. Literally everything is a form of the Good, and what we call evil is simply the absence of Good on some level.

    As for the Archons, according to Christianity, Jesus already destroyed their power and authority. I think there's a lot of symbolic truth in that.

  27. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Charles Manson wrote a song about that. It was a big hit with the Brian Wilson Neil Young party set.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Charlie Manson is one talented individual.

    I liked his take on Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan:

    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Did you ever read/hear the Tracy Twyman bit where she and husband put a curse on Boyd Rice and six weeks later husband was dead?

    I think I would have gone straight into a nun enclave but she kept on at it for a few more years. Aye ^ 7.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  28. @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective

    If someone told you that you will realize Truth immediately but would cease to exist, would you accept that?

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @Another Polish Perspective

    The choice of Pointless Existence Without Meaningful Truth versus
    Pointless Truth Without Meaningful Existence is a false one.

  29. @AP
    @ Beckow from previous Open Thread

    Ukraine shrunken to its purer Ukie population, getting rid by any means of the remaining Russians or Russian-speakers, and a full embrace of the West with focus on Poland. It doesn’t have much of a chance to be implemented, but as a goal it meets the basic rationality.
     
    This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has. No further shrinking is necessary.

    It would be – based on how the war goes – a mono-ethnic 10-20 million country
     
    If 2/3 of the refugees outside of Ukraine return to Ukraine, the current territory would have around 30 million people. A stalemate at the current lines (give or take Bakhmut and some other settlements) is the most likely result. Though Ukraine taking back more territory towards the Crimean corridor and rural Luhansk is not unlikely. (I doubt that Ukraine will be able to storm large cities like Donetsk)

    If Ukraine loses more territories in the East such as Zaporizhia city or Kharkiv (unlikely) it will be a few million less than that.

    If Ukraine loses Eastern territories plus Odessa (very unlikely) it will be down to 20 million or so.

    The worst case and extremely unlikely scenario would be Russia taking Kiev and all the pre-1939 Soviet territory. This would leave Ukraine with around 12-15 million people, depending on how many refugees settle there from the other side of the Iron Curtain. This territory would be about 140,000 sq. kilometers in size (the map below, plus Transarpathia with Uzhorod and Bukovyna with Chernivtsi) and would thus be slightly larger than Hungary + Slovakia with a similar population of those two countries combined.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Soviet_annexation_of_Eastern_Galicia_and_Volhynia_during_WWII.svg/1280px-Soviet_annexation_of_Eastern_Galicia_and_Volhynia_during_WWII.svg.png


    It would be poor, but picturesque. Young people would be leaving, ‘tourists’ would visit for the bars and security conferences.
     
    Nonsense. Lviv is a beautiful city that attracts young settlers. And it offers plenty of well paid programming jobs. The city's population has already increased by 150,000 as a result of this war. Entire companies with their young employees have moved to Lviv from places like Kharkiv. If Kiev were lost, many of the young from that city would move to Free Lviv rather than leave Ukraine entirely, and with peace many would return from where they have been refugees in places like Poland. It would most likely be a million plus city (before the war it had a population of about 750,000).

    It would resemble Bulgaria-Romania-Moldova, its best parts would be like eastern Poland or even eastern Slovakia (both quite poor).
     
    Eastern Poland (which doesn't have any large cities like Lviv) has a per capita GRP of around ~$11,000 which is a lot higher than Belarus's $8,567. Within western Ukraine, rural Volhynia and Zakarpattiya would probably be similar to that, while Galicia (Lviv) would be significantly higher.

    Romania has a per capita GDP that is slightly higher than Russia's. And that is with its large gypsy population included.

    Bulgaria is a lot richer than Belarus, and that is with its large gypsy population.

    Moldova is a small, isolated country, it is a stupid comparison.


    Well, go for it. But then why are Ukies dying in large numbers to keep half of Donbas? Why did they start bombing civilian cities and killed (3k?) people to keep them in Ukraine?
     
    Because if the Russians take Donbas they will try to take more. Russians will try to take what they can until they are stopped. Better to stop them in Donbas than to allow the Russians to turn Dnipro, or Kharkiv, etc. into wastelands.

    Why are men up to 50-60 years old being hunted all over Ukraine so they can be put in the eastern trenches? Why?
     
    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.

    You have no answer to that because you refuse to accept the crucial, decisive element of the situation: Nato (Washington) is not interested in what happens in Galicia+ (even in Kiev), whether they have call centers
     
    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers. Median salary for programmer in Lviv was $3,000 per month in 2021:

    https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/lviv-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,4_IC3537517_KO5,22.htm


    who sells them trinkets
     
    The largest cable manufacturers for German cars is in Lviv oblast. Those are not "trinkets."

    Their goal is much simpler: an armed Ukraine in Nato without Russians with eventually bases, missiles as usually. That’s what they want
     
    That's what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia's murdering.

    But NATRO was and will be a remote possibility. Though the possibility has increased since the Russian invasion.


    Nato is a military pact, it has attacked around 5-6 countries in the last 20-25 years
     
    Which one of those countries that NATO attacked has nuclear weapons?

    NATO has kept Russia out of countries, though.


    (incl. Serbia very brutally in the middle of Europe).
     
    1,2000-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estmates.

    A small fraction of the amount of civilians killed by Russia in Chechnya or Ukraine. Places that didn't have NATO protection.


    If Nato had not moved aggressively to absorb Ukraine there would be no war.
     
    Repeating a lie doesn't make it true. There is no war over Finland joining NATO. Finland hasn't joined NATO yet, so there is no NATO protective shield. And Finland is much closer to getting in than Ukraine ever was. Yet Russia isn't moving against Finland. So clearly the problem is not a nation close to Russia joining NATO.

    The problem is Ukraine leaving the Russian World forever. Ukraine is strategically important for Moscow, if Moscow wants to be some sort of Great Power. The Russian Empire and the USSR both included Ukraine.

    As our former host correctly summarized, between EU integration and de-Russification policies, Ukraine was leaving Russia behind and cutting itself off completely, becoming as foreign to Russia as Poland, and this was the last chance for Russia to take it back, or to at least salvage as much of it as possible. They hoped to get it all (at least outside Galicia and Volhynia), but will settle for as much as they can.


    Regarding your denials: ‘but they postponed it year after year!” – are you really that stupid? That’s how it is done, the goal is the same, the implementation and timing are based on circumstances.
     
    The fact that they never moved forward is more meaningful than their empty declarations year after year.

    BTW, you ignored my statement about NATO as a rule not accepting any country than has ongoing territorial disputes. Russian lackeys like you were bragging how, by seizing Crimea and Donbas, Russia made NATO entrance for Ukraine impossible. It was a brilliant move by Putin.

    But now you claim that Ukraine was going to enter NATO anyways, and had to be stopped.

    Were Russian lackeys like you lying then, or lying now?

    Or were you too stupid to keep track?


    The Ukie Constitution literally says that Ukraine will join Nato.
     
    It still does, that hasn't changed. It says that EU and NATO are strategic objectives. Crimea and Donbas are also part of Ukraine according to the Constitution.

    And NATO still declares that Ukraine will join NATO. So these things haven't changed since Russia's invasion.

    What has changed, is that Ukraine's military has integrated far more with NATO's military, and had proven itself as a battle-tested worthy potential member of NATO. So, as I wrote, odds of NATO membership have impr0ved as a result of this war, from 5% to 25%.

    Replies: @Greasy William, @Beckow

    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.

    The pro Russian blogger “Slavland Chronicles” says that none of the young men in the families of his Ukrainian relatives have been called up nor do they have any fear of being called up. The press ganging videos that we see on Twitter are likely responses to crisis situations that pop up at various places on the first line of defense. Ukraine has been using cannon fodder to hold the front line while building up the real army in reserve.

    I’m not interested in which side is right, I’m interested in which side is winning. And Ukraine is clearly winning if you look at the conflict from a bird’s eye view and ignore all the minutia that people online sperg about.

    • Replies: @AnonfromTN
    @Greasy William


    Ukraine is clearly winning
     
    Pyrrhus was winning. But he was smarter than some people we know.
    , @LatW
    @Greasy William


    Ukraine has been using... to hold the front line while building up the real army in reserve.
     
    The Ukrainian General Staff are not dumb. Ukraine essentially has two armies (or should have at least). One is on the front lines right now, the other is being prepared for the spring offensive.

    In other news:

    - RF not doing very well at Vuhledar, to put it mildly.

    - Wagner is no longer granted access to zeks, and apparently it is no longer allowed to mention Wagner on the Russian media. Maybe our "friend" Prigozhin took it a bit too far with his crazy PR.
  30. @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her.
     
    If The Picture of Dorian Gray had one message, it was that Oscar Wilde did not like women.

    But I get tired of this feminist rhetoric that masculine men hate women. They don't, and normal women don't like soyjacks.

    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Yahya

    Your reply has nothing to do with my comment, so I give up.

    But, just one more thing, you think you come across as masculine?

    • Replies: @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Your reply has nothing to do with my comment, so I give up.
     
    It strikes me as more than a little borderline, when I blockquote you twice, and you (not replying to my actual reply to you) say that my reply doesn't address anything you said.

    But, just one more thing, you think you come across as masculine?
     
    To whom? You?

    What if I told you I was wearing a green sweater, and asking for billions of dollars, exactly like Ze? What if I said that I had the same lisp and haircut as Trudeau? Or that I took photos with shirtless Africans like Macron?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  31. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    A perceptive person will realise that Archons et co. are perhaps more powerful than all the sparks of Light around them - Archons move and enslave the sparks of Light, not vice versa.

    Student of Wisdom will soon thus realize that in all these theories the matters of evil are much more convoluted than the Matters of Good, so perhaps focusing more on the former is the right choice if our final goal is the Truth which perhaps makes us aware that neither Good is so good as we wished, nor the Evil so evil as we were told, and yet the opposition does exist.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    1. There’s no such thing as “archons”.

    2. Theories of evil are necessarily more convoluted because it is illusory.

    Otoh, I don’t think it is unhealthy that you treat these things as real. The descriptive word “illusion” does not mean the descripted phenomenon lacks power, or even personality. Just that it only exists as something partial.

    3. Light is there shining brightly, but humans turn away and cower, for fear of what it might reveal about themselves. And this is why they find truth so difficult, even maddening. Introduce bits of it too big for them to them, and watch them go insane.

    4. When people say you would have to give up existence to live in truth, they mean you would have to give up what you currently falsely identify as you. A set of lies and copes and fears.

    • Agree: Barbarossa
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Leaves No Shadow


    When people say you would have to give up existence to live in truth, they mean you would have to give up what you currently falsely identify as you. A set of lies and copes and fears
     
    Thank you Ma'am !

    (Bows...)

    Replies: @Yahya

    , @Barbarossa
    @Leaves No Shadow

    Yes, I'd say evil just takes good and twists it. It has no independent existence.

    However, in the spirit world there are beings with good, bad, or neutral intent. Not so different from people in that regard.

  32. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Another Polish Perspective

    1. There's no such thing as "archons".

    2. Theories of evil are necessarily more convoluted because it is illusory.

    Otoh, I don't think it is unhealthy that you treat these things as real. The descriptive word "illusion" does not mean the descripted phenomenon lacks power, or even personality. Just that it only exists as something partial.

    3. Light is there shining brightly, but humans turn away and cower, for fear of what it might reveal about themselves. And this is why they find truth so difficult, even maddening. Introduce bits of it too big for them to them, and watch them go insane.

    4. When people say you would have to give up existence to live in truth, they mean you would have to give up what you currently falsely identify as you. A set of lies and copes and fears.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Barbarossa

    When people say you would have to give up existence to live in truth, they mean you would have to give up what you currently falsely identify as you. A set of lies and copes and fears

    Thank you Ma’am !

    (Bows…)

    • Thanks: Leaves No Shadow
    • Replies: @Yahya
    @Ivashka the fool


    Islam presupposes a basic literacy of the Mum’een. Reading the scripture is seen as a part of the Din. In the core of Dar al Islam, the three Califates of the Islamic Golden Age, the majority of male population was literate. Alexis ds Tocqueville wrote of Algeria after the French conquest: “we cams and disorganized their traditional society”.
     
    Well we don’t have reliable data on literacy rates; but it does seem likely that literacy rates were relatively (compared to Europe) high during the Islamic Golden Age. Voltaire mentions in Philosophical Dictionary that: "Before the admirable invention of printing, books were rarer and more expensive than precious stones. Almost no books among the barbarian nations until Charlemagne, and from him to the French king Charles V., surnamed "the wise"; and from this Charles right to François, there is an extreme dearth. The Arabs alone had books from the eighth century of our era to the thirteenth. China was filled with them when we did not know how to read or write."

    It should be pointed out though that literacy and high culture activities in the Islamic world were confined to the urban areas; as in other civilizations. There are many hadiths where Muhammad proclaims to the Faithful that "seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim" and derivations thereof; but this was again predominantly pertinent to the leisured class in the urban Islamic centers. Out in the countryside; the peasants remained mostly non-Muslim (it took 3-4 centuries for Egypt to become majority Muslim) and were neglected by the new Islamic rulers; who saw non-believers first and foremost as a tax base. In the Umayad period the Arab rulers didn't bother to convert their subjects; since they held ethnic exclusivist notions of Islam. Only in the Abbasid period did conquered people like Persians attempt to join and co-opt Islam into a more universalist faith.


    The level of literacy and culture fell abysmally under Western domination.
     
    Here we have the classic chicken and egg problem. Did Western domination cause the decline in the Islamic world; or was the decline itself facilitate Western colonization? Bernard Lewis argues that the turning point in power relations between the West and the Islamic world was in 1683; when the Ottomans were defeated for the second time at Vienna. He posits a variety of causes; the discovery of the New World; exhaustion of mines and precious metals; a decline in trade through the ME; prioritization of military activity over commercial ones; and the Mongol invasions. Others have advanced the notion that Al-Ghazali attacks on neoplatonism discouraged the pursuit of knowledge. But revisionist scholars such as Dr. George Saliba have attempted to refute this argument of decline; instead asserting that it was only relative to the West, not absolute; and that scholarship continued centuries after Al-Ghazali and the Mongol invasion: https://www.unz.com/isteve/the-wealth-of-notions-my-review-of-oded-galors-the-journey-of-humanity/#comment-5302518

    I tend to favor the last argument; but my opinion is circumspect; as I believe it's extremely difficult to discern causal factors when n=1. Even with a millennia behind us, scholars haven't reached a consensus. "Only Allah encompasses all things in knowledge."

  33. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    A perceptive person will realise that Archons et co. are perhaps more powerful than all the sparks of Light around them - Archons move and enslave the sparks of Light, not vice versa.

    Student of Wisdom will soon thus realize that in all these theories the matters of evil are much more convoluted than the Matters of Good, so perhaps focusing more on the former is the right choice if our final goal is the Truth which perhaps makes us aware that neither Good is so good as we wished, nor the Evil so evil as we were told, and yet the opposition does exist.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    I’m a non-dualist, so I don’t believe in two independent opposing principles. Literally everything is a form of the Good, and what we call evil is simply the absence of Good on some level.

    As for the Archons, according to Christianity, Jesus already destroyed their power and authority. I think there’s a lot of symbolic truth in that.

  34. @Ivashka the fool
    @Leaves No Shadow


    When people say you would have to give up existence to live in truth, they mean you would have to give up what you currently falsely identify as you. A set of lies and copes and fears
     
    Thank you Ma'am !

    (Bows...)

    Replies: @Yahya

    Islam presupposes a basic literacy of the Mum’een. Reading the scripture is seen as a part of the Din. In the core of Dar al Islam, the three Califates of the Islamic Golden Age, the majority of male population was literate. Alexis ds Tocqueville wrote of Algeria after the French conquest: “we cams and disorganized their traditional society”.

    Well we don’t have reliable data on literacy rates; but it does seem likely that literacy rates were relatively (compared to Europe) high during the Islamic Golden Age. Voltaire mentions in Philosophical Dictionary that: “Before the admirable invention of printing, books were rarer and more expensive than precious stones. Almost no books among the barbarian nations until Charlemagne, and from him to the French king Charles V., surnamed “the wise”; and from this Charles right to François, there is an extreme dearth. The Arabs alone had books from the eighth century of our era to the thirteenth. China was filled with them when we did not know how to read or write.”

    It should be pointed out though that literacy and high culture activities in the Islamic world were confined to the urban areas; as in other civilizations. There are many hadiths where Muhammad proclaims to the Faithful that “seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim” and derivations thereof; but this was again predominantly pertinent to the leisured class in the urban Islamic centers. Out in the countryside; the peasants remained mostly non-Muslim (it took 3-4 centuries for Egypt to become majority Muslim) and were neglected by the new Islamic rulers; who saw non-believers first and foremost as a tax base. In the Umayad period the Arab rulers didn’t bother to convert their subjects; since they held ethnic exclusivist notions of Islam. Only in the Abbasid period did conquered people like Persians attempt to join and co-opt Islam into a more universalist faith.

    The level of literacy and culture fell abysmally under Western domination.

    Here we have the classic chicken and egg problem. Did Western domination cause the decline in the Islamic world; or was the decline itself facilitate Western colonization? Bernard Lewis argues that the turning point in power relations between the West and the Islamic world was in 1683; when the Ottomans were defeated for the second time at Vienna. He posits a variety of causes; the discovery of the New World; exhaustion of mines and precious metals; a decline in trade through the ME; prioritization of military activity over commercial ones; and the Mongol invasions. Others have advanced the notion that Al-Ghazali attacks on neoplatonism discouraged the pursuit of knowledge. But revisionist scholars such as Dr. George Saliba have attempted to refute this argument of decline; instead asserting that it was only relative to the West, not absolute; and that scholarship continued centuries after Al-Ghazali and the Mongol invasion: https://www.unz.com/isteve/the-wealth-of-notions-my-review-of-oded-galors-the-journey-of-humanity/#comment-5302518

    I tend to favor the last argument; but my opinion is circumspect; as I believe it’s extremely difficult to discern causal factors when n=1. Even with a millennia behind us, scholars haven’t reached a consensus. “Only Allah encompasses all things in knowledge.”

    • Thanks: Ivashka the fool
  35. @ Another Polish Perspective

    I think almost certainly that there probably is other life outside of the Earth. However, I’m less certain about the claims of ‘alien contact’ already having been made between them and us.

    I’m extremely leery of these particular contemporary ‘UFO’ claims due to the context of the times, ie a drive by some, hook or by crook, to stampede the peoples of the world to give up, whether they really want to or not, what little sovereignty and identity they have left so that these powerful people and their hangers on may unhindered create a global superstate/empire.

    This meme has been out there awhile.

    A Sept, ’63, episode of the sci-fi show the Outer Limits entitled ‘Architects of Fear’ featured a cabal of ‘progressive’ scientist whom, naturally for everyone else’s ‘own good’, unilaterally took it upon themselves to fake an alien invasion to drive mankind together.

    One of the scientist, who has volunteered to be surgically transformed into an alien, is to use a weather balloon…err weather satellite, as an ersatz alien spaceship so he may land at the United Nations and dictate to an awed and terrified world a new era of peace and goodwill.

    The plan implodes however and the ‘alien’ scientist ends up dead.

    The brief clip below of the episode includes a good message at the end that explains how artificially manufactured fear and terrorization is not a productive way to go in bringing about real world peace.

    ‘Using Tricks to Scare People’ – The Architects of Fear (Sept ’63)

    US President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 speech to the United Nations describing how an ‘alien threat’ would be the ideal device to unite mankind.

    ‘An Alien Threat From Outside This World’ (Sept 21, 1987)

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Architects_of_Fear

    https://www.cultureready.org/blog/reagans-1987-un-speech-alien-threat-resonates-now

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @S

    There is absolutely no reason to stage "alien invasion" to scare people off in order to unite them (this point is often completely missed off), UNLESS of course you have a strong suspicion (or even certainty) that aliens do exist and have an interest on Earth, and you want somehow be proactive, especially as you until now have kept your populations rather ignorant about aliens.

    So even if this isn't about [fake] aliens, it is about [real] aliens ultimately.

    BTW, a standard scenario - recently presented in the "Moonfall" movie - says that not only aliens exist, but there are good aliens and bad aliens, which is not an obvious point too - why can't aliens simply be indifferent..?!

    As for the current operation, the missile which shot down the "aliens" is Sidewinder, a rather old missile from 1956, which again makes its targets pretty unlikely "real aliens".

    The real alien disclosure should have something to do with crop circles etc.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

  36. @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    Charlie Manson is one talented individual.

    I liked his take on Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan:

    https://youtu.be/XaSnkjqeY-U

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

    Did you ever read/hear the Tracy Twyman bit where she and husband put a curse on Boyd Rice and six weeks later husband was dead?

    I think I would have gone straight into a nun enclave but she kept on at it for a few more years. Aye ^ 7.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    Twyman and her husband were investigating a lot of creepy stuff. They both were spiritual tourists that ended in some dark and deadly places. The stuff Charlie Manson was blabbering about Boyd and Mike applies even more to Tracy and Brian. And I don't think that Hareth Bustani was an Arab but I wouldn't write more about it.

  37. @Greasy William
    @AP


    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.
     
    The pro Russian blogger "Slavland Chronicles" says that none of the young men in the families of his Ukrainian relatives have been called up nor do they have any fear of being called up. The press ganging videos that we see on Twitter are likely responses to crisis situations that pop up at various places on the first line of defense. Ukraine has been using cannon fodder to hold the front line while building up the real army in reserve.

    I'm not interested in which side is right, I'm interested in which side is winning. And Ukraine is clearly winning if you look at the conflict from a bird's eye view and ignore all the minutia that people online sperg about.

    Replies: @AnonfromTN, @LatW

    Ukraine is clearly winning

    Pyrrhus was winning. But he was smarter than some people we know.

  38. @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    She likes homos but you can bet most homos do not like her.
     
    If The Picture of Dorian Gray had one message, it was that Oscar Wilde did not like women.

    But I get tired of this feminist rhetoric that masculine men hate women. They don't, and normal women don't like soyjacks.

    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Yahya

    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

    Maddow isn’t even 1/8th Middle Eastern; you twit.

    ScarJo looks Germanic/Nordic.

    Jennifer Connelly looks Black Irish or Italian.

    Would pass as Middle Eastern if a few facial features were tweaked though.

    Wouldn’t mind accepting her to the fold. She was born in Cairo after all.

    Is also beautiful and intelligent.

    You can keep the other two.

    Yahya once went ape, when I said I thought blacks do not have a culture,

    I don’t recall commenting on that. Though I’m open to being wrong. You are welcome to provide a link to my comment.

    Blacks do have a culture; both in Africa and America. The former is primitive and the latter depraved; but they are distinct cultures nonetheless. You are conflating “bad” with “nothing”.

    but I don’t think that Euros really have a modern culture either, at least at scale, which, if anything, is even more disgraceful. It is mostly coasting on past glories, and our modern culture is diversity, and it is basically impossible to dissociate from those elements, and degenerate at that.

    There are pockets of creditable high-culture in Europe. Most of it is indeed “coasting” on previous accomplishments; but that is both a sin and a virtue. It can be good to preserve the achievements of one’s ancestors; whether in literature, music, film, art or architecture. I don’t see the issue with performing Bach or Mozart in a French cathedral every weekend. Many non-European peoples also tend to replay the same music from their golden ages. The Ancient Egyptians maintained the same aesthetic for thousands of years. On the other hand, innovation and creativity are also worthy endeavors. Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing. Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans; likewise Alexandria was for a millennia the most culturally productive city in the Western world. The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.

    I don’t think anyone has a finger on the causes of Western cultural decline. Some posit a general downward trend starting in WW1; though I view the timeline as variable depending on cultural activity. Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century. James Huneker in Old Fogy contended that “no great music [has been] made since the death of Beethoven”. That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.

    @Latw

    Irish German maybe?

    Anglin doesn’t need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.

    Apparently Irish-Americans now think themselves Aryan ubermenschen.

    The deracination must’ve gotten to some of them. Very sad really.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Yahya

    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

    On the other hand, the internet does say Connelly looks like a minor actress called Rena Sofer, both of whose parents were Russian Jews, and so somewhat Middle Eastern, and therefore actually more Middle Eastern than Maddow.

    She also looks a lot like Demi Moore, who seems to have an English background and an actress called Cobie Smulders, who is Dutch and English by background too.

    Please note that "black Irish" is not actually a genetic thing. Just white Irish people with dark hair and some complete myths, like the "sailors from the Spanish Armada."

    As for "decline", I disagree that there's any such thing. Just a lowering of average standards, the same way the IQ of the university system inevitably decreased as the proportion of the population attending university went from 5% to 60%.


    Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing
     
    The presence of foreigners is a key ingredient to cultural flourishing. This is why rulers like Catherine the Great would invite them. The exchange of ideas in person is extremely important. However, that does depend on the foreigners you import. And the types who are necessary for cultural flourishing are obviously few in number and therefore would not qualify as "mass" migration.

    Anyone who thinks Rushdie, Einstein or Conrad detracted from the countries they ended up in is being stupid.

    Replies: @Yahya

    , @songbird
    @Yahya


    Maddow isn’t even 1/8th Middle Eastern
     
    Ah, now, would you really accept her, if she were 5/8ths?

    The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.
     
    Just how cosmopolitan was it, separated by the Himalayas, the Gobi, and the Pacific, and with the closer and more habitable places subjected to wave, after wave of Han colonization, from extremely fertile river valley bases, which had no close parallels in that geographic sphere? What would be the percentage of non-Han within core Han areas, not counting colonial expansions which brought them in contact with China's current minorities? (quite a many of them fairly Han-looking) More than 1%? 2%? There were <20,000 foreigners in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion (including Japanese), and that was with steamships and rail.

    Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans
     
    TBH, not much of Roman culture seems to survive. (And many say that Greek culture was superior.) The two best-preserved Roman novels Satyricon and The Golden Ass seem to both be degenerate filth. The Aeneid (not a novel) is quite good with caveats, but it is based on much older myths (How old is the first vase with Aeneas carrying his father on his shoulders?), and so it shouldn't be considered a purely imperial product.

    There really isn't any close historical analogue to the modern West that was a success story. Certainly not with the same percentages. (Though it hasn't stopped a lot of revisionists from trying)

    Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century.
     
    I would say this is fairly self-evident. Musical tradition will be strongest when there are (1.) noble patrons, and (2.) the highest percentage of live performers. Phonograph was invented in about 1877, and first radio broadcast of music, in my very own neck of the woods, was in 1906.

    Anglin doesn’t need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.
     
    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don't support the dispossession of my people. Tell me, are all Arab elites as high-minded and generous as you? I guess you've won me over, and I'll now choose sides in the Palestinian conflict, with the future expectation, without the slightest doubt in my mind, that the Palestinians and the Arabs who say they support them are honorable people and that my support will be reciprocal.

    Keep winning friends and influencing people! You are a fine ambassador for Arabs everywhere!

    Replies: @S, @Yahya

    , @Coconuts
    @Yahya


    That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.
     
    Woke is a special problem because of the belief it includes that cultural discourses create reality, it makes them very sensitive to how people talk about or depict things. The ideas about epistemic violence and hidden systems of power encoded in culture causing physical violence are related to this. I think putting so much emphasis on discourse control and harm elimination is obviously destructive to artistic freedom and creativity.

    A relatively common explanation of Western cultural decline, in Nietzsche but in plenty of other writers, was the rise of the mass man and the democratic spirit in politics.

    Imo the current mass migration is a problem for creativity because people are inhibited from engaging freely with it and addressing all the issues it raises in an unfiltered way, just as it is becoming more relevant. People creating art are in some way in a dialogue with the society around them and need to have a feel for its values, spirit and social forms, in various Western countries mass immigration is reaching a scale where it is starting to modify these things. Now the process is also being heavily monitored and controlled by bureaucratic political authorities and mass media, taken together I feel this kills inspiration.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  39. Hey Bashi,

    Just a few additional notes to what we spoke about on the last thread re: October 1993:

    There was everything that was needed (constitution, laws, separation of powers, political parties of all persuasion). It’s just that it didn’t square up well with the “reforms” and their “curators”.

    Right, this is quite crucial and would be worth analyzing at some point (not that this would change much in today’s context, but it would be interesting to know). However, my point still stands – the system was established in the sense you described, as in, it was set up, but it was still too fragile (the ruling groups were not fully entrenched, we can see there was a struggle for power). Which is, of course, sad to wreck such a new, fragile system instead of trying to strengthen it. Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.

    It was heading in that direction. That’s why stopping it was a crime even without the protesters’ massacre.

    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns. Russia could probably pull it off on her own, but at the time the Western funding was important – from what I understand, there was borderline hunger (Bush elder was sending chicken drumsticks and canned food), and there was a default? This is of course sad and a disgusting factor that the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.
     
    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president. After the coup and the massacre Bor'ka alkash rewrote the constitution. Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm. The first post-Soviet constitution was sensible and balanced. These apes used it as toilet paper. The parliament was a real legislative body, they made it a rubber stamp machine.

    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.
     
    There was some talking about CCCP 2.0 but I think none really believed it. And the Supreme Soviet was as nationalistic as it was leftist (see the Stanislav Govorukhin being denounced below by a commie). For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy. The parliament was Red-Brown. The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime. It was to be done before anything else. When the conflict ended in Parliament's defeat, the corrupt nomenklatura and the organized crime, who fought together against the Red Browns, morphed into the nascent oligarchy.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns.
     
    The Red Browns wanted to find and clame back the "gold of the Communist Parry" that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid. They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.

    there was a default?
     
    It was in 1998 when the scoundrels in charge stole the Western financial aid and refused to pay back the loans.

    the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.
     
    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    https://youtu.be/Cs5wez1JQ4A

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S, @LatW

  40. @Ivashka the fool
    To Coconuts and S, about the topic discussed by Charles Maurras in the excerpt posted by Coconuts.

    I was going to write a lenghty and unhinged rant, same as usual, and then I learned that someone (Rolo Slavskyi) has published some Shafarevich's translation on Unz Review.

    https://www.unz.com/article/postscript-to-the-three-thousand-year-old-enigma/

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-elusive-jewish-solution/

    Replies: @S, @Coconuts

    Thanks for the two intriguing articles. They both make many good points and are a very good description of the present situation.

    Any Euro people wishing to survive will have a lot of rebuilding to do, and probably be starting off small in size and number.

  41. @S
    @ Another Polish Perspective

    I think almost certainly that there probably is other life outside of the Earth. However, I'm less certain about the claims of 'alien contact' already having been made between them and us.

    I'm extremely leery of these particular contemporary 'UFO' claims due to the context of the times, ie a drive by some, hook or by crook, to stampede the peoples of the world to give up, whether they really want to or not, what little sovereignty and identity they have left so that these powerful people and their hangers on may unhindered create a global superstate/empire.

    This meme has been out there awhile.

    A Sept, '63, episode of the sci-fi show the Outer Limits entitled 'Architects of Fear' featured a cabal of 'progressive' scientist whom, naturally for everyone else's 'own good', unilaterally took it upon themselves to fake an alien invasion to drive mankind together.

    One of the scientist, who has volunteered to be surgically transformed into an alien, is to use a weather balloon...err weather satellite, as an ersatz alien spaceship so he may land at the United Nations and dictate to an awed and terrified world a new era of peace and goodwill.

    The plan implodes however and the 'alien' scientist ends up dead.

    The brief clip below of the episode includes a good message at the end that explains how artificially manufactured fear and terrorization is not a productive way to go in bringing about real world peace.


    'Using Tricks to Scare People' - The Architects of Fear (Sept '63)

    https://youtu.be/fh7hqOkfzas


    US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech to the United Nations describing how an 'alien threat' would be the ideal device to unite mankind.


    'An Alien Threat From Outside This World' (Sept 21, 1987)

    https://youtu.be/MAAHgAuti84


    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Architects_of_Fear

    https://www.cultureready.org/blog/reagans-1987-un-speech-alien-threat-resonates-now

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    There is absolutely no reason to stage “alien invasion” to scare people off in order to unite them (this point is often completely missed off), UNLESS of course you have a strong suspicion (or even certainty) that aliens do exist and have an interest on Earth, and you want somehow be proactive, especially as you until now have kept your populations rather ignorant about aliens.

    So even if this isn’t about [fake] aliens, it is about [real] aliens ultimately.

    BTW, a standard scenario – recently presented in the “Moonfall” movie – says that not only aliens exist, but there are good aliens and bad aliens, which is not an obvious point too – why can’t aliens simply be indifferent..?!

    As for the current operation, the missile which shot down the “aliens” is Sidewinder, a rather old missile from 1956, which again makes its targets pretty unlikely “real aliens”.

    The real alien disclosure should have something to do with crop circles etc.

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    Since the current system is ultimately about control, if a factor appears you cant control (eg. real aliens), you could introduce a "double" aka fake aliens to keep populations controlled. Then, when real aliens appear or make their move, you already have your populations primed, eg. "Aliens different from our [fake] aliens are bad aliens". Note that great majority of alien movies are about hostile aliens, and even in the Star Trek Federation all high-level commanders are humans.

    In the end, it is more about politics than technology.

    Replies: @A123, @Another Polish Perspective

  42. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    I don't find it funny because I don't have an unacknowledged burning hatred for Western women.

    Instead, it is just nonsense. There are no lack of beautiful people on American television. Instead,there is a lack of truly ugly people. Watch the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice to see what a television show with ordinary looking extras is like. It is shocking! Even though British people are the best looking people in the world, of course.

    Replies: @songbird, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms, @Barbarossa

    There are no lack of beautiful people on American television.

    Agree. And it’s a net loss for China to have Western men of Anglin’s profile to boost for it.

    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn’t at all.

    [MORE]

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms

    I think a lot of East Asians suffer from a wounded masculinity because your mothers are too controlling. It isn't always the case, but I imagine that it has only gotten more concentrated the fewer children those mothers have had. Same effort, fewer children, more anxiety.

    A lot of highQ peoples would benefit from Bryan Caplan's subtlety pro-natalist mantra that parenting doesn't matter. It would make the men happier and more assertive, the women less shrewish, and the birth rate higher, because the cost, both monetary and in time and effort, of child-raising would go down.

    , @LatW
    @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms


    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn’t at all.
     
    This is actually a big one. Ok, so here it is from someone from the region.. :)

    The man in the video, is he pure Chinese or a Hapa? Seems like pure Chinese. He has a good combo of boyish looks with a somewhat rugged masculinity - that's always very appealing. He must also have a mellow personality - a White guy equivalent of that probably would have a more difficult personality or even motivation (not necessarily, but likely, since he'd be desirable "relationship material" for many White women) and the relationship dynamic would be very different (I've noticed that Asian men are much easier - not to say there aren't attractive White guys who are easy to communicate with, of course, there are, it's just with Asians it is immediately noticeable - they are very kind, mellow, non-confrontational or non-edgy, what little experience I've had talking to Chinese in particular - this may seem like a non-attractive feature for a man initially but it is actually helpful in the long term).

    There are some interesting types, among the Japanese, as well. There were a couple of interesting types in the Marco Polo cast, but I think they were Hapas.

    To be fully open with you, the type of Asian guy that a White woman will like, will have symmetrical features, be slightly taller than average and will be more rugged than the average Asian guy. Nothing new here and sorry to sound so blunt and vain, but it is so.

    Replies: @LatW

  43. @Yahya
    @songbird


    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

     

    Maddow isn't even 1/8th Middle Eastern; you twit.

    ScarJo looks Germanic/Nordic.

    Jennifer Connelly looks Black Irish or Italian.

    Would pass as Middle Eastern if a few facial features were tweaked though.

    Wouldn't mind accepting her to the fold. She was born in Cairo after all.

    Is also beautiful and intelligent.

    You can keep the other two.


    Yahya once went ape, when I said I thought blacks do not have a culture,
     
    I don't recall commenting on that. Though I'm open to being wrong. You are welcome to provide a link to my comment.

    Blacks do have a culture; both in Africa and America. The former is primitive and the latter depraved; but they are distinct cultures nonetheless. You are conflating "bad" with "nothing".


    but I don’t think that Euros really have a modern culture either, at least at scale, which, if anything, is even more disgraceful. It is mostly coasting on past glories, and our modern culture is diversity, and it is basically impossible to dissociate from those elements, and degenerate at that.

     

    There are pockets of creditable high-culture in Europe. Most of it is indeed "coasting" on previous accomplishments; but that is both a sin and a virtue. It can be good to preserve the achievements of one's ancestors; whether in literature, music, film, art or architecture. I don't see the issue with performing Bach or Mozart in a French cathedral every weekend. Many non-European peoples also tend to replay the same music from their golden ages. The Ancient Egyptians maintained the same aesthetic for thousands of years. On the other hand, innovation and creativity are also worthy endeavors. Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing. Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans; likewise Alexandria was for a millennia the most culturally productive city in the Western world. The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.

    I don't think anyone has a finger on the causes of Western cultural decline. Some posit a general downward trend starting in WW1; though I view the timeline as variable depending on cultural activity. Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century. James Huneker in Old Fogy contended that "no great music [has been] made since the death of Beethoven". That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.

    @Latw


    Irish German maybe?
     
    Anglin doesn't need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.

    Apparently Irish-Americans now think themselves Aryan ubermenschen.

    The deracination must've gotten to some of them. Very sad really.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Coconuts

    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

    On the other hand, the internet does say Connelly looks like a minor actress called Rena Sofer, both of whose parents were Russian Jews, and so somewhat Middle Eastern, and therefore actually more Middle Eastern than Maddow.

    She also looks a lot like Demi Moore, who seems to have an English background and an actress called Cobie Smulders, who is Dutch and English by background too.

    Please note that “black Irish” is not actually a genetic thing. Just white Irish people with dark hair and some complete myths, like the “sailors from the Spanish Armada.”

    As for “decline”, I disagree that there’s any such thing. Just a lowering of average standards, the same way the IQ of the university system inevitably decreased as the proportion of the population attending university went from 5% to 60%.

    Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing

    The presence of foreigners is a key ingredient to cultural flourishing. This is why rulers like Catherine the Great would invite them. The exchange of ideas in person is extremely important. However, that does depend on the foreigners you import. And the types who are necessary for cultural flourishing are obviously few in number and therefore would not qualify as “mass” migration.

    Anyone who thinks Rushdie, Einstein or Conrad detracted from the countries they ended up in is being stupid.

    • Replies: @Yahya
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

     

    Work on your reading comprehension skills.

    ---

    Maddow only has one Jewish grandparent.

    Connelly's mother was fully Jewish. Makes her 2x more Middle Eastern by blood.

    My objection to Maddow is not on phenotype; but beauty.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.

    Connelly needs only a few facial operations and a hijab; and we'll have her fitting into the Middle East in no-time:


    https://st3.depositphotos.com/1022904/16019/v/600/depositphotos_160190176-stock-video-portrait-of-arabic-young-woman.jpg

    Replies: @Greasy William, @Leaves No Shadow, @Emil Nikola Richard

  44. @Another Polish Perspective
    @S

    There is absolutely no reason to stage "alien invasion" to scare people off in order to unite them (this point is often completely missed off), UNLESS of course you have a strong suspicion (or even certainty) that aliens do exist and have an interest on Earth, and you want somehow be proactive, especially as you until now have kept your populations rather ignorant about aliens.

    So even if this isn't about [fake] aliens, it is about [real] aliens ultimately.

    BTW, a standard scenario - recently presented in the "Moonfall" movie - says that not only aliens exist, but there are good aliens and bad aliens, which is not an obvious point too - why can't aliens simply be indifferent..?!

    As for the current operation, the missile which shot down the "aliens" is Sidewinder, a rather old missile from 1956, which again makes its targets pretty unlikely "real aliens".

    The real alien disclosure should have something to do with crop circles etc.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    Since the current system is ultimately about control, if a factor appears you cant control (eg. real aliens), you could introduce a “double” aka fake aliens to keep populations controlled. Then, when real aliens appear or make their move, you already have your populations primed, eg. “Aliens different from our [fake] aliens are bad aliens”. Note that great majority of alien movies are about hostile aliens, and even in the Star Trek Federation all high-level commanders are humans.

    In the end, it is more about politics than technology.

    • Replies: @A123
    @Another Polish Perspective


    if a factor appears you cant control (eg. real aliens), you could introduce a “double” aka fake aliens to keep populations controlled.
     
    Did you watch B5:Crusade?

    Exactly that plot with some extra X-Files homage thrown in.

    PEACE 😇

    https://youtu.be/JLI4OocZHVQ

    https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Visitors_from_Down_the_Street#Summary
    , @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I wouldn't be totally surprised if that would be "aliens" revenge for shooting down their crafts (at least it could be explained in this way).

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ohios-apocalyptic-chemical-disaster-rages

    Interestingly, it happened near "Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA" which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn't acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct. They must be much older, in fact.
    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).

    Replies: @Yahya

  45. @Greasy William
    @AP


    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.
     
    The pro Russian blogger "Slavland Chronicles" says that none of the young men in the families of his Ukrainian relatives have been called up nor do they have any fear of being called up. The press ganging videos that we see on Twitter are likely responses to crisis situations that pop up at various places on the first line of defense. Ukraine has been using cannon fodder to hold the front line while building up the real army in reserve.

    I'm not interested in which side is right, I'm interested in which side is winning. And Ukraine is clearly winning if you look at the conflict from a bird's eye view and ignore all the minutia that people online sperg about.

    Replies: @AnonfromTN, @LatW

    Ukraine has been using… to hold the front line while building up the real army in reserve.

    The Ukrainian General Staff are not dumb. Ukraine essentially has two armies (or should have at least). One is on the front lines right now, the other is being prepared for the spring offensive.

    In other news:

    – RF not doing very well at Vuhledar, to put it mildly.

    – Wagner is no longer granted access to zeks, and apparently it is no longer allowed to mention Wagner on the Russian media. Maybe our “friend” Prigozhin took it a bit too far with his crazy PR.

    • Agree: Leaves No Shadow
  46. @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
    @Leaves No Shadow


    There are no lack of beautiful people on American television.
     
    Agree. And it's a net loss for China to have Western men of Anglin's profile to boost for it.

    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn't at all.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxdJHYIjvEE

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @LatW

    I think a lot of East Asians suffer from a wounded masculinity because your mothers are too controlling. It isn’t always the case, but I imagine that it has only gotten more concentrated the fewer children those mothers have had. Same effort, fewer children, more anxiety.

    A lot of highQ peoples would benefit from Bryan Caplan’s subtlety pro-natalist mantra that parenting doesn’t matter. It would make the men happier and more assertive, the women less shrewish, and the birth rate higher, because the cost, both monetary and in time and effort, of child-raising would go down.

  47. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Yahya

    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

    On the other hand, the internet does say Connelly looks like a minor actress called Rena Sofer, both of whose parents were Russian Jews, and so somewhat Middle Eastern, and therefore actually more Middle Eastern than Maddow.

    She also looks a lot like Demi Moore, who seems to have an English background and an actress called Cobie Smulders, who is Dutch and English by background too.

    Please note that "black Irish" is not actually a genetic thing. Just white Irish people with dark hair and some complete myths, like the "sailors from the Spanish Armada."

    As for "decline", I disagree that there's any such thing. Just a lowering of average standards, the same way the IQ of the university system inevitably decreased as the proportion of the population attending university went from 5% to 60%.


    Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing
     
    The presence of foreigners is a key ingredient to cultural flourishing. This is why rulers like Catherine the Great would invite them. The exchange of ideas in person is extremely important. However, that does depend on the foreigners you import. And the types who are necessary for cultural flourishing are obviously few in number and therefore would not qualify as "mass" migration.

    Anyone who thinks Rushdie, Einstein or Conrad detracted from the countries they ended up in is being stupid.

    Replies: @Yahya

    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

    Work on your reading comprehension skills.

    Maddow only has one Jewish grandparent.

    Connelly’s mother was fully Jewish. Makes her 2x more Middle Eastern by blood.

    My objection to Maddow is not on phenotype; but beauty.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.

    Connelly needs only a few facial operations and a hijab; and we’ll have her fitting into the Middle East in no-time:

    • Replies: @Greasy William
    @Yahya

    Connelly:
    A.) Has had her nose done
    B.) Looks Irish as the day is long. I don't see anything remotely Near Eastern in Connelly's appearance

    Replies: @Yahya

    , @Leaves No Shadow
    @Yahya


    Connelly’s mother was fully Jewish.
     
    I didn't even think of that. Sorry.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.
     
    A female homosexual, maybe. The Middle East is definitely a land that prioritises ogling men over women.
    , @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Yahya

    P (jennifer connaly has sucked harvey weinstein's dick) ~ .6

  48. (from previous thread)

    The LFTR (~liquid fluoride thorium reactor) as originally developed at Oak Ridge is pretty much an ideal reactor with one exception. It was basically the worst design imaginable in terms of proliferation and produced ready to use U-233 which is actually worse than plutonium in this respect.

    U233 is mediocre for weapons production. Only one has been tested and it was a fizzle. Worse yet the U233 cycle is poisoned by U232 which produces very undesirable, frequent, high gamma decay events. This is not a power plant issue, but it can easily break sensitive electronics in weapons applications.

    Comparatively, Pu239 is a much easier pathway to a functional fission weapon.

    There are ways to work around this aspect which hopefully have been fleshed out.

    Because breeder style power plant reactors consume the fissile material they are creating, diversion to other uses is difficult. Over accumulation is an undesirable characteristic to be minimized.

    While fission bomb material is also produced by breeding, the reactor construction is quite different.

    When I was a kid thorium reserves were thought to be good for tens of thousands of years.

    Thorium is inevitably dug up with other Rare Earth Elements. Thousands of years of fuel is not an over statement.

    PEACE 😇

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @A123

    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.

    From what I remember, thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage, recently in Halden.

    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium (in such a case we wouldn't build them at all) - clearly we could have a couple of military reactors and the rest of them running on thorium.

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/

    Replies: @A123, @QCIC

  49. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    Since the current system is ultimately about control, if a factor appears you cant control (eg. real aliens), you could introduce a "double" aka fake aliens to keep populations controlled. Then, when real aliens appear or make their move, you already have your populations primed, eg. "Aliens different from our [fake] aliens are bad aliens". Note that great majority of alien movies are about hostile aliens, and even in the Star Trek Federation all high-level commanders are humans.

    In the end, it is more about politics than technology.

    Replies: @A123, @Another Polish Perspective

    if a factor appears you cant control (eg. real aliens), you could introduce a “double” aka fake aliens to keep populations controlled.

    Did you watch B5:Crusade?

    Exactly that plot with some extra X-Files homage thrown in.

    PEACE 😇

    https://babylon5.fandom.com/wiki/Visitors_from_Down_the_Street#Summary

  50. @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
    @Leaves No Shadow


    There are no lack of beautiful people on American television.
     
    Agree. And it's a net loss for China to have Western men of Anglin's profile to boost for it.

    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn't at all.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxdJHYIjvEE

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @LatW

    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn’t at all.

    This is actually a big one. Ok, so here it is from someone from the region.. 🙂

    The man in the video, is he pure Chinese or a Hapa? Seems like pure Chinese. He has a good combo of boyish looks with a somewhat rugged masculinity – that’s always very appealing. He must also have a mellow personality – a White guy equivalent of that probably would have a more difficult personality or even motivation (not necessarily, but likely, since he’d be desirable “relationship material” for many White women) and the relationship dynamic would be very different (I’ve noticed that Asian men are much easier – not to say there aren’t attractive White guys who are easy to communicate with, of course, there are, it’s just with Asians it is immediately noticeable – they are very kind, mellow, non-confrontational or non-edgy, what little experience I’ve had talking to Chinese in particular – this may seem like a non-attractive feature for a man initially but it is actually helpful in the long term).

    There are some interesting types, among the Japanese, as well. There were a couple of interesting types in the Marco Polo cast, but I think they were Hapas.

    To be fully open with you, the type of Asian guy that a White woman will like, will have symmetrical features, be slightly taller than average and will be more rugged than the average Asian guy. Nothing new here and sorry to sound so blunt and vain, but it is so.

    • Replies: @LatW
    @LatW

    Just some more friendly input here: in many recent Chinese movies, usually revolving around dragons, it is quite common to see these actors who do all these amazing otherworldly jumps and tricks. Both men and women. It is quite entertaining but I wouldn't say that in and of itself it adds much to pure sex appeal. It's better that they lift as it adds a bit of robustness.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms

  51. @Yahya
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

     

    Work on your reading comprehension skills.

    ---

    Maddow only has one Jewish grandparent.

    Connelly's mother was fully Jewish. Makes her 2x more Middle Eastern by blood.

    My objection to Maddow is not on phenotype; but beauty.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.

    Connelly needs only a few facial operations and a hijab; and we'll have her fitting into the Middle East in no-time:


    https://st3.depositphotos.com/1022904/16019/v/600/depositphotos_160190176-stock-video-portrait-of-arabic-young-woman.jpg

    Replies: @Greasy William, @Leaves No Shadow, @Emil Nikola Richard

    Connelly:
    A.) Has had her nose done
    B.) Looks Irish as the day is long. I don’t see anything remotely Near Eastern in Connelly’s appearance

    • Replies: @Yahya
    @Greasy William


    B.) Looks Irish as the day is long.
     
    I know; that's why I said she looks Black Irish.

    I don’t see anything remotely Near Eastern in Connelly’s appearance

     

    I know; that's why I said she requires some facial surgery to pass in the Middle East.

    Her hair and skin color already fit the bill; just the facial features are too European for the Middle East.

    On the other hand; some native Middle Easterners look more Irish than Connelly:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02943/izzat-al-douri-ira_2943572b.jpg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-UzxqpPLc8&ab_channel=ABCNews

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkvxJYG1coI&ab_channel=MazeejByLucasSakr

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM_zetLvrhE&ab_channel=DalalAbuAmneh-%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A9

    Replies: @Dmitry, @Not Raul

  52. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    Since the current system is ultimately about control, if a factor appears you cant control (eg. real aliens), you could introduce a "double" aka fake aliens to keep populations controlled. Then, when real aliens appear or make their move, you already have your populations primed, eg. "Aliens different from our [fake] aliens are bad aliens". Note that great majority of alien movies are about hostile aliens, and even in the Star Trek Federation all high-level commanders are humans.

    In the end, it is more about politics than technology.

    Replies: @A123, @Another Polish Perspective

    I wouldn’t be totally surprised if that would be “aliens” revenge for shooting down their crafts (at least it could be explained in this way).

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ohios-apocalyptic-chemical-disaster-rages

    Interestingly, it happened near “Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA” which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn’t acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct. They must be much older, in fact.
    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).

    • Replies: @Yahya
    @Another Polish Perspective


    Interestingly, it happened near “Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA” which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn’t acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct.
     
    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land. It doesn't necessarily indicate an expression of support for the Palestinian state or people. Edward Gibbon was referring to the area by that name all the way back in 1776:

    Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire: nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south, the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea. Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria. The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales, either in fertility or extent. [821] Yet Phoenicia and Palestine will forever live in the memory of mankind; since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other. [83] A sandy desert, alike destitute of wood and water, skirts along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The wandering life of the Arabs was inseparably connected with their independence; and wherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they ventured to for many settled habitations, they soon became subjects to the Roman empire. [84]

     

    The village in Ohio was founded in 1828, before the conflict started.

    -----------


    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).
     
    The British upper class were not of one mind.

    The British elite in Britain proper tended to support Zionism.

    British officers who were sent to the Middle East, such as T.E. Lawrence, Glubb Pasha, and Richard Burton tended to like Arabs better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpytwj_4Hag&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9

    Among the British public today, most are ambivalent, and only marginally more Britons support Palestine (22%) vs Israel (16%): https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/03/11/israel-and-palestine-whose-side-britain

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Another Polish Perspective

  53. @Yahya
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

     

    Work on your reading comprehension skills.

    ---

    Maddow only has one Jewish grandparent.

    Connelly's mother was fully Jewish. Makes her 2x more Middle Eastern by blood.

    My objection to Maddow is not on phenotype; but beauty.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.

    Connelly needs only a few facial operations and a hijab; and we'll have her fitting into the Middle East in no-time:


    https://st3.depositphotos.com/1022904/16019/v/600/depositphotos_160190176-stock-video-portrait-of-arabic-young-woman.jpg

    Replies: @Greasy William, @Leaves No Shadow, @Emil Nikola Richard

    Connelly’s mother was fully Jewish.

    I didn’t even think of that. Sorry.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.

    A female homosexual, maybe. The Middle East is definitely a land that prioritises ogling men over women.

  54. @LatW
    Hey Bashi,

    Just a few additional notes to what we spoke about on the last thread re: October 1993:


    There was everything that was needed (constitution, laws, separation of powers, political parties of all persuasion). It’s just that it didn’t square up well with the “reforms” and their “curators”.
     
    Right, this is quite crucial and would be worth analyzing at some point (not that this would change much in today's context, but it would be interesting to know). However, my point still stands - the system was established in the sense you described, as in, it was set up, but it was still too fragile (the ruling groups were not fully entrenched, we can see there was a struggle for power). Which is, of course, sad to wreck such a new, fragile system instead of trying to strengthen it. Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.

    It was heading in that direction. That’s why stopping it was a crime even without the protesters’ massacre.
     
    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns. Russia could probably pull it off on her own, but at the time the Western funding was important - from what I understand, there was borderline hunger (Bush elder was sending chicken drumsticks and canned food), and there was a default? This is of course sad and a disgusting factor that the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.

    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president. After the coup and the massacre Bor’ka alkash rewrote the constitution. Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm. The first post-Soviet constitution was sensible and balanced. These apes used it as toilet paper. The parliament was a real legislative body, they made it a rubber stamp machine.

    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.

    There was some talking about CCCP 2.0 but I think none really believed it. And the Supreme Soviet was as nationalistic as it was leftist (see the Stanislav Govorukhin being denounced below by a commie). For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy. The parliament was Red-Brown. The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime. It was to be done before anything else. When the conflict ended in Parliament’s defeat, the corrupt nomenklatura and the organized crime, who fought together against the Red Browns, morphed into the nascent oligarchy.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns.

    The Red Browns wanted to find and clame back the “gold of the Communist Parry” that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid. They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.

    there was a default?

    It was in 1998 when the scoundrels in charge stole the Western financial aid and refused to pay back the loans.

    the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.

    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Thomas Friedman writes 99% garbage. But he did write one eminently sensible sentence.

    "Is Iraq the way it is because of Saddam Hussein, or is Saddam Hussein the way he is because of Iraq?"

    This idea applies to most places.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @YetAnotherAnon

    , @S
    @Ivashka the fool


    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR...then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.
     
    Yep.

    The Fall of Capitalism, ie the impending economic and political collapse of the United States and it's Western bloc, won't be a natural process at all either.

    This event, too, will have a subsequent looting of the remnants of the Capitalist economic system by those who are behind this manufactured and broadly controlled (crimethink, I know) Capitalist vs Communist dialectic, the worker being 'worthy of his wages' they tell themselves.

    As you allude, it's been an orchestrated top/down (rather than bottom/up) affair since the time of this man-made dialectic's birth in the proto-Capitalist American and proto-Communist French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 respectively.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president.
     
    Maybe they should've taken a bit more time with drafting a new constitution, because from what I understand, Yeltsin wanted to draft a new one from scratch, while Hasbulatov wanted to keep the one from the USSR and just amend it a little. Maybe none of the previous constitutions reflected the situation that was created after the USSR. Was enough time taken to figure out whether there should be parliamentary or presidential form of government?

    As to the actual events of the month of October, they say that there was a Двоевластие at that moment which must be a very critical and difficult situation that probably cannot last for very long. I would say it could be characterized as borderline civil war.

    Of course, it is tragic and, that this was also October, is quite symbolic.

    Understand that those who defended Yeltsin, the normal people (not just some ultra-liberal journalists or whatever), they didn't defend the oligarchy at the time, but as they phrased it "democracy" (the opposite of fascism and totalitarian communism in their mind).


    Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm.
     
    Yes, the nullifier.

    For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy.
     
    You know, in Latvia we, too, had something called the Civic Congress, it was ultra-nationalist but also from what I imagine would've been against neo-liberalism (had they been allowed to function longer). They did most of the work fighting for independence and did the most risky work, but then they were pushed aside and removed from gaining any power (removed by a kind of a coalition of mostly former Commies who changed colors as well as pro-Western nationalists and democrats and what later became liberals).

    But of course in Russia it was much more complex and more painful.

    The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime.
     
    The liberalization and privatization where needed but not as drastically, this process had to be managed more carefully. Especially in Russia. One of the problems I see there though is the ability to manage the former state properties to make them lucrative.

    The Red Browns wanted to find and claim back the “gold of the Communist Parry” that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid.
     
    This is understandable, but it would have taken time.

    They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.
     
    Correct, but again, the issue there would have been to take what resources were left over and create lucrative businesses out of them. I think this was the crucial moment that was missed and as a result a lot of national wealth was squandered. Just because it was hard to do, at the time it was easier to sell it to get the money quickly. So at this moment the most important thing is the mechanism and the people who are able to do this. Normal people didn't yet have the skills to do it but they could've gained those skills with patience.

    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.
     
    I can see your point (and your grievance, there is some foundation in it), however, something was seriously off already in the 1980s. Yea, things were better than during the collapse, but there were serious flaws that went beyond just the lack of private enterprise - why was there such deficit? There was a productivity problem. There were several decent size factories in the Baltic States, people worked a lot but the goods were shipped out. Urbanization was still going on, more goods were needed, some kind of a ramp of productivity was needed.

    Also, remember - oil prices collapsed right in the mid 80s when things were going the best.

    From Brookings.edu:

    "In 1973-74 the real price of crude oil more than tripled. After declining slightly in 1975-78, it doubled again in 1979-80. But the 1979-80 price increase was eroded between 1981 and 1985, as price declined by nearly 40 percent. Price then collapsed in the first half of 1986, falling by more than 50 percent."

    Another factor - the arms race. It was too much, it sucked in too much effort and human capital, money.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid.
     
    At least you got to keep the car, that's good.

    They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂
     
    That is so lame, and so low calorie. :( So sorry to hear that, it makes me sad. I have a couple of really sad stories, too, but they are too private and too painful to share. It doesn't have to do with food, though. Btw, you left early, hardship continued for a while.
  55. @LatW
    @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms


    China needs to be appealing to Western women like Sanna Marin, or it isn’t at all.
     
    This is actually a big one. Ok, so here it is from someone from the region.. :)

    The man in the video, is he pure Chinese or a Hapa? Seems like pure Chinese. He has a good combo of boyish looks with a somewhat rugged masculinity - that's always very appealing. He must also have a mellow personality - a White guy equivalent of that probably would have a more difficult personality or even motivation (not necessarily, but likely, since he'd be desirable "relationship material" for many White women) and the relationship dynamic would be very different (I've noticed that Asian men are much easier - not to say there aren't attractive White guys who are easy to communicate with, of course, there are, it's just with Asians it is immediately noticeable - they are very kind, mellow, non-confrontational or non-edgy, what little experience I've had talking to Chinese in particular - this may seem like a non-attractive feature for a man initially but it is actually helpful in the long term).

    There are some interesting types, among the Japanese, as well. There were a couple of interesting types in the Marco Polo cast, but I think they were Hapas.

    To be fully open with you, the type of Asian guy that a White woman will like, will have symmetrical features, be slightly taller than average and will be more rugged than the average Asian guy. Nothing new here and sorry to sound so blunt and vain, but it is so.

    Replies: @LatW

    Just some more friendly input here: in many recent Chinese movies, usually revolving around dragons, it is quite common to see these actors who do all these amazing otherworldly jumps and tricks. Both men and women. It is quite entertaining but I wouldn’t say that in and of itself it adds much to pure sex appeal. It’s better that they lift as it adds a bit of robustness.

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @LatW

    Aaah, the typical Chinese hero movies of the genre "one against tens of thousands".

    The last one I saw, "The Shadow" was very pleasing aesthetically, it was like artsy movie + hero movie in one. Lovers joined in music there (the music below is played by them). Aside from that, there was a lot of calligraphy hanging around which wasn't translated at all! There was one feisty girl, a princess even, but she died, luckily for everyone, making. a throne free for our true, "shadowy" hero (the treacherous brother-king of the feisty princess died too, so the throne was truly free, but of course she was a problem for her brother too). Nevertheless, a movie was pretty dark, at least dark unlike a typical Chinese hero movie.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPXZq-jx8zw


    I wasn't sure what was really the moral of the movie - it was a bit unusual for a Chinese movie to claim that everyone can be a king - but with the simple moral like "feisty women and treacherous men have no place in this world" I could agree.

    , @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms
    @LatW

    Agree. Chinese martial arts cinema is often fake and subtly emasculating. The film Fearless illustrates this--

    - Jet Li starts off by facing off against hugely muscular white fighters, and manages to defeat them by being more skilled, thereby demonstrating the "Chinese cultural superiority over whites."

    But this is actually a "self-own"-- because what if the white fighters learned become as skilled as Jet Li? whilst still being bigger and stronger.

    In real-life whites are stronger in absolute basis (World's Strongest Men), but East Asians are arguably stronger on a pound-for-pound basis (Olympic weightlifting). And David vs. Goliath match-ups you have cases the smaller, more skilled Slavs (Fedor, Cro Cop) beating the hulking East Asian (Hong Man Choi).

    - Jet Li's ultimate rival isn't white, but a Japanese samurai. He duels the samurai's katana with nunchaku and bests him. He only loses because the samurai's associate cheated and poisoned him. Although the samurai himself is portrayed as honorable (and the whole incident a fabrication).

    But in real life nunchaku ヌンチャク is native to Okinawa, not China, and a totally unrealistic battlefield weapon. While as katana, in addition being arguably the most artistically beautiful weapon in the world, is also arguably the most effective.


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK5wmpsW-Yk

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO4MZlPNU1w

    Replies: @A123, @AP, @LatW

  56. @Greasy William
    @Yahya

    Connelly:
    A.) Has had her nose done
    B.) Looks Irish as the day is long. I don't see anything remotely Near Eastern in Connelly's appearance

    Replies: @Yahya

    B.) Looks Irish as the day is long.

    I know; that’s why I said she looks Black Irish.

    I don’t see anything remotely Near Eastern in Connelly’s appearance

    I know; that’s why I said she requires some facial surgery to pass in the Middle East.

    Her hair and skin color already fit the bill; just the facial features are too European for the Middle East.

    On the other hand; some native Middle Easterners look more Irish than Connelly:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM_zetLvrhE&ab_channel=DalalAbuAmneh-%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A9

    • Replies: @Dmitry
    @Yahya

    A Bedouin soldier was killed in Israel.

    You could have changed the uniform for a Ukrainian soldier and nobody would know.

    But the cousin looks Saudi, converted to Judaism to become a Haredi rabbi.

    https://i1.wp.com/www.theyeshivaworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/63eb47c3f1c6d_1676363715.jpg

    https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/2165715/family-of-heroes-the-lubavitch-cousin-of-the-bedouin-policeman-killed-in-terror-attack.html

    , @Not Raul
    @Yahya

    Harry’s real father?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02943/izzat-al-douri-ira_2943572b.jpg

    Replies: @sudden death

  57. @LatW
    @LatW

    Just some more friendly input here: in many recent Chinese movies, usually revolving around dragons, it is quite common to see these actors who do all these amazing otherworldly jumps and tricks. Both men and women. It is quite entertaining but I wouldn't say that in and of itself it adds much to pure sex appeal. It's better that they lift as it adds a bit of robustness.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @China Japan and Korea Bromance of Three Kingdoms

    Aaah, the typical Chinese hero movies of the genre “one against tens of thousands”.

    The last one I saw, “The Shadow” was very pleasing aesthetically, it was like artsy movie + hero movie in one. Lovers joined in music there (the music below is played by them). Aside from that, there was a lot of calligraphy hanging around which wasn’t translated at all! There was one feisty girl, a princess even, but she died, luckily for everyone, making. a throne free for our true, “shadowy” hero (the treacherous brother-king of the feisty princess died too, so the throne was truly free, but of course she was a problem for her brother too). Nevertheless, a movie was pretty dark, at least dark unlike a typical Chinese hero movie.

    I wasn’t sure what was really the moral of the movie – it was a bit unusual for a Chinese movie to claim that everyone can be a king – but with the simple moral like “feisty women and treacherous men have no place in this world” I could agree.

  58. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I wouldn't be totally surprised if that would be "aliens" revenge for shooting down their crafts (at least it could be explained in this way).

    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ohios-apocalyptic-chemical-disaster-rages

    Interestingly, it happened near "Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA" which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn't acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct. They must be much older, in fact.
    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).

    Replies: @Yahya

    Interestingly, it happened near “Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA” which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn’t acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct.

    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land. It doesn’t necessarily indicate an expression of support for the Palestinian state or people. Edward Gibbon was referring to the area by that name all the way back in 1776:

    Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire: nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south, the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea. Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria. The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales, either in fertility or extent. [821] Yet Phoenicia and Palestine will forever live in the memory of mankind; since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other. [83] A sandy desert, alike destitute of wood and water, skirts along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The wandering life of the Arabs was inseparably connected with their independence; and wherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they ventured to for many settled habitations, they soon became subjects to the Roman empire. [84]

    The village in Ohio was founded in 1828, before the conflict started.

    ———–

    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).

    The British upper class were not of one mind.

    The British elite in Britain proper tended to support Zionism.

    British officers who were sent to the Middle East, such as T.E. Lawrence, Glubb Pasha, and Richard Burton tended to like Arabs better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpytwj_4Hag&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9

    Among the British public today, most are ambivalent, and only marginally more Britons support Palestine (22%) vs Israel (16%): https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/03/11/israel-and-palestine-whose-side-britain

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Yahya

    Almost no issue irrelevant to culture war has been more culture warred than Israel-Palestine in Britain. The most SJW town council would fly only the rainbow and the Palestinian flags for decades before they would fly the English flag. And you're not a political tranny if you don't have a keffiyeh to wear over your lace bra. Meanwhile, Israel flags will get flown alongside Ulster flags and are dear to small c conservatism.

    Obviously there are Jewish ultra-progressives who hate this, and anti-Semitic true conservatives, but they're pissing into the wind. The conflict has become emblematic of two personality types. And these correlate with the bulk of what the different sides of the culture war prefer. Support will therefore inevitably circle around 50/50.

    Replies: @Wokechoke

    , @Another Polish Perspective
    @Yahya


    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land.
     
    Yes, I know this. But in USA you can meet names which clearly refer to the Bible, but mostly to its non-Jewish names like Moab or Canaan. Well, I just checked and there is quite a couple of Sodoms in USA too!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom

    Don't tell me that calling your place Sodom isn't Yahwe-trolling...!

    In this context, naming something "Palestine" and not "Judea" seems like a conscious choice.

    Replies: @Yahya, @A123

  59. @Yahya
    @Another Polish Perspective


    Interestingly, it happened near “Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA” which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn’t acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct.
     
    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land. It doesn't necessarily indicate an expression of support for the Palestinian state or people. Edward Gibbon was referring to the area by that name all the way back in 1776:

    Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire: nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south, the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea. Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria. The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales, either in fertility or extent. [821] Yet Phoenicia and Palestine will forever live in the memory of mankind; since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other. [83] A sandy desert, alike destitute of wood and water, skirts along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The wandering life of the Arabs was inseparably connected with their independence; and wherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they ventured to for many settled habitations, they soon became subjects to the Roman empire. [84]

     

    The village in Ohio was founded in 1828, before the conflict started.

    -----------


    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).
     
    The British upper class were not of one mind.

    The British elite in Britain proper tended to support Zionism.

    British officers who were sent to the Middle East, such as T.E. Lawrence, Glubb Pasha, and Richard Burton tended to like Arabs better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpytwj_4Hag&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9

    Among the British public today, most are ambivalent, and only marginally more Britons support Palestine (22%) vs Israel (16%): https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/03/11/israel-and-palestine-whose-side-britain

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Another Polish Perspective

    Almost no issue irrelevant to culture war has been more culture warred than Israel-Palestine in Britain. The most SJW town council would fly only the rainbow and the Palestinian flags for decades before they would fly the English flag. And you’re not a political tranny if you don’t have a keffiyeh to wear over your lace bra. Meanwhile, Israel flags will get flown alongside Ulster flags and are dear to small c conservatism.

    Obviously there are Jewish ultra-progressives who hate this, and anti-Semitic true conservatives, but they’re pissing into the wind. The conflict has become emblematic of two personality types. And these correlate with the bulk of what the different sides of the culture war prefer. Support will therefore inevitably circle around 50/50.

    • Replies: @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    Teh decisive battle on Jews was fought over in the Labour Party, not the Tory Party which was partly founded by Benjamin Disraeli anyway. And I'm not talking about the Jeremy Corbyn battles.


    Instead you'd have to go back to the cabinet formed by Ramsay MacDonald. In this cabinet it was possible to have envisaged the small time chiseling of Arthur Greenwood as chancellor shooting down motorway building, house building car buying frenzy envisioned by, of all people, Oswald Mosley.


    Apparently the following racial outbursts happened in the cabinet concerning a Keynsian Credit Boom...before ww2. "Niggers on exported Bicycles" was Chancellor Greenwood's big idea. Remind you of Boris or Sunak?


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZAdBs1LDxs


    that is the Treasury's Official Position, then as now.

  60. @Yahya
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Lol at trying to claim that Jennifer Connelly looks more Middle Eastern than Rachel Maddow!

     

    Work on your reading comprehension skills.

    ---

    Maddow only has one Jewish grandparent.

    Connelly's mother was fully Jewish. Makes her 2x more Middle Eastern by blood.

    My objection to Maddow is not on phenotype; but beauty.

    Her being a homosexual also automatically excludes her from the Middle Eastern club.

    Connelly needs only a few facial operations and a hijab; and we'll have her fitting into the Middle East in no-time:


    https://st3.depositphotos.com/1022904/16019/v/600/depositphotos_160190176-stock-video-portrait-of-arabic-young-woman.jpg

    Replies: @Greasy William, @Leaves No Shadow, @Emil Nikola Richard

    P (jennifer connaly has sucked harvey weinstein’s dick) ~ .6

  61. @Yahya
    @Another Polish Perspective


    Interestingly, it happened near “Eastern Palestine, Ohio, USA” which suggests that Western forces supporting Palestinians didn’t acquire their sympathies just now and only due to the loathsome Israeli conduct.
     
    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land. It doesn't necessarily indicate an expression of support for the Palestinian state or people. Edward Gibbon was referring to the area by that name all the way back in 1776:

    Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire: nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south, the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea. Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria. The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales, either in fertility or extent. [821] Yet Phoenicia and Palestine will forever live in the memory of mankind; since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other. [83] A sandy desert, alike destitute of wood and water, skirts along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The wandering life of the Arabs was inseparably connected with their independence; and wherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they ventured to for many settled habitations, they soon became subjects to the Roman empire. [84]

     

    The village in Ohio was founded in 1828, before the conflict started.

    -----------


    Well, British upper-class officers liked Arabs much more than Jews, and upper-class Americans used to ape the British (like Henry James, hm).
     
    The British upper class were not of one mind.

    The British elite in Britain proper tended to support Zionism.

    British officers who were sent to the Middle East, such as T.E. Lawrence, Glubb Pasha, and Richard Burton tended to like Arabs better.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpytwj_4Hag&ab_channel=BritishPath%C3%A9

    Among the British public today, most are ambivalent, and only marginally more Britons support Palestine (22%) vs Israel (16%): https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2014/03/11/israel-and-palestine-whose-side-britain

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Another Polish Perspective

    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land.

    Yes, I know this. But in USA you can meet names which clearly refer to the Bible, but mostly to its non-Jewish names like Moab or Canaan. Well, I just checked and there is quite a couple of Sodoms in USA too!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom

    Don’t tell me that calling your place Sodom isn’t Yahwe-trolling…!

    In this context, naming something “Palestine” and not “Judea” seems like a conscious choice.

    • Replies: @Yahya
    @Another Polish Perspective


    Don’t tell me that calling your place Sodom isn’t Yahwe-trolling.

     

    They better not be trolling me.

    I'll blow their damn airport up!

    And put a curse upon their souls.

    And it will not be lifted till they have repented to their Lord!

    Behold.

    , @A123
    @Another Polish Perspective

    You can literally "Go to Hell" in Norway. There is an auto race there every year.


    https://hellrx.com/?lang=en

    HELL RX

    This year’s toughest motorsports experience! World RX of Norway in Hell (Lånkebanen)! – just 30 minutes from downtown Trondheim! See the world elites in rallycross give everything!
     
    PEACE 😇
  62. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.
     
    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president. After the coup and the massacre Bor'ka alkash rewrote the constitution. Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm. The first post-Soviet constitution was sensible and balanced. These apes used it as toilet paper. The parliament was a real legislative body, they made it a rubber stamp machine.

    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.
     
    There was some talking about CCCP 2.0 but I think none really believed it. And the Supreme Soviet was as nationalistic as it was leftist (see the Stanislav Govorukhin being denounced below by a commie). For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy. The parliament was Red-Brown. The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime. It was to be done before anything else. When the conflict ended in Parliament's defeat, the corrupt nomenklatura and the organized crime, who fought together against the Red Browns, morphed into the nascent oligarchy.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns.
     
    The Red Browns wanted to find and clame back the "gold of the Communist Parry" that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid. They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.

    there was a default?
     
    It was in 1998 when the scoundrels in charge stole the Western financial aid and refused to pay back the loans.

    the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.
     
    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    https://youtu.be/Cs5wez1JQ4A

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S, @LatW

    Thomas Friedman writes 99% garbage. But he did write one eminently sensible sentence.

    “Is Iraq the way it is because of Saddam Hussein, or is Saddam Hussein the way he is because of Iraq?”

    This idea applies to most places.

    • Agree: AP, YetAnotherAnon
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    What about the two Koreas ? There's a limit to nature and a room for nurture.

    , @YetAnotherAnon
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    “Is Iraq the way it is because of Saddam Hussein, or is Saddam Hussein the way he is because of Iraq?”

    You could also say that given the country was Iraq, Saddam or someone like him may have been the best ruler. Certainly applies in spades to Gaddaffi, who was IMHO a great ruler of Libya.

    And IMHO also applies to Putin. Given the oligarch dominance in 1990s Russia, it's a miracle he survived, and it was only because the oligarchs thought he was their man. Those years when he was slowly and cautiously wresting power from them, boiling the oligarch frog... my impression is that he still isn't in total control but has a modus vivendi with the surviving oligarchs. The war may have strengthened his position has a fair few ran off to Israel.


    "Putin inherited a ransacked and bewildered country, with a poor and demoralized people," Solzhenitsyn told the German magazine Der Spiegel in a 2007 interview, when Putin was still president. "And he started to do what was possible, a slow and gradual restoration. These efforts were not noticed, nor appreciated, immediately. In any case, one is hard-pressed to find examples in history when steps by one country to restore its strength were met favorably by other governments."
     
  63. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Yahya


    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land.
     
    Yes, I know this. But in USA you can meet names which clearly refer to the Bible, but mostly to its non-Jewish names like Moab or Canaan. Well, I just checked and there is quite a couple of Sodoms in USA too!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom

    Don't tell me that calling your place Sodom isn't Yahwe-trolling...!

    In this context, naming something "Palestine" and not "Judea" seems like a conscious choice.

    Replies: @Yahya, @A123

    Don’t tell me that calling your place Sodom isn’t Yahwe-trolling.

    They better not be trolling me.

    I’ll blow their damn airport up!

    And put a curse upon their souls.

    And it will not be lifted till they have repented to their Lord!

    Behold.

  64. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Did you ever read/hear the Tracy Twyman bit where she and husband put a curse on Boyd Rice and six weeks later husband was dead?

    I think I would have gone straight into a nun enclave but she kept on at it for a few more years. Aye ^ 7.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Twyman and her husband were investigating a lot of creepy stuff. They both were spiritual tourists that ended in some dark and deadly places. The stuff Charlie Manson was blabbering about Boyd and Mike applies even more to Tracy and Brian. And I don’t think that Hareth Bustani was an Arab but I wouldn’t write more about it.

  65. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Thomas Friedman writes 99% garbage. But he did write one eminently sensible sentence.

    "Is Iraq the way it is because of Saddam Hussein, or is Saddam Hussein the way he is because of Iraq?"

    This idea applies to most places.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @YetAnotherAnon

    What about the two Koreas ? There’s a limit to nature and a room for nurture.

  66. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Yahya


    Palestine is a common name to refer to the area also known as the Holy Land.
     
    Yes, I know this. But in USA you can meet names which clearly refer to the Bible, but mostly to its non-Jewish names like Moab or Canaan. Well, I just checked and there is quite a couple of Sodoms in USA too!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom

    Don't tell me that calling your place Sodom isn't Yahwe-trolling...!

    In this context, naming something "Palestine" and not "Judea" seems like a conscious choice.

    Replies: @Yahya, @A123

    You can literally “Go to Hell” in Norway. There is an auto race there every year.

    https://hellrx.com/?lang=en

    HELL RX

    This year’s toughest motorsports experience! World RX of Norway in Hell (Lånkebanen)! – just 30 minutes from downtown Trondheim! See the world elites in rallycross give everything!

    PEACE 😇

  67. @Yahya
    @songbird


    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

     

    Maddow isn't even 1/8th Middle Eastern; you twit.

    ScarJo looks Germanic/Nordic.

    Jennifer Connelly looks Black Irish or Italian.

    Would pass as Middle Eastern if a few facial features were tweaked though.

    Wouldn't mind accepting her to the fold. She was born in Cairo after all.

    Is also beautiful and intelligent.

    You can keep the other two.


    Yahya once went ape, when I said I thought blacks do not have a culture,
     
    I don't recall commenting on that. Though I'm open to being wrong. You are welcome to provide a link to my comment.

    Blacks do have a culture; both in Africa and America. The former is primitive and the latter depraved; but they are distinct cultures nonetheless. You are conflating "bad" with "nothing".


    but I don’t think that Euros really have a modern culture either, at least at scale, which, if anything, is even more disgraceful. It is mostly coasting on past glories, and our modern culture is diversity, and it is basically impossible to dissociate from those elements, and degenerate at that.

     

    There are pockets of creditable high-culture in Europe. Most of it is indeed "coasting" on previous accomplishments; but that is both a sin and a virtue. It can be good to preserve the achievements of one's ancestors; whether in literature, music, film, art or architecture. I don't see the issue with performing Bach or Mozart in a French cathedral every weekend. Many non-European peoples also tend to replay the same music from their golden ages. The Ancient Egyptians maintained the same aesthetic for thousands of years. On the other hand, innovation and creativity are also worthy endeavors. Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing. Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans; likewise Alexandria was for a millennia the most culturally productive city in the Western world. The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.

    I don't think anyone has a finger on the causes of Western cultural decline. Some posit a general downward trend starting in WW1; though I view the timeline as variable depending on cultural activity. Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century. James Huneker in Old Fogy contended that "no great music [has been] made since the death of Beethoven". That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.

    @Latw


    Irish German maybe?
     
    Anglin doesn't need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.

    Apparently Irish-Americans now think themselves Aryan ubermenschen.

    The deracination must've gotten to some of them. Very sad really.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Coconuts

    Maddow isn’t even 1/8th Middle Eastern

    Ah, now, would you really accept her, if she were 5/8ths?

    [MORE]

    The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.

    Just how cosmopolitan was it, separated by the Himalayas, the Gobi, and the Pacific, and with the closer and more habitable places subjected to wave, after wave of Han colonization, from extremely fertile river valley bases, which had no close parallels in that geographic sphere? What would be the percentage of non-Han within core Han areas, not counting colonial expansions which brought them in contact with China’s current minorities? (quite a many of them fairly Han-looking) More than 1%? 2%? There were <20,000 foreigners in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion (including Japanese), and that was with steamships and rail.

    Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans

    TBH, not much of Roman culture seems to survive. (And many say that Greek culture was superior.) The two best-preserved Roman novels Satyricon and The Golden Ass seem to both be degenerate filth. The Aeneid (not a novel) is quite good with caveats, but it is based on much older myths (How old is the first vase with Aeneas carrying his father on his shoulders?), and so it shouldn’t be considered a purely imperial product.

    There really isn’t any close historical analogue to the modern West that was a success story. Certainly not with the same percentages. (Though it hasn’t stopped a lot of revisionists from trying)

    Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century.

    I would say this is fairly self-evident. Musical tradition will be strongest when there are (1.) noble patrons, and (2.) the highest percentage of live performers. Phonograph was invented in about 1877, and first radio broadcast of music, in my very own neck of the woods, was in 1906.

    Anglin doesn’t need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.

    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don’t support the dispossession of my people. Tell me, are all Arab elites as high-minded and generous as you? I guess you’ve won me over, and I’ll now choose sides in the Palestinian conflict, with the future expectation, without the slightest doubt in my mind, that the Palestinians and the Arabs who say they support them are honorable people and that my support will be reciprocal.

    Keep winning friends and influencing people! You are a fine ambassador for Arabs everywhere!

    • Replies: @S
    @songbird


    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don’t support the dispossession of my people. Tell me, are all Arab elites as high-minded and generous as you?
     
    Similarly, Tholian Fiend took great offence that they actually had Northern Europeans (ie 'Whites') playing Vikings in a recent movie by that same name, and not 'persons of color' instead.

    Tholian Fiend, who probably is actually a sub-continental like many think rather than an actual Scandinavian, and Yahoo, or, Yahya rather, are site trolls and sell outs. They've sold their fellow man, their own people, and ultimately their own individual selves out as well, and effectively work for a corrupt and truly genocidal global establishment.

    It was for site trolls like these that they invented the 'ignore commentator' button for.

    Replies: @songbird, @Yahya

    , @Yahya
    @songbird


    Ah, now, would you really accept her, if she were 5/8ths?

     

    Irrelevant. You said "Rachel Maddow is a substantial fraction Middle Eastern" as if to imply she's not really a Western women; which is mind-bogglingly stupid. Almost like saying African-Americans aren't black because they have "substantial" European ancestry.

    What would be the percentage of non-Han
     
    25-50%

    In light of this appreciation for cultural diversity, the Tang Dynasty saw the influx of thousands of foreigners who came to live in Chinese commercial hub cities such as Canton and Chang’an. Expatriates spilled in from all over Asia and beyond, with a bounty of people from Persia, Arabia, India, Korea, and Southeast and Central Asia. Chinese cities became bustling epicenters of commerce and trade, abundant in foreign residents and the plethora of cultural riches that they brought with them. Southern port cities such as Canton and Fuzhou swelled with foreigners as trade expanded in Southeast Asia and along the Chinese coast. A census taken in 742 CE showed that the foreign proportion of the registered population had massively increased from nearly a quarter in the early seventh century to nearly half by the mid seventh century, with an estimated 200,000 foreigners in residence in Canton alone.

    https://www.thecollector.com/tang-dynasty-golden-age-china/

     

    This is a piece of artwork from the Tang era:

    https://cdn.thecollector.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/li-zhaodao-emperor-xuanzong-tang-fleeing-11th-century.jpg?width=1400&quality=55

    It was produced at a time when China was more diverse than the modern West. You make the mistake of assuming diversity only exits in the modern West ("muh unparalleled invasion"). Once again, the presence of diversity is no impediment to cultural flourishing. You still haven't refuted the fact that Alexandria; the most intellectually productive city of antiquity; was a diverse polyglot of Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, Christians etc. It doesn't mean all forms of migration is good; or that diversity is a necessary condition for cultural flourishing. But you are wrong to assume that diversity is an impediment to cultural flourishing. You are too ideologically racist anyway to accept this fact; there's no use in arguing with you.


    TBH, not much of Roman culture seems to survive. (And many say that Greek culture was superior.) The two best-preserved Roman novels Satyricon and The Golden Ass seem to both be degenerate filth.
     
    That Roman culture hasn't survived doesn't have any bearing on its worthiness or sophistication. Every culture dies eventually. Are you going to tell me classical music isn't all that because it's become an almost extinct art form? Or that Ancient Egypt was small potatoes because it's culture "only" lasted 3,000 years?

    The Romans weren't as intellectually productive as the Greeks, not because of diversity; but because their deeply-rooted aversion to lexus (self-indulgence) and inertia (idleness). The Roman code, established during the Republic, demanded that Roman gentleman embody vigor and industriousness; which is antithical to the leisurely disposition needed to acquire knowledge. The Romans directed their intellectual efforts to administration and war-making; whereas Greeks put more attachment to scholarly and intellectual pursuits. Again, these are matters of cultural differences, not ethnic compositions.

    Even still, Roman culture was prestigious and sophisticated enough to continue to exert a hold on multiple people's imaginations long after it collapsed. Your founding fathers otherwise would not have modelled their constitution and public buildings on Roman laws and architecture.


    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don’t support the dispossession of my people.

     

    I call you a Nazi because of your bizarre obsession with Germany. TL wasn't even specifically talking about Germany when she stated that cultured and intelligent Iranians were desirable immigrants. But of course, you just had to shift the topic to Germany. Lol.

    Germans aren't your people, homeboy. You are Irish-American. You presuming to dictate which group of people in Germany should be deported; is like me telling Iranians they should deport the x and y group. I have never and would never presume to tell Iranians they should deport the Afghan refugees in their country; or go around calling them parasites and invaders. That would just be gawky and obnoxious; it's none of my business.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Emil Nikola Richard, @songbird

  68. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.
     
    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president. After the coup and the massacre Bor'ka alkash rewrote the constitution. Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm. The first post-Soviet constitution was sensible and balanced. These apes used it as toilet paper. The parliament was a real legislative body, they made it a rubber stamp machine.

    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.
     
    There was some talking about CCCP 2.0 but I think none really believed it. And the Supreme Soviet was as nationalistic as it was leftist (see the Stanislav Govorukhin being denounced below by a commie). For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy. The parliament was Red-Brown. The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime. It was to be done before anything else. When the conflict ended in Parliament's defeat, the corrupt nomenklatura and the organized crime, who fought together against the Red Browns, morphed into the nascent oligarchy.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns.
     
    The Red Browns wanted to find and clame back the "gold of the Communist Parry" that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid. They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.

    there was a default?
     
    It was in 1998 when the scoundrels in charge stole the Western financial aid and refused to pay back the loans.

    the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.
     
    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    https://youtu.be/Cs5wez1JQ4A

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S, @LatW

    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR…then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    Yep.

    The Fall of Capitalism, ie the impending economic and political collapse of the United States and it’s Western bloc, won’t be a natural process at all either.

    This event, too, will have a subsequent looting of the remnants of the Capitalist economic system by those who are behind this manufactured and broadly controlled (crimethink, I know) Capitalist vs Communist dialectic, the worker being ‘worthy of his wages’ they tell themselves.

    As you allude, it’s been an orchestrated top/down (rather than bottom/up) affair since the time of this man-made dialectic’s birth in the proto-Capitalist American and proto-Communist French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 respectively.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @S

    Yes. Exactly. And today it is not only the Slav they are after, but the Western middle class as well. It's Westerstroika time.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid. They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂

    Replies: @S

  69. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your reply has nothing to do with my comment, so I give up.

    But, just one more thing, you think you come across as masculine?

    Replies: @songbird

    Your reply has nothing to do with my comment, so I give up.

    It strikes me as more than a little borderline, when I blockquote you twice, and you (not replying to my actual reply to you) say that my reply doesn’t address anything you said.

    But, just one more thing, you think you come across as masculine?

    To whom? You?

    What if I told you I was wearing a green sweater, and asking for billions of dollars, exactly like Ze? What if I said that I had the same lisp and haircut as Trudeau? Or that I took photos with shirtless Africans like Macron?

    • LOL: Ivashka the fool
    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your reply didn't address what I said. That's plain.

    However I am sorry for not replying to your reply. I made a misclick and replied to the wrong comment.

    Nonetheless, uou don't strike me as masculine at all. In particular, your posts seem to operate only in black or white, without any shades of grey. You also seem very quick to devalue what triggers you. And you seem keen to assign your own behaviour to others.

    I will show you which comments of yours directly correspond to these three observations if you request me.

    Replies: @songbird

  70. Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    • Replies: @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side.
     
    What do you base this prediction on? I've been following different sources to get clues about the announced Russian winter offensive but there seems to be a general assessment that Russia has not amassed enough forces to do much more than what's it already doing with its multiple pushes in different parts of the front. Russia (or Belarus) cannot hide from the satellites the big contingents they would need to change the situation dramatically. Today Michael Hofman did retweet some satellite images of a new field camp detected near Voronezh though.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @AnonfromTN
    @Ivashka the fool


    I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side
     
    They have already intervened: Russian troops keep collecting Polish KIA in areas they advance to. But Poland did not intervene on Ukrainian side, it intervened on Polish side: Polish government salivates after Western Ukraine that Stalin took from Poland in 1939. I doubt that Putin would let Poles take a piece of the pie, or even crumbs of that pie, though.
    , @S
    @Ivashka the fool


    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.
     
    I've posted before how I believe the self proclaimed 'progressives', due to their adoption of the ends justifies the means, have long been 'projecting' what is in reality true of themselves upon others.

    During the height of the Cold War between American Capitalism and Soviet Communism in 1968, one of the most progressive Multi-Cultural US TV shows there is. StarTrek, broadcast an episode entitled 'Day of the Dove'.

    The episode seems to be a case of almost pure projection.

    It tells the story of an 'alien entity' which has manipulated a war into being between two equally armed forces, neither side of which is actually intended to ever win. The entity feeds off the hatred generated by the never ending unwinnable war.

    To defeat it, the combatants must stand down, perhaps to fight again another day, but only on their own terms.


    'Two forces..., each of them equally armed. Has a war been staged for us, complete with weapons and ideology and patriotic drum beating?'

    https://youtu.be/c-x2a-GjJls


    'And it goes on, the good old game of war, pawn against pawn! Stopping the bad guys. While somewhere, something sits back and laughs and starts it all over again.'

    https://youtu.be/AoMD_qKpCNM


    Script for the very insightful Day of the Dove (Nov 1, 1968)


    http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/66.htm
    , @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.
     
    Are you writing this in full seriousness or as a kind of an "innocent" prompt that "a Fool" would bring up?

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed. So far it seems, it won't be. It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  71. @S
    @Ivashka the fool


    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR...then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.
     
    Yep.

    The Fall of Capitalism, ie the impending economic and political collapse of the United States and it's Western bloc, won't be a natural process at all either.

    This event, too, will have a subsequent looting of the remnants of the Capitalist economic system by those who are behind this manufactured and broadly controlled (crimethink, I know) Capitalist vs Communist dialectic, the worker being 'worthy of his wages' they tell themselves.

    As you allude, it's been an orchestrated top/down (rather than bottom/up) affair since the time of this man-made dialectic's birth in the proto-Capitalist American and proto-Communist French revolutions of 1776 and 1789 respectively.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Yes. Exactly. And today it is not only the Slav they are after, but the Western middle class as well. It’s Westerstroika time.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid. They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂

    • Replies: @S
    @Ivashka the fool


    And today it is not only the Slav they are after, but the Western middle class as well. It’s Westerstroika time.
     
    Sounds about right.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid. They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂
     
    Hopefully, when the Fall of Capitalism takes place, you and yours will not be like those Japanese who got hit at Hiroshima by the atomic bomb, and survived it, went to Nagasaki for 'safety', only to get hit again. [Some gallows humor there! :-D ]

    Replies: @Beckow

  72. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    There was a time when I was deep into this Eastern Wisdom too. But then I realized, if it is so simple -


    a jewel that was, all along, embedded in ones forehead
     
    - why it is so hard...? Can truth have only accidental realizations in this world, through the enlightened? Why should actually the way to the truth be so hard and for the chosen - shouldn't truth be shining like the Sun upon everyone?
    There must be a catch here.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Anon 2

    It isn’t as hard as many people think. I recommend “A Course in Miracles” (1976)
    and its sequel “A Course of Love” (2001). They basically say that we are gods and
    goddesses in training. We live in a slow universe for our own protection.
    We do create our own reality but very slowly. If our wishes became manifest
    faster, we’d destroy ourselves due to all the negativity present in our conscious
    and unconscious minds. So first we need to purify ourselves. Once you purify
    yourself, you’ll be amazed how quickly your wishes become manifested.
    It’s an empirically observable fact.

    Fortunately, Poland and Czechia are Late Mature- Early Old Soul countries,
    meaning that they’ve become very purified already. Hence the “Holy Poland”
    meme. Poland has one of the lowest levels of social dysfunction in the
    world, e.g., extremely low levels of murder, rape, and abortion.
    Unfortunately, the United States is a Late Young Soul country and Western
    Europe is Early Mature Soul level, so both are fairly primitive compared
    to Poland or Czechia. There are much more sophisticated models of
    the Evolution of Consciousness in existence, e.g., by Ken Wilber, America’s
    most translated philosopher, or by Michael Washburn whose approach
    employs the tools of Analytic Psychology. However, the Infant-Baby-Young-
    Mature-Old Soul level sequence is the easiest to present in a blog like this
    one. The Michael teachings are a good reference. I presented a very detailed
    version of this model on this blog 3-4 years ago.

    If you’re interested in psychedelics, then I recommend the writings of
    Thaddeus Golas, evolutionary thinker famous for his mega bestseller
    “The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment.” Golas was in fact a Polish-
    American thinker, with a degree from Columbia University. He witnessed
    it all, Greenwich Village in the 1950s and San Francisco in the 1960s-‘70s.
    A fascinating man. The U.S. is very uncomfortable for the Polish – we tend
    to be Late Mature-Early Old souls whereas Americans, being Young Souls,
    genuflect before the Unholy Trinity of Wealth, Power, and Fame. As a result
    we have very little in common.

  73. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Yahya

    Almost no issue irrelevant to culture war has been more culture warred than Israel-Palestine in Britain. The most SJW town council would fly only the rainbow and the Palestinian flags for decades before they would fly the English flag. And you're not a political tranny if you don't have a keffiyeh to wear over your lace bra. Meanwhile, Israel flags will get flown alongside Ulster flags and are dear to small c conservatism.

    Obviously there are Jewish ultra-progressives who hate this, and anti-Semitic true conservatives, but they're pissing into the wind. The conflict has become emblematic of two personality types. And these correlate with the bulk of what the different sides of the culture war prefer. Support will therefore inevitably circle around 50/50.

    Replies: @Wokechoke

    Teh decisive battle on Jews was fought over in the Labour Party, not the Tory Party which was partly founded by Benjamin Disraeli anyway. And I’m not talking about the Jeremy Corbyn battles.

    Instead you’d have to go back to the cabinet formed by Ramsay MacDonald. In this cabinet it was possible to have envisaged the small time chiseling of Arthur Greenwood as chancellor shooting down motorway building, house building car buying frenzy envisioned by, of all people, Oswald Mosley.

    Apparently the following racial outbursts happened in the cabinet concerning a Keynsian Credit Boom…before ww2. “Niggers on exported Bicycles” was Chancellor Greenwood’s big idea. Remind you of Boris or Sunak?

    that is the Treasury’s Official Position, then as now.

  74. @Ivashka the fool
    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    Replies: @Mikel, @AnonfromTN, @S, @LatW

    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side.

    What do you base this prediction on? I’ve been following different sources to get clues about the announced Russian winter offensive but there seems to be a general assessment that Russia has not amassed enough forces to do much more than what’s it already doing with its multiple pushes in different parts of the front. Russia (or Belarus) cannot hide from the satellites the big contingents they would need to change the situation dramatically. Today Michael Hofman did retweet some satellite images of a new field camp detected near Voronezh though.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Mikel

    I was reading a couple Russian Telegram channels that write about these new camps and also about Lukashenko telling that the time is approaching when Belarus will have to take a side in this conflict, that the decision must be made shortly.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @sudden death

  75. The decisive battle on Jews was fought over in the Labour Party, not the Tory Party which was partly founded by Benjamin Disraeli anyway. And I’m not talking about the Jeremy Corbyn battles.

    Instead you’d have to go back to the cabinet formed by Ramsay MacDonald. In this cabinet it is possible to see the small time chiseling of Arthur Greenwood as chancellor shooting down a domestic motorway building, house building car buying frenzy beautifully proposed by, of all people, Oswald Mosley.

    Apparently the following racial outbursts happened in the cabinet concerning a domestic Keynsian Credit Boom…before ww2. “N*ggers on exported Bicycles” was Chancellor Greenwood’s big counter idea. Remind you of Boris or Sunak? it’s a 9 minute clip.

    that is the Treasury’s Official Position, then as now.

  76. aside from the latent antisemitism, this is an excellent analysis of the current state of the war and the likely trajectory of things going forward: https://roloslavskiy.substack.com/p/we-are-entering-the-final-phase-of

    tl;dr: Russia is given the remainder of the Donbas in exchange for giving up the Crimea landbridge. Ukraine publicly commits to not seek NATO or EU membership.

  77. @songbird
    @Yahya


    Maddow isn’t even 1/8th Middle Eastern
     
    Ah, now, would you really accept her, if she were 5/8ths?

    The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.
     
    Just how cosmopolitan was it, separated by the Himalayas, the Gobi, and the Pacific, and with the closer and more habitable places subjected to wave, after wave of Han colonization, from extremely fertile river valley bases, which had no close parallels in that geographic sphere? What would be the percentage of non-Han within core Han areas, not counting colonial expansions which brought them in contact with China's current minorities? (quite a many of them fairly Han-looking) More than 1%? 2%? There were <20,000 foreigners in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion (including Japanese), and that was with steamships and rail.

    Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans
     
    TBH, not much of Roman culture seems to survive. (And many say that Greek culture was superior.) The two best-preserved Roman novels Satyricon and The Golden Ass seem to both be degenerate filth. The Aeneid (not a novel) is quite good with caveats, but it is based on much older myths (How old is the first vase with Aeneas carrying his father on his shoulders?), and so it shouldn't be considered a purely imperial product.

    There really isn't any close historical analogue to the modern West that was a success story. Certainly not with the same percentages. (Though it hasn't stopped a lot of revisionists from trying)

    Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century.
     
    I would say this is fairly self-evident. Musical tradition will be strongest when there are (1.) noble patrons, and (2.) the highest percentage of live performers. Phonograph was invented in about 1877, and first radio broadcast of music, in my very own neck of the woods, was in 1906.

    Anglin doesn’t need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.
     
    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don't support the dispossession of my people. Tell me, are all Arab elites as high-minded and generous as you? I guess you've won me over, and I'll now choose sides in the Palestinian conflict, with the future expectation, without the slightest doubt in my mind, that the Palestinians and the Arabs who say they support them are honorable people and that my support will be reciprocal.

    Keep winning friends and influencing people! You are a fine ambassador for Arabs everywhere!

    Replies: @S, @Yahya

    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don’t support the dispossession of my people. Tell me, are all Arab elites as high-minded and generous as you?

    Similarly, Tholian Fiend took great offence that they actually had Northern Europeans (ie ‘Whites’) playing Vikings in a recent movie by that same name, and not ‘persons of color’ instead.

    Tholian Fiend, who probably is actually a sub-continental like many think rather than an actual Scandinavian, and Yahoo, or, Yahya rather, are site trolls and sell outs. They’ve sold their fellow man, their own people, and ultimately their own individual selves out as well, and effectively work for a corrupt and truly genocidal global establishment.

    It was for site trolls like these that they invented the ‘ignore commentator’ button for.

    • Replies: @songbird
    @S


    Similarly, Tholian Fiend took great offence that they actually had Northern Europeans (ie ‘Whites’) playing Vikings in a recent movie by that same name, and not ‘persons of color’ instead.
     
    I don't recall this specifically, but I have often found Thulean to be a good sport. He likes to troll a bit occasionally, but who could blame him for that?

    Yahoo, or, Yahya
     
    Haha. That makes me remember Kanye, which is doubly funny considering the context.

    Replies: @S

    , @Yahya
    @S


    Yahoo, or, Yahya rather, are site trolls and sell outs.
     
    Your "insults" are even lamer and more timid than songbird. I wish silviosilver would come back so I can have a proper sparring partner. You are too much of a wimp to even address your insult directly to my person. Just typically feminine passive-aggressiveness.

    Since you've taken to declaring all migrants, including most recently Slavic untermensch, as grifters, parasites etc. I wonder if you could enlighten us with your own non-migrant, indigenous background. You've been curiously circumspect about your ancestry. But please do tell us about your ancient American indigenous lineage, and how none of your ancestors migrated from one place to another to improve their standard of living. And that they've never participated in the genocidal erasure of a certain other group's culture during their conquest of the New World.

    Replies: @Max Payne

  78. @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side.
     
    What do you base this prediction on? I've been following different sources to get clues about the announced Russian winter offensive but there seems to be a general assessment that Russia has not amassed enough forces to do much more than what's it already doing with its multiple pushes in different parts of the front. Russia (or Belarus) cannot hide from the satellites the big contingents they would need to change the situation dramatically. Today Michael Hofman did retweet some satellite images of a new field camp detected near Voronezh though.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    I was reading a couple Russian Telegram channels that write about these new camps and also about Lukashenko telling that the time is approaching when Belarus will have to take a side in this conflict, that the decision must be made shortly.

    • Thanks: Mikel
    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Belarus doesn't have a combat effective military. Otherwise Lukashenko might well declare genuine independence. Or the military would probably do it for him.

    You can disagree with parts 2 and 3 or the above statement and be reasonable, but not part 1, and this means Lukashenko is not going to join any war in any significant way, or probably any way at all. He's even gutted what there was of his military to make scrap for the Russians to use.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @sudden death
    @Ivashka the fool

    Just an intuitive guess with no required evidence about troop movements specifics - imho, all those lukashenkian dances with military drums, at the same time adding weasealisms like "it must be done without harming our sovereign interests", more likely are meant to keep suspense increasing and therefore notable UA reserves at the north too, while not letting transfer them into east/south where the main RF action may come, but without any RB involvement.

    But we''ll se soon as spring is just two weeks away...

    And if it starts raining, it will be the worst imaginable time again to do or keep doing the serious offensive there.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @sudden death

  79. @Ivashka the fool
    @S

    Yes. Exactly. And today it is not only the Slav they are after, but the Western middle class as well. It's Westerstroika time.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid. They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂

    Replies: @S

    And today it is not only the Slav they are after, but the Western middle class as well. It’s Westerstroika time.

    Sounds about right.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid. They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂

    Hopefully, when the Fall of Capitalism takes place, you and yours will not be like those Japanese who got hit at Hiroshima by the atomic bomb, and survived it, went to Nagasaki for ‘safety’, only to get hit again. [Some gallows humor there! 😀 ]

    • Agree: Ivashka the fool
    • Replies: @Beckow
    @S


    ...but the Western middle class as well.
     
    I generally defend the middle class everywhere, but let's be honest: large part of the Western middle class is simply parasitic. They consume way beyond anything productive they do. I don't want to list the endless silly made-up activities that provide their living, from distributing gment goodies and virtual money, endless 'charity', green activism, protecting against "Russia", social media, etc...all of that is possible only because the material basis (land, food, infrastructure, energy...) has been either built up or is often obtained at minimum cost from the rest of the world (that virtual money machine :)...

    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the 'middle class' nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place - fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have - they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go...

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Emil Nikola Richard

  80. @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Your reply has nothing to do with my comment, so I give up.
     
    It strikes me as more than a little borderline, when I blockquote you twice, and you (not replying to my actual reply to you) say that my reply doesn't address anything you said.

    But, just one more thing, you think you come across as masculine?
     
    To whom? You?

    What if I told you I was wearing a green sweater, and asking for billions of dollars, exactly like Ze? What if I said that I had the same lisp and haircut as Trudeau? Or that I took photos with shirtless Africans like Macron?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    Your reply didn’t address what I said. That’s plain.

    However I am sorry for not replying to your reply. I made a misclick and replied to the wrong comment.

    Nonetheless, uou don’t strike me as masculine at all. In particular, your posts seem to operate only in black or white, without any shades of grey. You also seem very quick to devalue what triggers you. And you seem keen to assign your own behaviour to others.

    I will show you which comments of yours directly correspond to these three observations if you request me.

    • LOL: songbird
    • Replies: @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    In particular, your posts seem to operate only in black or white, without any shades of grey. You also seem very quick to devalue what triggers you. And you seem keen to assign your own behaviour to others.

     

    Operate? Shades of Grey? Devalue? Trigger? Assign?

    Wouldn't guess that any of this was the terminology employed by the Gaelic warrior class, who fought countless battles, and recited poems about swords and scabbards, and knew their ancestors by heart. Are you sure that you haven't attempted to reshape the definition of the masculine, so that it would be unrecognizable to anyone in the past? Whether warrior, fisherman, or farmer? Maybe, with the desire to invent some new age man?

    But that first sentence I find very curious. Are you not implying that it is only men that can understand subtlety? Or women are too Manichean? Surely, what is not yang is yin? Or maybe you are overthinking things, if that is not how you are ordering your categories.

    I will show you which comments of yours directly correspond to these three observations if you request me.
     
    I prefer introspection.

    To pretend to too good a grasp into other people's heart's and minds, honestly strikes me somewhat as an attempt at witchcraft, or some other sacrilege. And the people who get on the couch the most don't seem a healthy lot either. I think they would be better off praying and going to religious services.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  81. @Ivashka the fool
    @Mikel

    I was reading a couple Russian Telegram channels that write about these new camps and also about Lukashenko telling that the time is approaching when Belarus will have to take a side in this conflict, that the decision must be made shortly.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @sudden death

    Belarus doesn’t have a combat effective military. Otherwise Lukashenko might well declare genuine independence. Or the military would probably do it for him.

    You can disagree with parts 2 and 3 or the above statement and be reasonable, but not part 1, and this means Lukashenko is not going to join any war in any significant way, or probably any way at all. He’s even gutted what there was of his military to make scrap for the Russians to use.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Lukashenko is not going to join any war in any significant way
     
    Would you bet on it ?

    😉

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  82. @Leaves No Shadow
    Chronology:

    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    US says Russia lying.

    Germany says Russia financially liable.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 really broken.

    Russia says Germany running out of gas and will freeze.

    Germany says Russia must open Nordstream 1 but won't use Nordstream 2.

    Russia refuses to open Nordstream 1, but wants to open Nordstream 2.

    Nordstream 1 gets blown up.

    Nordstream 2 still functioning.

    Russia says again, Nordstream 1 broken, so Germany must use Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

    Putinists online declare NATO will collapse because US blew up pipeline Russia wanted and not pipeline US wanted because anonymous sources said so.

    Germany and US increase funding for Ukraine, send tanks together, cooperation and continue to refuse opening Nordstream 2.

    Russia still stuck outside Bakhmut, having mobilised, and using military that online Putinist declared would be in Paris in 2 weeks.

    China continues to accept Russian people subsidised oil in exchange for limiting aid to Ukraine, polite words to Russia, free coffee for Putin and not recognising Crimea as Russian.

    Online Putinist declared total Russian geopolitical victory.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @A123, @Gerard1234

    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

    NS2 can only be functional at half the capacity after the attack (which with it illegally prevented from launching by Pindostan German courts would have needed several months for required pressure to be able to do that), which, in a sane world , would have stopped you from writing this garbage at source.
    I see that American BS and “fake it till you make it” doctrine is like a religion

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

    For the last time you cretin – Germany doesn’t laugh and has “prepared” for months by:

    1.Using much less gas ( about 1/8th)
    2.Repeat…Consuming much less gas
    3.Buying Russian LNG throughout the SMO. Russian LNG exports to Europe are about 25% of America’s to Europe. Expect American and Russian LNG exports to increase even more to EU – but note for obese American retards that their LNG could never come close to replacing Russian pipeline gas
    4.Germany still buying Russian pipeline gas for most of 2022.
    5. It was always about AFTER winter of 2022/23

    Europe has basically had to waste 700 billion to 1 trillion USD in government bailouts to energy companies and subsidies to the public to pay for the high energy prices . Thats not practical money that defeats Russia – like by switching to different gas sources at premium price or building replacement infrastructure for different energy like NPP…Thats completely evaporated money . EU + Britain GDP is about 19-20 billion USD , so that is 3.5-5% of EU GDP eradicated in practical terms.. More importantly that is a much , much bigger percentage of government spending on schools, hospitals, social programs etc that are now thrown in a ditch. The EU-UK lemming populations should be rioting at this disgrace – but coronavirus seems to have given them the same practical effects as a lobotomy

    All because of trying to keep the parasitic 404 as a gas transit country – i.e have Russia fund the military of this freakshow . These “bailout” packages are over 2-3 years, Ukraine transit money was about 2 billion per year. So basically the “geniuses” or should that be cruel satanists of NATO have sacrificed maybe $1 trillion or 700 billion…….to force 1 country to pay another (fake) country $6 billion…….an amount NATO has since more than paid over to 404 anyway. You could not make up this freakshow!

    • Replies: @Greasy William
    @Gerard1234


    For the last time you cretin – Germany doesn’t laugh and has “prepared” for months by:

    1.Using much less gas ( about 1/8th)
    2.Repeat…Consuming much less gas
    3.Buying Russian LNG throughout the SMO. Russian LNG exports to Europe are about 25% of America’s to Europe. Expect American and Russian LNG exports to increase even more to EU – but note for obese American retards that their LNG could never come close to replacing Russian pipeline gas
    4.Germany still buying Russian pipeline gas for most of 2022.
    5. It was always about AFTER winter of 2022/23

     

    This is true. While I do believe that Russia dramatically overestimated the economic impact this war would have on the West, there is reason to believe that Europe will suffer long term economic problems from this conflict and that these problems will become worse with time. Remember that the economic impact of the lockdowns also didn't show up initially.

    Economics are the one way that time is on Russia's side. The US has approximately 90 more days before it enters a long and deep recession. When the US economy finally starts its extremely overdo meltdown, we'll see how well the Western economies hold up. My guess: not very well
  83. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Belarus doesn't have a combat effective military. Otherwise Lukashenko might well declare genuine independence. Or the military would probably do it for him.

    You can disagree with parts 2 and 3 or the above statement and be reasonable, but not part 1, and this means Lukashenko is not going to join any war in any significant way, or probably any way at all. He's even gutted what there was of his military to make scrap for the Russians to use.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Lukashenko is not going to join any war in any significant way

    Would you bet on it ?

    😉

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Yes, Belarus will, if they do join the war to help Russia, deploy no more than 48,000 soldiers to Ukraine in 2023.

    How much are we betting?

    Replies: @Gerard1234, @Mikel

  84. @Ivashka the fool
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Lukashenko is not going to join any war in any significant way
     
    Would you bet on it ?

    😉

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    Yes, Belarus will, if they do join the war to help Russia, deploy no more than 48,000 soldiers to Ukraine in 2023.

    How much are we betting?

    • Replies: @Gerard1234
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Yes, Belarus will, if they do join the war to help Russia, deploy no more than 48,000 soldiers to Ukraine in 2023.

    How much are we betting?

     

    The SMO represents a great chance for Belarus to have much, or at least the most rabid, of their white-red-white oppositionists destroyed. Maybe after as many of them as possible have drained out into 404 to be killed (as already have).....then Belarus will take a more active role. Anyway Belarus and even the normally idiotic Gruzia have had OK side-effects from SMO - for Banderastan and Moldova it has obviously been a disaster.

    What's the point in doing this stupid bet if you are not going estimate how many troops 404 has stationed that side if any Northern front reopening?

    , @Mikel
    @Leaves No Shadow


    How much are we betting?
     
    Interesting, to see you betting on military matters after your epic Taliban prediction.

    But I would be very surprised myself if Lukashenko sends Belarussian troops to Ukraine at this unfavorable stage. Putin may have most of the population behind him but Luka doesn't. That's why he finally had to align himself with the Kremlin in the first place. If even Putin is unwilling to take the mobilization measures that would allow him to put an end to the misadventure he started, will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @AnonfromTN

  85. @S
    @songbird


    Right, your recurring bit where you call me a Nazi because I don’t support the dispossession of my people. Tell me, are all Arab elites as high-minded and generous as you?
     
    Similarly, Tholian Fiend took great offence that they actually had Northern Europeans (ie 'Whites') playing Vikings in a recent movie by that same name, and not 'persons of color' instead.

    Tholian Fiend, who probably is actually a sub-continental like many think rather than an actual Scandinavian, and Yahoo, or, Yahya rather, are site trolls and sell outs. They've sold their fellow man, their own people, and ultimately their own individual selves out as well, and effectively work for a corrupt and truly genocidal global establishment.

    It was for site trolls like these that they invented the 'ignore commentator' button for.

    Replies: @songbird, @Yahya

    Similarly, Tholian Fiend took great offence that they actually had Northern Europeans (ie ‘Whites’) playing Vikings in a recent movie by that same name, and not ‘persons of color’ instead.

    I don’t recall this specifically, but I have often found Thulean to be a good sport. He likes to troll a bit occasionally, but who could blame him for that?

    Yahoo, or, Yahya

    Haha. That makes me remember Kanye, which is doubly funny considering the context.

    • Replies: @S
    @songbird


    He [Tholian Fiend] likes to troll a bit occasionally, but who could blame him for that?
     
    I can! :-D


    Yahoo, or, Yahya
     
    Haha. That makes me remember Kanye, which is doubly funny considering the context.
     
    Am glad you thought it funny. :-)

    You are more patient than I am with folks. More power to you!
  86. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Yes, Belarus will, if they do join the war to help Russia, deploy no more than 48,000 soldiers to Ukraine in 2023.

    How much are we betting?

    Replies: @Gerard1234, @Mikel

    Yes, Belarus will, if they do join the war to help Russia, deploy no more than 48,000 soldiers to Ukraine in 2023.

    How much are we betting?

    The SMO represents a great chance for Belarus to have much, or at least the most rabid, of their white-red-white oppositionists destroyed. Maybe after as many of them as possible have drained out into 404 to be killed (as already have)…..then Belarus will take a more active role. Anyway Belarus and even the normally idiotic Gruzia have had OK side-effects from SMO – for Banderastan and Moldova it has obviously been a disaster.

    What’s the point in doing this stupid bet if you are not going estimate how many troops 404 has stationed that side if any Northern front reopening?

  87. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    Under the Russian system, the president is also stronger than the Duma, so may have been a factor.
     
    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president. After the coup and the massacre Bor'ka alkash rewrote the constitution. Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm. The first post-Soviet constitution was sensible and balanced. These apes used it as toilet paper. The parliament was a real legislative body, they made it a rubber stamp machine.

    Ok, as long as the Communist entering power were changed into a new form of Slavic Euro democrats or something of that sort, but I doubt they would be. They would regain power and, yes, they may try to stop the oligarchs from being formed, but they would also start all kinds of revanchist activities to re-establish and re-unite the Soviet Union, most likely.
     
    There was some talking about CCCP 2.0 but I think none really believed it. And the Supreme Soviet was as nationalistic as it was leftist (see the Stanislav Govorukhin being denounced below by a commie). For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy. The parliament was Red-Brown. The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime. It was to be done before anything else. When the conflict ended in Parliament's defeat, the corrupt nomenklatura and the organized crime, who fought together against the Red Browns, morphed into the nascent oligarchy.

    Also, they would lose Western funding. The West simply would not give money to Russian Red-Browns.
     
    The Red Browns wanted to find and clame back the "gold of the Communist Parry" that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid. They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.

    there was a default?
     
    It was in 1998 when the scoundrels in charge stole the Western financial aid and refused to pay back the loans.

    the Soviets had allowed the system to reach such a low bottom, but it was a factor.
     
    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    https://youtu.be/Cs5wez1JQ4A

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @S, @LatW

    It was the opposite before the Black October 1993. The Supreme Soviet had the legal prerogative to deposit the president.

    Maybe they should’ve taken a bit more time with drafting a new constitution, because from what I understand, Yeltsin wanted to draft a new one from scratch, while Hasbulatov wanted to keep the one from the USSR and just amend it a little. Maybe none of the previous constitutions reflected the situation that was created after the USSR. Was enough time taken to figure out whether there should be parliamentary or presidential form of government?

    As to the actual events of the month of October, they say that there was a Двоевластие at that moment which must be a very critical and difficult situation that probably cannot last for very long. I would say it could be characterized as borderline civil war.

    Of course, it is tragic and, that this was also October, is quite symbolic.

    Understand that those who defended Yeltsin, the normal people (not just some ultra-liberal journalists or whatever), they didn’t defend the oligarchy at the time, but as they phrased it “democracy” (the opposite of fascism and totalitarian communism in their mind).

    [MORE]

    Then Pynya changed it a couple times more to extend his staying at the helm.

    Yes, the nullifier.

    For once, the nationalist and the communist fractions got along and worked against the common neoliberal enemy.

    You know, in Latvia we, too, had something called the Civic Congress, it was ultra-nationalist but also from what I imagine would’ve been against neo-liberalism (had they been allowed to function longer). They did most of the work fighting for independence and did the most risky work, but then they were pushed aside and removed from gaining any power (removed by a kind of a coalition of mostly former Commies who changed colors as well as pro-Western nationalists and democrats and what later became liberals).

    But of course in Russia it was much more complex and more painful.

    The number one task was to stop the criminal privatization, upend the corruption and exterminate the organized crime.

    The liberalization and privatization where needed but not as drastically, this process had to be managed more carefully. Especially in Russia. One of the problems I see there though is the ability to manage the former state properties to make them lucrative.

    The Red Browns wanted to find and claim back the “gold of the Communist Parry” that has vanished in the international financial system. They also wanted to stop Russian gold from leaving the country and bring back the part that has been sent to the US. It would have more than compensated for the loss of Western financial aid.

    This is understandable, but it would have taken time.

    They wanted to stop the cheap selling of Russian technology and ressources.

    Correct, but again, the issue there would have been to take what resources were left over and create lucrative businesses out of them. I think this was the crucial moment that was missed and as a result a lot of national wealth was squandered. Just because it was hard to do, at the time it was easier to sell it to get the money quickly. So at this moment the most important thing is the mechanism and the people who are able to do this. Normal people didn’t yet have the skills to do it but they could’ve gained those skills with patience.

    The early 90ies economic crisis was prepared and engineered to hasten the collapse of the USSR. The nomenklatura has betrayed the Soviet people. And then they simply disbanded the Union, exported all they could sell, stole the finances and the golden reserves and privatized the economy. It was not a natural process at all.

    I can see your point (and your grievance, there is some foundation in it), however, something was seriously off already in the 1980s. Yea, things were better than during the collapse, but there were serious flaws that went beyond just the lack of private enterprise – why was there such deficit? There was a productivity problem. There were several decent size factories in the Baltic States, people worked a lot but the goods were shipped out. Urbanization was still going on, more goods were needed, some kind of a ramp of productivity was needed.

    Also, remember – oil prices collapsed right in the mid 80s when things were going the best.

    From Brookings.edu:

    “In 1973-74 the real price of crude oil more than tripled. After declining slightly in 1975-78, it doubled again in 1979-80. But the 1979-80 price increase was eroded between 1981 and 1985, as price declined by nearly 40 percent. Price then collapsed in the first half of 1986, falling by more than 50 percent.”

    Another factor – the arms race. It was too much, it sucked in too much effort and human capital, money.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid.

    At least you got to keep the car, that’s good.

    They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂

    That is so lame, and so low calorie. 🙁 So sorry to hear that, it makes me sad. I have a couple of really sad stories, too, but they are too private and too painful to share. It doesn’t have to do with food, though. Btw, you left early, hardship continued for a while.

  88. @songbird
    @S


    Similarly, Tholian Fiend took great offence that they actually had Northern Europeans (ie ‘Whites’) playing Vikings in a recent movie by that same name, and not ‘persons of color’ instead.
     
    I don't recall this specifically, but I have often found Thulean to be a good sport. He likes to troll a bit occasionally, but who could blame him for that?

    Yahoo, or, Yahya
     
    Haha. That makes me remember Kanye, which is doubly funny considering the context.

    Replies: @S

    He [Tholian Fiend] likes to troll a bit occasionally, but who could blame him for that?

    I can! 😀

    Yahoo, or, Yahya

    Haha. That makes me remember Kanye, which is doubly funny considering the context.

    Am glad you thought it funny. 🙂

    You are more patient than I am with folks. More power to you!

    • LOL: songbird
  89. @Gerard1234
    @Leaves No Shadow


    US says no use of Nordstream 2, but Nordstream 1 fine.

    Germany concurs and keeps Nordstream 2 closed but uses Nordstream 1.

    Russia says Nordstream 1 broken, and Germany must open Nordstream 2 or freeze.

     

    NS2 can only be functional at half the capacity after the attack (which with it illegally prevented from launching by Pindostan German courts would have needed several months for required pressure to be able to do that), which, in a sane world , would have stopped you from writing this garbage at source.
    I see that American BS and "fake it till you make it" doctrine is like a religion

    Germany laughs because Germany has prepared for many months for this and has plenty of gas.

     

    For the last time you cretin - Germany doesn't laugh and has "prepared" for months by:

    1.Using much less gas ( about 1/8th)
    2.Repeat...Consuming much less gas
    3.Buying Russian LNG throughout the SMO. Russian LNG exports to Europe are about 25% of America's to Europe. Expect American and Russian LNG exports to increase even more to EU - but note for obese American retards that their LNG could never come close to replacing Russian pipeline gas
    4.Germany still buying Russian pipeline gas for most of 2022.
    5. It was always about AFTER winter of 2022/23

    Europe has basically had to waste 700 billion to 1 trillion USD in government bailouts to energy companies and subsidies to the public to pay for the high energy prices . Thats not practical money that defeats Russia - like by switching to different gas sources at premium price or building replacement infrastructure for different energy like NPP...Thats completely evaporated money . EU + Britain GDP is about 19-20 billion USD , so that is 3.5-5% of EU GDP eradicated in practical terms.. More importantly that is a much , much bigger percentage of government spending on schools, hospitals, social programs etc that are now thrown in a ditch. The EU-UK lemming populations should be rioting at this disgrace - but coronavirus seems to have given them the same practical effects as a lobotomy


    All because of trying to keep the parasitic 404 as a gas transit country - i.e have Russia fund the military of this freakshow . These "bailout" packages are over 2-3 years, Ukraine transit money was about 2 billion per year. So basically the "geniuses" or should that be cruel satanists of NATO have sacrificed maybe $1 trillion or 700 billion.......to force 1 country to pay another (fake) country $6 billion.......an amount NATO has since more than paid over to 404 anyway. You could not make up this freakshow!
     

    Replies: @Greasy William

    For the last time you cretin – Germany doesn’t laugh and has “prepared” for months by:

    1.Using much less gas ( about 1/8th)
    2.Repeat…Consuming much less gas
    3.Buying Russian LNG throughout the SMO. Russian LNG exports to Europe are about 25% of America’s to Europe. Expect American and Russian LNG exports to increase even more to EU – but note for obese American retards that their LNG could never come close to replacing Russian pipeline gas
    4.Germany still buying Russian pipeline gas for most of 2022.
    5. It was always about AFTER winter of 2022/23

    This is true. While I do believe that Russia dramatically overestimated the economic impact this war would have on the West, there is reason to believe that Europe will suffer long term economic problems from this conflict and that these problems will become worse with time. Remember that the economic impact of the lockdowns also didn’t show up initially.

    Economics are the one way that time is on Russia’s side. The US has approximately 90 more days before it enters a long and deep recession. When the US economy finally starts its extremely overdo meltdown, we’ll see how well the Western economies hold up. My guess: not very well

  90. @Ivashka the fool
    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    Replies: @Mikel, @AnonfromTN, @S, @LatW

    I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side

    They have already intervened: Russian troops keep collecting Polish KIA in areas they advance to. But Poland did not intervene on Ukrainian side, it intervened on Polish side: Polish government salivates after Western Ukraine that Stalin took from Poland in 1939. I doubt that Putin would let Poles take a piece of the pie, or even crumbs of that pie, though.

  91. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Yes, Belarus will, if they do join the war to help Russia, deploy no more than 48,000 soldiers to Ukraine in 2023.

    How much are we betting?

    Replies: @Gerard1234, @Mikel

    How much are we betting?

    Interesting, to see you betting on military matters after your epic Taliban prediction.

    But I would be very surprised myself if Lukashenko sends Belarussian troops to Ukraine at this unfavorable stage. Putin may have most of the population behind him but Luka doesn’t. That’s why he finally had to align himself with the Kremlin in the first place. If even Putin is unwilling to take the mobilization measures that would allow him to put an end to the misadventure he started, will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more?

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Mikel

    Was right on near everything about Putin's invasion so far, but made a horrible and fatal calculation for Afghanistan: that anti-Taliban forces might actually try and fight. Everyone should have known that Afghans don't really fight, they either hide and set bombs/traps, or they instantly fold and switch to whichever they think is the stronger side, but this was extreme.

    That's not to characterise them as lacking courage, as their methods require immense courage sometimes, but it is so totally different from the European paradigm that even someone occasionally accused of racism could not imagine it.

    Well, lesson learned. But if I am guilty of extrapolating from Europeans to Afghans, most here are guilty of extrapolating from Afghans to Eastern Slavs.

    We live we learn. One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.

    Replies: @Beckow, @Wokechoke

    , @AnonfromTN
    @Mikel


    will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more
     
    Luka is wily, or, to be exact, he is best described by my grandma’s phrase in Ukrainian “дурний, та хитрий” (stupid, but cunning). For many years he tried to maneuver between the RF, China, and the EU to maximize goodies Belarus gets from all sides (Belarus cannot live as well as it does on its own resources). However, the West made a strategic mistake in Belarus: instead of cultivating Luka and nudging him towards pro-Western position, the West attempted a color revolution against him. Luka is not a coward, like Ukrainian Yanuk, he did not surrender before the battle was lost, but fought back vigorously and prevailed. Net result: Western morons pushed him into Putin’s camp. Today Putin firmly holds his balls in his hand and can squeeze as hard as he needs. What’s more, now Luka has nothing to loose: Belarus is already under a bunch of idiotic Western sanctions. So, if Putin wants Belarus to join the RF in Ukraine, he is going to get his wish. Whether he wants it is another question.

    Replies: @Mikel, @Gerard1234

  92. @Ivashka the fool
    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    Replies: @Mikel, @AnonfromTN, @S, @LatW

    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    I’ve posted before how I believe the self proclaimed ‘progressives’, due to their adoption of the ends justifies the means, have long been ‘projecting’ what is in reality true of themselves upon others.

    During the height of the Cold War between American Capitalism and Soviet Communism in 1968, one of the most progressive Multi-Cultural US TV shows there is. StarTrek, broadcast an episode entitled ‘Day of the Dove’.

    The episode seems to be a case of almost pure projection.

    It tells the story of an ‘alien entity’ which has manipulated a war into being between two equally armed forces, neither side of which is actually intended to ever win. The entity feeds off the hatred generated by the never ending unwinnable war.

    To defeat it, the combatants must stand down, perhaps to fight again another day, but only on their own terms.

    ‘Two forces…, each of them equally armed. Has a war been staged for us, complete with weapons and ideology and patriotic drum beating?’

    ‘And it goes on, the good old game of war, pawn against pawn! Stopping the bad guys. While somewhere, something sits back and laughs and starts it all over again.’

    Script for the very insightful Day of the Dove (Nov 1, 1968)

    http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/66.htm

  93. @Ivashka the fool
    Looks like Russian troops will move forward soon and that Belarus will join the war on the Russian side. I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    Replies: @Mikel, @AnonfromTN, @S, @LatW

    I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.

    Are you writing this in full seriousness or as a kind of an “innocent” prompt that “a Fool” would bring up?

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed. So far it seems, it won’t be. It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    innocent” prompt that “a Fool” would bring up
     
    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : "when you don't think a lot becomes clearer". 😉

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed.
     
    Yeah, I know. That's the plan.

    It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.
     
    Taras, Gritsko and Mykola do not come in unlimited supply. Sooner rather than later, a war of attrition would lead to its logical consequences - the need for the Western backers to either fold or intervene.

    Being the simple-minded fool that I am, I believe Westerners would prefer seeing the Eastern Europeans "do the job for them", just like you would prefer it being done by "Mykola". Any Eastern European killed is one less to neuter or euthanize during the coming population bottleneck.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem - FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix, given that they seem eager to participate. Let's make it FSBSP for inclusivity's sake. 🙂

    Replies: @LatW, @Mr. Hack

  94. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your reply didn't address what I said. That's plain.

    However I am sorry for not replying to your reply. I made a misclick and replied to the wrong comment.

    Nonetheless, uou don't strike me as masculine at all. In particular, your posts seem to operate only in black or white, without any shades of grey. You also seem very quick to devalue what triggers you. And you seem keen to assign your own behaviour to others.

    I will show you which comments of yours directly correspond to these three observations if you request me.

    Replies: @songbird

    In particular, your posts seem to operate only in black or white, without any shades of grey. You also seem very quick to devalue what triggers you. And you seem keen to assign your own behaviour to others.

    Operate? Shades of Grey? Devalue? Trigger? Assign?

    Wouldn’t guess that any of this was the terminology employed by the Gaelic warrior class, who fought countless battles, and recited poems about swords and scabbards, and knew their ancestors by heart. Are you sure that you haven’t attempted to reshape the definition of the masculine, so that it would be unrecognizable to anyone in the past? Whether warrior, fisherman, or farmer? Maybe, with the desire to invent some new age man?

    [MORE]

    But that first sentence I find very curious. Are you not implying that it is only men that can understand subtlety? Or women are too Manichean? Surely, what is not yang is yin? Or maybe you are overthinking things, if that is not how you are ordering your categories.

    I will show you which comments of yours directly correspond to these three observations if you request me.

    I prefer introspection.

    To pretend to too good a grasp into other people’s heart’s and minds, honestly strikes me somewhat as an attempt at witchcraft, or some other sacrilege. And the people who get on the couch the most don’t seem a healthy lot either. I think they would be better off praying and going to religious services.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird


    But that first sentence I find very curious. Are you not implying that it is only men that can understand subtlety?
     
    By associating "masculinity" with the basic elements of thought, I was hoping to prompt you to learn how to think.

    I prefer introspection.
     
    You do?

    To pretend to too good a grasp into other people’s heart’s and minds, honestly strikes me somewhat as an attempt at witchcraft, or some other sacrilege.
     
    It is a cliché that someone like you will find attention to your inner life demonic.

    Replies: @songbird

  95. @AP
    @ Beckow from previous Open Thread

    Ukraine shrunken to its purer Ukie population, getting rid by any means of the remaining Russians or Russian-speakers, and a full embrace of the West with focus on Poland. It doesn’t have much of a chance to be implemented, but as a goal it meets the basic rationality.
     
    This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has. No further shrinking is necessary.

    It would be – based on how the war goes – a mono-ethnic 10-20 million country
     
    If 2/3 of the refugees outside of Ukraine return to Ukraine, the current territory would have around 30 million people. A stalemate at the current lines (give or take Bakhmut and some other settlements) is the most likely result. Though Ukraine taking back more territory towards the Crimean corridor and rural Luhansk is not unlikely. (I doubt that Ukraine will be able to storm large cities like Donetsk)

    If Ukraine loses more territories in the East such as Zaporizhia city or Kharkiv (unlikely) it will be a few million less than that.

    If Ukraine loses Eastern territories plus Odessa (very unlikely) it will be down to 20 million or so.

    The worst case and extremely unlikely scenario would be Russia taking Kiev and all the pre-1939 Soviet territory. This would leave Ukraine with around 12-15 million people, depending on how many refugees settle there from the other side of the Iron Curtain. This territory would be about 140,000 sq. kilometers in size (the map below, plus Transarpathia with Uzhorod and Bukovyna with Chernivtsi) and would thus be slightly larger than Hungary + Slovakia with a similar population of those two countries combined.

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Soviet_annexation_of_Eastern_Galicia_and_Volhynia_during_WWII.svg/1280px-Soviet_annexation_of_Eastern_Galicia_and_Volhynia_during_WWII.svg.png


    It would be poor, but picturesque. Young people would be leaving, ‘tourists’ would visit for the bars and security conferences.
     
    Nonsense. Lviv is a beautiful city that attracts young settlers. And it offers plenty of well paid programming jobs. The city's population has already increased by 150,000 as a result of this war. Entire companies with their young employees have moved to Lviv from places like Kharkiv. If Kiev were lost, many of the young from that city would move to Free Lviv rather than leave Ukraine entirely, and with peace many would return from where they have been refugees in places like Poland. It would most likely be a million plus city (before the war it had a population of about 750,000).

    It would resemble Bulgaria-Romania-Moldova, its best parts would be like eastern Poland or even eastern Slovakia (both quite poor).
     
    Eastern Poland (which doesn't have any large cities like Lviv) has a per capita GRP of around ~$11,000 which is a lot higher than Belarus's $8,567. Within western Ukraine, rural Volhynia and Zakarpattiya would probably be similar to that, while Galicia (Lviv) would be significantly higher.

    Romania has a per capita GDP that is slightly higher than Russia's. And that is with its large gypsy population included.

    Bulgaria is a lot richer than Belarus, and that is with its large gypsy population.

    Moldova is a small, isolated country, it is a stupid comparison.


    Well, go for it. But then why are Ukies dying in large numbers to keep half of Donbas? Why did they start bombing civilian cities and killed (3k?) people to keep them in Ukraine?
     
    Because if the Russians take Donbas they will try to take more. Russians will try to take what they can until they are stopped. Better to stop them in Donbas than to allow the Russians to turn Dnipro, or Kharkiv, etc. into wastelands.

    Why are men up to 50-60 years old being hunted all over Ukraine so they can be put in the eastern trenches? Why?
     
    Videos are fun but meanwhile none of my 50 year old male relatives has been conscripted.

    You have no answer to that because you refuse to accept the crucial, decisive element of the situation: Nato (Washington) is not interested in what happens in Galicia+ (even in Kiev), whether they have call centers
     
    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers. Median salary for programmer in Lviv was $3,000 per month in 2021:

    https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/lviv-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,4_IC3537517_KO5,22.htm


    who sells them trinkets
     
    The largest cable manufacturers for German cars is in Lviv oblast. Those are not "trinkets."

    Their goal is much simpler: an armed Ukraine in Nato without Russians with eventually bases, missiles as usually. That’s what they want
     
    That's what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia's murdering.

    But NATRO was and will be a remote possibility. Though the possibility has increased since the Russian invasion.


    Nato is a military pact, it has attacked around 5-6 countries in the last 20-25 years
     
    Which one of those countries that NATO attacked has nuclear weapons?

    NATO has kept Russia out of countries, though.


    (incl. Serbia very brutally in the middle of Europe).
     
    1,2000-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estmates.

    A small fraction of the amount of civilians killed by Russia in Chechnya or Ukraine. Places that didn't have NATO protection.


    If Nato had not moved aggressively to absorb Ukraine there would be no war.
     
    Repeating a lie doesn't make it true. There is no war over Finland joining NATO. Finland hasn't joined NATO yet, so there is no NATO protective shield. And Finland is much closer to getting in than Ukraine ever was. Yet Russia isn't moving against Finland. So clearly the problem is not a nation close to Russia joining NATO.

    The problem is Ukraine leaving the Russian World forever. Ukraine is strategically important for Moscow, if Moscow wants to be some sort of Great Power. The Russian Empire and the USSR both included Ukraine.

    As our former host correctly summarized, between EU integration and de-Russification policies, Ukraine was leaving Russia behind and cutting itself off completely, becoming as foreign to Russia as Poland, and this was the last chance for Russia to take it back, or to at least salvage as much of it as possible. They hoped to get it all (at least outside Galicia and Volhynia), but will settle for as much as they can.


    Regarding your denials: ‘but they postponed it year after year!” – are you really that stupid? That’s how it is done, the goal is the same, the implementation and timing are based on circumstances.
     
    The fact that they never moved forward is more meaningful than their empty declarations year after year.

    BTW, you ignored my statement about NATO as a rule not accepting any country than has ongoing territorial disputes. Russian lackeys like you were bragging how, by seizing Crimea and Donbas, Russia made NATO entrance for Ukraine impossible. It was a brilliant move by Putin.

    But now you claim that Ukraine was going to enter NATO anyways, and had to be stopped.

    Were Russian lackeys like you lying then, or lying now?

    Or were you too stupid to keep track?


    The Ukie Constitution literally says that Ukraine will join Nato.
     
    It still does, that hasn't changed. It says that EU and NATO are strategic objectives. Crimea and Donbas are also part of Ukraine according to the Constitution.

    And NATO still declares that Ukraine will join NATO. So these things haven't changed since Russia's invasion.

    What has changed, is that Ukraine's military has integrated far more with NATO's military, and had proven itself as a battle-tested worthy potential member of NATO. So, as I wrote, odds of NATO membership have impr0ved as a result of this war, from 5% to 25%.

    Replies: @Greasy William, @Beckow

    This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.

    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it. Just remember, attempting a genocide of an ethnic group is a crime and trying it against a larger, stronger group usually doesn’t work. The enthusiasts will face consequences.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers….

    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k “IT workers” in the Lviv region, around 70-80% work in customer support, that generally means answering phones or messages. It has some research, but the overall impact on the Ukrainian economy is very marginal, 2-3%, a lot less than in other EE countries. $3k, are you kidding? that’s what a good barista makes.

    That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.

    It was the Ukies who started to murder the Russians in Donbas in 2014-15, nobody disputes that. You live in a lala-land of your retarded slogans.

    1,200-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estimates.

    Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria…all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you? How can you simply gloss over it? That shows dishonesty and hypocrisy so deep that none of your statements mean much.

    Your point about nukes is true, but military plans can account for that – a fatally weakened, surrounded, check-mated Russia would have a hard time defending itself even w nukes. That’s why being right on the border in close proximity and having the Russia-hating Ukies ready was so important. At a minimum it would keep Russia powerless. You want that, so you, but naturally Russia doesn’t want it.

    And stop w Finland: a peaceful, rational country w 5 million people. There is simply no comparison to the Russo-phobic fuming madmen in Ukraine. You make no sense when you try to compare Finland (or Estonia) to Ukraine. Think before you write nonsense.

    Nato never moved forward is more meaningful than their empty declarations year after year.

    The ‘not meaningful’ and ‘empty‘ was not the way it was presented – that is your desperate spin. It was unquestionable that Nato would get Ukraine at the first opportunity – if you don’t get that you are too naive. At least argue reality and not silly evasive narratives. If you think that ‘territorial conflict’ would prevent it you have no understanding how weasel institutions work: they simply paper over it, declare it something else. What matters is the intent, not how exactly Nato would do it. People who deny it are not serious or idiots.

    Nato has been pushed out of Ukraine unless Kiev wins the war in a big way. Nato will feed the conflict, but probably not join in. After Ukies are bled and surrender large parts of their country, Nato will pontificate but stay out. Russia with the war changed the strategic balance.

    • Replies: @AP
    @Beckow


    “This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.”

    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it
     
    Ukraine is erasing the Russian language and culture on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people; ethnic Ukrainian kids are learning in their own language now.

    Russia is erasing towns and thousands of Russian-speaking people.

    An honest person would admit which action is closer to genocide.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers….

    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k “IT workers” in the Lviv region
     
    It has increased since the war as companies have moved from places like Kharkiv and many more of Ukraine’s 200,000 IT workers have transferred to Lviv:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/business/ukraine-tech-companies-putin.html

    The entire country of Slovakia only has 28k such workers:

    https://www.itminions.be/en/blog/slovakia-tech-talent-goldmine

    around 70-80% work in customer support, that generally means answering phones or messages
     
    “Call center work” isn’t IT customer support.

    $3k, are you kidding? that’s what a good barista makes

     

    The average wage in Slovakia is less than a thousand Euros per month. So those 35,000 + new arrivals programmers in Lviv are making 3 times the average Slovak wage per month, in a city with a very low cost of living. They are living quite well.

    Average German wage is about the same as the average Lviv programmer wage.

    And programmers in Bratislava make no more than do programmers in Lviv:

    http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=2226&loctype=3&job=3&jobtype=2

    Given the Lviv us cheaper, the guys in Lviv do better than their Slovak colleagues.

    “That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.”

    It was the Ukies who started to murder the Russians in Donbas in 2014-15, nobody disputes that
     
    1. That was started by Russians when they crossed the border into Ukraine with their volunteers and weapons. Girkin and Pavlov weren’t Ukrainians.

    2. The Russian mass invasion and murder spree began in 2022, 7 years after 2015. Its already a separate event.

    “1,200-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estimates.”

    Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria…all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you?

     

    And now you lie and claim that is “okay” by me.

    A difference between NATO and Russia is that Russia kills far more Slavs though.

    Your point about nukes is true, but military plans can account for that – a fatally weakened, surrounded, check-mated Russia would have a hard time defending itself even w nukes
     
    No one is touching obnoxious but tiny North Korea, and everyone tolerates it’s missile overflies over places like Japan. But you think NATO would dare invade Russia?

    NATO would forever keep Russia’s hands off Ukraine. This is why Russia doesn’t want NATO there. It wants to reabsorb Ukraine. NATO itself is secondary to the main problem for Russia, which is the eternal loss of Ukraine. Russia would seek to end Ukraine even when - as was the case prior to invasion - NATO membership was very unlikely.

    And stop w Finland: a peaceful, rational country w 5 million people. There is simply no comparison to the Russo-phobic fuming madmen in Ukraine
     
    Now you’ve slipped and admitted that the problem wasn’t exactly NATO, but Ukraine.

    Finns btw don’t like Russia either and have stronger claims on Russian territory than Ukrainians do. You keep bringing up Volyn from 80 years ago but now you’ve conveniently forgotten what Finland had been up to at that time.

    It was unquestionable that Nato would get Ukraine at the first opportunity
     
    Like in 2008? No war then and Yushchenko was president. But it didn’t happen. Nor did it in every year since then.

    If you think that ‘territorial conflict’ would prevent it you have no understanding how weasel institutions work: they simply paper over it, declare it something else
     
    Your type like to conveniently change your story. First you brag about how by seizing Crimea and Donbas, Russia has blocked Ukraine from getting into NATO. Brilliant chess move by Putin! But now when you need a pending NATO membership as an excuse for a full invasion and attempt at regime change, that becomes irrelevant.

    Your hypocrisy and mendacity on display again and as usual. It also shows how undignified it is, to always lick the Russian boot as you do.

    Nato has been pushed out of Ukraine

     

    NATO is more in Ukraine now than it ever has been.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow

  96. @S
    @Ivashka the fool


    And today it is not only the Slav they are after, but the Western middle class as well. It’s Westerstroika time.
     
    Sounds about right.

    In early 1992 my family had enough savings to buy cash a car and a country house (datcha), six months later we were ruined and eating humanitarian aid. They gave us a few boxes of expired Slimfast noodle soup. 🙂
     
    Hopefully, when the Fall of Capitalism takes place, you and yours will not be like those Japanese who got hit at Hiroshima by the atomic bomb, and survived it, went to Nagasaki for 'safety', only to get hit again. [Some gallows humor there! :-D ]

    Replies: @Beckow

    …but the Western middle class as well.

    I generally defend the middle class everywhere, but let’s be honest: large part of the Western middle class is simply parasitic. They consume way beyond anything productive they do. I don’t want to list the endless silly made-up activities that provide their living, from distributing gment goodies and virtual money, endless ‘charity’, green activism, protecting against “Russia”, social media, etc…all of that is possible only because the material basis (land, food, infrastructure, energy…) has been either built up or is often obtained at minimum cost from the rest of the world (that virtual money machine :)…

    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the ‘middle class’ nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place – fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have – they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go…

    • Thanks: S
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Beckow


    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the ‘middle class’ nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place – fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have – they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go…
     
    Cold War era produced the numerous Sovoks in USSR and the numerous Western middle class in the West. Let's call them Westmids. The Westmids only existed in high numbers because the Western system needed being more attractive than the Soviet one (an easy task). As soon as the Cold War ended, and the Sovok have been dealt with through Perestroika and the ensuing "reforms", the elites started putting pressure on the Westmids. Mass immigration and the rise of Alphabet People and the "minorities" are tools used to bring the Westmids down. The Westmids are in no way wiser than the Sovoks. And they will also be dealt with through the unfolding Westerstroika.

    Sic transit gloria mundi...

    Replies: @Beckow

    , @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Beckow


    I say, time for them to go…
     
    Them disappearing will include (P~.98) totalitarian control on your consumption of wine, t-bone steak, cannabis, gasoline, heating and cooling energy, and an ad infinitum of consumer goods.

    Also your speech. They would control your thoughts if they had the power to do so. Attempting to control our thoughts will consume an increasing fraction of resources.

    Ted Kaczynski had a better plan and his plan was retarded.

    Replies: @Beckow

  97. @Mikel
    @Leaves No Shadow


    How much are we betting?
     
    Interesting, to see you betting on military matters after your epic Taliban prediction.

    But I would be very surprised myself if Lukashenko sends Belarussian troops to Ukraine at this unfavorable stage. Putin may have most of the population behind him but Luka doesn't. That's why he finally had to align himself with the Kremlin in the first place. If even Putin is unwilling to take the mobilization measures that would allow him to put an end to the misadventure he started, will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @AnonfromTN

    Was right on near everything about Putin’s invasion so far, but made a horrible and fatal calculation for Afghanistan: that anti-Taliban forces might actually try and fight. Everyone should have known that Afghans don’t really fight, they either hide and set bombs/traps, or they instantly fold and switch to whichever they think is the stronger side, but this was extreme.

    That’s not to characterise them as lacking courage, as their methods require immense courage sometimes, but it is so totally different from the European paradigm that even someone occasionally accused of racism could not imagine it.

    Well, lesson learned. But if I am guilty of extrapolating from Europeans to Afghans, most here are guilty of extrapolating from Afghans to Eastern Slavs.

    We live we learn. One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.

    • Replies: @Beckow
    @Leaves No Shadow


    One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.
     
    An interesting way to try to get out of being wrong - rather feminine. The one error vs. thousands makes no sense - you made it up, your attempt at self-justification.

    In this war you are making the error of extrapolating from partial events - you also buy the Kiev-Nato cheerful half-truths. It is a war with a stronger force grinding down a weaker one. Ukies are getting help, but not where it counts: Nato is not sending enough bodies to have a chance against larger better armed Russians.

    The idea is that if Ukies manage to make it painful, Russia will agree to a compromise. The problem with that approach is that wars are not like that: the sides always polarize in the first few years - Russia is less yielding than a year ago. Ukies threw everything into it, yet the grind goes on - there is little chance of retaking Donbas-Crimea.

    All else is noise, temporary events that will be irrelevant after the war. Kiev's best hope was an internal Russian collapse - it didn't happen. Second best was Nato coming in with actual armies-planes-navy and fighting their war - it also didn't happen. They can hope for an eventual nuclear standoff, but it is a low-odds event.

    The current Kiev-West strategy is to fight for every ditch, every tree and every house: it is costly in lives and historically I can't recall anyone defeating Russia doing it. They are slow, often incompetent, but they don't give up once they get going. And the numbers are hard to argue with. You will turn out equally wrong about this war as you were about Taleban.

    Replies: @sudden death, @Leaves No Shadow

    , @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    You predicted an intractable guerilla war and a Russian occupation.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  98. @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    In particular, your posts seem to operate only in black or white, without any shades of grey. You also seem very quick to devalue what triggers you. And you seem keen to assign your own behaviour to others.

     

    Operate? Shades of Grey? Devalue? Trigger? Assign?

    Wouldn't guess that any of this was the terminology employed by the Gaelic warrior class, who fought countless battles, and recited poems about swords and scabbards, and knew their ancestors by heart. Are you sure that you haven't attempted to reshape the definition of the masculine, so that it would be unrecognizable to anyone in the past? Whether warrior, fisherman, or farmer? Maybe, with the desire to invent some new age man?

    But that first sentence I find very curious. Are you not implying that it is only men that can understand subtlety? Or women are too Manichean? Surely, what is not yang is yin? Or maybe you are overthinking things, if that is not how you are ordering your categories.

    I will show you which comments of yours directly correspond to these three observations if you request me.
     
    I prefer introspection.

    To pretend to too good a grasp into other people's heart's and minds, honestly strikes me somewhat as an attempt at witchcraft, or some other sacrilege. And the people who get on the couch the most don't seem a healthy lot either. I think they would be better off praying and going to religious services.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    But that first sentence I find very curious. Are you not implying that it is only men that can understand subtlety?

    By associating “masculinity” with the basic elements of thought, I was hoping to prompt you to learn how to think.

    I prefer introspection.

    You do?

    To pretend to too good a grasp into other people’s heart’s and minds, honestly strikes me somewhat as an attempt at witchcraft, or some other sacrilege.

    It is a cliché that someone like you will find attention to your inner life demonic.

    • Replies: @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    By associating “masculinity” with the basic elements of thought, I was hoping to prompt you to learn how to think.
     
    Are you sure that is not how you became a tranny?

    I was hoping you would actually give us your definition of masculinity. Does your idea of it not have any fixed qualities?

    It is a cliché that someone like you will find attention to your inner life demonic.
     
    Why so anti-religious? Thought that there were a lot of churches and synagogues accepting gays and trannies now.

    Zimbardo (one of your party who fell into disrepute) outright said that he didn't believe in a soul. IIRC, you said you did (probably a dodge to avoid the stigma of not believing in one), but your strange attempt to redefine masculinity seems to show you don't, which is further underlined by your professed belief that you can dissect anyone's brain and see inside their thoughts. Not guess (which everyone enjoys doing), but actually observe their inner self, and then change it. Not just one person that you have rapport with, but anyone here.

    I think there is something Satanic in your confidence, and I don't mind saying so. Maybe, it is simple narcissism, but compounded by new age beliefs.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  99. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    Thomas Friedman writes 99% garbage. But he did write one eminently sensible sentence.

    "Is Iraq the way it is because of Saddam Hussein, or is Saddam Hussein the way he is because of Iraq?"

    This idea applies to most places.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @YetAnotherAnon

    “Is Iraq the way it is because of Saddam Hussein, or is Saddam Hussein the way he is because of Iraq?”

    You could also say that given the country was Iraq, Saddam or someone like him may have been the best ruler. Certainly applies in spades to Gaddaffi, who was IMHO a great ruler of Libya.

    And IMHO also applies to Putin. Given the oligarch dominance in 1990s Russia, it’s a miracle he survived, and it was only because the oligarchs thought he was their man. Those years when he was slowly and cautiously wresting power from them, boiling the oligarch frog… my impression is that he still isn’t in total control but has a modus vivendi with the surviving oligarchs. The war may have strengthened his position has a fair few ran off to Israel.

    “Putin inherited a ransacked and bewildered country, with a poor and demoralized people,” Solzhenitsyn told the German magazine Der Spiegel in a 2007 interview, when Putin was still president. “And he started to do what was possible, a slow and gradual restoration. These efforts were not noticed, nor appreciated, immediately. In any case, one is hard-pressed to find examples in history when steps by one country to restore its strength were met favorably by other governments.”

    • Agree: Beckow, AnonfromTN
  100. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Mikel

    Was right on near everything about Putin's invasion so far, but made a horrible and fatal calculation for Afghanistan: that anti-Taliban forces might actually try and fight. Everyone should have known that Afghans don't really fight, they either hide and set bombs/traps, or they instantly fold and switch to whichever they think is the stronger side, but this was extreme.

    That's not to characterise them as lacking courage, as their methods require immense courage sometimes, but it is so totally different from the European paradigm that even someone occasionally accused of racism could not imagine it.

    Well, lesson learned. But if I am guilty of extrapolating from Europeans to Afghans, most here are guilty of extrapolating from Afghans to Eastern Slavs.

    We live we learn. One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.

    Replies: @Beckow, @Wokechoke

    One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.

    An interesting way to try to get out of being wrong – rather feminine. The one error vs. thousands makes no sense – you made it up, your attempt at self-justification.

    In this war you are making the error of extrapolating from partial events – you also buy the Kiev-Nato cheerful half-truths. It is a war with a stronger force grinding down a weaker one. Ukies are getting help, but not where it counts: Nato is not sending enough bodies to have a chance against larger better armed Russians.

    The idea is that if Ukies manage to make it painful, Russia will agree to a compromise. The problem with that approach is that wars are not like that: the sides always polarize in the first few years – Russia is less yielding than a year ago. Ukies threw everything into it, yet the grind goes on – there is little chance of retaking Donbas-Crimea.

    All else is noise, temporary events that will be irrelevant after the war. Kiev’s best hope was an internal Russian collapse – it didn’t happen. Second best was Nato coming in with actual armies-planes-navy and fighting their war – it also didn’t happen. They can hope for an eventual nuclear standoff, but it is a low-odds event.

    The current Kiev-West strategy is to fight for every ditch, every tree and every house: it is costly in lives and historically I can’t recall anyone defeating Russia doing it. They are slow, often incompetent, but they don’t give up once they get going. And the numbers are hard to argue with. You will turn out equally wrong about this war as you were about Taleban.

    • Replies: @sudden death
    @Beckow


    Ukies threw everything into it, yet the grind goes on – there is little chance of retaking Donbas-Crimea.
     
    Too lazy to search, but quite confident you were writing the same about Kharkov-Kherson last summer;)
    , @Leaves No Shadow
    @Beckow

    You in March:


    How are they going to rebuilt military assets if Russia can blow anything that comes in? You can’t hide planes, air fields, artillery or missiles. Go for it, but unless you have some magical way to protect it, it will be a sitting duck
     
    Russia has not yet even achieved air superiority now!

    You arguing that Ukraine was surrendering a year ago:

    Do you really believe that Ukraine will win this militarily? At best they will negotiate terms of surrender – Ze. is already starting.

    You were also predicting the total economic collapse of the West because of *insert some completely ignorant argument about how commodities are the global economy and everything else is financial engineering.* Meanwhile, the Russian economy went into a serious recession in 2022 and the West did not.

    And I don't know what you were smoking when you wrote this absurd fantasy:

    2-3 days into the fight, the results so far:
    – NATO is gone. It run away and it is unlikely back for a long time. (Galicia is a possible exception that makes no strategic difference.)


    – “Nazis” in Kiev are running away for their lives or dying. Zelensky is not a Nazi, he has nothing to fear other than the West or Nazis deciding that he has more value as a martyr. No rest for the wicked as they say.

    As for me, I admitted I was wrong. I then explained why my imagination was lacking. And I endeavoured not to make the same mistake again. I did this with my one mistake, immediately, and have expanded my range of possible assumptions since, so that I am not again shocked by the extremity of Afghan behaviour.

    Meanwhile, you just ignore, deflect, devalue and never learn your way out of everything. Indeed, you can't even seem to admit that you have been wrong, despite being wrong near every day, in every way, on this subject for an entire year!

    You can call my method feminine if you like, and yours masculine, but that association will not be good for you.

    Replies: @Beckow

  101. @Beckow
    @Leaves No Shadow


    One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.
     
    An interesting way to try to get out of being wrong - rather feminine. The one error vs. thousands makes no sense - you made it up, your attempt at self-justification.

    In this war you are making the error of extrapolating from partial events - you also buy the Kiev-Nato cheerful half-truths. It is a war with a stronger force grinding down a weaker one. Ukies are getting help, but not where it counts: Nato is not sending enough bodies to have a chance against larger better armed Russians.

    The idea is that if Ukies manage to make it painful, Russia will agree to a compromise. The problem with that approach is that wars are not like that: the sides always polarize in the first few years - Russia is less yielding than a year ago. Ukies threw everything into it, yet the grind goes on - there is little chance of retaking Donbas-Crimea.

    All else is noise, temporary events that will be irrelevant after the war. Kiev's best hope was an internal Russian collapse - it didn't happen. Second best was Nato coming in with actual armies-planes-navy and fighting their war - it also didn't happen. They can hope for an eventual nuclear standoff, but it is a low-odds event.

    The current Kiev-West strategy is to fight for every ditch, every tree and every house: it is costly in lives and historically I can't recall anyone defeating Russia doing it. They are slow, often incompetent, but they don't give up once they get going. And the numbers are hard to argue with. You will turn out equally wrong about this war as you were about Taleban.

    Replies: @sudden death, @Leaves No Shadow

    Ukies threw everything into it, yet the grind goes on – there is little chance of retaking Donbas-Crimea.

    Too lazy to search, but quite confident you were writing the same about Kharkov-Kherson last summer;)

    • Agree: Leaves No Shadow
  102. @Beckow
    @Leaves No Shadow


    One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.
     
    An interesting way to try to get out of being wrong - rather feminine. The one error vs. thousands makes no sense - you made it up, your attempt at self-justification.

    In this war you are making the error of extrapolating from partial events - you also buy the Kiev-Nato cheerful half-truths. It is a war with a stronger force grinding down a weaker one. Ukies are getting help, but not where it counts: Nato is not sending enough bodies to have a chance against larger better armed Russians.

    The idea is that if Ukies manage to make it painful, Russia will agree to a compromise. The problem with that approach is that wars are not like that: the sides always polarize in the first few years - Russia is less yielding than a year ago. Ukies threw everything into it, yet the grind goes on - there is little chance of retaking Donbas-Crimea.

    All else is noise, temporary events that will be irrelevant after the war. Kiev's best hope was an internal Russian collapse - it didn't happen. Second best was Nato coming in with actual armies-planes-navy and fighting their war - it also didn't happen. They can hope for an eventual nuclear standoff, but it is a low-odds event.

    The current Kiev-West strategy is to fight for every ditch, every tree and every house: it is costly in lives and historically I can't recall anyone defeating Russia doing it. They are slow, often incompetent, but they don't give up once they get going. And the numbers are hard to argue with. You will turn out equally wrong about this war as you were about Taleban.

    Replies: @sudden death, @Leaves No Shadow

    You in March:

    How are they going to rebuilt military assets if Russia can blow anything that comes in? You can’t hide planes, air fields, artillery or missiles. Go for it, but unless you have some magical way to protect it, it will be a sitting duck

    Russia has not yet even achieved air superiority now!

    You arguing that Ukraine was surrendering a year ago:

    Do you really believe that Ukraine will win this militarily? At best they will negotiate terms of surrender – Ze. is already starting.

    You were also predicting the total economic collapse of the West because of *insert some completely ignorant argument about how commodities are the global economy and everything else is financial engineering.* Meanwhile, the Russian economy went into a serious recession in 2022 and the West did not.

    And I don’t know what you were smoking when you wrote this absurd fantasy:

    2-3 days into the fight, the results so far:
    – NATO is gone. It run away and it is unlikely back for a long time. (Galicia is a possible exception that makes no strategic difference.)

    – “Nazis” in Kiev are running away for their lives or dying. Zelensky is not a Nazi, he has nothing to fear other than the West or Nazis deciding that he has more value as a martyr. No rest for the wicked as they say.

    As for me, I admitted I was wrong. I then explained why my imagination was lacking. And I endeavoured not to make the same mistake again. I did this with my one mistake, immediately, and have expanded my range of possible assumptions since, so that I am not again shocked by the extremity of Afghan behaviour.

    Meanwhile, you just ignore, deflect, devalue and never learn your way out of everything. Indeed, you can’t even seem to admit that you have been wrong, despite being wrong near every day, in every way, on this subject for an entire year!

    You can call my method feminine if you like, and yours masculine, but that association will not be good for you.

    • Replies: @Beckow
    @Leaves No Shadow

    Why are you so obsessed w fighting a straw-man? You misrepresent what I write and then you argue with it. What's the point? Dont you a better way to argue your side? Let's get real, I wrote:


    2-3 days into the fight, the results so far:
    – NATO is gone. It run away and it is unlikely back for a long time.
     
    Nato is gone. If you haven't noticed we went from an almost certain Nato in Ukraine (I have described why many times), on Russia's borders with missiles-bases, to Nato lamely sending arms to outnumbered Ukies and losing the war. There is no chance of Ukraine in 1991 borders in Nato - it was almost certain before the war. You will deny, lie about the plans and intentions, blab nonsense about 'but it was postponed'...but you know that is a lie. More importantly Russians believed it was happening. At this point, Kiev would have to win the war decisively for Nato to come back. Arms, slogans, decorations and verbal support, even a mini-Nato in Galicia, don't count - they are an order of magnitude less significant that what was going happen.

    Ze. was negotiating in March what was a de facto surrender - so again I was right. He was told to cut it out, a decision he will probably come to regret. And lots of people run away - literally millions, why would you deny that?


    You were also predicting the total economic collapse of the West because of....Meanwhile, the Russian economy went into a serious recession in 2022 and the West did not.
     
    I was not, you are making it up (you couldn't even find a quote remotely saying that). I said the war will slow down the Western economies - and it did: 2023 official projection of EU is 0.6% growth, UK 0.1%, Germany 0.3% - the numbers are squishy since the min positives are achieved by under-stating inflation (easy thing to do)

    I remember everyone predicting Russia's economy collapse and it didn't happen, its GNP dropped by 3%. For 2023 IMF has Russia growing 0.3% - better than Germany or UK.

    The real collapse happened in Ukraine, 30% down (some of it lost lands, but no a big part).

    Overall you prefer to create a straw-man to discussing reality or what others say. You may also be the last person who pushes the 'Russia blew up North Stream', but whatever. The war has tipped in Russia's favor, I don't see a realistic Ukie response (maybe you do). But for the sake decency don't misrepresent what others say. If you like to argue w yourself, why are you here?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  103. @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    I wonder whether Poles will intervene on Ukrainian side as I wrote a couple of days ago.
     
    Are you writing this in full seriousness or as a kind of an "innocent" prompt that "a Fool" would bring up?

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed. So far it seems, it won't be. It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    innocent” prompt that “a Fool” would bring up

    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : “when you don’t think a lot becomes clearer”. 😉

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed.

    Yeah, I know. That’s the plan.

    It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.

    Taras, Gritsko and Mykola do not come in unlimited supply. Sooner rather than later, a war of attrition would lead to its logical consequences – the need for the Western backers to either fold or intervene.

    Being the simple-minded fool that I am, I believe Westerners would prefer seeing the Eastern Europeans “do the job for them”, just like you would prefer it being done by “Mykola”. Any Eastern European killed is one less to neuter or euthanize during the coming population bottleneck.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem – FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix, given that they seem eager to participate. Let’s make it FSBSP for inclusivity’s sake. 🙂

    • Replies: @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things.
     
    All I asked was if that's what you truly believe or it's just your wishful thinking.

    just like you would prefer it being done by “Mykola”
     

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem – FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix,
     
    Dream on.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Ivashka the fool

    , @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : “when you don’t think a lot becomes clearer”.
     
    I urge you to follow your own advice here. The war between Ukraine and Russia is not really all that complicated, and there's really no reason to look for answers and causes within elaborately made up conspiracy theories etc. Believe me, it is what it looks like. You have a disgruntled player in this war (Russia) that thought that it had an invincible army, and that it was losing Ukraine to the West, and that this was the last optimal time to attack and subdue Ukraine and bring it back into the fold. How was Ukraine to react to this provocation? Quietly acquiesce to Russia's brazen invasion, in order to maximize good Slavic DNA for future generations, while handing over the keys to its house to a really lousy neighbor?

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @AP, @Ivashka the fool

  104. @Yahya
    @songbird


    BTW, I see Yahya will not accept Rachel Maddow back into the fold (however beautiful TL asserts she is.) Perhaps, Jennifer Connelly, or ScarJo, if they were younger?

     

    Maddow isn't even 1/8th Middle Eastern; you twit.

    ScarJo looks Germanic/Nordic.

    Jennifer Connelly looks Black Irish or Italian.

    Would pass as Middle Eastern if a few facial features were tweaked though.

    Wouldn't mind accepting her to the fold. She was born in Cairo after all.

    Is also beautiful and intelligent.

    You can keep the other two.


    Yahya once went ape, when I said I thought blacks do not have a culture,
     
    I don't recall commenting on that. Though I'm open to being wrong. You are welcome to provide a link to my comment.

    Blacks do have a culture; both in Africa and America. The former is primitive and the latter depraved; but they are distinct cultures nonetheless. You are conflating "bad" with "nothing".


    but I don’t think that Euros really have a modern culture either, at least at scale, which, if anything, is even more disgraceful. It is mostly coasting on past glories, and our modern culture is diversity, and it is basically impossible to dissociate from those elements, and degenerate at that.

     

    There are pockets of creditable high-culture in Europe. Most of it is indeed "coasting" on previous accomplishments; but that is both a sin and a virtue. It can be good to preserve the achievements of one's ancestors; whether in literature, music, film, art or architecture. I don't see the issue with performing Bach or Mozart in a French cathedral every weekend. Many non-European peoples also tend to replay the same music from their golden ages. The Ancient Egyptians maintained the same aesthetic for thousands of years. On the other hand, innovation and creativity are also worthy endeavors. Contrary to what you might think; the presence of foreigners is no impediment to cultural flourishing. Rome during its imperial heights was filled with immigrants from the Middle East and the Balkans; likewise Alexandria was for a millennia the most culturally productive city in the Western world. The Chinese Golden Age occurred under the cosmopolitan Tang dynasty.

    I don't think anyone has a finger on the causes of Western cultural decline. Some posit a general downward trend starting in WW1; though I view the timeline as variable depending on cultural activity. Western music arguably reached its apex in the 19th century. James Huneker in Old Fogy contended that "no great music [has been] made since the death of Beethoven". That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.

    @Latw


    Irish German maybe?
     
    Anglin doesn't need to be of partial German descent to LARP as a Nazi.

    Just look at the likes of songbird.

    Apparently Irish-Americans now think themselves Aryan ubermenschen.

    The deracination must've gotten to some of them. Very sad really.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Coconuts

    That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.

    Woke is a special problem because of the belief it includes that cultural discourses create reality, it makes them very sensitive to how people talk about or depict things. The ideas about epistemic violence and hidden systems of power encoded in culture causing physical violence are related to this. I think putting so much emphasis on discourse control and harm elimination is obviously destructive to artistic freedom and creativity.

    A relatively common explanation of Western cultural decline, in Nietzsche but in plenty of other writers, was the rise of the mass man and the democratic spirit in politics.

    Imo the current mass migration is a problem for creativity because people are inhibited from engaging freely with it and addressing all the issues it raises in an unfiltered way, just as it is becoming more relevant. People creating art are in some way in a dialogue with the society around them and need to have a feel for its values, spirit and social forms, in various Western countries mass immigration is reaching a scale where it is starting to modify these things. Now the process is also being heavily monitored and controlled by bureaucratic political authorities and mass media, taken together I feel this kills inspiration.

    • Agree: songbird
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Coconuts


    taken together I feel this kills inspiration.
     
    Taken together it kills the Western middle class and its way of living. It is a societal regression and a cultural genocide in making.

    Replies: @Coconuts

  105. @Beckow
    @S


    ...but the Western middle class as well.
     
    I generally defend the middle class everywhere, but let's be honest: large part of the Western middle class is simply parasitic. They consume way beyond anything productive they do. I don't want to list the endless silly made-up activities that provide their living, from distributing gment goodies and virtual money, endless 'charity', green activism, protecting against "Russia", social media, etc...all of that is possible only because the material basis (land, food, infrastructure, energy...) has been either built up or is often obtained at minimum cost from the rest of the world (that virtual money machine :)...

    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the 'middle class' nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place - fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have - they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go...

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Emil Nikola Richard

    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the ‘middle class’ nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place – fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have – they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go…

    Cold War era produced the numerous Sovoks in USSR and the numerous Western middle class in the West. Let’s call them Westmids. The Westmids only existed in high numbers because the Western system needed being more attractive than the Soviet one (an easy task). As soon as the Cold War ended, and the Sovok have been dealt with through Perestroika and the ensuing “reforms”, the elites started putting pressure on the Westmids. Mass immigration and the rise of Alphabet People and the “minorities” are tools used to bring the Westmids down. The Westmids are in no way wiser than the Sovoks. And they will also be dealt with through the unfolding Westerstroika.

    Sic transit gloria mundi…

    • Agree: AnonfromTN
    • Replies: @Beckow
    @Ivashka the fool


    ...The Westmids only existed in high numbers because the Western system needed being more attractive than the Soviet one (an easy task). As soon as the Cold War ended...the elites started putting pressure on the Westmids. Mass immigration and the rise of Alphabet People and the “minorities” are tools used to bring the Westmids down
     
    Precisely...Sic transit gloria mundi…

    Westmids' (let's use it) best friend was Stalin and the commies: the fear in the Western elite after WW2 made them give and give: incomes up, nice neighborhoods, assured jobs if you behaved, good culture, travel, goodies, etc...

    They only needed to do it as long as the commie threat existed - by the late 70's when the commies went lame, the first 'reforms' started. The usual suspects, French, Italian, even Germans, resisted at the beginning and were left alone. The Anglos led the way; they suffer from an incredibly low sense of society and are trained to be ruthlessly individualistic. As always the beginnings were promising: privatizations made a part of the transition generation rich, the older workers were protected, and early migrants were probably more help than trouble. The 90's were good, esp. since the accumulated Eastern wealth was generously doled out.

    It no longer works: you can issue a lot of money backed by nothing, but eventually the numbers don't work. The pyramid nature of the new capitalism created 1-2 rich generations, but it impoverishing the kids and grandkids. The open borders-mass migration-cheap labor mania has reached absurd levels - look at the US southern border.

    The elites are stuck - lowering living standards is risky, although they can count on the accumulated stupidity after decades of heavy propaganda. It takes 20-30 years for people to start acting in their self-interest - we are almost there. Maybe having a war is better :)...or Greta...

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  106. @Coconuts
    @Yahya


    That was certainly far before the woke and migration wave. Nietzsche and Spengler were already discussing the decline of the West a century ago. Your racial obsession blinds you from other consequential factors. Wokeism is a symptom rather than cause of decline.
     
    Woke is a special problem because of the belief it includes that cultural discourses create reality, it makes them very sensitive to how people talk about or depict things. The ideas about epistemic violence and hidden systems of power encoded in culture causing physical violence are related to this. I think putting so much emphasis on discourse control and harm elimination is obviously destructive to artistic freedom and creativity.

    A relatively common explanation of Western cultural decline, in Nietzsche but in plenty of other writers, was the rise of the mass man and the democratic spirit in politics.

    Imo the current mass migration is a problem for creativity because people are inhibited from engaging freely with it and addressing all the issues it raises in an unfiltered way, just as it is becoming more relevant. People creating art are in some way in a dialogue with the society around them and need to have a feel for its values, spirit and social forms, in various Western countries mass immigration is reaching a scale where it is starting to modify these things. Now the process is also being heavily monitored and controlled by bureaucratic political authorities and mass media, taken together I feel this kills inspiration.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    taken together I feel this kills inspiration.

    Taken together it kills the Western middle class and its way of living. It is a societal regression and a cultural genocide in making.

    • Agree: songbird
    • Replies: @Coconuts
    @Ivashka the fool


    Taken together it kills the Western middle class and its way of living. It is a societal regression and a cultural genocide in making.
     
    Likely the potential for this is why there is the current level of control over engaging with it culturally.

    I was working in an arts related field myself and for a long time (my adult life till then really) my interests were more on religious traditions and consumer society, I was maybe becoming more curious about Northern European themes because of spending time in the Baltic and Belarus.

    Seeing mainstream demographic projections in around 2019 got me more interested in major ethnic and cultural change and after the 2020 events it became the main thing I was thinking about. But it's hard to do anything with that theme at present if you need to earn a living.

  107. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    innocent” prompt that “a Fool” would bring up
     
    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : "when you don't think a lot becomes clearer". 😉

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed.
     
    Yeah, I know. That's the plan.

    It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.
     
    Taras, Gritsko and Mykola do not come in unlimited supply. Sooner rather than later, a war of attrition would lead to its logical consequences - the need for the Western backers to either fold or intervene.

    Being the simple-minded fool that I am, I believe Westerners would prefer seeing the Eastern Europeans "do the job for them", just like you would prefer it being done by "Mykola". Any Eastern European killed is one less to neuter or euthanize during the coming population bottleneck.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem - FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix, given that they seem eager to participate. Let's make it FSBSP for inclusivity's sake. 🙂

    Replies: @LatW, @Mr. Hack

    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things.

    All I asked was if that’s what you truly believe or it’s just your wishful thinking.

    just like you would prefer it being done by “Mykola”

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem – FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix,

    Dream on.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @LatW


    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.
     
    Yes, and for good reason.

    If you want something heartwarming, use the AirBnB app and go to a property in Ukraine, especially in places like Kherson. There you see endless supportive reviews from ordinary people in countries that see themselves as Ukrainian friends and who have payed for accomodation they obviously didn't stay in.

    There are many similar phenomena to this. Tanks, military training, foreign volunteers and missiles are just the beginning of it.

    This all doesn't make the Russian invasion good, or mean that the Ukrainians need display less bravery, but it certainly is of value. And appreciated.

    Meanwhile, Russian "friends" use this occasion to scam the Russian people out of oil for half of the going price.

    Replies: @LatW

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    All I asked was if that’s what you truly believe or it’s just your wishful thinking.
     
    Why would I wish for others becoming engulfed in violence and suffering ? No sane person would. I am a fool, but I am not a sociopath.

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.
     
    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end. Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.

    Dream on.
     
    Again, why would I dream for something so vile ? Do I come accross in my comments as someone who would like to see other people suffering?

    But one has to be logical and consequential, follow the dots: Baltics are in NATO and quite close to Kaliningrad and Belarus. If Belarus is dragged into the war, then the violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.

    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other. I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members. But the West has its own problems. The West might well decide to leave the Balto-Slav sort it out. If I was Western I would not want my people to die for the Suwalki Gap. Just like I don't want the Balto-Slav that I consider as my people to die in retarded wars under Western patronage.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.

    Replies: @LatW, @Mikel

  108. @A123
    @QCIC (from previous thread)

    The LFTR (~liquid fluoride thorium reactor) as originally developed at Oak Ridge is pretty much an ideal reactor with one exception. It was basically the worst design imaginable in terms of proliferation and produced ready to use U-233 which is actually worse than plutonium in this respect.
     
    U233 is mediocre for weapons production. Only one has been tested and it was a fizzle. Worse yet the U233 cycle is poisoned by U232 which produces very undesirable, frequent, high gamma decay events. This is not a power plant issue, but it can easily break sensitive electronics in weapons applications.

    Comparatively, Pu239 is a much easier pathway to a functional fission weapon.

    There are ways to work around this aspect which hopefully have been fleshed out.
     
    Because breeder style power plant reactors consume the fissile material they are creating, diversion to other uses is difficult. Over accumulation is an undesirable characteristic to be minimized.

    While fission bomb material is also produced by breeding, the reactor construction is quite different.

    When I was a kid thorium reserves were thought to be good for tens of thousands of years.
     
    Thorium is inevitably dug up with other Rare Earth Elements. Thousands of years of fuel is not an over statement.

    PEACE 😇

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.

    From what I remember, thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage, recently in Halden.

    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium (in such a case we wouldn’t build them at all) – clearly we could have a couple of military reactors and the rest of them running on thorium.

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/

    • Replies: @A123
    @Another Polish Perspective


    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300
     
    What full scale (not lab scale) Thorium reactor was discontinued in the U.S.?
    ____

    THTR was a mixed solid U235 + Thorium "Pebble Bed Reactor" [PBR]. This has huge disadvantages versus LFTR. For example, the thorium cycle produces gases such as krypton. The LFTR can shed these gas from the operating fluid. Solid pebbles cannot. There were also science errors in the design of the pebble -- small & light enough to escape the bed.

    Ultimately, the German THTR was killed by the German Green party for political reasons. However, the poor choice & design of PBR plus related economics made it a pretty easy target for a take down.


    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.
     
    I do not remember news about an issue. It was a limited duration experimental scale system. (1)

    In one fell swoop, thorium fuel, which is safer, less messy to clean up, and not prone to nuclear weapons proliferation, could quench the complaints of nuclear power critics everywhere.
    ...
    By mixing thorium oxide with 10% plutonium oxide, however, criticality is achieved. This fuel, which is called thorium-MOX (mixed-oxide), can then be formed into rods and used in conventional nuclear reactors. Not only does this mean that we can do away with uranium, which is expensive to enrich, dangerous, and leads to nuclear proliferation, but it also means that we finally have an easy way of recycling plutonium. Furthermore, the thorium-MOX fuel cycle produces no new plutonium; it actually reduces the world’s stock of plutonium. Oh, thorium-MOX makes for safer nuclear reactors, too, due to a higher melting point and thermal conductivity.
    ...
    Thorium-MOX, in short, is about as exciting as it gets in the nuclear power industry. Before it can be used, though, Thor Energy needs to make sure that the thorium fuel cycle is fully understood. To do this, the company has built a small test reactor in the Norwegian town of Halden, where rods of thorium-MOX provide steam to a nearby paper mill. This reactor will run for five years, after which the fuel will be analyzed to see if it’s ready for commercial reactors
     
    My understanding is that it completed it limited period test and concluded as expected.

    If a major warhead decrease is in the cards, this concept could return. However, that seems unlikely in this geopolitical era. Without "free" plutonium, the economics of the Norwegian test did not warrant commercialization.


    thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage
     
    I am not sure where you got this bit of crazy from, but it is not scientifically sound. You have been mislead or deceived.

    Clean FLiBe salt can be handled with modern materials in the Hastelloy series. Removing unwanted fission products is included in every serious LFTR proposal. Incidentally, this also reconditions the FLiBe salt back to its optimum clean state.

    LCTR fast neutron reactor concepts do exist in the literature, however the chloride salts are more problematic versus their fluoride brethren. Liquid lead seems to be the most attractive option for this route if desired. A few nutters, funded by GE, promote liquid sodium PRISM. Guess who owns the PRISM design? Could it be GE?


    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors
     
    There has been no repeated mothballing. Again, you have been mislead or deceived.

    There has been only one commercial scale retirement. And, it was a poorly chosen & executed solid fuel design. Thus, not insightful to the LFTR concept.


    cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium
     
    The military used cold war muscle to kill the early, government funded, LFTR work at ORNL and a few other locations. This kill shot was based on poor science, but it happened nonetheless in the quest for weapons grade plutonium.

    After that, the problem was more bureaucracy than military. All of the civilian laws & regulations had the U235 fuel cycle as a built in assumption. How would a thorium breeder be certified for operation when the rules expect something different? The red tape made it impossible. Also, all of the industry experts had a vested interest in keeping upstart competitors at bay.

    The desire for Small Modular Reactors [SMR] forced the regulators to open their committees to new ideas. And, LFTR is an excellent SMR option due to passive safety.

    You can read much more here:

    https://energyfromthorium.com/lftr-overview/

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160131-thorium-nuclear-reactor-trial-begins-could-provide-cleaner-safer-almost-waste-free-energy

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    , @QCIC
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I think these experiments were dropped for political reasons, not technical.

    +++

    The "fizzle" was 22 kT, not exactly hopeless.

    IIRC, the original idea for the MSRE was to remove most all of the protactinum-232 continuously from the salt bath to to improve neutron economy by avoiding losses on protactinum in the reactor. This removal was demonstrated during the experiment. The removed material decays into U-233 which is returned to the reactor as the fuel. But during this stage it exists outside the reactor as high purity U-233 which could be diverted. I think it has less U-232 than material bred in a conventional reactor and the critical mass is lower than U-235. There is low spontaneous neutron generation so a small gun-type bomb could be made, much simpler than an implosion design. This is the story I read.

    The ways to address this issue include good security control over the extracted U-233 (high trust society), set up a process that denatures it immediately or design a reactor that does not remove the Pa-232 from the reactor. I think the last is the route chosen for new designs, but the reactor design is less "elegant".

    Replies: @QCIC

  109. @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things.
     
    All I asked was if that's what you truly believe or it's just your wishful thinking.

    just like you would prefer it being done by “Mykola”
     

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem – FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix,
     
    Dream on.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Ivashka the fool

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.

    Yes, and for good reason.

    If you want something heartwarming, use the AirBnB app and go to a property in Ukraine, especially in places like Kherson. There you see endless supportive reviews from ordinary people in countries that see themselves as Ukrainian friends and who have payed for accomodation they obviously didn’t stay in.

    There are many similar phenomena to this. Tanks, military training, foreign volunteers and missiles are just the beginning of it.

    This all doesn’t make the Russian invasion good, or mean that the Ukrainians need display less bravery, but it certainly is of value. And appreciated.

    Meanwhile, Russian “friends” use this occasion to scam the Russian people out of oil for half of the going price.

    • Replies: @LatW
    @Leaves No Shadow


    If you want something heartwarming, use the AirBnB app and go to a property in Ukraine, especially in places like Kherson. There you see endless supportive reviews from ordinary people in countries that see themselves as Ukrainian friends and who have payed for accomodation they obviously didn’t stay in.

     

    I'm aware of that phenomena, it is heart warming indeed, but you don't need to tell me about this - I could've bought a nice car with what I've sent. I have helped the wounded. The wounded will need a lot of help after the war, too.

    Meanwhile, Russian “friends” use this occasion to scam the Russian people out of oil for half of the going price.
     

    Well, not only that, it looks like India will no longer be buying Russian helicopters, I guess they didn't withstand the "combat proof".
  110. @Leaves No Shadow
    @LatW


    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.
     
    Yes, and for good reason.

    If you want something heartwarming, use the AirBnB app and go to a property in Ukraine, especially in places like Kherson. There you see endless supportive reviews from ordinary people in countries that see themselves as Ukrainian friends and who have payed for accomodation they obviously didn't stay in.

    There are many similar phenomena to this. Tanks, military training, foreign volunteers and missiles are just the beginning of it.

    This all doesn't make the Russian invasion good, or mean that the Ukrainians need display less bravery, but it certainly is of value. And appreciated.

    Meanwhile, Russian "friends" use this occasion to scam the Russian people out of oil for half of the going price.

    Replies: @LatW

    If you want something heartwarming, use the AirBnB app and go to a property in Ukraine, especially in places like Kherson. There you see endless supportive reviews from ordinary people in countries that see themselves as Ukrainian friends and who have payed for accomodation they obviously didn’t stay in.

    I’m aware of that phenomena, it is heart warming indeed, but you don’t need to tell me about this – I could’ve bought a nice car with what I’ve sent. I have helped the wounded. The wounded will need a lot of help after the war, too.

    Meanwhile, Russian “friends” use this occasion to scam the Russian people out of oil for half of the going price.

    Well, not only that, it looks like India will no longer be buying Russian helicopters, I guess they didn’t withstand the “combat proof”.

  111. @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things.
     
    All I asked was if that's what you truly believe or it's just your wishful thinking.

    just like you would prefer it being done by “Mykola”
     

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem – FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix,
     
    Dream on.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Ivashka the fool

    All I asked was if that’s what you truly believe or it’s just your wishful thinking.

    Why would I wish for others becoming engulfed in violence and suffering ? No sane person would. I am a fool, but I am not a sociopath.

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.

    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end. Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.

    Dream on.

    Again, why would I dream for something so vile ? Do I come accross in my comments as someone who would like to see other people suffering?

    But one has to be logical and consequential, follow the dots: Baltics are in NATO and quite close to Kaliningrad and Belarus. If Belarus is dragged into the war, then the violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.

    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other. I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members. But the West has its own problems. The West might well decide to leave the Balto-Slav sort it out. If I was Western I would not want my people to die for the Suwalki Gap. Just like I don’t want the Balto-Slav that I consider as my people to die in retarded wars under Western patronage.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.

    • Replies: @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end.
     
    They determine that and they have been explicit about it. They and their friends never wanted this war, they were attacked on their territory.


    Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.
     
    Who was? Was I ever?

    If Belarus is dragged into the war
     
    Belarus has gone out of her way to not be dragged into it, but Belarus, unfortunately, is a party to the war by providing Russia with the platform to bomb Ukraine. The Belarusians do not want to fight Ukrainians and vice versa, that's one of the vilest things I can imagine, but if the Belarusians decide to fight with troops, they will receive it back accordingly. They will be hit on their territory. Their army is not large and has zero experience.

    violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.
     
    Violence can spill either way. When you go this far, with such an aggressive war, it can spill in the other direction than what you imagine (or desire?). When you mess with borders and deliberately break them, you make them fluid. It can go either way.


    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other.
     
    That's just not true. It would be a war with NATO. But it will not go that far.

    I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members.

     

    You don't know this because you only read your Telegram channels, but the normal Europeans are very angry.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.
     
    That's disingenuous. None of us wanted a war like this. If you were consistent and honest, you would have decried the vatniks for supporting it.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.
     
    You must have skipped my comments during the past year. But that's OK, we all have a life outside of this blog.

    Btw, LatW also had a hard time understanding how I can be so opposed to Putin's war now when I was equally opposed to Ukraine's actions in Donbas. It's a strange thing, actually. I used to think that we Euros have a common general view of life and the world. I actually experienced this first hand when I lived in Chile. I met many expats from Europe and the US, including even a couple of Belarussian acquaintances who tried their luck in Chile and stayed at my house for some months. I always found that it was much easier to find rapport with fellow Europeans, even from the opposite side of the continent, than with the locals.

    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches). But reality has shown me that this was an illusion. LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas. In fact, I feel like my non-religious but ethical approach to the question of war probably resonates more with non-Europeans these days than with fellow Euros. From what I read here and there, I have the impression that, unlike most Westerners, non-Euros are just aghast at the war that was once again started in Europe, hoping that it doesn't affect them too much and in general not feeling much need to take sides.

    Replies: @Sean, @sudden death, @Ivashka the fool

  112. @Ivashka the fool
    @Beckow


    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the ‘middle class’ nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place – fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have – they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go…
     
    Cold War era produced the numerous Sovoks in USSR and the numerous Western middle class in the West. Let's call them Westmids. The Westmids only existed in high numbers because the Western system needed being more attractive than the Soviet one (an easy task). As soon as the Cold War ended, and the Sovok have been dealt with through Perestroika and the ensuing "reforms", the elites started putting pressure on the Westmids. Mass immigration and the rise of Alphabet People and the "minorities" are tools used to bring the Westmids down. The Westmids are in no way wiser than the Sovoks. And they will also be dealt with through the unfolding Westerstroika.

    Sic transit gloria mundi...

    Replies: @Beckow

    …The Westmids only existed in high numbers because the Western system needed being more attractive than the Soviet one (an easy task). As soon as the Cold War ended…the elites started putting pressure on the Westmids. Mass immigration and the rise of Alphabet People and the “minorities” are tools used to bring the Westmids down

    Precisely…Sic transit gloria mundi…

    Westmids’ (let’s use it) best friend was Stalin and the commies: the fear in the Western elite after WW2 made them give and give: incomes up, nice neighborhoods, assured jobs if you behaved, good culture, travel, goodies, etc…

    They only needed to do it as long as the commie threat existed – by the late 70’s when the commies went lame, the first ‘reforms’ started. The usual suspects, French, Italian, even Germans, resisted at the beginning and were left alone. The Anglos led the way; they suffer from an incredibly low sense of society and are trained to be ruthlessly individualistic. As always the beginnings were promising: privatizations made a part of the transition generation rich, the older workers were protected, and early migrants were probably more help than trouble. The 90’s were good, esp. since the accumulated Eastern wealth was generously doled out.

    It no longer works: you can issue a lot of money backed by nothing, but eventually the numbers don’t work. The pyramid nature of the new capitalism created 1-2 rich generations, but it impoverishing the kids and grandkids. The open borders-mass migration-cheap labor mania has reached absurd levels – look at the US southern border.

    The elites are stuck – lowering living standards is risky, although they can count on the accumulated stupidity after decades of heavy propaganda. It takes 20-30 years for people to start acting in their self-interest – we are almost there. Maybe having a war is better :)…or Greta…

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Beckow


    It takes 20-30 years for people to start acting in their self-interest – we are almost there.
     
    Yes but most poor Westmids believe in democracy. So they will try to fix it democratically for a generation and then they would look around and see that the Great Replacement has been completed, the Great Reset is done and "they own nothing and have to be happy".

    And even if all Westmids turned "full Anglin" and accelerationist, what would they do against the Technosphere and the 0,01 % that can drone them to death and cut them from their CBDC bank accounts (in that order).

    🙂

    Time to move on. The Great White World is about to be terminated. And it happened not because the Russkies invaded from beyond the horizon in tank columns, but because the men of the West got complacent, have been betrayed by their women and sold out down the river by (((their))) elites.

    And now there are talks of UFOs ! That's even a better distraction than war in Ukraine or Greta the Green.

    https://youtu.be/XCbAEkfXSDE

    Who could have thought that this gender neutral guy was such a genius and a prophet (I wouldn't like to find out just who was it that whispered the lyrics to his ear).

    😏

    Anyway, the Future belongs to those who survive, not to those who lament.

    Bonne Saint Valentin à tous !

    ♥️♥️♥️
  113. @Ivashka the fool
    @Mikel

    I was reading a couple Russian Telegram channels that write about these new camps and also about Lukashenko telling that the time is approaching when Belarus will have to take a side in this conflict, that the decision must be made shortly.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @sudden death

    Just an intuitive guess with no required evidence about troop movements specifics – imho, all those lukashenkian dances with military drums, at the same time adding weasealisms like “it must be done without harming our sovereign interests”, more likely are meant to keep suspense increasing and therefore notable UA reserves at the north too, while not letting transfer them into east/south where the main RF action may come, but without any RB involvement.

    But we”ll se soon as spring is just two weeks away…

    And if it starts raining, it will be the worst imaginable time again to do or keep doing the serious offensive there.

    • Agree: Mr. Hack
    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @sudden death


    And if it starts raining, it will be the worst imaginable time again to do or keep doing the serious offensive there.
     
    It seems that it is more about numerology than anything else - Russian invasion started on 8th anniversary of the beginning of conflict from Feb 2014.

    Poland effectively closed its Belarussian border on on Friday, allegedly because Belarus sentenced the only member of Polish minority there I ever hear, Andrzej Poczobut, to prison. Now this is surely useful for Belarussian propaganda.
    This guy seems to have inherited his position from his father, which suggests some continuity in Soviet nomenclature even in "opposition" circles. Maybe he just plays his role - I lost sympathy to him when I heard that he refused presidential pardon from Lukashenko. Now, if you oppose regime to such an extent, why do you insist on being in Belarus, and in prison for that? But he of course refuses offers of emigration too.
    , @sudden death
    @sudden death

    Even more open weasealing out of potential offensive together with RF from Lukashenko today - said that will fight alongside only if any foreign enemy soldiers will come inside RB;)

    https://eadaily.com/ru/news/2023/02/16/lukashenko-zayavil-o-gotovnosti-voevat-vmeste-s-rossiey-no-pri-odnom-uslovii

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Wokechoke

  114. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Mikel

    Was right on near everything about Putin's invasion so far, but made a horrible and fatal calculation for Afghanistan: that anti-Taliban forces might actually try and fight. Everyone should have known that Afghans don't really fight, they either hide and set bombs/traps, or they instantly fold and switch to whichever they think is the stronger side, but this was extreme.

    That's not to characterise them as lacking courage, as their methods require immense courage sometimes, but it is so totally different from the European paradigm that even someone occasionally accused of racism could not imagine it.

    Well, lesson learned. But if I am guilty of extrapolating from Europeans to Afghans, most here are guilty of extrapolating from Afghans to Eastern Slavs.

    We live we learn. One error over 10 days can be learned from, but it seems a thousand errors over a year somehow cannot.

    Replies: @Beckow, @Wokechoke

    You predicted an intractable guerilla war and a Russian occupation.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Wokechoke

    Yes, if the Russian invasion didn't fail completely, as it has. I began the war too negative on Ukraine and presented a worst case option. Given that I was talking to people who thought Russian was winning a decisive victory, when it was flailing around, this was a sensible way of hedging my bets.

    See what I did with Lukashenko and the Belarussians supposedly invading Ukraine. It was the same back then.

  115. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    All I asked was if that’s what you truly believe or it’s just your wishful thinking.
     
    Why would I wish for others becoming engulfed in violence and suffering ? No sane person would. I am a fool, but I am not a sociopath.

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.
     
    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end. Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.

    Dream on.
     
    Again, why would I dream for something so vile ? Do I come accross in my comments as someone who would like to see other people suffering?

    But one has to be logical and consequential, follow the dots: Baltics are in NATO and quite close to Kaliningrad and Belarus. If Belarus is dragged into the war, then the violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.

    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other. I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members. But the West has its own problems. The West might well decide to leave the Balto-Slav sort it out. If I was Western I would not want my people to die for the Suwalki Gap. Just like I don't want the Balto-Slav that I consider as my people to die in retarded wars under Western patronage.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.

    Replies: @LatW, @Mikel

    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end.

    They determine that and they have been explicit about it. They and their friends never wanted this war, they were attacked on their territory.

    Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.

    Who was? Was I ever?

    If Belarus is dragged into the war

    Belarus has gone out of her way to not be dragged into it, but Belarus, unfortunately, is a party to the war by providing Russia with the platform to bomb Ukraine. The Belarusians do not want to fight Ukrainians and vice versa, that’s one of the vilest things I can imagine, but if the Belarusians decide to fight with troops, they will receive it back accordingly. They will be hit on their territory. Their army is not large and has zero experience.

    violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.

    Violence can spill either way. When you go this far, with such an aggressive war, it can spill in the other direction than what you imagine (or desire?). When you mess with borders and deliberately break them, you make them fluid. It can go either way.

    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other.

    That’s just not true. It would be a war with NATO. But it will not go that far.

    I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members.

    You don’t know this because you only read your Telegram channels, but the normal Europeans are very angry.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.

    That’s disingenuous. None of us wanted a war like this. If you were consistent and honest, you would have decried the vatniks for supporting it.

    • Agree: sudden death
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    If you were consistent and honest, you would have decried the vatniks for supporting it.
     
    But I did. I wrote about the "patriotic pensioners" using this war as a compensation mechanism for their neurotic complexes. But they are not the only ones. Борьба была ровна - боролись два г☆вна...

    Anyway, you know that I like you LatW. No need to go full Latvian Rifelman on me for pointing some of your evident and natural biases.

    Bonne Saint Valentin ma belle !

    🙂

    Replies: @LatW

  116. @sudden death
    @Ivashka the fool

    Just an intuitive guess with no required evidence about troop movements specifics - imho, all those lukashenkian dances with military drums, at the same time adding weasealisms like "it must be done without harming our sovereign interests", more likely are meant to keep suspense increasing and therefore notable UA reserves at the north too, while not letting transfer them into east/south where the main RF action may come, but without any RB involvement.

    But we''ll se soon as spring is just two weeks away...

    And if it starts raining, it will be the worst imaginable time again to do or keep doing the serious offensive there.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @sudden death

    And if it starts raining, it will be the worst imaginable time again to do or keep doing the serious offensive there.

    It seems that it is more about numerology than anything else – Russian invasion started on 8th anniversary of the beginning of conflict from Feb 2014.

    Poland effectively closed its Belarussian border on on Friday, allegedly because Belarus sentenced the only member of Polish minority there I ever hear, Andrzej Poczobut, to prison. Now this is surely useful for Belarussian propaganda.
    This guy seems to have inherited his position from his father, which suggests some continuity in Soviet nomenclature even in “opposition” circles. Maybe he just plays his role – I lost sympathy to him when I heard that he refused presidential pardon from Lukashenko. Now, if you oppose regime to such an extent, why do you insist on being in Belarus, and in prison for that? But he of course refuses offers of emigration too.

  117. @Beckow
    @Ivashka the fool


    ...The Westmids only existed in high numbers because the Western system needed being more attractive than the Soviet one (an easy task). As soon as the Cold War ended...the elites started putting pressure on the Westmids. Mass immigration and the rise of Alphabet People and the “minorities” are tools used to bring the Westmids down
     
    Precisely...Sic transit gloria mundi…

    Westmids' (let's use it) best friend was Stalin and the commies: the fear in the Western elite after WW2 made them give and give: incomes up, nice neighborhoods, assured jobs if you behaved, good culture, travel, goodies, etc...

    They only needed to do it as long as the commie threat existed - by the late 70's when the commies went lame, the first 'reforms' started. The usual suspects, French, Italian, even Germans, resisted at the beginning and were left alone. The Anglos led the way; they suffer from an incredibly low sense of society and are trained to be ruthlessly individualistic. As always the beginnings were promising: privatizations made a part of the transition generation rich, the older workers were protected, and early migrants were probably more help than trouble. The 90's were good, esp. since the accumulated Eastern wealth was generously doled out.

    It no longer works: you can issue a lot of money backed by nothing, but eventually the numbers don't work. The pyramid nature of the new capitalism created 1-2 rich generations, but it impoverishing the kids and grandkids. The open borders-mass migration-cheap labor mania has reached absurd levels - look at the US southern border.

    The elites are stuck - lowering living standards is risky, although they can count on the accumulated stupidity after decades of heavy propaganda. It takes 20-30 years for people to start acting in their self-interest - we are almost there. Maybe having a war is better :)...or Greta...

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    It takes 20-30 years for people to start acting in their self-interest – we are almost there.

    Yes but most poor Westmids believe in democracy. So they will try to fix it democratically for a generation and then they would look around and see that the Great Replacement has been completed, the Great Reset is done and “they own nothing and have to be happy”.

    And even if all Westmids turned “full Anglin” and accelerationist, what would they do against the Technosphere and the 0,01 % that can drone them to death and cut them from their CBDC bank accounts (in that order).

    🙂

    Time to move on. The Great White World is about to be terminated. And it happened not because the Russkies invaded from beyond the horizon in tank columns, but because the men of the West got complacent, have been betrayed by their women and sold out down the river by (((their))) elites.

    And now there are talks of UFOs ! That’s even a better distraction than war in Ukraine or Greta the Green.

    Who could have thought that this gender neutral guy was such a genius and a prophet (I wouldn’t like to find out just who was it that whispered the lyrics to his ear).

    😏

    Anyway, the Future belongs to those who survive, not to those who lament.

    Bonne Saint Valentin à tous !

    ♥️♥️♥️

  118. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Beckow

    You in March:


    How are they going to rebuilt military assets if Russia can blow anything that comes in? You can’t hide planes, air fields, artillery or missiles. Go for it, but unless you have some magical way to protect it, it will be a sitting duck
     
    Russia has not yet even achieved air superiority now!

    You arguing that Ukraine was surrendering a year ago:

    Do you really believe that Ukraine will win this militarily? At best they will negotiate terms of surrender – Ze. is already starting.

    You were also predicting the total economic collapse of the West because of *insert some completely ignorant argument about how commodities are the global economy and everything else is financial engineering.* Meanwhile, the Russian economy went into a serious recession in 2022 and the West did not.

    And I don't know what you were smoking when you wrote this absurd fantasy:

    2-3 days into the fight, the results so far:
    – NATO is gone. It run away and it is unlikely back for a long time. (Galicia is a possible exception that makes no strategic difference.)


    – “Nazis” in Kiev are running away for their lives or dying. Zelensky is not a Nazi, he has nothing to fear other than the West or Nazis deciding that he has more value as a martyr. No rest for the wicked as they say.

    As for me, I admitted I was wrong. I then explained why my imagination was lacking. And I endeavoured not to make the same mistake again. I did this with my one mistake, immediately, and have expanded my range of possible assumptions since, so that I am not again shocked by the extremity of Afghan behaviour.

    Meanwhile, you just ignore, deflect, devalue and never learn your way out of everything. Indeed, you can't even seem to admit that you have been wrong, despite being wrong near every day, in every way, on this subject for an entire year!

    You can call my method feminine if you like, and yours masculine, but that association will not be good for you.

    Replies: @Beckow

    Why are you so obsessed w fighting a straw-man? You misrepresent what I write and then you argue with it. What’s the point? Dont you a better way to argue your side? Let’s get real, I wrote:

    2-3 days into the fight, the results so far:
    – NATO is gone. It run away and it is unlikely back for a long time.

    Nato is gone. If you haven’t noticed we went from an almost certain Nato in Ukraine (I have described why many times), on Russia’s borders with missiles-bases, to Nato lamely sending arms to outnumbered Ukies and losing the war. There is no chance of Ukraine in 1991 borders in Nato – it was almost certain before the war. You will deny, lie about the plans and intentions, blab nonsense about ‘but it was postponed’…but you know that is a lie. More importantly Russians believed it was happening. At this point, Kiev would have to win the war decisively for Nato to come back. Arms, slogans, decorations and verbal support, even a mini-Nato in Galicia, don’t count – they are an order of magnitude less significant that what was going happen.

    Ze. was negotiating in March what was a de facto surrender – so again I was right. He was told to cut it out, a decision he will probably come to regret. And lots of people run away – literally millions, why would you deny that?

    You were also predicting the total economic collapse of the West because of….Meanwhile, the Russian economy went into a serious recession in 2022 and the West did not.

    I was not, you are making it up (you couldn’t even find a quote remotely saying that). I said the war will slow down the Western economies – and it did: 2023 official projection of EU is 0.6% growth, UK 0.1%, Germany 0.3% – the numbers are squishy since the min positives are achieved by under-stating inflation (easy thing to do)

    I remember everyone predicting Russia’s economy collapse and it didn’t happen, its GNP dropped by 3%. For 2023 IMF has Russia growing 0.3% – better than Germany or UK.

    The real collapse happened in Ukraine, 30% down (some of it lost lands, but no a big part).

    Overall you prefer to create a straw-man to discussing reality or what others say. You may also be the last person who pushes the ‘Russia blew up North Stream’, but whatever. The war has tipped in Russia’s favor, I don’t see a realistic Ukie response (maybe you do). But for the sake decency don’t misrepresent what others say. If you like to argue w yourself, why are you here?

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Beckow

    How are you trying to argue that you've not been wrong all year? You're bizarre! This shows where I get people wrong. I understand they have their insecurities, but I always struggle to imagine how controlling those insecurities can be of them. Unfortunately, I am not constitutionally built to get it. Just to see the best in them and point the way.

    For everyone else, those who want a profoundly credible account of how the war is being fought on the front lines, here's an American professional recounting his 10 months. For those who know anything about this subject, his words will be extremely revealing and probably confirming.

    For those, like Beckow, for whom they were always right, and everything is just as planned, devalue the guy all you want, but his account is measured and detailed, rather than vague and bombastic.

    https://podcastaddict.com/episode/153032226

    Replies: @Beckow

  119. @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool


    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end.
     
    They determine that and they have been explicit about it. They and their friends never wanted this war, they were attacked on their territory.


    Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.
     
    Who was? Was I ever?

    If Belarus is dragged into the war
     
    Belarus has gone out of her way to not be dragged into it, but Belarus, unfortunately, is a party to the war by providing Russia with the platform to bomb Ukraine. The Belarusians do not want to fight Ukrainians and vice versa, that's one of the vilest things I can imagine, but if the Belarusians decide to fight with troops, they will receive it back accordingly. They will be hit on their territory. Their army is not large and has zero experience.

    violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.
     
    Violence can spill either way. When you go this far, with such an aggressive war, it can spill in the other direction than what you imagine (or desire?). When you mess with borders and deliberately break them, you make them fluid. It can go either way.


    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other.
     
    That's just not true. It would be a war with NATO. But it will not go that far.

    I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members.

     

    You don't know this because you only read your Telegram channels, but the normal Europeans are very angry.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.
     
    That's disingenuous. None of us wanted a war like this. If you were consistent and honest, you would have decried the vatniks for supporting it.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    If you were consistent and honest, you would have decried the vatniks for supporting it.

    But I did. I wrote about the “patriotic pensioners” using this war as a compensation mechanism for their neurotic complexes. But they are not the only ones. Борьба была ровна – боролись два г☆вна…

    Anyway, you know that I like you LatW. No need to go full Latvian Rifelman on me for pointing some of your evident and natural biases.

    Bonne Saint Valentin ma belle !

    🙂

    • Replies: @LatW
    @Ivashka the fool

    Toi aussi!

  120. @Beckow
    @Leaves No Shadow

    Why are you so obsessed w fighting a straw-man? You misrepresent what I write and then you argue with it. What's the point? Dont you a better way to argue your side? Let's get real, I wrote:


    2-3 days into the fight, the results so far:
    – NATO is gone. It run away and it is unlikely back for a long time.
     
    Nato is gone. If you haven't noticed we went from an almost certain Nato in Ukraine (I have described why many times), on Russia's borders with missiles-bases, to Nato lamely sending arms to outnumbered Ukies and losing the war. There is no chance of Ukraine in 1991 borders in Nato - it was almost certain before the war. You will deny, lie about the plans and intentions, blab nonsense about 'but it was postponed'...but you know that is a lie. More importantly Russians believed it was happening. At this point, Kiev would have to win the war decisively for Nato to come back. Arms, slogans, decorations and verbal support, even a mini-Nato in Galicia, don't count - they are an order of magnitude less significant that what was going happen.

    Ze. was negotiating in March what was a de facto surrender - so again I was right. He was told to cut it out, a decision he will probably come to regret. And lots of people run away - literally millions, why would you deny that?


    You were also predicting the total economic collapse of the West because of....Meanwhile, the Russian economy went into a serious recession in 2022 and the West did not.
     
    I was not, you are making it up (you couldn't even find a quote remotely saying that). I said the war will slow down the Western economies - and it did: 2023 official projection of EU is 0.6% growth, UK 0.1%, Germany 0.3% - the numbers are squishy since the min positives are achieved by under-stating inflation (easy thing to do)

    I remember everyone predicting Russia's economy collapse and it didn't happen, its GNP dropped by 3%. For 2023 IMF has Russia growing 0.3% - better than Germany or UK.

    The real collapse happened in Ukraine, 30% down (some of it lost lands, but no a big part).

    Overall you prefer to create a straw-man to discussing reality or what others say. You may also be the last person who pushes the 'Russia blew up North Stream', but whatever. The war has tipped in Russia's favor, I don't see a realistic Ukie response (maybe you do). But for the sake decency don't misrepresent what others say. If you like to argue w yourself, why are you here?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    How are you trying to argue that you’ve not been wrong all year? You’re bizarre! This shows where I get people wrong. I understand they have their insecurities, but I always struggle to imagine how controlling those insecurities can be of them. Unfortunately, I am not constitutionally built to get it. Just to see the best in them and point the way.

    For everyone else, those who want a profoundly credible account of how the war is being fought on the front lines, here’s an American professional recounting his 10 months. For those who know anything about this subject, his words will be extremely revealing and probably confirming.

    For those, like Beckow, for whom they were always right, and everything is just as planned, devalue the guy all you want, but his account is measured and detailed, rather than vague and bombastic.

    https://podcastaddict.com/episode/153032226

    • Replies: @Beckow
    @Leaves No Shadow

    Your emotional mumbo-jumbo is an admission that you lost the argument. Nobody cares about your pop-psychology. You just make a fool of yourself.

    The points I made were substantial and you didn't address them. When you lose, you run, it must be the Anglo thing. Russia's economy didn't collapse and the Western one slowed down. Russia squashed any realistic plan of Ukraine in Nato - and as of now, Russia is winning the war: 20% of territory, initiative, Ukies' terrible casualties...

    You are unable to address it so you hide behind happy talk 'Kiev is winning'. It seems an Anglo affliction - you can't accept 'losing' and you will make up things, create myths, lie, anything but face reality. It is your 'marketing' identity - you are always selling something...

  121. @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    You predicted an intractable guerilla war and a Russian occupation.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    Yes, if the Russian invasion didn’t fail completely, as it has. I began the war too negative on Ukraine and presented a worst case option. Given that I was talking to people who thought Russian was winning a decisive victory, when it was flailing around, this was a sensible way of hedging my bets.

    See what I did with Lukashenko and the Belarussians supposedly invading Ukraine. It was the same back then.

  122. @Another Polish Perspective
    @A123

    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.

    From what I remember, thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage, recently in Halden.

    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium (in such a case we wouldn't build them at all) - clearly we could have a couple of military reactors and the rest of them running on thorium.

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/

    Replies: @A123, @QCIC

    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

    What full scale (not lab scale) Thorium reactor was discontinued in the U.S.?
    ____

    THTR was a mixed solid U235 + Thorium “Pebble Bed Reactor” [PBR]. This has huge disadvantages versus LFTR. For example, the thorium cycle produces gases such as krypton. The LFTR can shed these gas from the operating fluid. Solid pebbles cannot. There were also science errors in the design of the pebble — small & light enough to escape the bed.

    Ultimately, the German THTR was killed by the German Green party for political reasons. However, the poor choice & design of PBR plus related economics made it a pretty easy target for a take down.

    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.

    I do not remember news about an issue. It was a limited duration experimental scale system. (1)

    In one fell swoop, thorium fuel, which is safer, less messy to clean up, and not prone to nuclear weapons proliferation, could quench the complaints of nuclear power critics everywhere.

    By mixing thorium oxide with 10% plutonium oxide, however, criticality is achieved. This fuel, which is called thorium-MOX (mixed-oxide), can then be formed into rods and used in conventional nuclear reactors. Not only does this mean that we can do away with uranium, which is expensive to enrich, dangerous, and leads to nuclear proliferation, but it also means that we finally have an easy way of recycling plutonium. Furthermore, the thorium-MOX fuel cycle produces no new plutonium; it actually reduces the world’s stock of plutonium. Oh, thorium-MOX makes for safer nuclear reactors, too, due to a higher melting point and thermal conductivity.

    Thorium-MOX, in short, is about as exciting as it gets in the nuclear power industry. Before it can be used, though, Thor Energy needs to make sure that the thorium fuel cycle is fully understood. To do this, the company has built a small test reactor in the Norwegian town of Halden, where rods of thorium-MOX provide steam to a nearby paper mill. This reactor will run for five years, after which the fuel will be analyzed to see if it’s ready for commercial reactors

    My understanding is that it completed it limited period test and concluded as expected.

    If a major warhead decrease is in the cards, this concept could return. However, that seems unlikely in this geopolitical era. Without “free” plutonium, the economics of the Norwegian test did not warrant commercialization.

    thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage

    I am not sure where you got this bit of crazy from, but it is not scientifically sound. You have been mislead or deceived.

    Clean FLiBe salt can be handled with modern materials in the Hastelloy series. Removing unwanted fission products is included in every serious LFTR proposal. Incidentally, this also reconditions the FLiBe salt back to its optimum clean state.

    LCTR fast neutron reactor concepts do exist in the literature, however the chloride salts are more problematic versus their fluoride brethren. Liquid lead seems to be the most attractive option for this route if desired. A few nutters, funded by GE, promote liquid sodium PRISM. Guess who owns the PRISM design? Could it be GE?

    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors

    There has been no repeated mothballing. Again, you have been mislead or deceived.

    There has been only one commercial scale retirement. And, it was a poorly chosen & executed solid fuel design. Thus, not insightful to the LFTR concept.

    cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium

    The military used cold war muscle to kill the early, government funded, LFTR work at ORNL and a few other locations. This kill shot was based on poor science, but it happened nonetheless in the quest for weapons grade plutonium.

    After that, the problem was more bureaucracy than military. All of the civilian laws & regulations had the U235 fuel cycle as a built in assumption. How would a thorium breeder be certified for operation when the rules expect something different? The red tape made it impossible. Also, all of the industry experts had a vested interest in keeping upstart competitors at bay.

    The desire for Small Modular Reactors [SMR] forced the regulators to open their committees to new ideas. And, LFTR is an excellent SMR option due to passive safety.

    You can read much more here:

    https://energyfromthorium.com/lftr-overview/

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160131-thorium-nuclear-reactor-trial-begins-could-provide-cleaner-safer-almost-waste-free-energy

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @A123

    If small, experimental reactors are failing, we could expect even more failure from commercial ones...

    The Halden incident was heavily covered-up when it happened. I remember reading on it in real time on some French site (in English though) monitoring radiation, which claimed it was about thorium.

    The official news from Oct 2016 avoid for some strange reason (lobbying, perhaps) any characterization of "fuel", but make clear that it was a fuel problem:

    https://www-news.iaea.org/ErfView.aspx?mId=8566e7fd-88e6-458c-b487-d51dde9b1049

    We can get it was thorium because the experiment started in Jul 2016:

    http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/news/second-thorium-fuel-test-round-started

    There was no follow-up to this experiment, which means it was a failure.

    Replies: @A123

  123. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Beckow

    How are you trying to argue that you've not been wrong all year? You're bizarre! This shows where I get people wrong. I understand they have their insecurities, but I always struggle to imagine how controlling those insecurities can be of them. Unfortunately, I am not constitutionally built to get it. Just to see the best in them and point the way.

    For everyone else, those who want a profoundly credible account of how the war is being fought on the front lines, here's an American professional recounting his 10 months. For those who know anything about this subject, his words will be extremely revealing and probably confirming.

    For those, like Beckow, for whom they were always right, and everything is just as planned, devalue the guy all you want, but his account is measured and detailed, rather than vague and bombastic.

    https://podcastaddict.com/episode/153032226

    Replies: @Beckow

    Your emotional mumbo-jumbo is an admission that you lost the argument. Nobody cares about your pop-psychology. You just make a fool of yourself.

    The points I made were substantial and you didn’t address them. When you lose, you run, it must be the Anglo thing. Russia’s economy didn’t collapse and the Western one slowed down. Russia squashed any realistic plan of Ukraine in Nato – and as of now, Russia is winning the war: 20% of territory, initiative, Ukies’ terrible casualties…

    You are unable to address it so you hide behind happy talk ‘Kiev is winning’. It seems an Anglo affliction – you can’t accept ‘losing’ and you will make up things, create myths, lie, anything but face reality. It is your ‘marketing’ identity – you are always selling something…

    • Disagree: Leaves No Shadow
  124. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    If you were consistent and honest, you would have decried the vatniks for supporting it.
     
    But I did. I wrote about the "patriotic pensioners" using this war as a compensation mechanism for their neurotic complexes. But they are not the only ones. Борьба была ровна - боролись два г☆вна...

    Anyway, you know that I like you LatW. No need to go full Latvian Rifelman on me for pointing some of your evident and natural biases.

    Bonne Saint Valentin ma belle !

    🙂

    Replies: @LatW

    Toi aussi!

  125. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    innocent” prompt that “a Fool” would bring up
     
    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : "when you don't think a lot becomes clearer". 😉

    Poles would not be alone. Our forces would intervene only at the very end and only if needed.
     
    Yeah, I know. That's the plan.

    It looks like Mykola will do all of the work for us.
     
    Taras, Gritsko and Mykola do not come in unlimited supply. Sooner rather than later, a war of attrition would lead to its logical consequences - the need for the Western backers to either fold or intervene.

    Being the simple-minded fool that I am, I believe Westerners would prefer seeing the Eastern Europeans "do the job for them", just like you would prefer it being done by "Mykola". Any Eastern European killed is one less to neuter or euthanize during the coming population bottleneck.

    I call it the Final Solution to the Slav Problem - FSSP, we could add the Baltic people to the mix, given that they seem eager to participate. Let's make it FSBSP for inclusivity's sake. 🙂

    Replies: @LatW, @Mr. Hack

    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : “when you don’t think a lot becomes clearer”.

    I urge you to follow your own advice here. The war between Ukraine and Russia is not really all that complicated, and there’s really no reason to look for answers and causes within elaborately made up conspiracy theories etc. Believe me, it is what it looks like. You have a disgruntled player in this war (Russia) that thought that it had an invincible army, and that it was losing Ukraine to the West, and that this was the last optimal time to attack and subdue Ukraine and bring it back into the fold. How was Ukraine to react to this provocation? Quietly acquiesce to Russia’s brazen invasion, in order to maximize good Slavic DNA for future generations, while handing over the keys to its house to a really lousy neighbor?

    • Agree: Yahya, Leaves No Shadow, AP
    • Replies: @Wokechoke
    @Mr. Hack

    I don't know if they (Russian Politicos) reckon themselves to be invincible. They did expect a coup in Kiev and then to hide under their nuclear umbrella if things go wrong.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

    , @AP
    @Mr. Hack

    Exactly. You said it better than I could.

    And meek acquiescence to the status of dhimmitude at the hands of track-suited Chechen gangsters under their Muscovite khan wouldn’t be a good demonstration of the fitness of the DNA they are supposed to be preserving.

    The steadfast stubbornness in defending one’s families and homes from the invader reflects a universally positive attribute that is very noble in nature, despite the situation itself being horrible.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @Mr. Hack

    Mr Hack, simple-minded doesn't mean stupid.

    😄

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

  126. Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous “White Women” and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about…..food! (The politics here can’t get any sillier lol).

    Since returning from my trip I’ve become obsessed with Thai food, and to a lesser extent Japanese food. I’ve always enjoyed Thai food, but was never really that interested in it for some reason. I always preferred Indian food.

    What is hitting me right now about Asian food is it’s intense umami flavor – I don’t know why that’s hitting me hard now. I mean, I love Italian, French, Arabic food, but something about the sheer intensity of Asian food right now is really hitting home. Maybe it’s just a phase.

    Also, in the past few years there has been a revolution in ingredient availability – off Amazon, you can get all the Thai sauces you see street vendors use straight from Thailand. And, it turns out, these dishes are incredibly easy to make!

    The intense, complex flavor appears to come not from some subtle skill in mixing diverse ingredients (well, some dishes do), but largely from the process of fermentation – which is really just aging and bio organisms, which I like. It’s Nature. (some skill in mixing ingredients is called for).

    For instance, one of the best and most iconic Thai dishes that everyone loves – basil stir fry – only has garlic and chillies, then a sauce composed of fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar, and basil.(and your choice of meat).

    But the fermented fish sauce, oyster sauce, and even soy sauce – has incredible intensity and complexity developed through the process of natural aging.

    Japanese beef gyudon, which is thinly sliced fatty beef simmered, on rice, uses just soy sauce, mirin, and fish stock. But the incredible fermentation of the fish stock, the wine, the soy – it does everything!

    Japanese ginger pork, another incredible dish, uses just ginger, mirin, and soy sauce – yet what deep, complex, intense flavor.

    To be sure, much good Italian food is also incredibly simple and uses just a few really good ingredients. Or a good aged Spanish chorizo is just pork, garlic and paprika and salt. Simple! And what is Reggiano Parmesano but just beautifully fermented milk?

    It seems that the process of aging is what makes human food incredibly deep and rich and complex – cooperating with nature, as it were. Maybe that’s why processed industrial food is so awful – it doesn’t let nature do it’s thing?

    • Agree: Mr. Hack
    • Replies: @Mr. Hack
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    I've been a big fan of Thai food for at least 15 years, and before that Chinese and Vietnamese. I've probably been to at least half of all of the Thai restaurants in the Phoenix area (and that's saying a lot!). I really enjoy Thai curry dishes, but am also quite acquainted with their eggplant and more "umami" type of dishes too (have you ever tasted Thai "Tom Kha Gai" soup? the only soup that gives Ukrainian borshch a run for the money, yum!). Covid put the quash on one of m favorite Thai restaurants here, closing their all you can eat buffet. $12.95 for a trip to culinary heaven. I think of you whenever I put some curry powder in my boiling white rice - thanks for the tip! :-)

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous “White Women” and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about…..food! (The politics here can’t get any sillier lol).
     
    Treacherous (((White))) women !

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Emma_Goldman_seated.jpg

    🙂

    And it is not politics but anthropology!

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/gumilev-mystique-biopolitics-eurasianism-and-the-construction-of-community-in-modern-russia-by-mark-bassin-ithaca-cornell-university-press-2016-xiv-380-pp-bibliography-index-8995-hard-bound-2995-paper/39EA530150C55D0E65816A5AAE6E9E96

    Read that while you munch on your gefilte fish.

    😏

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    , @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    the fermented fish sauce
     
    was very popular in ancient Roman cuisine, and was known as garum.

    It is amazing how our taste palette has changed since that time, despite living in similar environment/climate to ancient Romans.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

  127. @Another Polish Perspective
    @A123

    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300

    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.

    From what I remember, thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage, recently in Halden.

    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium (in such a case we wouldn't build them at all) - clearly we could have a couple of military reactors and the rest of them running on thorium.

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/

    Replies: @A123, @QCIC

    I think these experiments were dropped for political reasons, not technical.

    +++

    The “fizzle” was 22 kT, not exactly hopeless.

    IIRC, the original idea for the MSRE was to remove most all of the protactinum-232 continuously from the salt bath to to improve neutron economy by avoiding losses on protactinum in the reactor. This removal was demonstrated during the experiment. The removed material decays into U-233 which is returned to the reactor as the fuel. But during this stage it exists outside the reactor as high purity U-233 which could be diverted. I think it has less U-232 than material bred in a conventional reactor and the critical mass is lower than U-235. There is low spontaneous neutron generation so a small gun-type bomb could be made, much simpler than an implosion design. This is the story I read.

    The ways to address this issue include good security control over the extracted U-233 (high trust society), set up a process that denatures it immediately or design a reactor that does not remove the Pa-232 from the reactor. I think the last is the route chosen for new designs, but the reactor design is less “elegant”.

    • Replies: @QCIC
    @QCIC

    Oops. Should have written protactinium-233/ pa-233 instead of 232. :(

  128. @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : “when you don’t think a lot becomes clearer”.
     
    I urge you to follow your own advice here. The war between Ukraine and Russia is not really all that complicated, and there's really no reason to look for answers and causes within elaborately made up conspiracy theories etc. Believe me, it is what it looks like. You have a disgruntled player in this war (Russia) that thought that it had an invincible army, and that it was losing Ukraine to the West, and that this was the last optimal time to attack and subdue Ukraine and bring it back into the fold. How was Ukraine to react to this provocation? Quietly acquiesce to Russia's brazen invasion, in order to maximize good Slavic DNA for future generations, while handing over the keys to its house to a really lousy neighbor?

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @AP, @Ivashka the fool

    I don’t know if they (Russian Politicos) reckon themselves to be invincible. They did expect a coup in Kiev and then to hide under their nuclear umbrella if things go wrong.

    • Replies: @Mr. Hack
    @Wokechoke

    If true, pretty stupid planning - look what a mess that they're in today.

  129. @QCIC
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I think these experiments were dropped for political reasons, not technical.

    +++

    The "fizzle" was 22 kT, not exactly hopeless.

    IIRC, the original idea for the MSRE was to remove most all of the protactinum-232 continuously from the salt bath to to improve neutron economy by avoiding losses on protactinum in the reactor. This removal was demonstrated during the experiment. The removed material decays into U-233 which is returned to the reactor as the fuel. But during this stage it exists outside the reactor as high purity U-233 which could be diverted. I think it has less U-232 than material bred in a conventional reactor and the critical mass is lower than U-235. There is low spontaneous neutron generation so a small gun-type bomb could be made, much simpler than an implosion design. This is the story I read.

    The ways to address this issue include good security control over the extracted U-233 (high trust society), set up a process that denatures it immediately or design a reactor that does not remove the Pa-232 from the reactor. I think the last is the route chosen for new designs, but the reactor design is less "elegant".

    Replies: @QCIC

    Oops. Should have written protactinium-233/ pa-233 instead of 232. 🙁

  130. @Beckow
    @AP


    This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.
     
    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it. Just remember, attempting a genocide of an ethnic group is a crime and trying it against a larger, stronger group usually doesn't work. The enthusiasts will face consequences.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers....
     
    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k "IT workers" in the Lviv region, around 70-80% work in customer support, that generally means answering phones or messages. It has some research, but the overall impact on the Ukrainian economy is very marginal, 2-3%, a lot less than in other EE countries. $3k, are you kidding? that's what a good barista makes.

    That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.
     
    It was the Ukies who started to murder the Russians in Donbas in 2014-15, nobody disputes that. You live in a lala-land of your retarded slogans.

    1,200-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estimates.
     
    Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria...all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you? How can you simply gloss over it? That shows dishonesty and hypocrisy so deep that none of your statements mean much.

    Your point about nukes is true, but military plans can account for that - a fatally weakened, surrounded, check-mated Russia would have a hard time defending itself even w nukes. That's why being right on the border in close proximity and having the Russia-hating Ukies ready was so important. At a minimum it would keep Russia powerless. You want that, so you, but naturally Russia doesn't want it.

    And stop w Finland: a peaceful, rational country w 5 million people. There is simply no comparison to the Russo-phobic fuming madmen in Ukraine. You make no sense when you try to compare Finland (or Estonia) to Ukraine. Think before you write nonsense.


    Nato never moved forward is more meaningful than their empty declarations year after year.
     
    The 'not meaningful' and 'empty' was not the way it was presented - that is your desperate spin. It was unquestionable that Nato would get Ukraine at the first opportunity - if you don't get that you are too naive. At least argue reality and not silly evasive narratives. If you think that 'territorial conflict' would prevent it you have no understanding how weasel institutions work: they simply paper over it, declare it something else. What matters is the intent, not how exactly Nato would do it. People who deny it are not serious or idiots.

    Nato has been pushed out of Ukraine unless Kiev wins the war in a big way. Nato will feed the conflict, but probably not join in. After Ukies are bled and surrender large parts of their country, Nato will pontificate but stay out. Russia with the war changed the strategic balance.

    Replies: @AP

    “This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.”

    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it

    Ukraine is erasing the Russian language and culture on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people; ethnic Ukrainian kids are learning in their own language now.

    Russia is erasing towns and thousands of Russian-speaking people.

    An honest person would admit which action is closer to genocide.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers….

    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k “IT workers” in the Lviv region

    It has increased since the war as companies have moved from places like Kharkiv and many more of Ukraine’s 200,000 IT workers have transferred to Lviv:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/business/ukraine-tech-companies-putin.html

    The entire country of Slovakia only has 28k such workers:

    https://www.itminions.be/en/blog/slovakia-tech-talent-goldmine

    around 70-80% work in customer support, that generally means answering phones or messages

    “Call center work” isn’t IT customer support.

    $3k, are you kidding? that’s what a good barista makes

    The average wage in Slovakia is less than a thousand Euros per month. So those 35,000 + new arrivals programmers in Lviv are making 3 times the average Slovak wage per month, in a city with a very low cost of living. They are living quite well.

    Average German wage is about the same as the average Lviv programmer wage.

    And programmers in Bratislava make no more than do programmers in Lviv:

    http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=2226&loctype=3&job=3&jobtype=2

    Given the Lviv us cheaper, the guys in Lviv do better than their Slovak colleagues.

    “That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.”

    It was the Ukies who started to murder the Russians in Donbas in 2014-15, nobody disputes that

    1. That was started by Russians when they crossed the border into Ukraine with their volunteers and weapons. Girkin and Pavlov weren’t Ukrainians.

    2. The Russian mass invasion and murder spree began in 2022, 7 years after 2015. Its already a separate event.

    “1,200-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estimates.”

    Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria…all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you?

    And now you lie and claim that is “okay” by me.

    A difference between NATO and Russia is that Russia kills far more Slavs though.

    Your point about nukes is true, but military plans can account for that – a fatally weakened, surrounded, check-mated Russia would have a hard time defending itself even w nukes

    No one is touching obnoxious but tiny North Korea, and everyone tolerates it’s missile overflies over places like Japan. But you think NATO would dare invade Russia?

    NATO would forever keep Russia’s hands off Ukraine. This is why Russia doesn’t want NATO there. It wants to reabsorb Ukraine. NATO itself is secondary to the main problem for Russia, which is the eternal loss of Ukraine. Russia would seek to end Ukraine even when – as was the case prior to invasion – NATO membership was very unlikely.

    And stop w Finland: a peaceful, rational country w 5 million people. There is simply no comparison to the Russo-phobic fuming madmen in Ukraine

    Now you’ve slipped and admitted that the problem wasn’t exactly NATO, but Ukraine.

    Finns btw don’t like Russia either and have stronger claims on Russian territory than Ukrainians do. You keep bringing up Volyn from 80 years ago but now you’ve conveniently forgotten what Finland had been up to at that time.

    It was unquestionable that Nato would get Ukraine at the first opportunity

    Like in 2008? No war then and Yushchenko was president. But it didn’t happen. Nor did it in every year since then.

    If you think that ‘territorial conflict’ would prevent it you have no understanding how weasel institutions work: they simply paper over it, declare it something else

    Your type like to conveniently change your story. First you brag about how by seizing Crimea and Donbas, Russia has blocked Ukraine from getting into NATO. Brilliant chess move by Putin! But now when you need a pending NATO membership as an excuse for a full invasion and attempt at regime change, that becomes irrelevant.

    Your hypocrisy and mendacity on display again and as usual. It also shows how undignified it is, to always lick the Russian boot as you do.

    Nato has been pushed out of Ukraine

    NATO is more in Ukraine now than it ever has been.

    • Replies: @Wokechoke
    @AP

    There's now a case to be made, after the confirmation of the NS2 bombing that this entire war caper is designed to make sure Germany and Russia form no grand strategic alliance. You sound like a Pollack in 1938. The world didn't revolve around the clucking Polish back then and it doesn't revolve around posturing Ukrainians today. Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @AP

    , @Beckow
    @AP


    ...Ukraine is erasing the Russian language and culture on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people
     
    Right. And Germany was erasing Jews on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people. Turkey was erasing the Armenian language and culture on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people...are you completely mental? Do you have even a very basic concept of how human rights work? There is also that pesky EU value of 'minorities protection'...Brussels is trying to look the other way, but it will come back as a big issue. Just stop supporting genocide, is that so hard?

    ...."Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria…all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you?"

    And now you lie and claim that is “okay” by me.

     

    Do you understand that actions have consequences? Nato killed hundreds of thousands, attacked half a dozen countries in the last 25 years and you try to walk away from it. It doesn't work that way. If you don't understand it you could be a psychopath - a person who tries top compartmentalize his side's crimes into a silo and obsessively focuses only on the misdeeds by the other side. It is a dishonest and losing position. You own the Nato wars, bombings, etc...so do the Ukies, they worship Nato.

    With the Nato in Ukraine issue you simply deny the obvious and are desperate. Your "5%" chance is idiotic. Nothing is 100%, but without the war the chance of Kiev in Nato was 70-80% within a decade. I would remind you that any security force in any self-respecting country (US? UK?) would take anything over 15-20% seriously - this was over 50% likely and they moved to stop it. Don't pretend that you don't understand.

    It is also obvious that with the war (Kiev will likely lose) the chance of Ukraine in Nato dropped dramatically - a small Galician Nato is not the same level threat. I will give one concession: it is, as these things often are, a chicken-and-egg situation: Russia with its concerns (paranoia?) and actions fed it from the other side. In their defense, they live there - the Washington and London neo-cons don't plan to...

    Replies: @AP

  131. @Wokechoke
    @Mr. Hack

    I don't know if they (Russian Politicos) reckon themselves to be invincible. They did expect a coup in Kiev and then to hide under their nuclear umbrella if things go wrong.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

    If true, pretty stupid planning – look what a mess that they’re in today.

  132. @AP
    @Beckow


    “This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.”

    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it
     
    Ukraine is erasing the Russian language and culture on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people; ethnic Ukrainian kids are learning in their own language now.

    Russia is erasing towns and thousands of Russian-speaking people.

    An honest person would admit which action is closer to genocide.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers….

    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k “IT workers” in the Lviv region
     
    It has increased since the war as companies have moved from places like Kharkiv and many more of Ukraine’s 200,000 IT workers have transferred to Lviv:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/business/ukraine-tech-companies-putin.html

    The entire country of Slovakia only has 28k such workers:

    https://www.itminions.be/en/blog/slovakia-tech-talent-goldmine

    around 70-80% work in customer support, that generally means answering phones or messages
     
    “Call center work” isn’t IT customer support.

    $3k, are you kidding? that’s what a good barista makes

     

    The average wage in Slovakia is less than a thousand Euros per month. So those 35,000 + new arrivals programmers in Lviv are making 3 times the average Slovak wage per month, in a city with a very low cost of living. They are living quite well.

    Average German wage is about the same as the average Lviv programmer wage.

    And programmers in Bratislava make no more than do programmers in Lviv:

    http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=2226&loctype=3&job=3&jobtype=2

    Given the Lviv us cheaper, the guys in Lviv do better than their Slovak colleagues.

    “That’s what Ukrainians want also. To be safe from Russia’s murdering.”

    It was the Ukies who started to murder the Russians in Donbas in 2014-15, nobody disputes that
     
    1. That was started by Russians when they crossed the border into Ukraine with their volunteers and weapons. Girkin and Pavlov weren’t Ukrainians.

    2. The Russian mass invasion and murder spree began in 2022, 7 years after 2015. Its already a separate event.

    “1,200-2,000 civilians killed according to Yugoslav estimates.”

    Killed by Nato. You made my point. Plus Iraq, Libya, Syria…all done by Nato. Why is that ok with you?

     

    And now you lie and claim that is “okay” by me.

    A difference between NATO and Russia is that Russia kills far more Slavs though.

    Your point about nukes is true, but military plans can account for that – a fatally weakened, surrounded, check-mated Russia would have a hard time defending itself even w nukes
     
    No one is touching obnoxious but tiny North Korea, and everyone tolerates it’s missile overflies over places like Japan. But you think NATO would dare invade Russia?

    NATO would forever keep Russia’s hands off Ukraine. This is why Russia doesn’t want NATO there. It wants to reabsorb Ukraine. NATO itself is secondary to the main problem for Russia, which is the eternal loss of Ukraine. Russia would seek to end Ukraine even when - as was the case prior to invasion - NATO membership was very unlikely.

    And stop w Finland: a peaceful, rational country w 5 million people. There is simply no comparison to the Russo-phobic fuming madmen in Ukraine
     
    Now you’ve slipped and admitted that the problem wasn’t exactly NATO, but Ukraine.

    Finns btw don’t like Russia either and have stronger claims on Russian territory than Ukrainians do. You keep bringing up Volyn from 80 years ago but now you’ve conveniently forgotten what Finland had been up to at that time.

    It was unquestionable that Nato would get Ukraine at the first opportunity
     
    Like in 2008? No war then and Yushchenko was president. But it didn’t happen. Nor did it in every year since then.

    If you think that ‘territorial conflict’ would prevent it you have no understanding how weasel institutions work: they simply paper over it, declare it something else
     
    Your type like to conveniently change your story. First you brag about how by seizing Crimea and Donbas, Russia has blocked Ukraine from getting into NATO. Brilliant chess move by Putin! But now when you need a pending NATO membership as an excuse for a full invasion and attempt at regime change, that becomes irrelevant.

    Your hypocrisy and mendacity on display again and as usual. It also shows how undignified it is, to always lick the Russian boot as you do.

    Nato has been pushed out of Ukraine

     

    NATO is more in Ukraine now than it ever has been.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @Beckow

    There’s now a case to be made, after the confirmation of the NS2 bombing that this entire war caper is designed to make sure Germany and Russia form no grand strategic alliance. You sound like a Pollack in 1938. The world didn’t revolve around the clucking Polish back then and it doesn’t revolve around posturing Ukrainians today. Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Wokechoke

    NS2 was not destroyed. Only NS1. Russia has literally said so. You guys are nuts.

    Replies: @Wokechoke

    , @AP
    @Wokechoke


    Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field
     
    Poland is building what will be the strongest military in Europe, and Ukraine if it endures will be its equal and close partner. The reemergence of a powerful version of the PLC will probably be the most important European geopolitical event in 150 years. No wonder the Germans are dragging their feet.

    Replies: @songbird, @Wokechoke

  133. @Wokechoke
    @AP

    There's now a case to be made, after the confirmation of the NS2 bombing that this entire war caper is designed to make sure Germany and Russia form no grand strategic alliance. You sound like a Pollack in 1938. The world didn't revolve around the clucking Polish back then and it doesn't revolve around posturing Ukrainians today. Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @AP

    NS2 was not destroyed. Only NS1. Russia has literally said so. You guys are nuts.

    • Replies: @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about...or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.

    3/4 of the carrying capacity was exploded away.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @A123

  134. @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : “when you don’t think a lot becomes clearer”.
     
    I urge you to follow your own advice here. The war between Ukraine and Russia is not really all that complicated, and there's really no reason to look for answers and causes within elaborately made up conspiracy theories etc. Believe me, it is what it looks like. You have a disgruntled player in this war (Russia) that thought that it had an invincible army, and that it was losing Ukraine to the West, and that this was the last optimal time to attack and subdue Ukraine and bring it back into the fold. How was Ukraine to react to this provocation? Quietly acquiesce to Russia's brazen invasion, in order to maximize good Slavic DNA for future generations, while handing over the keys to its house to a really lousy neighbor?

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @AP, @Ivashka the fool

    Exactly. You said it better than I could.

    And meek acquiescence to the status of dhimmitude at the hands of track-suited Chechen gangsters under their Muscovite khan wouldn’t be a good demonstration of the fitness of the DNA they are supposed to be preserving.

    The steadfast stubbornness in defending one’s families and homes from the invader reflects a universally positive attribute that is very noble in nature, despite the situation itself being horrible.

    • Thanks: Mr. Hack
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @AP

    О Господи...

    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan...

    LOL !

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?

    😉

    Replies: @AP

  135. @A123
    @Another Polish Perspective


    And yet thorium reactors were discontinued one by one, both in USA and Germany. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THTR-300
     
    What full scale (not lab scale) Thorium reactor was discontinued in the U.S.?
    ____

    THTR was a mixed solid U235 + Thorium "Pebble Bed Reactor" [PBR]. This has huge disadvantages versus LFTR. For example, the thorium cycle produces gases such as krypton. The LFTR can shed these gas from the operating fluid. Solid pebbles cannot. There were also science errors in the design of the pebble -- small & light enough to escape the bed.

    Ultimately, the German THTR was killed by the German Green party for political reasons. However, the poor choice & design of PBR plus related economics made it a pretty easy target for a take down.


    Most recently, just few years ago, it was tried in Halden, Norway, where apparently some meltdown-like situation occurred, and research was discontinued again.
     
    I do not remember news about an issue. It was a limited duration experimental scale system. (1)

    In one fell swoop, thorium fuel, which is safer, less messy to clean up, and not prone to nuclear weapons proliferation, could quench the complaints of nuclear power critics everywhere.
    ...
    By mixing thorium oxide with 10% plutonium oxide, however, criticality is achieved. This fuel, which is called thorium-MOX (mixed-oxide), can then be formed into rods and used in conventional nuclear reactors. Not only does this mean that we can do away with uranium, which is expensive to enrich, dangerous, and leads to nuclear proliferation, but it also means that we finally have an easy way of recycling plutonium. Furthermore, the thorium-MOX fuel cycle produces no new plutonium; it actually reduces the world’s stock of plutonium. Oh, thorium-MOX makes for safer nuclear reactors, too, due to a higher melting point and thermal conductivity.
    ...
    Thorium-MOX, in short, is about as exciting as it gets in the nuclear power industry. Before it can be used, though, Thor Energy needs to make sure that the thorium fuel cycle is fully understood. To do this, the company has built a small test reactor in the Norwegian town of Halden, where rods of thorium-MOX provide steam to a nearby paper mill. This reactor will run for five years, after which the fuel will be analyzed to see if it’s ready for commercial reactors
     
    My understanding is that it completed it limited period test and concluded as expected.

    If a major warhead decrease is in the cards, this concept could return. However, that seems unlikely in this geopolitical era. Without "free" plutonium, the economics of the Norwegian test did not warrant commercialization.


    thorium salts destroy pretty fast their containment, which results in all kinds of radioactive leakage
     
    I am not sure where you got this bit of crazy from, but it is not scientifically sound. You have been mislead or deceived.

    Clean FLiBe salt can be handled with modern materials in the Hastelloy series. Removing unwanted fission products is included in every serious LFTR proposal. Incidentally, this also reconditions the FLiBe salt back to its optimum clean state.

    LCTR fast neutron reactor concepts do exist in the literature, however the chloride salts are more problematic versus their fluoride brethren. Liquid lead seems to be the most attractive option for this route if desired. A few nutters, funded by GE, promote liquid sodium PRISM. Guess who owns the PRISM design? Could it be GE?


    The repeated mothballing of thorium reactors
     
    There has been no repeated mothballing. Again, you have been mislead or deceived.

    There has been only one commercial scale retirement. And, it was a poorly chosen & executed solid fuel design. Thus, not insightful to the LFTR concept.


    cannot have to do just with the nuclear weapons industry demanding uranium
     
    The military used cold war muscle to kill the early, government funded, LFTR work at ORNL and a few other locations. This kill shot was based on poor science, but it happened nonetheless in the quest for weapons grade plutonium.

    After that, the problem was more bureaucracy than military. All of the civilian laws & regulations had the U235 fuel cycle as a built in assumption. How would a thorium breeder be certified for operation when the rules expect something different? The red tape made it impossible. Also, all of the industry experts had a vested interest in keeping upstart competitors at bay.

    The desire for Small Modular Reactors [SMR] forced the regulators to open their committees to new ideas. And, LFTR is an excellent SMR option due to passive safety.

    You can read much more here:

    https://energyfromthorium.com/lftr-overview/

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/160131-thorium-nuclear-reactor-trial-begins-could-provide-cleaner-safer-almost-waste-free-energy

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    If small, experimental reactors are failing, we could expect even more failure from commercial ones…

    The Halden incident was heavily covered-up when it happened. I remember reading on it in real time on some French site (in English though) monitoring radiation, which claimed it was about thorium.

    The official news from Oct 2016 avoid for some strange reason (lobbying, perhaps) any characterization of “fuel”, but make clear that it was a fuel problem:

    https://www-news.iaea.org/ErfView.aspx?mId=8566e7fd-88e6-458c-b487-d51dde9b1049

    We can get it was thorium because the experiment started in Jul 2016:

    http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/news/second-thorium-fuel-test-round-started

    There was no follow-up to this experiment, which means it was a failure.

    • Replies: @A123
    @Another Polish Perspective


    If small, experimental reactors are failing, we could expect even more failure from commercial ones…
     
    No.

    Experiments are done to discover problems before commercial scale.

    The Halden incident ... characterization of “fuel”, but make clear that it was a fuel problem:
     
    A shutdown event/incident is far from a catastrophe. It is industry jargon. It was clearly not an insurmountable issue. It ran for years after the 2016 event you cited. (1)

    The Halden reactor was shut down permanently in June 2018. It has been regarded in many countries as a strategic asset for testing fuel and reactor components. The associated Fuels and Materials research programme will end in 2023.
     
    2018 was the intended research end-date I cited in my previous post, so it lasted the length of its grant.

    Also, it was not a LFTR. A solid fuel technology problem is not directly tied to liquid fuel solutions. Though it is informative.

    There was no follow-up to this experiment, which means it was a failure
     
    No.

    Successful projects often lose out on 2nd & 3rd round finding for political reasons. Sad. But True.
    ____

    I looked at the crazy fear site that you cited earlier:

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/
     
    It has not been updated since April 2016. According to your own logic, updates have been discontinued. Therefore, it is no longer in operation and thus is *by your own definition* a failure.

    I did skim it briefly. Most of the panic is over "Thorium as a carcinogen". While true, the hysteria on the site was quite sad. Given that Thorium comes out of the ground as waste from rare earth mining, getting rid of the waste by destroying via fuel use it makes the situation better.

    Most of the other points I saw are known and admitted inconveniences. Not disqualifying barriers. The primary impediments are governmental and emotional, not scientific or engineering.

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://ife.no/en/project/the-halden-reactor-project/

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

  136. The German government know who is to blame, and they don’t think it is the Americans, hence them massively increasing their support to Ukraine and allying even more solidly with the Americans:

    Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday offered to resume gas supplies to Europe through the intact part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

    “The ball is in the EU’s court. If they want to, then the taps can be turned on and that’s it,” he said in a speech at an energy forum in Moscow.

    Germany, however, said it would not take Russian gas via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that has become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis.

    Asked if Berlin would rule out the use of Nord Stream 2, German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said, “Yes.”

    “Independently of the possible sabotage of the two pipelines, we have seen that Russia is no longer a reliable energy supplier, and that even before the damage to Nord Stream 1 there was no longer any gas flowing,” Hoffmann told reporters.

    https://www.dw.com/en/putin-offers-europe-gas-through-nord-stream-2-germany-declines/a-63416138

  137. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous "White Women" and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about.....food! (The politics here can't get any sillier lol).

    Since returning from my trip I've become obsessed with Thai food, and to a lesser extent Japanese food. I've always enjoyed Thai food, but was never really that interested in it for some reason. I always preferred Indian food.

    What is hitting me right now about Asian food is it's intense umami flavor - I don't know why that's hitting me hard now. I mean, I love Italian, French, Arabic food, but something about the sheer intensity of Asian food right now is really hitting home. Maybe it's just a phase.

    Also, in the past few years there has been a revolution in ingredient availability - off Amazon, you can get all the Thai sauces you see street vendors use straight from Thailand. And, it turns out, these dishes are incredibly easy to make!

    The intense, complex flavor appears to come not from some subtle skill in mixing diverse ingredients (well, some dishes do), but largely from the process of fermentation - which is really just aging and bio organisms, which I like. It's Nature. (some skill in mixing ingredients is called for).

    For instance, one of the best and most iconic Thai dishes that everyone loves - basil stir fry - only has garlic and chillies, then a sauce composed of fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar, and basil.(and your choice of meat).

    But the fermented fish sauce, oyster sauce, and even soy sauce - has incredible intensity and complexity developed through the process of natural aging.

    Japanese beef gyudon, which is thinly sliced fatty beef simmered, on rice, uses just soy sauce, mirin, and fish stock. But the incredible fermentation of the fish stock, the wine, the soy - it does everything!

    Japanese ginger pork, another incredible dish, uses just ginger, mirin, and soy sauce - yet what deep, complex, intense flavor.

    To be sure, much good Italian food is also incredibly simple and uses just a few really good ingredients. Or a good aged Spanish chorizo is just pork, garlic and paprika and salt. Simple! And what is Reggiano Parmesano but just beautifully fermented milk?

    It seems that the process of aging is what makes human food incredibly deep and rich and complex - cooperating with nature, as it were. Maybe that's why processed industrial food is so awful - it doesn't let nature do it's thing?

    Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Ivashka the fool, @Another Polish Perspective

    I’ve been a big fan of Thai food for at least 15 years, and before that Chinese and Vietnamese. I’ve probably been to at least half of all of the Thai restaurants in the Phoenix area (and that’s saying a lot!). I really enjoy Thai curry dishes, but am also quite acquainted with their eggplant and more “umami” type of dishes too (have you ever tasted Thai “Tom Kha Gai” soup? the only soup that gives Ukrainian borshch a run for the money, yum!). Covid put the quash on one of m favorite Thai restaurants here, closing their all you can eat buffet. $12.95 for a trip to culinary heaven. I think of you whenever I put some curry powder in my boiling white rice – thanks for the tip! 🙂

    • Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Mr. Hack

    Ah, Mr Hack, American Thai restaurants can be quite good, but they are notorious for changing the flavor to suit American palates!

    What you eat on the streets of Bangkok is most of the time quite different - much more intense and spicy!

    Which is not to say you aren't getting some idea of the incredible flavors of Thai food in America, and even if very different it can be good in it's own right (perhaps it can be a new cuisine :) )

    One must travel to Thailand or make it oneself to get the real deal, alas. However, curries are closest to what you find in Thailand, so you can enjoy that in Phoenix :)

    Vietnamese can be quite good too and more authentic - there used to be this chain of bread and Ban Mhi shops in Phoenix that I thought was quite decent for a chain - Lees Bakery, maybe? I don't quite remember - I ate at it in Scottsdale once.

    NYC has a lot of really good Banh Mi shops :)

    Believe it or not, I've never had Borscht before - but recently I was in a part of Brooklyn that had a community from Tashkent, and I picked up a prepared Borscht soup completely on a whim - I have to confess, it was amazing! I was quite surprised. The sour flavors were unexpected but perfect. Thai soups can be excellent too.

    Here's to fermentation and the contribution it makes to deliciousness.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

  138. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous "White Women" and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about.....food! (The politics here can't get any sillier lol).

    Since returning from my trip I've become obsessed with Thai food, and to a lesser extent Japanese food. I've always enjoyed Thai food, but was never really that interested in it for some reason. I always preferred Indian food.

    What is hitting me right now about Asian food is it's intense umami flavor - I don't know why that's hitting me hard now. I mean, I love Italian, French, Arabic food, but something about the sheer intensity of Asian food right now is really hitting home. Maybe it's just a phase.

    Also, in the past few years there has been a revolution in ingredient availability - off Amazon, you can get all the Thai sauces you see street vendors use straight from Thailand. And, it turns out, these dishes are incredibly easy to make!

    The intense, complex flavor appears to come not from some subtle skill in mixing diverse ingredients (well, some dishes do), but largely from the process of fermentation - which is really just aging and bio organisms, which I like. It's Nature. (some skill in mixing ingredients is called for).

    For instance, one of the best and most iconic Thai dishes that everyone loves - basil stir fry - only has garlic and chillies, then a sauce composed of fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar, and basil.(and your choice of meat).

    But the fermented fish sauce, oyster sauce, and even soy sauce - has incredible intensity and complexity developed through the process of natural aging.

    Japanese beef gyudon, which is thinly sliced fatty beef simmered, on rice, uses just soy sauce, mirin, and fish stock. But the incredible fermentation of the fish stock, the wine, the soy - it does everything!

    Japanese ginger pork, another incredible dish, uses just ginger, mirin, and soy sauce - yet what deep, complex, intense flavor.

    To be sure, much good Italian food is also incredibly simple and uses just a few really good ingredients. Or a good aged Spanish chorizo is just pork, garlic and paprika and salt. Simple! And what is Reggiano Parmesano but just beautifully fermented milk?

    It seems that the process of aging is what makes human food incredibly deep and rich and complex - cooperating with nature, as it were. Maybe that's why processed industrial food is so awful - it doesn't let nature do it's thing?

    Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Ivashka the fool, @Another Polish Perspective

    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous “White Women” and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about…..food! (The politics here can’t get any sillier lol).

    Treacherous (((White))) women !

    🙂

    And it is not politics but anthropology!

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/gumilev-mystique-biopolitics-eurasianism-and-the-construction-of-community-in-modern-russia-by-mark-bassin-ithaca-cornell-university-press-2016-xiv-380-pp-bibliography-index-8995-hard-bound-2995-paper/39EA530150C55D0E65816A5AAE6E9E96

    Read that while you munch on your gefilte fish.

    😏

    • Thanks: Mr. Hack
    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Don't let yourself slide into this rabbit hole. You may never escape and then you'll end up like every other lunatic who descended into that world of projection and delusion. Unhappy, bitter and unable to recognise yourself. It might be a necessary path for you, but there are easier ways ones should you design to choose them. If you can read between the lines of my comments and have the level of spiritual understanding which you communicate sometimes, you'll know that I give good advice in this area. Or at least that it is worth genuine consideration.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Ivashka the fool

    Yes, we know the Jews, both male and female, are responsible - that much is obvious. But above you sounded a new note, that "their" women - the women of White men, whose only sin was being complacent - betrayed them.

    So you were talking about White women, who betrayed, whereas White men were only guilty of a naive complacency, poor things. (One wonders where you situate all those White male philosophers, artists, and thinkers who advanced the cause of decadence - like Macdonald, they seem invisible to you in the story of Western decline :) )

    Do you remember commenter Rosie? She was this female White nationalist who used to post on Audacious Epigones blog, and often Sailers and other blogs. She was intelligent and rather inoffensive, I thought, but for some reason she was viciously persecuted by the boys on that on other parts of this site. I never really understood why they hated her so. She hated Jews, but even I wasn't as mean to her as they were.

    But as a general principle, I once tried explaining to her that once you let the genie of "othering" out of the bottle, it does not stop at gender. In fact, gender is one of the primary divisions and examples of "othering" available to the human species - each gender is rather mysterious and confusing to the other, lol.

    A society that hates Jews and minorities is going to be misogynistic, simply because all "others" are suspect to the majority power holders. And it's no accident that women's liberation went in tandem with anti-racism.

    Can there be a "sweet spot" for "othering", so that you limit it to other races but not to the opposite gender? So far signs are not promising, and I don't know. Can one fine tune these things I winder. Maybe.

    But I guess we shall see :) All sorts of interesting anthropological experiments are beginning to take place - no group identity has ever in the past been founded primarily on race, but that is being attempted to.

    We shall see.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  139. Of course this letter is a fake, why would the Germans prosecute an Ukie for wearing SS insignia anyway? The Germans already know who they are training here. Good Russian trolling.

    Cyberspec1 is a fun twitter feed to follow. Heavy Russian bias but it’s a good mood barometer, with no crazy swings of uncalled for despair and elation.

  140. @AP
    @Mr. Hack

    Exactly. You said it better than I could.

    And meek acquiescence to the status of dhimmitude at the hands of track-suited Chechen gangsters under their Muscovite khan wouldn’t be a good demonstration of the fitness of the DNA they are supposed to be preserving.

    The steadfast stubbornness in defending one’s families and homes from the invader reflects a universally positive attribute that is very noble in nature, despite the situation itself being horrible.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    О Господи…

    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan…

    LOL !

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?

    😉

    • Replies: @AP
    @Ivashka the fool


    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan…
     
    History repeating as farce, but still repeating. Muscovy/Russia consistently follows a template, which is hard to break, even if Khans have been Germans, or that Georgian. Larping as wigged European aristocrats, Byzantine emperors, saviours and dictators of proles, etc.

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?
     
    That’s what Bykov was writing. But that pattern has not been maintained since Sviatoslav. Rather, Ze’s (ex?) sponsor had stepped into the traditional role of magnate, in a system whose democratic instincts (so different from Russia’s inevitable Asiatic despotism) continue the Rzeczpospolita’s legacy.

    These two political ways are incompatible, and thus the deadly friction until there is a permanent break and Russia leave Ukraine alone, and focuses eastward.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @Ivashka the fool

  141. @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool


    One of the problems with our world is that people sometimes overcomplicate things. When one goes back to being simple-minded, things sometimes become more evident. As Pelevin once wrote : “when you don’t think a lot becomes clearer”.
     
    I urge you to follow your own advice here. The war between Ukraine and Russia is not really all that complicated, and there's really no reason to look for answers and causes within elaborately made up conspiracy theories etc. Believe me, it is what it looks like. You have a disgruntled player in this war (Russia) that thought that it had an invincible army, and that it was losing Ukraine to the West, and that this was the last optimal time to attack and subdue Ukraine and bring it back into the fold. How was Ukraine to react to this provocation? Quietly acquiesce to Russia's brazen invasion, in order to maximize good Slavic DNA for future generations, while handing over the keys to its house to a really lousy neighbor?

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @AP, @Ivashka the fool

    Mr Hack, simple-minded doesn’t mean stupid.

    😄

    • Replies: @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool

    So now I'm "stupid" for my opinion (and a few others here who happened to support my comment).

    Hey friend, I'm only trying to have a good conversation with you - I expect better from you!

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  142. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous "White Women" and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about.....food! (The politics here can't get any sillier lol).

    Since returning from my trip I've become obsessed with Thai food, and to a lesser extent Japanese food. I've always enjoyed Thai food, but was never really that interested in it for some reason. I always preferred Indian food.

    What is hitting me right now about Asian food is it's intense umami flavor - I don't know why that's hitting me hard now. I mean, I love Italian, French, Arabic food, but something about the sheer intensity of Asian food right now is really hitting home. Maybe it's just a phase.

    Also, in the past few years there has been a revolution in ingredient availability - off Amazon, you can get all the Thai sauces you see street vendors use straight from Thailand. And, it turns out, these dishes are incredibly easy to make!

    The intense, complex flavor appears to come not from some subtle skill in mixing diverse ingredients (well, some dishes do), but largely from the process of fermentation - which is really just aging and bio organisms, which I like. It's Nature. (some skill in mixing ingredients is called for).

    For instance, one of the best and most iconic Thai dishes that everyone loves - basil stir fry - only has garlic and chillies, then a sauce composed of fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sugar, and basil.(and your choice of meat).

    But the fermented fish sauce, oyster sauce, and even soy sauce - has incredible intensity and complexity developed through the process of natural aging.

    Japanese beef gyudon, which is thinly sliced fatty beef simmered, on rice, uses just soy sauce, mirin, and fish stock. But the incredible fermentation of the fish stock, the wine, the soy - it does everything!

    Japanese ginger pork, another incredible dish, uses just ginger, mirin, and soy sauce - yet what deep, complex, intense flavor.

    To be sure, much good Italian food is also incredibly simple and uses just a few really good ingredients. Or a good aged Spanish chorizo is just pork, garlic and paprika and salt. Simple! And what is Reggiano Parmesano but just beautifully fermented milk?

    It seems that the process of aging is what makes human food incredibly deep and rich and complex - cooperating with nature, as it were. Maybe that's why processed industrial food is so awful - it doesn't let nature do it's thing?

    Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Ivashka the fool, @Another Polish Perspective

    the fermented fish sauce

    was very popular in ancient Roman cuisine, and was known as garum.

    It is amazing how our taste palette has changed since that time, despite living in similar environment/climate to ancient Romans.

    • Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    Right, I've heard of this - I think it was as valued as gold, or something, to the Romans.

    It's remarkable that we've completely lost this in the West, but most of Asia uses fish sauce. I am a huge fan of it.

    In fact, I was first introduced to it years ago in SEA by two Italian travelers I met who described it as "liquid parmesan"" :) That's what induced me to try it, as the idea of fermented anchovies did not initially appeal to my simplistic American palate.

    The real question is why Americans and Geemanics are known for only liking bland food? There is some very good food in northern Europe and America, of course, but we do have a blandness issue we just overcome.

    May Garum return once again to the West!

  143. @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous “White Women” and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about…..food! (The politics here can’t get any sillier lol).
     
    Treacherous (((White))) women !

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Emma_Goldman_seated.jpg

    🙂

    And it is not politics but anthropology!

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/gumilev-mystique-biopolitics-eurasianism-and-the-construction-of-community-in-modern-russia-by-mark-bassin-ithaca-cornell-university-press-2016-xiv-380-pp-bibliography-index-8995-hard-bound-2995-paper/39EA530150C55D0E65816A5AAE6E9E96

    Read that while you munch on your gefilte fish.

    😏

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    Don’t let yourself slide into this rabbit hole. You may never escape and then you’ll end up like every other lunatic who descended into that world of projection and delusion. Unhappy, bitter and unable to recognise yourself. It might be a necessary path for you, but there are easier ways ones should you design to choose them. If you can read between the lines of my comments and have the level of spiritual understanding which you communicate sometimes, you’ll know that I give good advice in this area. Or at least that it is worth genuine consideration.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Leaves No Shadow

    I like the experimental approach. That's why I've already gone through this rabbit hole and emerged on the other side. Now it's cool where I am.

    I am learning to hate no one. Karma will take care of everyone equally, me included. We will all be sorted out.

    I agree with Greasy here, it's not even worth trying to level the scores. Quite the opposite. Let it go to its logical conclusions, let it accelerate.

    It is about time the circus lights go off...

    https://youtu.be/_T6GhYdwI7g

  144. @Wokechoke
    @AP

    There's now a case to be made, after the confirmation of the NS2 bombing that this entire war caper is designed to make sure Germany and Russia form no grand strategic alliance. You sound like a Pollack in 1938. The world didn't revolve around the clucking Polish back then and it doesn't revolve around posturing Ukrainians today. Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @AP

    Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field

    Poland is building what will be the strongest military in Europe, and Ukraine if it endures will be its equal and close partner. The reemergence of a powerful version of the PLC will probably be the most important European geopolitical event in 150 years. No wonder the Germans are dragging their feet.

    • Replies: @songbird
    @AP

    How popular is this idea in the Baltics? And in Ukraine?

    Could be wrong, but I don't really see how Balts would want to be culturally and politically swamped by some much bigger country.

    Or are you imagining it, without them?

    Replies: @LatW

    , @Wokechoke
    @AP

    lol! Berliners and Muscovites take note. The Winged Tarta...Hussars are back on the frontier and crimea...


    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/IlkhanidHorseArcher.jpg

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adil_Giray

    Crimean Khan.

    "In 1666 he was placed on the throne by the Ottomans, who were displeased with khan Mehmed IV. At the time he was in exile at Rhodes. He came into conflict with his nobles, especially the Shirin clan, because of his Polish ancestry and high taxes. It is said he strongly supported the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and was one of the candidates in the Polish royal election of 1669".

    Let's not even get into the list of Polish girls in the Istanbul Harem over the centuries.

  145. @Beckow
    @S


    ...but the Western middle class as well.
     
    I generally defend the middle class everywhere, but let's be honest: large part of the Western middle class is simply parasitic. They consume way beyond anything productive they do. I don't want to list the endless silly made-up activities that provide their living, from distributing gment goodies and virtual money, endless 'charity', green activism, protecting against "Russia", social media, etc...all of that is possible only because the material basis (land, food, infrastructure, energy...) has been either built up or is often obtained at minimum cost from the rest of the world (that virtual money machine :)...

    It is inevitable that the rulers would eventually decide to trim the 'middle class' nonsense. It has grown too much, consumes too much, they get in the way when elite wants to enjoy the vistas of Yosemite or Venice. So they are being put in their place - fewer of them and with less ability to consume. Given the incredible self-defeating stupidity of most of the Western middle class this is a good thing. They have become too stupid to protect what they have - they are easily led by very primitive propaganda. I say, time for them to go...

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Emil Nikola Richard

    I say, time for them to go…

    Them disappearing will include (P~.98) totalitarian control on your consumption of wine, t-bone steak, cannabis, gasoline, heating and cooling energy, and an ad infinitum of consumer goods.

    Also your speech. They would control your thoughts if they had the power to do so. Attempting to control our thoughts will consume an increasing fraction of resources.

    Ted Kaczynski had a better plan and his plan was retarded.

    • Agree: Ivashka the fool
    • Replies: @Beckow
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    Well, I am glad you took my screed against the lazy, parasitic Western middle classes seriously :)...

    On second thought, given the risks to my steaks, I will reconsider and let them stay...could they in turn be nice enough to stay mostly home, watch their stupid tv and video games, and refrain from marching around nature and picturesque old towns? Also, leave the fat wives (of all genders) home...we need to get back to some semblance of civilization...

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

  146. @Mr. Hack
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    I've been a big fan of Thai food for at least 15 years, and before that Chinese and Vietnamese. I've probably been to at least half of all of the Thai restaurants in the Phoenix area (and that's saying a lot!). I really enjoy Thai curry dishes, but am also quite acquainted with their eggplant and more "umami" type of dishes too (have you ever tasted Thai "Tom Kha Gai" soup? the only soup that gives Ukrainian borshch a run for the money, yum!). Covid put the quash on one of m favorite Thai restaurants here, closing their all you can eat buffet. $12.95 for a trip to culinary heaven. I think of you whenever I put some curry powder in my boiling white rice - thanks for the tip! :-)

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    Ah, Mr Hack, American Thai restaurants can be quite good, but they are notorious for changing the flavor to suit American palates!

    What you eat on the streets of Bangkok is most of the time quite different – much more intense and spicy!

    Which is not to say you aren’t getting some idea of the incredible flavors of Thai food in America, and even if very different it can be good in it’s own right (perhaps it can be a new cuisine 🙂 )

    One must travel to Thailand or make it oneself to get the real deal, alas. However, curries are closest to what you find in Thailand, so you can enjoy that in Phoenix 🙂

    Vietnamese can be quite good too and more authentic – there used to be this chain of bread and Ban Mhi shops in Phoenix that I thought was quite decent for a chain – Lees Bakery, maybe? I don’t quite remember – I ate at it in Scottsdale once.

    NYC has a lot of really good Banh Mi shops 🙂

    Believe it or not, I’ve never had Borscht before – but recently I was in a part of Brooklyn that had a community from Tashkent, and I picked up a prepared Borscht soup completely on a whim – I have to confess, it was amazing! I was quite surprised. The sour flavors were unexpected but perfect. Thai soups can be excellent too.

    Here’s to fermentation and the contribution it makes to deliciousness.

    • Replies: @Mr. Hack
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    much more intense and spicy!
     
    I can only imagine. I always get this carousel placed on my table with about 4 different types of hot spices that I can use to increase the voltage, if I think it's necessary (and I almost always put at least a little into my main dish). If I feel a cold coming on, I put a lot on, so that I can feel the heat in the nasal cavities in my head, and stop the progression right there on the spot. :-)

    But the nice thing about Thai food is that it doesn't need to be very spicy at all. Flavors like peanuts, Thai basil, lemon grass, can be real tasty and are often used as the main taste profile of many dishes. Another thing about Thai food that most Americans don't realize is that it's a very varied sort of cuisine, changing a lot depending on the region within Thailand that you find yourself. I watch Thai food shows on the tube and have learned about this, even while I'm at some of the restaurants where they often play Thai foodie travelogs within the premises. We really are only experiencing the "tip of the iceberg", here in the states.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

  147. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird


    But that first sentence I find very curious. Are you not implying that it is only men that can understand subtlety?
     
    By associating "masculinity" with the basic elements of thought, I was hoping to prompt you to learn how to think.

    I prefer introspection.
     
    You do?

    To pretend to too good a grasp into other people’s heart’s and minds, honestly strikes me somewhat as an attempt at witchcraft, or some other sacrilege.
     
    It is a cliché that someone like you will find attention to your inner life demonic.

    Replies: @songbird

    By associating “masculinity” with the basic elements of thought, I was hoping to prompt you to learn how to think.

    Are you sure that is not how you became a tranny?

    I was hoping you would actually give us your definition of masculinity. Does your idea of it not have any fixed qualities?

    [MORE]

    It is a cliché that someone like you will find attention to your inner life demonic.

    Why so anti-religious? Thought that there were a lot of churches and synagogues accepting gays and trannies now.

    Zimbardo (one of your party who fell into disrepute) outright said that he didn’t believe in a soul. IIRC, you said you did (probably a dodge to avoid the stigma of not believing in one), but your strange attempt to redefine masculinity seems to show you don’t, which is further underlined by your professed belief that you can dissect anyone’s brain and see inside their thoughts. Not guess (which everyone enjoys doing), but actually observe their inner self, and then change it. Not just one person that you have rapport with, but anyone here.

    I think there is something Satanic in your confidence, and I don’t mind saying so. Maybe, it is simple narcissism, but compounded by new age beliefs.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your ability to see me is zero, whereas I have no barriers between my conscious, what would be my unconscious, the unconscious and yours. Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in. My confidence comes from direct perception. Where does your fear come from?

    Replies: @songbird, @songbird

  148. https://www.heritage.org/global-politics/commentary/russias-attack-nord-stream-pipelines-means-putin-has-truly-weaponized

    So you do take the Heritage Foundation Position that Russia blew up, I mean partially blew up, NS2 and NS1?

    That’s your position.

    Rather than the US did exactly what it threatened it would do to the pipelines a few times?

    and then chuckled about leaks being under investigation and the bombing being “in No One’s interest”…

    “steep discount on oil” goys…

    You’ve no need to pretend that The Sullivan, Nuland & Blinken sabotage group didn’t do it. War in Ukraine was a mere pretext for the effort to separate out Russian and German business.

  149. @Mikel
    @Leaves No Shadow


    How much are we betting?
     
    Interesting, to see you betting on military matters after your epic Taliban prediction.

    But I would be very surprised myself if Lukashenko sends Belarussian troops to Ukraine at this unfavorable stage. Putin may have most of the population behind him but Luka doesn't. That's why he finally had to align himself with the Kremlin in the first place. If even Putin is unwilling to take the mobilization measures that would allow him to put an end to the misadventure he started, will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more?

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @AnonfromTN

    will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more

    Luka is wily, or, to be exact, he is best described by my grandma’s phrase in Ukrainian “дурний, та хитрий” (stupid, but cunning). For many years he tried to maneuver between the RF, China, and the EU to maximize goodies Belarus gets from all sides (Belarus cannot live as well as it does on its own resources). However, the West made a strategic mistake in Belarus: instead of cultivating Luka and nudging him towards pro-Western position, the West attempted a color revolution against him. Luka is not a coward, like Ukrainian Yanuk, he did not surrender before the battle was lost, but fought back vigorously and prevailed. Net result: Western morons pushed him into Putin’s camp. Today Putin firmly holds his balls in his hand and can squeeze as hard as he needs. What’s more, now Luka has nothing to loose: Belarus is already under a bunch of idiotic Western sanctions. So, if Putin wants Belarus to join the RF in Ukraine, he is going to get his wish. Whether he wants it is another question.

    • Replies: @Mikel
    @AnonfromTN


    instead of cultivating Luka and nudging him towards pro-Western position, the West attempted a color revolution against him.
     
    No. Lukashenko just overplayed his hand by first imprisoning opposition candidates on trumped-up charges and then publishing elections results that nobody over 10 years of age could believe in, although you seemed to believe that the Kherson and Zaporizhia referendums were legitimate, but well, the thing is that lots of people in Belarus weren't so gullible and reacted strongly in the streets. The West did try to meddle, of course, but you make it sound like some CIA operatives went to Belarus and arranged a revolution out of the blue. Western intervention in the Belarus election crisis was in fact much more subdued than during the Maidan uprising.

    However, it is possibly a good thing that the protests didn't go too far and eventually calmed down with no bloodbath. The average person in Belarus is probably better off under a dictatorial regime than in a state of chaos and armed conflict like their southern neighbors. Besides, it is not very clear that a Jeffersonian democracy is the optimal social arrangement among Eastern Slavs. I'm not sure it has ever worked very well there.

    Luka has nothing to loose
     
    His throne and maybe even his head if a stream of coffins starts coming to their families from Ukraine a few years after he showed the middle finger to the people who voted in the elections.
    , @Gerard1234
    @AnonfromTN

    That's all true.........but Banderastan effectively supporting the colour revolution/Polish Op to overthrow him and (pointlessly and in infamous historical level stupidity) joining in with the west and placing sanctions on Belarus after the fake forced landing of the plane stunt, made Luka do something he was never, EVER going to do, whatever the relationship with Russia.........allow SMO attack from Belarus territory and the continuous missile strikes.

  150. @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    Ahem, now that Bashi has decided that treacherous “White Women” and not only Jews are responsible for the Wests decline, I think this is the perfect moment to talk about…..food! (The politics here can’t get any sillier lol).
     
    Treacherous (((White))) women !

    https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Emma_Goldman_seated.jpg

    🙂

    And it is not politics but anthropology!

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/abs/gumilev-mystique-biopolitics-eurasianism-and-the-construction-of-community-in-modern-russia-by-mark-bassin-ithaca-cornell-university-press-2016-xiv-380-pp-bibliography-index-8995-hard-bound-2995-paper/39EA530150C55D0E65816A5AAE6E9E96

    Read that while you munch on your gefilte fish.

    😏

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    Yes, we know the Jews, both male and female, are responsible – that much is obvious. But above you sounded a new note, that “their” women – the women of White men, whose only sin was being complacent – betrayed them.

    So you were talking about White women, who betrayed, whereas White men were only guilty of a naive complacency, poor things. (One wonders where you situate all those White male philosophers, artists, and thinkers who advanced the cause of decadence – like Macdonald, they seem invisible to you in the story of Western decline 🙂 )

    Do you remember commenter Rosie? She was this female White nationalist who used to post on Audacious Epigones blog, and often Sailers and other blogs. She was intelligent and rather inoffensive, I thought, but for some reason she was viciously persecuted by the boys on that on other parts of this site. I never really understood why they hated her so. She hated Jews, but even I wasn’t as mean to her as they were.

    But as a general principle, I once tried explaining to her that once you let the genie of “othering” out of the bottle, it does not stop at gender. In fact, gender is one of the primary divisions and examples of “othering” available to the human species – each gender is rather mysterious and confusing to the other, lol.

    A society that hates Jews and minorities is going to be misogynistic, simply because all “others” are suspect to the majority power holders. And it’s no accident that women’s liberation went in tandem with anti-racism.

    Can there be a “sweet spot” for “othering”, so that you limit it to other races but not to the opposite gender? So far signs are not promising, and I don’t know. Can one fine tune these things I winder. Maybe.

    But I guess we shall see 🙂 All sorts of interesting anthropological experiments are beginning to take place – no group identity has ever in the past been founded primarily on race, but that is being attempted to.

    We shall see.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    the women of White men
     
    Feminism. Women Rights. My body my choice.

    https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/bbb0b03df5094073b8ba258d71bd1ec7/3000.jpeg

    Not yet human.

    https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/rockcms/2022-06/220623-roe-v-wade-abortion-scotus-protest-2-se-805p-2ef18c.jpg

    TFR ~ 1...

    Divorce rate for an American marriage.

    https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/07/Share-of-marriages-end-in-divorces-in-US-Stevenson-Wolfers-800x545.png

    Sexual promiscuity.

    https://cdn-adklk.nitrocdn.com/vAlLOcBPjCSUTuqFpgWoGejnngKOaInw/assets/images/optimized/rev-fc9d120/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Here_s-the-list-of-states-in-the-U.S.-with-the-highest-averages..jpg

    Children born out of wedlock.

    https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/figure14-w640.png

    Happy St. Valentine's Day !

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard

  151. @AP
    @Wokechoke


    Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field
     
    Poland is building what will be the strongest military in Europe, and Ukraine if it endures will be its equal and close partner. The reemergence of a powerful version of the PLC will probably be the most important European geopolitical event in 150 years. No wonder the Germans are dragging their feet.

    Replies: @songbird, @Wokechoke

    How popular is this idea in the Baltics? And in Ukraine?

    Could be wrong, but I don’t really see how Balts would want to be culturally and politically swamped by some much bigger country.

    Or are you imagining it, without them?

    • Replies: @LatW
    @songbird


    How popular is this idea in the Baltics?
     
    Getting more attention than before but, unfortunately, not yet fully mainstream. There are some newly established political formats, which is not bad.

    Could be wrong, but I don’t really see how Balts would want to be culturally and politically swamped by some much bigger country.

     

    You're correct that most Balts are focused more on the nation state type of ideas as well as partly on the EU, but the world has changed a lot, and is still changing rather fast.

    I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean by "culturally and politically swamped". Everyone has their own country and culture, many of the political views are aligned, and it would be more about coordination, rather than creating a full on confederation. Substance and content is more important than formalities.

    Replies: @songbird

  152. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    the fermented fish sauce
     
    was very popular in ancient Roman cuisine, and was known as garum.

    It is amazing how our taste palette has changed since that time, despite living in similar environment/climate to ancient Romans.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    Right, I’ve heard of this – I think it was as valued as gold, or something, to the Romans.

    It’s remarkable that we’ve completely lost this in the West, but most of Asia uses fish sauce. I am a huge fan of it.

    In fact, I was first introduced to it years ago in SEA by two Italian travelers I met who described it as “liquid parmesan”” 🙂 That’s what induced me to try it, as the idea of fermented anchovies did not initially appeal to my simplistic American palate.

    The real question is why Americans and Geemanics are known for only liking bland food? There is some very good food in northern Europe and America, of course, but we do have a blandness issue we just overcome.

    May Garum return once again to the West!

  153. @Another Polish Perspective
    @A123

    If small, experimental reactors are failing, we could expect even more failure from commercial ones...

    The Halden incident was heavily covered-up when it happened. I remember reading on it in real time on some French site (in English though) monitoring radiation, which claimed it was about thorium.

    The official news from Oct 2016 avoid for some strange reason (lobbying, perhaps) any characterization of "fuel", but make clear that it was a fuel problem:

    https://www-news.iaea.org/ErfView.aspx?mId=8566e7fd-88e6-458c-b487-d51dde9b1049

    We can get it was thorium because the experiment started in Jul 2016:

    http://www.thoriumenergyworld.com/news/second-thorium-fuel-test-round-started

    There was no follow-up to this experiment, which means it was a failure.

    Replies: @A123

    If small, experimental reactors are failing, we could expect even more failure from commercial ones…

    No.

    Experiments are done to discover problems before commercial scale.

    The Halden incident … characterization of “fuel”, but make clear that it was a fuel problem:

    A shutdown event/incident is far from a catastrophe. It is industry jargon. It was clearly not an insurmountable issue. It ran for years after the 2016 event you cited. (1)

    The Halden reactor was shut down permanently in June 2018. It has been regarded in many countries as a strategic asset for testing fuel and reactor components. The associated Fuels and Materials research programme will end in 2023.

    2018 was the intended research end-date I cited in my previous post, so it lasted the length of its grant.

    Also, it was not a LFTR. A solid fuel technology problem is not directly tied to liquid fuel solutions. Though it is informative.

    There was no follow-up to this experiment, which means it was a failure

    No.

    Successful projects often lose out on 2nd & 3rd round finding for political reasons. Sad. But True.
    ____

    I looked at the crazy fear site that you cited earlier:

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/

    It has not been updated since April 2016. According to your own logic, updates have been discontinued. Therefore, it is no longer in operation and thus is *by your own definition* a failure.

    I did skim it briefly. Most of the panic is over “Thorium as a carcinogen”. While true, the hysteria on the site was quite sad. Given that Thorium comes out of the ground as waste from rare earth mining, getting rid of the waste by destroying via fuel use it makes the situation better.

    Most of the other points I saw are known and admitted inconveniences. Not disqualifying barriers. The primary impediments are governmental and emotional, not scientific or engineering.

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://ife.no/en/project/the-halden-reactor-project/

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @A123

    Halden was closed after a string of failures, of which that of 2016 was the last one AFAIK.

    Closing research project does not mean closing reactor; that are two different matters. Therefore closing the Halden reactor in 2018 does not necessarily mean the research project was run successfully. Anyway, secrecy which clouded it after the 2016 class 2 nuclear incident is rather telling.

    Commercial Thorium reactors are still more theoretical than real possibility

  154. @AP
    @Wokechoke


    Great tectonic plates are moving and Ukraine as the name suggests is just a faultline. Poland as the name suggests just an empty field
     
    Poland is building what will be the strongest military in Europe, and Ukraine if it endures will be its equal and close partner. The reemergence of a powerful version of the PLC will probably be the most important European geopolitical event in 150 years. No wonder the Germans are dragging their feet.

    Replies: @songbird, @Wokechoke

    lol! Berliners and Muscovites take note. The Winged Tarta…Hussars are back on the frontier and crimea…


    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adil_Giray

    Crimean Khan.

    “In 1666 he was placed on the throne by the Ottomans, who were displeased with khan Mehmed IV. At the time he was in exile at Rhodes. He came into conflict with his nobles, especially the Shirin clan, because of his Polish ancestry and high taxes. It is said he strongly supported the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and was one of the candidates in the Polish royal election of 1669”.

    Let’s not even get into the list of Polish girls in the Istanbul Harem over the centuries.

    • LOL: Ivashka the fool
  155. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Ivashka the fool

    Don't let yourself slide into this rabbit hole. You may never escape and then you'll end up like every other lunatic who descended into that world of projection and delusion. Unhappy, bitter and unable to recognise yourself. It might be a necessary path for you, but there are easier ways ones should you design to choose them. If you can read between the lines of my comments and have the level of spiritual understanding which you communicate sometimes, you'll know that I give good advice in this area. Or at least that it is worth genuine consideration.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    I like the experimental approach. That’s why I’ve already gone through this rabbit hole and emerged on the other side. Now it’s cool where I am.

    I am learning to hate no one. Karma will take care of everyone equally, me included. We will all be sorted out.

    I agree with Greasy here, it’s not even worth trying to level the scores. Quite the opposite. Let it go to its logical conclusions, let it accelerate.

    It is about time the circus lights go off…

  156. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Wokechoke

    NS2 was not destroyed. Only NS1. Russia has literally said so. You guys are nuts.

    Replies: @Wokechoke

    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about…or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.

    3/4 of the carrying capacity was exploded away.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Wokechoke

    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!

    Replies: @Gerard1234

    , @A123
    @Wokechoke


    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about…or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.
     
    We have still seen no evidence of explosives. That is based on anonymous sources.

    Three pipes ruptured in a manner consistent with a heavy industrial accident.

    What could happen if Russia dropped pressure at the fill end to reverse flow & recovery salable material?

    • The operators opened valves at their end 1,200 km from Germany.
    • Hydrate slug #1 created a rupture.
    • Hydrate slug #2 quickly followed, resembling a single event.
    • Pipe #3 had a pressure differential end to end 1,200 km. 17 hours lucky it had a slug movement & rupture.
    • Pipe #4 luck smiled, no issue

    If the operators were clever, they may have been trying to repressurize their end of pipes #3 and #4.

    Unfortunately, it is sort of like the CCP's lab at WIV. We will never get an opportunity to thoroughly investigate.

    PEACE 😇

    Replies: @QCIC

  157. @A123
    @Another Polish Perspective


    If small, experimental reactors are failing, we could expect even more failure from commercial ones…
     
    No.

    Experiments are done to discover problems before commercial scale.

    The Halden incident ... characterization of “fuel”, but make clear that it was a fuel problem:
     
    A shutdown event/incident is far from a catastrophe. It is industry jargon. It was clearly not an insurmountable issue. It ran for years after the 2016 event you cited. (1)

    The Halden reactor was shut down permanently in June 2018. It has been regarded in many countries as a strategic asset for testing fuel and reactor components. The associated Fuels and Materials research programme will end in 2023.
     
    2018 was the intended research end-date I cited in my previous post, so it lasted the length of its grant.

    Also, it was not a LFTR. A solid fuel technology problem is not directly tied to liquid fuel solutions. Though it is informative.

    There was no follow-up to this experiment, which means it was a failure
     
    No.

    Successful projects often lose out on 2nd & 3rd round finding for political reasons. Sad. But True.
    ____

    I looked at the crazy fear site that you cited earlier:

    https://thoriumnuclear.wordpress.com/
     
    It has not been updated since April 2016. According to your own logic, updates have been discontinued. Therefore, it is no longer in operation and thus is *by your own definition* a failure.

    I did skim it briefly. Most of the panic is over "Thorium as a carcinogen". While true, the hysteria on the site was quite sad. Given that Thorium comes out of the ground as waste from rare earth mining, getting rid of the waste by destroying via fuel use it makes the situation better.

    Most of the other points I saw are known and admitted inconveniences. Not disqualifying barriers. The primary impediments are governmental and emotional, not scientific or engineering.

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://ife.no/en/project/the-halden-reactor-project/

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    Halden was closed after a string of failures, of which that of 2016 was the last one AFAIK.

    Closing research project does not mean closing reactor; that are two different matters. Therefore closing the Halden reactor in 2018 does not necessarily mean the research project was run successfully. Anyway, secrecy which clouded it after the 2016 class 2 nuclear incident is rather telling.

    Commercial Thorium reactors are still more theoretical than real possibility

    • LOL: A123
  158. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Ivashka the fool

    Yes, we know the Jews, both male and female, are responsible - that much is obvious. But above you sounded a new note, that "their" women - the women of White men, whose only sin was being complacent - betrayed them.

    So you were talking about White women, who betrayed, whereas White men were only guilty of a naive complacency, poor things. (One wonders where you situate all those White male philosophers, artists, and thinkers who advanced the cause of decadence - like Macdonald, they seem invisible to you in the story of Western decline :) )

    Do you remember commenter Rosie? She was this female White nationalist who used to post on Audacious Epigones blog, and often Sailers and other blogs. She was intelligent and rather inoffensive, I thought, but for some reason she was viciously persecuted by the boys on that on other parts of this site. I never really understood why they hated her so. She hated Jews, but even I wasn't as mean to her as they were.

    But as a general principle, I once tried explaining to her that once you let the genie of "othering" out of the bottle, it does not stop at gender. In fact, gender is one of the primary divisions and examples of "othering" available to the human species - each gender is rather mysterious and confusing to the other, lol.

    A society that hates Jews and minorities is going to be misogynistic, simply because all "others" are suspect to the majority power holders. And it's no accident that women's liberation went in tandem with anti-racism.

    Can there be a "sweet spot" for "othering", so that you limit it to other races but not to the opposite gender? So far signs are not promising, and I don't know. Can one fine tune these things I winder. Maybe.

    But I guess we shall see :) All sorts of interesting anthropological experiments are beginning to take place - no group identity has ever in the past been founded primarily on race, but that is being attempted to.

    We shall see.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    the women of White men

    Feminism. Women Rights. My body my choice.

    Not yet human.

    TFR ~ 1…

    Divorce rate for an American marriage.

    Sexual promiscuity.

    Children born out of wedlock.

    Happy St. Valentine’s Day !

    • Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Ivashka the fool

    I think you may want to develop a more sophisticated notion of agency - are any of us really to blame for our delusions?

    Western women grew up in a culture where the Gods have been dethroned - a culture that told her that reality is composed of dead matter and that life is best compared to a mechanical machine.

    Who created this culture? A rather long line of male European philosophers and thinkers - and yet, are they "guilty", or did they fall into a delusion? And was it incremental, mistake following mistake, and collective?

    Moreover, Western women grew up in a culture that only valued masculine power as expressed through technology and the domination of nature - it had no use for the softer feminine qualities.

    How were they to respond to that? One can talk about women's liberation all one wants, but in a culture where technology and the domination of nature is the dominant mode of engaging with reality, every young girl gets the message about what society really respects and what qualities she should develop on herself.

    But who is responsible for all this? Men? Women? Jews? Westerners?

    What exactly are we fighting - flesh and blood?

    And how, by the way, are men doing - any better?

    And what about the growing listlessness and nihilism of East Asia? The nihilistic violence of the Middle East?

    , @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool

    Women are more promiscuous than men, and their strategy is mating-up: early mating has polygamic structure, resulting in fewer men having more sex, and more men having less sex - the fact is well reflected not only through phenomenon of groupies but in the little noted fact that more young women than young men will have typical heterosexual veneral diseases (if you take into account that a fraction of men are gays, this statistically visible polygamy is even more pronounced) - one man will have sex with many women, who are thus lost for other men. Thus the wisdom of old cultures which always chaperoned young women.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/622809/gonorrhea-rate-in-the-us-by-age-and-sex/

    Such early polygamic promiscuity does not suits well monogamic marriages (creating a shadow of an ideal lover a woman once had - together with many other women; on the male side, it could create resentment of the not-ideal-lovers class, also not useful for marriage building), which maybe should be polygamic too in order to accommodate women unbridled preferences. So I am afraid women did not betray white men, they never really coveted them except few alpha cases!

    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok. So maybe worshipping Nature is not so good after all...?!

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Ivashka the fool

    , @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    What are the statistics for cousin couples?

    After years of having my computer flooded with Game of Thrones nonsense, yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow's aunt. Why the hush hush about this feature? Hmmm?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Ivashka the fool

  159. @Ivashka the fool
    @Mr. Hack

    Mr Hack, simple-minded doesn't mean stupid.

    😄

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

    So now I’m “stupid” for my opinion (and a few others here who happened to support my comment).

    Hey friend, I’m only trying to have a good conversation with you – I expect better from you!

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Mr. Hack

    Nowhere have I written that you are stupid Mr Hack. But ignoring everything that in the last 8 years preceded the outright war between RusFed and Ukiestan would indeed been stupid on my part.

    I have always been the one who was the most dismissive of Pynya's "geopolitical genius" and RusFed's "might" on this forum. I remember AP writing that Pynya was doing the right thing for Russian people, while I was always of the opposite opinion. I remember AK being dismissive of me writing that RusFed was corrupt to the bone and weakened. The only thing I got wrong is the degree to which it was rotten and corrupt. It is way worse than I would have thought possible.

    I am against this was, always was since 2014. And I always considered and always will that the responsibility for its start lies equally with RusFed, Ukiestan and Western sociopathic elites. That are Globalist, all of them.

    And yes, I would prefer keeping as many as possible Eastern Slav genetic lineages alive and well, growing towards a better future, but hey who am I to decide for them if they decided otherwise ?

    We are entering a population bottleneck, only a fraction of our lineages will emerge on the other side. I will do what I can to ensure that mine goes on. And good luck to anyone else's.

    🙂

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

  160. @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about...or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.

    3/4 of the carrying capacity was exploded away.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @A123

    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!

    • Replies: @Gerard1234
    @Leaves No Shadow


    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!
     
    For the last time, retard. HALF of the pipeline Russia "wanted" open is open. Obviously volume brings money and Russia in no way benefits from........can't be bothered explaining this idiocy

    Russia, clearly, wanted NS1 & NS2 opened and in operation. What they did not want open is the GTS of Ukraine /404 open.....and guess what - its the one that the lemming-slave-prostitute nazis in Ukraine are refusing to touch. The idea of "feeding the Kremlin's war economy" goes into a mysterious blackhole.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Wokechoke

  161. @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    the women of White men
     
    Feminism. Women Rights. My body my choice.

    https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/bbb0b03df5094073b8ba258d71bd1ec7/3000.jpeg

    Not yet human.

    https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/rockcms/2022-06/220623-roe-v-wade-abortion-scotus-protest-2-se-805p-2ef18c.jpg

    TFR ~ 1...

    Divorce rate for an American marriage.

    https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/07/Share-of-marriages-end-in-divorces-in-US-Stevenson-Wolfers-800x545.png

    Sexual promiscuity.

    https://cdn-adklk.nitrocdn.com/vAlLOcBPjCSUTuqFpgWoGejnngKOaInw/assets/images/optimized/rev-fc9d120/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Here_s-the-list-of-states-in-the-U.S.-with-the-highest-averages..jpg

    Children born out of wedlock.

    https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/figure14-w640.png

    Happy St. Valentine's Day !

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard

    I think you may want to develop a more sophisticated notion of agency – are any of us really to blame for our delusions?

    Western women grew up in a culture where the Gods have been dethroned – a culture that told her that reality is composed of dead matter and that life is best compared to a mechanical machine.

    Who created this culture? A rather long line of male European philosophers and thinkers – and yet, are they “guilty”, or did they fall into a delusion? And was it incremental, mistake following mistake, and collective?

    Moreover, Western women grew up in a culture that only valued masculine power as expressed through technology and the domination of nature – it had no use for the softer feminine qualities.

    How were they to respond to that? One can talk about women’s liberation all one wants, but in a culture where technology and the domination of nature is the dominant mode of engaging with reality, every young girl gets the message about what society really respects and what qualities she should develop on herself.

    But who is responsible for all this? Men? Women? Jews? Westerners?

    What exactly are we fighting – flesh and blood?

    And how, by the way, are men doing – any better?

    And what about the growing listlessness and nihilism of East Asia? The nihilistic violence of the Middle East?

  162. @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    By associating “masculinity” with the basic elements of thought, I was hoping to prompt you to learn how to think.
     
    Are you sure that is not how you became a tranny?

    I was hoping you would actually give us your definition of masculinity. Does your idea of it not have any fixed qualities?

    It is a cliché that someone like you will find attention to your inner life demonic.
     
    Why so anti-religious? Thought that there were a lot of churches and synagogues accepting gays and trannies now.

    Zimbardo (one of your party who fell into disrepute) outright said that he didn't believe in a soul. IIRC, you said you did (probably a dodge to avoid the stigma of not believing in one), but your strange attempt to redefine masculinity seems to show you don't, which is further underlined by your professed belief that you can dissect anyone's brain and see inside their thoughts. Not guess (which everyone enjoys doing), but actually observe their inner self, and then change it. Not just one person that you have rapport with, but anyone here.

    I think there is something Satanic in your confidence, and I don't mind saying so. Maybe, it is simple narcissism, but compounded by new age beliefs.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    Your ability to see me is zero, whereas I have no barriers between my conscious, what would be my unconscious, the unconscious and yours. Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in. My confidence comes from direct perception. Where does your fear come from?

    • Replies: @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Your ability to see me is zero
     
    The Shadow could also turn invisible by some trick of hypnotism. But, IIRC, he was originally voiced by Orson Welles, and it had some kind of modulation effect, so it was believable.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow

    https://youtu.be/wMk-CA_Gi7o
    , @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in.
     
    You seem to be saying that you can enter into people's souls at will and sift through them and correct their deficiencies.

    Am no expert on heresy, but sounds like a big one.

    https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Engineers_of_the_human_soul

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

  163. @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool

    So now I'm "stupid" for my opinion (and a few others here who happened to support my comment).

    Hey friend, I'm only trying to have a good conversation with you - I expect better from you!

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Nowhere have I written that you are stupid Mr Hack. But ignoring everything that in the last 8 years preceded the outright war between RusFed and Ukiestan would indeed been stupid on my part.

    I have always been the one who was the most dismissive of Pynya’s “geopolitical genius” and RusFed’s “might” on this forum. I remember AP writing that Pynya was doing the right thing for Russian people, while I was always of the opposite opinion. I remember AK being dismissive of me writing that RusFed was corrupt to the bone and weakened. The only thing I got wrong is the degree to which it was rotten and corrupt. It is way worse than I would have thought possible.

    I am against this was, always was since 2014. And I always considered and always will that the responsibility for its start lies equally with RusFed, Ukiestan and Western sociopathic elites. That are Globalist, all of them.

    And yes, I would prefer keeping as many as possible Eastern Slav genetic lineages alive and well, growing towards a better future, but hey who am I to decide for them if they decided otherwise ?

    We are entering a population bottleneck, only a fraction of our lineages will emerge on the other side. I will do what I can to ensure that mine goes on. And good luck to anyone else’s.

    🙂

    • Thanks: Mr. Hack
    • Replies: @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool

    That's much better, more in line with what I 've come to expect from you.

    I may not always agree with you, but I always respect your opinions!

  164. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your ability to see me is zero, whereas I have no barriers between my conscious, what would be my unconscious, the unconscious and yours. Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in. My confidence comes from direct perception. Where does your fear come from?

    Replies: @songbird, @songbird

    Your ability to see me is zero

    The Shadow could also turn invisible by some trick of hypnotism. But, IIRC, he was originally voiced by Orson Welles, and it had some kind of modulation effect, so it was believable.

  165. @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    the women of White men
     
    Feminism. Women Rights. My body my choice.

    https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/bbb0b03df5094073b8ba258d71bd1ec7/3000.jpeg

    Not yet human.

    https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/rockcms/2022-06/220623-roe-v-wade-abortion-scotus-protest-2-se-805p-2ef18c.jpg

    TFR ~ 1...

    Divorce rate for an American marriage.

    https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/07/Share-of-marriages-end-in-divorces-in-US-Stevenson-Wolfers-800x545.png

    Sexual promiscuity.

    https://cdn-adklk.nitrocdn.com/vAlLOcBPjCSUTuqFpgWoGejnngKOaInw/assets/images/optimized/rev-fc9d120/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Here_s-the-list-of-states-in-the-U.S.-with-the-highest-averages..jpg

    Children born out of wedlock.

    https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/figure14-w640.png

    Happy St. Valentine's Day !

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard

    Women are more promiscuous than men, and their strategy is mating-up: early mating has polygamic structure, resulting in fewer men having more sex, and more men having less sex – the fact is well reflected not only through phenomenon of groupies but in the little noted fact that more young women than young men will have typical heterosexual veneral diseases (if you take into account that a fraction of men are gays, this statistically visible polygamy is even more pronounced) – one man will have sex with many women, who are thus lost for other men. Thus the wisdom of old cultures which always chaperoned young women.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/622809/gonorrhea-rate-in-the-us-by-age-and-sex/

    Such early polygamic promiscuity does not suits well monogamic marriages (creating a shadow of an ideal lover a woman once had – together with many other women; on the male side, it could create resentment of the not-ideal-lovers class, also not useful for marriage building), which maybe should be polygamic too in order to accommodate women unbridled preferences. So I am afraid women did not betray white men, they never really coveted them except few alpha cases!

    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok. So maybe worshipping Nature is not so good after all…?!

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    If I remember well, Houllebecq book "The Extension Of War Zone" ( Extension du domaine de la lutte) was about this. When I read it, I wasn't sure how real was the phenomenon, but apparently statistics (indirectly of course, since the average number of sexual partners per person can be misleading, as some have 1 and some have 20 which again is visible in the statistics of veneral diseases) are on Houllebecq's side
    I also remember that in the book it was a Jewish character who was incel, which I took as parody (of the meme of Jewish sexual revolution) or/and commentary on the death of Judeochristian monogamy ;(

    Replies: @Coconuts

    , @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I thought we worshipped "choice"? In other words, absolutely undetermined freedom to choose anything without any horizon determining the direction of our wills? Isn't that modernity?

    Traditionally, it was thought our wills were naturally oriented towards the Good - a rational being was not absolutely free to choose anything, but would only want to choose the Good.

    But at some point, this was felt to be an intolerable infringement on our freedom to choose absolutely anything - creatures whose nature's determined them to choose the Good were, in the modern sense, not "free", although in the classical sense, freedom was precisely the ability to choose the Good (someone whose faculties were impaired, and who chose the bad, was considered "unfree", under a constraint preventing him from doing what he would naturally want to do, choose the Good).

    But isn't a will not oriented towards the Good, but just randomly acting, the purest expression of nihilism? Random actions undetermined by a particular horizon are meaningless events, not rational acts, just chance events that have no leaning, like a muscular tic.

    Worshipping Nature would be a will oriented towards a particular horizon, a determined will and not "free" in the modern sense, and also not nihilistic (although problematic in other ways if not modified by an understanding of what's Good in nature).

    In fact, we worship the Nothing - and not the good "nothing" of the mystics which is actually the incomprehensible plenitude of Being, but genuine nothing, the nihil of emptiness.

    Replies: @Coconuts

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective


    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok.
     
    Worshipping nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1. The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory. It is the individualistic and hedonistic deviation of the selfish gene instinct that leads to sexual promiscuity and conjugal instability. The dopamine that is naturally coupled with copulation is aimed at ensuring posterity. When sex is completely detached from any prospects of childbirth, it is not a natural pleasure, but more of an artificial and civilized one. Anyway, we're all Calhoun's mice nowadays. None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry, @Dmitry

  166. @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    Your ability to see me is zero, whereas I have no barriers between my conscious, what would be my unconscious, the unconscious and yours. Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in. My confidence comes from direct perception. Where does your fear come from?

    Replies: @songbird, @songbird

    Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in.

    You seem to be saying that you can enter into people’s souls at will and sift through them and correct their deficiencies.

    Am no expert on heresy, but sounds like a big one.

    https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Engineers_of_the_human_soul

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @songbird

    You can't travel anyone's journey for them. That would be the heresy. It would take away their free will.

  167. @Ivashka the fool
    @Mr. Hack

    Nowhere have I written that you are stupid Mr Hack. But ignoring everything that in the last 8 years preceded the outright war between RusFed and Ukiestan would indeed been stupid on my part.

    I have always been the one who was the most dismissive of Pynya's "geopolitical genius" and RusFed's "might" on this forum. I remember AP writing that Pynya was doing the right thing for Russian people, while I was always of the opposite opinion. I remember AK being dismissive of me writing that RusFed was corrupt to the bone and weakened. The only thing I got wrong is the degree to which it was rotten and corrupt. It is way worse than I would have thought possible.

    I am against this was, always was since 2014. And I always considered and always will that the responsibility for its start lies equally with RusFed, Ukiestan and Western sociopathic elites. That are Globalist, all of them.

    And yes, I would prefer keeping as many as possible Eastern Slav genetic lineages alive and well, growing towards a better future, but hey who am I to decide for them if they decided otherwise ?

    We are entering a population bottleneck, only a fraction of our lineages will emerge on the other side. I will do what I can to ensure that mine goes on. And good luck to anyone else's.

    🙂

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

    That’s much better, more in line with what I ‘ve come to expect from you.

    I may not always agree with you, but I always respect your opinions!

    • Agree: AP
  168. @Ivashka the fool
    @Coconuts


    taken together I feel this kills inspiration.
     
    Taken together it kills the Western middle class and its way of living. It is a societal regression and a cultural genocide in making.

    Replies: @Coconuts

    Taken together it kills the Western middle class and its way of living. It is a societal regression and a cultural genocide in making.

    Likely the potential for this is why there is the current level of control over engaging with it culturally.

    I was working in an arts related field myself and for a long time (my adult life till then really) my interests were more on religious traditions and consumer society, I was maybe becoming more curious about Northern European themes because of spending time in the Baltic and Belarus.

    Seeing mainstream demographic projections in around 2019 got me more interested in major ethnic and cultural change and after the 2020 events it became the main thing I was thinking about. But it’s hard to do anything with that theme at present if you need to earn a living.

    • Agree: Ivashka the fool
  169. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool

    Women are more promiscuous than men, and their strategy is mating-up: early mating has polygamic structure, resulting in fewer men having more sex, and more men having less sex - the fact is well reflected not only through phenomenon of groupies but in the little noted fact that more young women than young men will have typical heterosexual veneral diseases (if you take into account that a fraction of men are gays, this statistically visible polygamy is even more pronounced) - one man will have sex with many women, who are thus lost for other men. Thus the wisdom of old cultures which always chaperoned young women.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/622809/gonorrhea-rate-in-the-us-by-age-and-sex/

    Such early polygamic promiscuity does not suits well monogamic marriages (creating a shadow of an ideal lover a woman once had - together with many other women; on the male side, it could create resentment of the not-ideal-lovers class, also not useful for marriage building), which maybe should be polygamic too in order to accommodate women unbridled preferences. So I am afraid women did not betray white men, they never really coveted them except few alpha cases!

    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok. So maybe worshipping Nature is not so good after all...?!

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Ivashka the fool

    If I remember well, Houllebecq book “The Extension Of War Zone” ( Extension du domaine de la lutte) was about this. When I read it, I wasn’t sure how real was the phenomenon, but apparently statistics (indirectly of course, since the average number of sexual partners per person can be misleading, as some have 1 and some have 20 which again is visible in the statistics of veneral diseases) are on Houllebecq’s side
    I also remember that in the book it was a Jewish character who was incel, which I took as parody (of the meme of Jewish sexual revolution) or/and commentary on the death of Judeochristian monogamy ;(

    • Replies: @Coconuts
    @Another Polish Perspective


    When I read it, I wasn’t sure how real was the phenomenon...
     
    I read it when I was about 19, it felt like there was some truth to it just from personal observation. This was more than 20 years ago, afaik before the 'Red Pill' movement started and when data to back it up wasn't easily available.

    It has the classic passage:


    Decidedly, I told myself, in our societies sex represents very much a secondary system of differentiation, wholly independent from that of money. It brings with it a system of differentiation that is just as pitiless. Besides the effects of these two systems are strictly equivalent. In the same way as unlimited economic liberalism, and for analogous reasons, unlimited sexual liberalism produces phenomena of absolute pauperisation. Some make love every day, some five or six times in their life and some never. Some make love to dozens of women and some to none...
     
    I didn't notice the incel guy being Jewish, I remember that he is described as short, swarthy and looking frog like, iirc the narrator draws a comparison between him and a 6'4" chisel jaw Nordic guy he also works with and comments on the differing sexual market value.

    There is a section where the narrator meets one of his old friends who is a Catholic priest in an inner city parish and I recall the priest makes some over enthusiastic comments on the vitality of the era of Louis XIV compared to the present, but the narrator doesn't take it further.

  170. @Leaves No Shadow
    @Wokechoke

    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!

    Replies: @Gerard1234

    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!

    For the last time, retard. HALF of the pipeline Russia “wanted” open is open. Obviously volume brings money and Russia in no way benefits from……..can’t be bothered explaining this idiocy

    Russia, clearly, wanted NS1 & NS2 opened and in operation. What they did not want open is the GTS of Ukraine /404 open…..and guess what – its the one that the lemming-slave-prostitute nazis in Ukraine are refusing to touch. The idea of “feeding the Kremlin’s war economy” goes into a mysterious blackhole.

    • Replies: @Leaves No Shadow
    @Gerard1234

    That half would bring more gas than could be sold and Russia most certainly didn't want NS1 open, as they had previously closed it despite Germany's objections.

    Replies: @Ron Unz

    , @Wokechoke
    @Gerard1234

    Funny that isn’t it? The one umbilical cord to Moscow they don’t sever. Just everyone else’s.

  171. @Ivashka the fool
    @AP

    О Господи...

    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan...

    LOL !

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?

    😉

    Replies: @AP

    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan…

    History repeating as farce, but still repeating. Muscovy/Russia consistently follows a template, which is hard to break, even if Khans have been Germans, or that Georgian. Larping as wigged European aristocrats, Byzantine emperors, saviours and dictators of proles, etc.

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?

    That’s what Bykov was writing. But that pattern has not been maintained since Sviatoslav. Rather, Ze’s (ex?) sponsor had stepped into the traditional role of magnate, in a system whose democratic instincts (so different from Russia’s inevitable Asiatic despotism) continue the Rzeczpospolita’s legacy.

    These two political ways are incompatible, and thus the deadly friction until there is a permanent break and Russia leave Ukraine alone, and focuses eastward.

    • Replies: @Wokechoke
    @AP

    The Jew King of Kiev either way you slice it.

    Replies: @AP

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @AP

    I agree that Muscovite tradition has been authoritarian since Ivan the Terrible at least, probably even since his father's time. That was the price of survival as the only Orthodox Slav country (with the notable exception of Montenegro) not conquered by some German or Turkic neighbor. It was also the price of building an Empire. Something that the Rzezcpospolita failed at.

    Nowadays, the time of classical Empires is over. Now it is time for federations and confederations. Vyacheslav Chornovil, one of the most respected Ukrainian nationalists of the early independent Ukraine, had in his time warned that the Ukrainian state would better be a federation instead of attempting at imposing an unified "one size fits all" approach to all the regions. He had also suggested giving a very large level of autonomy to Crimea.

    He was an intelligent person. If Ukrainian political circles would have headed his advice, there would have been no war.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack, @AP

  172. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool

    Women are more promiscuous than men, and their strategy is mating-up: early mating has polygamic structure, resulting in fewer men having more sex, and more men having less sex - the fact is well reflected not only through phenomenon of groupies but in the little noted fact that more young women than young men will have typical heterosexual veneral diseases (if you take into account that a fraction of men are gays, this statistically visible polygamy is even more pronounced) - one man will have sex with many women, who are thus lost for other men. Thus the wisdom of old cultures which always chaperoned young women.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/622809/gonorrhea-rate-in-the-us-by-age-and-sex/

    Such early polygamic promiscuity does not suits well monogamic marriages (creating a shadow of an ideal lover a woman once had - together with many other women; on the male side, it could create resentment of the not-ideal-lovers class, also not useful for marriage building), which maybe should be polygamic too in order to accommodate women unbridled preferences. So I am afraid women did not betray white men, they never really coveted them except few alpha cases!

    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok. So maybe worshipping Nature is not so good after all...?!

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Ivashka the fool

    I thought we worshipped “choice”? In other words, absolutely undetermined freedom to choose anything without any horizon determining the direction of our wills? Isn’t that modernity?

    Traditionally, it was thought our wills were naturally oriented towards the Good – a rational being was not absolutely free to choose anything, but would only want to choose the Good.

    But at some point, this was felt to be an intolerable infringement on our freedom to choose absolutely anything – creatures whose nature’s determined them to choose the Good were, in the modern sense, not “free”, although in the classical sense, freedom was precisely the ability to choose the Good (someone whose faculties were impaired, and who chose the bad, was considered “unfree”, under a constraint preventing him from doing what he would naturally want to do, choose the Good).

    But isn’t a will not oriented towards the Good, but just randomly acting, the purest expression of nihilism? Random actions undetermined by a particular horizon are meaningless events, not rational acts, just chance events that have no leaning, like a muscular tic.

    Worshipping Nature would be a will oriented towards a particular horizon, a determined will and not “free” in the modern sense, and also not nihilistic (although problematic in other ways if not modified by an understanding of what’s Good in nature).

    In fact, we worship the Nothing – and not the good “nothing” of the mystics which is actually the incomprehensible plenitude of Being, but genuine nothing, the nihil of emptiness.

    • Replies: @Coconuts
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    But at some point, this was felt to be an intolerable infringement on our freedom to choose absolutely anything – creatures whose nature’s determined them to choose the Good were, in the modern sense, not “free”, although in the classical sense, freedom was precisely the ability to choose the Good...
     
    This got me thinking about Rousseau, it's been said that he took the idea of the Catholic Beatific Vision (or possibly human life after the Second Coming) and applied it to his imagined primeval state of nature before humanity was corrupted by social life and civilisation. Rousseau seems to have believed he had rediscovered this state via his sincerity and introspection, and it made him '...the best of men'. Like a sort of reductio and deist version of radical 'inner light' Protestantism.

    It's also often linked to the way Hume's scepticism had undermined belief in Natural Law and the traditional metaphysical arguments for God's existence and nature. Famously one of the implications was that morality and value judgements could only be based on sentiment and emotion. I think Helvetius was making some similar arguments in the Francophone world at the same time.

    You can see how Jean Jacquesism might have taken on in the post-Hume period.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

  173. @Gerard1234
    @Leaves No Shadow


    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!
     
    For the last time, retard. HALF of the pipeline Russia "wanted" open is open. Obviously volume brings money and Russia in no way benefits from........can't be bothered explaining this idiocy

    Russia, clearly, wanted NS1 & NS2 opened and in operation. What they did not want open is the GTS of Ukraine /404 open.....and guess what - its the one that the lemming-slave-prostitute nazis in Ukraine are refusing to touch. The idea of "feeding the Kremlin's war economy" goes into a mysterious blackhole.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Wokechoke

    That half would bring more gas than could be sold and Russia most certainly didn’t want NS1 open, as they had previously closed it despite Germany’s objections.

    • Replies: @Ron Unz
    @Leaves No Shadow


    That half would bring more gas than could be sold and Russia most certainly didn’t want NS1 open, as they had previously closed it despite Germany’s objections
     
    It's nice to see that you're still around on this website and I hope you do stay here even if certain dramatic events soon happen in the Ukraine war.

    Meanwhile, for you and everyone else here are a couple of nice additional interviews, one with Douglas Macgregor and one with Seymour Hersh:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHi1AvTtyL8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4BuMaGlKp0

    Ideologically, they're obviously poles-apart, but they both think that the US government is totally delusional and self-destructive in its Russia/Ukraine policy, with the MSM following along behind.

    Hersh wonders whether the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines will cause the collapse of NATO, something I'd suggested from almost the day it occurred. He also seems to think that the Ukrainian forces are currently suffering crushing defeats.

    It's hardly surprising that when the West is submerged in a sea of dishonest propaganda, those most visibly standing tall above the lies are often the highest-ranking figures, individuals such as Hersh, Macgregor, John Mearsheimer, Jeffrey Sachs, and Ray McGovern. I discussed all of this in my current piece:

    https://www.unz.com/runz/standing-upright-amid-a-sea-of-lies/

    So either a good number of America's most eminent academic scholars, journalists, and national security experts have all gone totally insane, or the claims of our political and MSM elites are entirely divorced from reality. Personally, I'm betting on the latter.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack, @Leaves No Shadow, @A123, @Brás Cubas, @Yevardian

  174. @songbird
    @Leaves No Shadow


    Of course I believe in a soul. That is the world I am at home in.
     
    You seem to be saying that you can enter into people's souls at will and sift through them and correct their deficiencies.

    Am no expert on heresy, but sounds like a big one.

    https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Engineers_of_the_human_soul

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow

    You can’t travel anyone’s journey for them. That would be the heresy. It would take away their free will.

  175. @Gerard1234
    @Leaves No Shadow


    What a coincidence that the pipeline that Russian wanted open is still able to be open as they wanted, and the one they wanted closed is now forever closed!
     
    For the last time, retard. HALF of the pipeline Russia "wanted" open is open. Obviously volume brings money and Russia in no way benefits from........can't be bothered explaining this idiocy

    Russia, clearly, wanted NS1 & NS2 opened and in operation. What they did not want open is the GTS of Ukraine /404 open.....and guess what - its the one that the lemming-slave-prostitute nazis in Ukraine are refusing to touch. The idea of "feeding the Kremlin's war economy" goes into a mysterious blackhole.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @Wokechoke

    Funny that isn’t it? The one umbilical cord to Moscow they don’t sever. Just everyone else’s.

  176. @Wokechoke
    @Leaves No Shadow

    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about...or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.

    3/4 of the carrying capacity was exploded away.

    Replies: @Leaves No Shadow, @A123

    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about…or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.

    We have still seen no evidence of explosives. That is based on anonymous sources.

    Three pipes ruptured in a manner consistent with a heavy industrial accident.

    What could happen if Russia dropped pressure at the fill end to reverse flow & recovery salable material?

    • The operators opened valves at their end 1,200 km from Germany.
    • Hydrate slug #1 created a rupture.
    • Hydrate slug #2 quickly followed, resembling a single event.
    • Pipe #3 had a pressure differential end to end 1,200 km. 17 hours lucky it had a slug movement & rupture.
    • Pipe #4 luck smiled, no issue

    If the operators were clever, they may have been trying to repressurize their end of pipes #3 and #4.

    Unfortunately, it is sort of like the CCP’s lab at WIV. We will never get an opportunity to thoroughly investigate.

    PEACE 😇

    • Replies: @QCIC
    @A123

    Will you drop this theory when someone admits they bombed it?

    Replies: @A123

  177. Gerard’s frequent use of the word “cretin” has caused me to become interested in its etymology. Theory seems somewhat tenuous but interesting:

    cretin (n.)
    1779, from French crétin (18c.), from Alpine dialect crestin, “a dwarfed and deformed idiot” of a type formerly found in families in the Alpine lands, a condition caused by a congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones. The word is of uncertain origin. By many it has been identified with Vulgar Latin *christianus “a Christian,” a generic term for “anyone,” but often with a sense of “poor fellow.” Related: Cretinism (1796).

    • Agree: Ivashka the fool
  178. @Ivashka the fool
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    the women of White men
     
    Feminism. Women Rights. My body my choice.

    https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/bbb0b03df5094073b8ba258d71bd1ec7/3000.jpeg

    Not yet human.

    https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/rockcms/2022-06/220623-roe-v-wade-abortion-scotus-protest-2-se-805p-2ef18c.jpg

    TFR ~ 1...

    Divorce rate for an American marriage.

    https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2020/07/Share-of-marriages-end-in-divorces-in-US-Stevenson-Wolfers-800x545.png

    Sexual promiscuity.

    https://cdn-adklk.nitrocdn.com/vAlLOcBPjCSUTuqFpgWoGejnngKOaInw/assets/images/optimized/rev-fc9d120/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Here_s-the-list-of-states-in-the-U.S.-with-the-highest-averages..jpg

    Children born out of wedlock.

    https://ifstudies.org/ifs-admin/resources/figure14-w640.png

    Happy St. Valentine's Day !

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard

    What are the statistics for cousin couples?

    After years of having my computer flooded with Game of Thrones nonsense, yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt. Why the hush hush about this feature? Hmmm?

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    Well, they aren't Dragon-bloodlines for nothing...?

    Caveat: I do not watch this series, but I heard dragons are important there.

    , @Leaves No Shadow
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    It was a twist to do with the circumstances of Snow's birth, and therefore probably related to the biggest twist in the series. In the books, the fact that the Targaryens marry their siblings is extensively detailed.

    , @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.
     
    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.

    But they say that Charles II of Spain was more inbred than if his parents were normal brother and sister, and supposedly, his sister was a beautiful woman, even though he was ugly. Previously, I've theorized here that incest might have a worse effect on male births.

    Wonder what embryo selection would do to the congenital pathologies associated with incest.

    How many embryos would you need to select to cancel out or minimize the effects of first cousin marriage (non double)? Am guessing it wouldn't be that many.

    Also, just for the heck of it, wonder how far one could get with doing it for siblings. How difficult to reduce the risk to be equivalent to first cousin marriage? And what is the max you could do with iterative selection for siblings?

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @A123

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    I would guess they are more stable. At least they are more so in Yemen and Afghanistan. 🙂

  179. @Ivashka the fool
    @LatW


    All I asked was if that’s what you truly believe or it’s just your wishful thinking.
     
    Why would I wish for others becoming engulfed in violence and suffering ? No sane person would. I am a fool, but I am not a sociopath.

    I neither prefer nor wish this. Do not misconstrue my words. Ukrainian people know very well who their friends are.
     
    Their friends are those who wish for this war to end. Not the ones who are cheering for the slaughter.

    Dream on.
     
    Again, why would I dream for something so vile ? Do I come accross in my comments as someone who would like to see other people suffering?

    But one has to be logical and consequential, follow the dots: Baltics are in NATO and quite close to Kaliningrad and Belarus. If Belarus is dragged into the war, then the violence would probably be spilling to Kaliningrad accross the Suwalki Gap.

    It means fighting between Belarus & RusFed on one side and Ukraine, Poland and Baltics on the other. I know that East Europeans think that the West would come to the rescue of their Eastern NATO members. But the West has its own problems. The West might well decide to leave the Balto-Slav sort it out. If I was Western I would not want my people to die for the Suwalki Gap. Just like I don't want the Balto-Slav that I consider as my people to die in retarded wars under Western patronage.

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.

    Replies: @LatW, @Mikel

    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.

    You must have skipped my comments during the past year. But that’s OK, we all have a life outside of this blog.

    Btw, LatW also had a hard time understanding how I can be so opposed to Putin’s war now when I was equally opposed to Ukraine’s actions in Donbas. It’s a strange thing, actually. I used to think that we Euros have a common general view of life and the world. I actually experienced this first hand when I lived in Chile. I met many expats from Europe and the US, including even a couple of Belarussian acquaintances who tried their luck in Chile and stayed at my house for some months. I always found that it was much easier to find rapport with fellow Europeans, even from the opposite side of the continent, than with the locals.

    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches). But reality has shown me that this was an illusion. LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas. In fact, I feel like my non-religious but ethical approach to the question of war probably resonates more with non-Europeans these days than with fellow Euros. From what I read here and there, I have the impression that, unlike most Westerners, non-Euros are just aghast at the war that was once again started in Europe, hoping that it doesn’t affect them too much and in general not feeling much need to take sides.

    • Replies: @Sean
    @Mikel


    LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas
     
    All depends what you are willing to put up with. Re General Milley's recent remarks that Russia has after one year lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its brutal and illegal invasion, while that is true the invasion was most certainly not as Miley alleges "unprovoked."

    It may have been illegal and brutal, but it was not unprovoked. Russia warned they would not stand for Ukraine getting close to the American led anti Russian military alliance known as Nato, and the top US diplomat in Moscow (now head of the CIA) told the White House that Russia was serious. The invasion came after the US and Ukraine knowingly challenged the Kremlin, which set out to show that Russia was not the sort of country that could be affronted with impunity .

    , @sudden death
    @Mikel


    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches).
     
    It all depends on what is your own prefered definition and chosen moment of starting the war, because if not RF'ian intervention, everything would have ended in UA/Crimea/Donbas circa 2014 no any different than it ended in Spain/Catalunya after the most recent independence referendum there.

    Replies: @Mikel

    , @Ivashka the fool
    @Mikel

    You're right Mikel. You have also been a voice for peace and sanity. I apologize for having omitted mentioning that.

    Re. the acceptability of war in Europe. I think we are undergoing a regression of social norms. My opinion is that it started in the West in 2001 after the Twin Towers attack. It started in the former USSR earlier in late 80ies and early 90ies with all the ethnic strife and the criminal and political violence.

    I think we are devolving toward more tribalism everywhere. I don't think that this is entirely negative. Humans need a clan and a tribe to rely upon. Progress has deprived them from that, the regression & archaization would probably bring it back.

    Replies: @Mikel

  180. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    What are the statistics for cousin couples?

    After years of having my computer flooded with Game of Thrones nonsense, yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow's aunt. Why the hush hush about this feature? Hmmm?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Ivashka the fool

    Well, they aren’t Dragon-bloodlines for nothing…?

    Caveat: I do not watch this series, but I heard dragons are important there.

  181. @AP
    @Ivashka the fool


    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan…
     
    History repeating as farce, but still repeating. Muscovy/Russia consistently follows a template, which is hard to break, even if Khans have been Germans, or that Georgian. Larping as wigged European aristocrats, Byzantine emperors, saviours and dictators of proles, etc.

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?
     
    That’s what Bykov was writing. But that pattern has not been maintained since Sviatoslav. Rather, Ze’s (ex?) sponsor had stepped into the traditional role of magnate, in a system whose democratic instincts (so different from Russia’s inevitable Asiatic despotism) continue the Rzeczpospolita’s legacy.

    These two political ways are incompatible, and thus the deadly friction until there is a permanent break and Russia leave Ukraine alone, and focuses eastward.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @Ivashka the fool

    The Jew King of Kiev either way you slice it.

    • Replies: @AP
    @Wokechoke

    How was Britain under Disraeli?

    Replies: @songbird, @Wokechoke

  182. @Wokechoke
    @AP

    The Jew King of Kiev either way you slice it.

    Replies: @AP

    How was Britain under Disraeli?

    • Replies: @songbird
    @AP


    How was Britain under Disraeli?
     
    Disraeli stirred-up anti-Irish animus, in order to prevaricate and dissimulate about his true identity and allegiance:

    https://twitter.com/blackrepublican/status/844767698009505792?s=20&t=YS2SlZDVRLrXxsVmRh2Fzg

    https://twitter.com/Steve_Sailer/status/1584853051105738754?s=20&t=YS2SlZDVRLrXxsVmRh2Fzg
    , @Wokechoke
    @AP

    Disraeli’s government fell when the Redcoats in Islandwana were nigger rushed by the Zulus.

    "A very remarkable people the Zulu. They defeat our generals; they convert our bishops; they have settled the fate of a great European dynasty." Here he is referring to the death in combat of Prince Louis Napoleon at Islandwana in a battle he instigated. It also ended Disraeli.

    Disraeli also had the hots for Zulus after they crushed Lord Chelmsford’s encampment.


    Disraeli did indeed encourage anti Irish sentiment.

  183. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    What are the statistics for cousin couples?

    After years of having my computer flooded with Game of Thrones nonsense, yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow's aunt. Why the hush hush about this feature? Hmmm?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Ivashka the fool

    It was a twist to do with the circumstances of Snow’s birth, and therefore probably related to the biggest twist in the series. In the books, the fact that the Targaryens marry their siblings is extensively detailed.

  184. @AP
    @Wokechoke

    How was Britain under Disraeli?

    Replies: @songbird, @Wokechoke

    How was Britain under Disraeli?

    Disraeli stirred-up anti-Irish animus, in order to prevaricate and dissimulate about his true identity and allegiance:

    [MORE]

  185. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    What are the statistics for cousin couples?

    After years of having my computer flooded with Game of Thrones nonsense, yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow's aunt. Why the hush hush about this feature? Hmmm?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Ivashka the fool

    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.

    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.

    But they say that Charles II of Spain was more inbred than if his parents were normal brother and sister, and supposedly, his sister was a beautiful woman, even though he was ugly. Previously, I’ve theorized here that incest might have a worse effect on male births.

    Wonder what embryo selection would do to the congenital pathologies associated with incest.

    How many embryos would you need to select to cancel out or minimize the effects of first cousin marriage (non double)? Am guessing it wouldn’t be that many.

    Also, just for the heck of it, wonder how far one could get with doing it for siblings. How difficult to reduce the risk to be equivalent to first cousin marriage? And what is the max you could do with iterative selection for siblings?

    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @songbird

    The days of telling your daughter who to marry are over with so the question is moot.

    I read a good old biologist who said humans are instinctively perpetually asexual towards other humans they were closely familiar with aged 3-7. My own personal data collection provides no argument contra to this. I had a stepsister who was hot enough and I never had any attraction towards her at all even when my hormone flux was 11 on a scale of 10. I have a cousin that might even be acceptable by Yahya's elite criteria.

    Again absolute zippo.

    The people who write Game of Thrones &c seem oblivious to this however or I could be completely erroneous.

    Replies: @songbird

    , @A123
    @songbird



    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.
     
    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.
     
    Bringing back Drogo rendered Daenerys sterile, "only death can pay for life". She admits this in a TV episode. In terms of reproductive genetics, the overlapping lineage with Jon Snow (a.k.a. Jon Targaryen) is not relevant.

    This should have been handled better in TV season 8. Setting up a new royal family that cannot have an heir is absurd for the universe as established. Assuming George RR Martin lives long enough to finish the novels, we should find out more in a few years.

    PEACE 😇

    Replies: @songbird

  186. @AP
    @Wokechoke

    How was Britain under Disraeli?

    Replies: @songbird, @Wokechoke

    Disraeli’s government fell when the Redcoats in Islandwana were nigger rushed by the Zulus.

    “A very remarkable people the Zulu. They defeat our generals; they convert our bishops; they have settled the fate of a great European dynasty.” Here he is referring to the death in combat of Prince Louis Napoleon at Islandwana in a battle he instigated. It also ended Disraeli.

    Disraeli also had the hots for Zulus after they crushed Lord Chelmsford’s encampment.

    Disraeli did indeed encourage anti Irish sentiment.

  187. @AnonfromTN
    @Mikel


    will shrewd Lukashenko be willing to risk much more
     
    Luka is wily, or, to be exact, he is best described by my grandma’s phrase in Ukrainian “дурний, та хитрий” (stupid, but cunning). For many years he tried to maneuver between the RF, China, and the EU to maximize goodies Belarus gets from all sides (Belarus cannot live as well as it does on its own resources). However, the West made a strategic mistake in Belarus: instead of cultivating Luka and nudging him towards pro-Western position, the West attempted a color revolution against him. Luka is not a coward, like Ukrainian Yanuk, he did not surrender before the battle was lost, but fought back vigorously and prevailed. Net result: Western morons pushed him into Putin’s camp. Today Putin firmly holds his balls in his hand and can squeeze as hard as he needs. What’s more, now Luka has nothing to loose: Belarus is already under a bunch of idiotic Western sanctions. So, if Putin wants Belarus to join the RF in Ukraine, he is going to get his wish. Whether he wants it is another question.

    Replies: @Mikel, @Gerard1234

    instead of cultivating Luka and nudging him towards pro-Western position, the West attempted a color revolution against him.

    No. Lukashenko just overplayed his hand by first imprisoning opposition candidates on trumped-up charges and then publishing elections results that nobody over 10 years of age could believe in, although you seemed to believe that the Kherson and Zaporizhia referendums were legitimate, but well, the thing is that lots of people in Belarus weren’t so gullible and reacted strongly in the streets. The West did try to meddle, of course, but you make it sound like some CIA operatives went to Belarus and arranged a revolution out of the blue. Western intervention in the Belarus election crisis was in fact much more subdued than during the Maidan uprising.

    However, it is possibly a good thing that the protests didn’t go too far and eventually calmed down with no bloodbath. The average person in Belarus is probably better off under a dictatorial regime than in a state of chaos and armed conflict like their southern neighbors. Besides, it is not very clear that a Jeffersonian democracy is the optimal social arrangement among Eastern Slavs. I’m not sure it has ever worked very well there.

    Luka has nothing to loose

    His throne and maybe even his head if a stream of coffins starts coming to their families from Ukraine a few years after he showed the middle finger to the people who voted in the elections.

    • Agree: Coconuts
  188. @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.
     
    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.

    But they say that Charles II of Spain was more inbred than if his parents were normal brother and sister, and supposedly, his sister was a beautiful woman, even though he was ugly. Previously, I've theorized here that incest might have a worse effect on male births.

    Wonder what embryo selection would do to the congenital pathologies associated with incest.

    How many embryos would you need to select to cancel out or minimize the effects of first cousin marriage (non double)? Am guessing it wouldn't be that many.

    Also, just for the heck of it, wonder how far one could get with doing it for siblings. How difficult to reduce the risk to be equivalent to first cousin marriage? And what is the max you could do with iterative selection for siblings?

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @A123

    The days of telling your daughter who to marry are over with so the question is moot.

    I read a good old biologist who said humans are instinctively perpetually asexual towards other humans they were closely familiar with aged 3-7. My own personal data collection provides no argument contra to this. I had a stepsister who was hot enough and I never had any attraction towards her at all even when my hormone flux was 11 on a scale of 10. I have a cousin that might even be acceptable by Yahya’s elite criteria.

    Again absolute zippo.

    The people who write Game of Thrones &c seem oblivious to this however or I could be completely erroneous.

    • LOL: Sher Singh
    • Replies: @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    The people who write Game of Thrones &c seem oblivious to this
     
    Targaryen family (lot of incest in tree) was probably based on different god-king dynasties, like the Pharaohs or Inca, where they were supposed to always marry close relatives.

    Greg Cochran once seemed to say that he thought that at least with the Ptolemies it was fake or part fake. (Too much leads to sterility) Cleopatra is described as quite a scholar, and I think beautiful? But historians could have been lying.

    Lots of theories about why George R. R. Martin (wrote the books) had so much incest in them. Some say it was because he wanted to promote genetics (such as recessive genes for controlling dragons.) Mostly think it was because he thought it was titillating. One case didn't involve dragons, but evil twins, but mentions hair color.

    Jon and Dany could possibly fall under genetic attraction theory. Wikipedia says it is bunk (and could be) but take it with a grain of salt because they do that with everything even remotely related to race.

    "You will be made to desire Lizzo."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction

    Super not scientific, but I have only been very mildly attracted to one second cousin. (not that I would necessarily look at her in a room of girls) I'm laughing about the idea of them devising some sort of test to see whether everyone is lying or not.

    I had a stepsister who was hot enough and I never had any attraction towards her at all even when my hormone flux was 11 on a scale of 10.
     
    About how old were you when you first met? (<6?) Does it support this?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect
  189. @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.
     
    You must have skipped my comments during the past year. But that's OK, we all have a life outside of this blog.

    Btw, LatW also had a hard time understanding how I can be so opposed to Putin's war now when I was equally opposed to Ukraine's actions in Donbas. It's a strange thing, actually. I used to think that we Euros have a common general view of life and the world. I actually experienced this first hand when I lived in Chile. I met many expats from Europe and the US, including even a couple of Belarussian acquaintances who tried their luck in Chile and stayed at my house for some months. I always found that it was much easier to find rapport with fellow Europeans, even from the opposite side of the continent, than with the locals.

    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches). But reality has shown me that this was an illusion. LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas. In fact, I feel like my non-religious but ethical approach to the question of war probably resonates more with non-Europeans these days than with fellow Euros. From what I read here and there, I have the impression that, unlike most Westerners, non-Euros are just aghast at the war that was once again started in Europe, hoping that it doesn't affect them too much and in general not feeling much need to take sides.

    Replies: @Sean, @sudden death, @Ivashka the fool

    LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas

    All depends what you are willing to put up with. Re General Milley’s recent remarks that Russia has after one year lost strategically, operationally and tactically in its brutal and illegal invasion, while that is true the invasion was most certainly not as Miley alleges “unprovoked.”

    It may have been illegal and brutal, but it was not unprovoked. Russia warned they would not stand for Ukraine getting close to the American led anti Russian military alliance known as Nato, and the top US diplomat in Moscow (now head of the CIA) told the White House that Russia was serious. The invasion came after the US and Ukraine knowingly challenged the Kremlin, which set out to show that Russia was not the sort of country that could be affronted with impunity .

  190. @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.
     
    You must have skipped my comments during the past year. But that's OK, we all have a life outside of this blog.

    Btw, LatW also had a hard time understanding how I can be so opposed to Putin's war now when I was equally opposed to Ukraine's actions in Donbas. It's a strange thing, actually. I used to think that we Euros have a common general view of life and the world. I actually experienced this first hand when I lived in Chile. I met many expats from Europe and the US, including even a couple of Belarussian acquaintances who tried their luck in Chile and stayed at my house for some months. I always found that it was much easier to find rapport with fellow Europeans, even from the opposite side of the continent, than with the locals.

    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches). But reality has shown me that this was an illusion. LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas. In fact, I feel like my non-religious but ethical approach to the question of war probably resonates more with non-Europeans these days than with fellow Euros. From what I read here and there, I have the impression that, unlike most Westerners, non-Euros are just aghast at the war that was once again started in Europe, hoping that it doesn't affect them too much and in general not feeling much need to take sides.

    Replies: @Sean, @sudden death, @Ivashka the fool

    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches).

    It all depends on what is your own prefered definition and chosen moment of starting the war, because if not RF’ian intervention, everything would have ended in UA/Crimea/Donbas circa 2014 no any different than it ended in Spain/Catalunya after the most recent independence referendum there.

    • Replies: @Mikel
    @sudden death


    It all depends on what is your own prefered definition and chosen moment of starting the war
     
    No, and you're proving my point. Regardless of who started the conflict, you always have the choice of not shooting at civilians. Ukrainian authorities decided that their country's territorial integrity was more valuable than the lives of innocent civilians living in those territories and possibly most people in Ukraine found that decision correct, or eventually came to find it inevitable, including many practicing Christians. The public in the West was carefully kept ignorant of this fact but right now I wouldn't be too surprised if many Westerners also approved of Ukraine's decision to shell civilians areas because "Russia started first".


    if not RF’ian intervention, everything would have ended in UA/Crimea/Donbas circa 2014 no any different than it ended in Spain/Catalunya
     
    You're wrong. People on both sides in Ukraine were willing to kill and die, as proven by the Maidan events and later on in Donbas, Kharkiv, Odessa, etc. Nobody was really willing to die in Spain/Catalonia and nobody actually died. In fact, the Catalonian autonomous government had already declared the Catalan Republic in the 30s, at a time of much more political turbulence, but the rebellion also fizzled out in a couple of days when the Spanish authorities, backed by armed forces that in those days were definitely willing to kill, appeared on the scene.

    You may say that Catalans (and Basques) don't have what it takes to become independent, if you want. But how much they're willing to sacrifice for that political objective is their legitimate choice to make. ETA, that still retains plenty of support in some parts of the Basque Country, did kill around 800 people to try to achieve independence, many of them civilians and even some children, if that makes them more likeable to you, since the Spaniards started it all when they invaded the Kingdom of Navarre in the 16th century.

    Replies: @sudden death

  191. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Mr. Hack

    Ah, Mr Hack, American Thai restaurants can be quite good, but they are notorious for changing the flavor to suit American palates!

    What you eat on the streets of Bangkok is most of the time quite different - much more intense and spicy!

    Which is not to say you aren't getting some idea of the incredible flavors of Thai food in America, and even if very different it can be good in it's own right (perhaps it can be a new cuisine :) )

    One must travel to Thailand or make it oneself to get the real deal, alas. However, curries are closest to what you find in Thailand, so you can enjoy that in Phoenix :)

    Vietnamese can be quite good too and more authentic - there used to be this chain of bread and Ban Mhi shops in Phoenix that I thought was quite decent for a chain - Lees Bakery, maybe? I don't quite remember - I ate at it in Scottsdale once.

    NYC has a lot of really good Banh Mi shops :)

    Believe it or not, I've never had Borscht before - but recently I was in a part of Brooklyn that had a community from Tashkent, and I picked up a prepared Borscht soup completely on a whim - I have to confess, it was amazing! I was quite surprised. The sour flavors were unexpected but perfect. Thai soups can be excellent too.

    Here's to fermentation and the contribution it makes to deliciousness.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack

    much more intense and spicy!

    I can only imagine. I always get this carousel placed on my table with about 4 different types of hot spices that I can use to increase the voltage, if I think it’s necessary (and I almost always put at least a little into my main dish). If I feel a cold coming on, I put a lot on, so that I can feel the heat in the nasal cavities in my head, and stop the progression right there on the spot. 🙂

    But the nice thing about Thai food is that it doesn’t need to be very spicy at all. Flavors like peanuts, Thai basil, lemon grass, can be real tasty and are often used as the main taste profile of many dishes. Another thing about Thai food that most Americans don’t realize is that it’s a very varied sort of cuisine, changing a lot depending on the region within Thailand that you find yourself. I watch Thai food shows on the tube and have learned about this, even while I’m at some of the restaurants where they often play Thai foodie travelogs within the premises. We really are only experiencing the “tip of the iceberg”, here in the states.

    • Agree: HeavilyMarbledSteak
    • Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Mr. Hack

    One of the fascinating things about Thailand, or Japan, or almost anywhere in Asia, is the incredible variety and extent of food, that reflects regional cuisine and just imagination.

    Walking through a Thai food market, or a Japanese, you are treated to an astonishing explosion of food variety - little stalls selling everything imaginable. It's quite a delight, what I imagine a market in Medieval Europe to have been like, before everything was "rationalized" and made "efficient" :)

    I want to write more about this - my sense is that Asia is "horizontally creative" while the West is - or has been, hopefully it's changing - "vertically creative".

    What I mean is, Asia doesn't really change so very much or invent anything really new or dramatic, but explores the incredibly rich possibilities of being human as it is now - so we all love to eat, so Asia will really get down to exploring the full range of what that might mean. Or just being human in general - Asian cities pack a maximum of human "stuff" in the space available - nothing streamlined or efficient - to create maximum entertainment for being human.

    The West on the other hand will focus on creating rather streamlined and efficient - and perhaps somewhat boring, comparatively speaking - spaces, but focus on creative "ascent" - the next big thing moving forward, etc, the next new technology or thing that will transform human life, etc.

    It's an interesting difference, but perhaps changing - I do think so. (Vertical ascent is a mistake, imo).

    And it ties into your point about regional differences in cuisine - India and China, too, have incredible regional variety, and even a relatively small country like Thailand. And that's great!

    Maximum exploration of the human condition it is now is what I favor :)

  192. @AP
    @Ivashka the fool


    Why would an intelligent man such as yourself, write such a collection of self-righteous clichés.

    🙄

    Pynya the Muscovite khan…
     
    History repeating as farce, but still repeating. Muscovy/Russia consistently follows a template, which is hard to break, even if Khans have been Germans, or that Georgian. Larping as wigged European aristocrats, Byzantine emperors, saviours and dictators of proles, etc.

    How should we call Zelya then?

    The Kievan Khazarian Khagan ?
     
    That’s what Bykov was writing. But that pattern has not been maintained since Sviatoslav. Rather, Ze’s (ex?) sponsor had stepped into the traditional role of magnate, in a system whose democratic instincts (so different from Russia’s inevitable Asiatic despotism) continue the Rzeczpospolita’s legacy.

    These two political ways are incompatible, and thus the deadly friction until there is a permanent break and Russia leave Ukraine alone, and focuses eastward.

    Replies: @Wokechoke, @Ivashka the fool

    I agree that Muscovite tradition has been authoritarian since Ivan the Terrible at least, probably even since his father’s time. That was the price of survival as the only Orthodox Slav country (with the notable exception of Montenegro) not conquered by some German or Turkic neighbor. It was also the price of building an Empire. Something that the Rzezcpospolita failed at.

    Nowadays, the time of classical Empires is over. Now it is time for federations and confederations. Vyacheslav Chornovil, one of the most respected Ukrainian nationalists of the early independent Ukraine, had in his time warned that the Ukrainian state would better be a federation instead of attempting at imposing an unified “one size fits all” approach to all the regions. He had also suggested giving a very large level of autonomy to Crimea.

    He was an intelligent person. If Ukrainian political circles would have headed his advice, there would have been no war.

    • Replies: @Mr. Hack
    @Ivashka the fool

    It's been a long, long time since I've read his famous political manifesto "Boomerang", and he may have been another Skoropadsky type who was all over the board depending on the time of day, but I don't remember him advocating a federative approach for Ukraine? During my college days, I was involved in getting him to come to Mpls when he first was released, even met with him privately in his hotel room after he got through with his big meeting with the whole diaspora crowd.

    This is the Valentyn Moroz that I remember:


    Moroz’s political utterances, for instance his view that Ukrainian independence should be secured by any possible means, including guerrilla war, appealed to supporters of the former guerrilla leader Stepan Bandera, but not to other sections of Canada’s Ukrainian diaspora. After the Ukrainian former political prisoner Leonid Plyushch had asserted that Ukraine needed “democracy, not fascism”, Moroz dismissed him as an “underdeveloped Ukrainian – a Jew.”[3]
     
    I don't think that he would chacterize Zelensky as such today.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentyn_Moroz
    , @AP
    @Ivashka the fool


    I agree that Muscovite tradition has been authoritarian since Ivan the Terrible at least, probably even since his father’s time. That was the price of survival as the only Orthodox Slav country (with the notable exception of Montenegro) not conquered by some German or Turkic neighbor. It was also the price of building an Empire. Something that the Rzezcpospolita failed at.
     
    I disagree. Russia was the only Slavic state that became an Empire because it was the only one that bordered technologically backward and tribal peoples. Various Western European countries with access to such peoples via their ships also built great empires, and they had diverse governing systems - Britain, France, Spain, even the Netherlands and Portugal.

    Rzeczpospolita was in trouble because it was landlocked and surrounded. The Germans had a similar problem and despite being more numerous than Poles, their 2nd and 3rd Reichs didn’t last nearly as long as did PLC.

    Russian despotism was a product of a selection process within the Horde wherein the most loyal and collaborationist of the Rus princes monopolized power (with Tatar patronage) over those who were less loyal. This resulted in a Russian ruling class that was both close to the Tatars in terms of their political folkways and that had less loyalty to their own subjects and native traditions.

    Nowadays, the time of classical Empires is over. Now it is time for federations and confederations
     
    Indeed. A federation of Poland, Ukraine, the Baltics, and maybe liberation/restoration of Belarus would be a very good thing. Add Czechia and perhaps Slovakia.

    Vyacheslav Chornovil, one of the most respected Ukrainian nationalists of the early independent Ukraine, had in his time warned that the Ukrainian state would better be a federation instead of attempting at imposing an unified “one size fits all” approach to all the regions. He had also suggested giving a very large level of autonomy to Crimea

     

    Crimea and the Russian-populated parts of Donbas should have been expelled from the start. The rest of Ukraine - that had a solid Ukrainian majority in each region - could have been federated.

    If this had occurred from the beginning, Ukraine would have been in the EU and NATO and there would have been no war.

    A federation with parts populated by ethnic Russian majorities and loyal to Russia would have been a terrible thing for Ukraine (but good for Russia). It would have been a repetition of late-stage PLC where Russia used a few Russia-friendly magnates to paralyze the whole system for its own purposes.

    Replies: @Gerard1234

  193. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Another Polish Perspective

    If I remember well, Houllebecq book "The Extension Of War Zone" ( Extension du domaine de la lutte) was about this. When I read it, I wasn't sure how real was the phenomenon, but apparently statistics (indirectly of course, since the average number of sexual partners per person can be misleading, as some have 1 and some have 20 which again is visible in the statistics of veneral diseases) are on Houllebecq's side
    I also remember that in the book it was a Jewish character who was incel, which I took as parody (of the meme of Jewish sexual revolution) or/and commentary on the death of Judeochristian monogamy ;(

    Replies: @Coconuts

    When I read it, I wasn’t sure how real was the phenomenon…

    I read it when I was about 19, it felt like there was some truth to it just from personal observation. This was more than 20 years ago, afaik before the ‘Red Pill’ movement started and when data to back it up wasn’t easily available.

    It has the classic passage:

    Decidedly, I told myself, in our societies sex represents very much a secondary system of differentiation, wholly independent from that of money. It brings with it a system of differentiation that is just as pitiless. Besides the effects of these two systems are strictly equivalent. In the same way as unlimited economic liberalism, and for analogous reasons, unlimited sexual liberalism produces phenomena of absolute pauperisation. Some make love every day, some five or six times in their life and some never. Some make love to dozens of women and some to none…

    I didn’t notice the incel guy being Jewish, I remember that he is described as short, swarthy and looking frog like, iirc the narrator draws a comparison between him and a 6’4″ chisel jaw Nordic guy he also works with and comments on the differing sexual market value.

    There is a section where the narrator meets one of his old friends who is a Catholic priest in an inner city parish and I recall the priest makes some over enthusiastic comments on the vitality of the era of Louis XIV compared to the present, but the narrator doesn’t take it further.

  194. @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    I have decried the war between Ukiestan and RusFed from day one. And I have noticed that I might have been the only one on this forum to consistently do so.
     
    You must have skipped my comments during the past year. But that's OK, we all have a life outside of this blog.

    Btw, LatW also had a hard time understanding how I can be so opposed to Putin's war now when I was equally opposed to Ukraine's actions in Donbas. It's a strange thing, actually. I used to think that we Euros have a common general view of life and the world. I actually experienced this first hand when I lived in Chile. I met many expats from Europe and the US, including even a couple of Belarussian acquaintances who tried their luck in Chile and stayed at my house for some months. I always found that it was much easier to find rapport with fellow Europeans, even from the opposite side of the continent, than with the locals.

    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches). But reality has shown me that this was an illusion. LatW is by no means alone in Europe or the US, where most people seem to have started to regard war as a legitimate course of action to solve political/territorial disputes rather than moral dilemmas. In fact, I feel like my non-religious but ethical approach to the question of war probably resonates more with non-Europeans these days than with fellow Euros. From what I read here and there, I have the impression that, unlike most Westerners, non-Euros are just aghast at the war that was once again started in Europe, hoping that it doesn't affect them too much and in general not feeling much need to take sides.

    Replies: @Sean, @sudden death, @Ivashka the fool

    You’re right Mikel. You have also been a voice for peace and sanity. I apologize for having omitted mentioning that.

    Re. the acceptability of war in Europe. I think we are undergoing a regression of social norms. My opinion is that it started in the West in 2001 after the Twin Towers attack. It started in the former USSR earlier in late 80ies and early 90ies with all the ethnic strife and the criminal and political violence.

    I think we are devolving toward more tribalism everywhere. I don’t think that this is entirely negative. Humans need a clan and a tribe to rely upon. Progress has deprived them from that, the regression & archaization would probably bring it back.

    • Replies: @Mikel
    @Ivashka the fool


    I think we are devolving toward more tribalism everywhere. I don’t think that this is entirely negative. Humans need a clan and a tribe to rely upon. 
     
    This is the crux of the issue, imho. I don't have much time to elaborate but we humans evolved for hundreds of thousands of years as a tribal species. During all of that time using violence to keep outsiders away from our hunting-gathering space made perfect sense, from a survival perspective. Defending your tribe was just a natural extension of defending your family, which not even the most extremist pacifists would object to, I think. And even if we hadn't have that particular evolution we have the same territorial instinct of all members of the animalia group in the eukaryotes domain.

    People may rationalize the necessity of war in many different ways but it all boils down to our very deep, ancestral instincts. However, we don't live in tribal structures anymore at all. Nation states are a very novel, abstract structure that mimics the tribe that, as you correctly point out, we still feel the need to belong to but are radically different. People being rounded up in Odessa to be forced to kill what they perhaps consider their own kin is the perfect example of this difference.

    Besides, we are the only rational species on this planet. Chimpanzees may go to war against a neighboring group and use much more violence than necessary without giving it any thought or feeling any moral compunction but our brains evolved too much and we are not like that.

    In fact, our brains have evolved so much that we have now made our planet enter the nuclear era and we can turn one of our old territorial disputes into a global catastrophic event, which history and human nature suggest will happen sooner or later. So, paradoxically, our survival now depends on being able to put under strict control an instinct that until recently was beneficial for our survival.

    In other words, I agree with you on the importance of the human tribal dimension but I disagree on the benefits of turning back to it in the present circumstances.

    Replies: @Coconuts

  195. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    What are the statistics for cousin couples?

    After years of having my computer flooded with Game of Thrones nonsense, yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow's aunt. Why the hush hush about this feature? Hmmm?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Leaves No Shadow, @songbird, @Ivashka the fool

    I would guess they are more stable. At least they are more so in Yemen and Afghanistan. 🙂

  196. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    I thought we worshipped "choice"? In other words, absolutely undetermined freedom to choose anything without any horizon determining the direction of our wills? Isn't that modernity?

    Traditionally, it was thought our wills were naturally oriented towards the Good - a rational being was not absolutely free to choose anything, but would only want to choose the Good.

    But at some point, this was felt to be an intolerable infringement on our freedom to choose absolutely anything - creatures whose nature's determined them to choose the Good were, in the modern sense, not "free", although in the classical sense, freedom was precisely the ability to choose the Good (someone whose faculties were impaired, and who chose the bad, was considered "unfree", under a constraint preventing him from doing what he would naturally want to do, choose the Good).

    But isn't a will not oriented towards the Good, but just randomly acting, the purest expression of nihilism? Random actions undetermined by a particular horizon are meaningless events, not rational acts, just chance events that have no leaning, like a muscular tic.

    Worshipping Nature would be a will oriented towards a particular horizon, a determined will and not "free" in the modern sense, and also not nihilistic (although problematic in other ways if not modified by an understanding of what's Good in nature).

    In fact, we worship the Nothing - and not the good "nothing" of the mystics which is actually the incomprehensible plenitude of Being, but genuine nothing, the nihil of emptiness.

    Replies: @Coconuts

    But at some point, this was felt to be an intolerable infringement on our freedom to choose absolutely anything – creatures whose nature’s determined them to choose the Good were, in the modern sense, not “free”, although in the classical sense, freedom was precisely the ability to choose the Good…

    This got me thinking about Rousseau, it’s been said that he took the idea of the Catholic Beatific Vision (or possibly human life after the Second Coming) and applied it to his imagined primeval state of nature before humanity was corrupted by social life and civilisation. Rousseau seems to have believed he had rediscovered this state via his sincerity and introspection, and it made him ‘…the best of men’. Like a sort of reductio and deist version of radical ‘inner light’ Protestantism.

    It’s also often linked to the way Hume’s scepticism had undermined belief in Natural Law and the traditional metaphysical arguments for God’s existence and nature. Famously one of the implications was that morality and value judgements could only be based on sentiment and emotion. I think Helvetius was making some similar arguments in the Francophone world at the same time.

    You can see how Jean Jacquesism might have taken on in the post-Hume period.

    • Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Coconuts

    Who really wants the freedom to choose "whatever"? I'd rather choose the Good :)

    I'd rather be the type of creature that wants the Good, that is compelled to choose the valuable. Am I crazy? Whence comes this desire to be capable of choosing "whatever"? And yet I see it everywhere.

    Its been said that mankind models itself after it's conception of God, and at some point in the West, God's "omnipotence" began to take precedence over his Goodness. This was a fatal mistake - whence this obsession with "power"? The power to will anything at all?

    Rousseau was on some level hearkening back to a pre-Fall primordial state of perfection, but also prefiguring the modern obsession with the freedom to will "anything" - he was a confused man, although he had some good in him.

    In Taoism, "freedom" is aligning oneself with the Tao - it's not the freedom to will anything at all, but the freedom to will what is natural for us to will, to be the sorts of creatures who align ourselves with Good. The freedom to realize our determined nature.

    In a sense, the greatest freedom is the greatest un-freedom :) When we humans are what we are by necessity, when we follow our natures, we are freest.

    Humean logic is limited logic - one step further, and it undermines itself. Sure, logic alone and purely can't provide a basis for morality and value judgements - but logic also can't provide a basis for itself :) All these years, and we humans can't provide a "ground" for logic.

    Why is modernity so afraid to take that next step?

    Either there is some correspondence between human thought and "reality" or there isn't - if there isn't, then the very logic that tells us there isn't can't be trusted, and is self-undermining. But if there is, then....

    Then?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

  197. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @songbird

    The days of telling your daughter who to marry are over with so the question is moot.

    I read a good old biologist who said humans are instinctively perpetually asexual towards other humans they were closely familiar with aged 3-7. My own personal data collection provides no argument contra to this. I had a stepsister who was hot enough and I never had any attraction towards her at all even when my hormone flux was 11 on a scale of 10. I have a cousin that might even be acceptable by Yahya's elite criteria.

    Again absolute zippo.

    The people who write Game of Thrones &c seem oblivious to this however or I could be completely erroneous.

    Replies: @songbird

    The people who write Game of Thrones &c seem oblivious to this

    Targaryen family (lot of incest in tree) was probably based on different god-king dynasties, like the Pharaohs or Inca, where they were supposed to always marry close relatives.

    [MORE]

    Greg Cochran once seemed to say that he thought that at least with the Ptolemies it was fake or part fake. (Too much leads to sterility) Cleopatra is described as quite a scholar, and I think beautiful? But historians could have been lying.

    Lots of theories about why George R. R. Martin (wrote the books) had so much incest in them. Some say it was because he wanted to promote genetics (such as recessive genes for controlling dragons.) Mostly think it was because he thought it was titillating. One case didn’t involve dragons, but evil twins, but mentions hair color.

    Jon and Dany could possibly fall under genetic attraction theory. Wikipedia says it is bunk (and could be) but take it with a grain of salt because they do that with everything even remotely related to race.

    “You will be made to desire Lizzo.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction

    Super not scientific, but I have only been very mildly attracted to one second cousin. (not that I would necessarily look at her in a room of girls) I’m laughing about the idea of them devising some sort of test to see whether everyone is lying or not.

    I had a stepsister who was hot enough and I never had any attraction towards her at all even when my hormone flux was 11 on a scale of 10.

    About how old were you when you first met? (<6?) Does it support this?
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westermarck_effect

  198. @Coconuts
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    But at some point, this was felt to be an intolerable infringement on our freedom to choose absolutely anything – creatures whose nature’s determined them to choose the Good were, in the modern sense, not “free”, although in the classical sense, freedom was precisely the ability to choose the Good...
     
    This got me thinking about Rousseau, it's been said that he took the idea of the Catholic Beatific Vision (or possibly human life after the Second Coming) and applied it to his imagined primeval state of nature before humanity was corrupted by social life and civilisation. Rousseau seems to have believed he had rediscovered this state via his sincerity and introspection, and it made him '...the best of men'. Like a sort of reductio and deist version of radical 'inner light' Protestantism.

    It's also often linked to the way Hume's scepticism had undermined belief in Natural Law and the traditional metaphysical arguments for God's existence and nature. Famously one of the implications was that morality and value judgements could only be based on sentiment and emotion. I think Helvetius was making some similar arguments in the Francophone world at the same time.

    You can see how Jean Jacquesism might have taken on in the post-Hume period.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    Who really wants the freedom to choose “whatever”? I’d rather choose the Good 🙂

    I’d rather be the type of creature that wants the Good, that is compelled to choose the valuable. Am I crazy? Whence comes this desire to be capable of choosing “whatever”? And yet I see it everywhere.

    Its been said that mankind models itself after it’s conception of God, and at some point in the West, God’s “omnipotence” began to take precedence over his Goodness. This was a fatal mistake – whence this obsession with “power”? The power to will anything at all?

    Rousseau was on some level hearkening back to a pre-Fall primordial state of perfection, but also prefiguring the modern obsession with the freedom to will “anything” – he was a confused man, although he had some good in him.

    In Taoism, “freedom” is aligning oneself with the Tao – it’s not the freedom to will anything at all, but the freedom to will what is natural for us to will, to be the sorts of creatures who align ourselves with Good. The freedom to realize our determined nature.

    In a sense, the greatest freedom is the greatest un-freedom 🙂 When we humans are what we are by necessity, when we follow our natures, we are freest.

    Humean logic is limited logic – one step further, and it undermines itself. Sure, logic alone and purely can’t provide a basis for morality and value judgements – but logic also can’t provide a basis for itself 🙂 All these years, and we humans can’t provide a “ground” for logic.

    Why is modernity so afraid to take that next step?

    Either there is some correspondence between human thought and “reality” or there isn’t – if there isn’t, then the very logic that tells us there isn’t can’t be trusted, and is self-undermining. But if there is, then….

    Then?

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    but logic also can’t provide a basis for itself
     
    Logical truths exist in their own kingdom ("Third Kingdom"), independently of anything human, so also of ethics: so said the great Gottlob Frege.

    In a sense, the greatest freedom is the greatest un-freedom 🙂 When we humans are what we are by necessity, when we follow our natures, we are freest.
     
    This somehow sounds very Marxist, Marx allegedly saying that "freedom is conscious necessity" (thus Marxism is the only rational choice), so at least the running saying during the communist times.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

  199. @sudden death
    @Mikel


    Some years ago I would have thought that one of the things that we have in common these days is regarding war and the killing of innocent people as the most horrendous thing, only to be done as a last resort and to avoid a bigger disaster (as Christian doctrine teaches).
     
    It all depends on what is your own prefered definition and chosen moment of starting the war, because if not RF'ian intervention, everything would have ended in UA/Crimea/Donbas circa 2014 no any different than it ended in Spain/Catalunya after the most recent independence referendum there.

    Replies: @Mikel

    It all depends on what is your own prefered definition and chosen moment of starting the war

    No, and you’re proving my point. Regardless of who started the conflict, you always have the choice of not shooting at civilians. Ukrainian authorities decided that their country’s territorial integrity was more valuable than the lives of innocent civilians living in those territories and possibly most people in Ukraine found that decision correct, or eventually came to find it inevitable, including many practicing Christians. The public in the West was carefully kept ignorant of this fact but right now I wouldn’t be too surprised if many Westerners also approved of Ukraine’s decision to shell civilians areas because “Russia started first”.

    if not RF’ian intervention, everything would have ended in UA/Crimea/Donbas circa 2014 no any different than it ended in Spain/Catalunya

    You’re wrong. People on both sides in Ukraine were willing to kill and die, as proven by the Maidan events and later on in Donbas, Kharkiv, Odessa, etc. Nobody was really willing to die in Spain/Catalonia and nobody actually died. In fact, the Catalonian autonomous government had already declared the Catalan Republic in the 30s, at a time of much more political turbulence, but the rebellion also fizzled out in a couple of days when the Spanish authorities, backed by armed forces that in those days were definitely willing to kill, appeared on the scene.

    You may say that Catalans (and Basques) don’t have what it takes to become independent, if you want. But how much they’re willing to sacrifice for that political objective is their legitimate choice to make. ETA, that still retains plenty of support in some parts of the Basque Country, did kill around 800 people to try to achieve independence, many of them civilians and even some children, if that makes them more likeable to you, since the Spaniards started it all when they invaded the Kingdom of Navarre in the 16th century.

    • Agree: Ivashka the fool
    • Replies: @sudden death
    @Mikel


    People on both sides in Ukraine were willing to kill and die, as proven by the Maidan events and later on in Donbas, Kharkiv, Odessa, etc.
     
    Despite that willingness to die/kill from some most passionate groups/individuals, the only place from above mentioned, where it ended differently than Spain eventually, was the place with armed intervention from RF'ians.

    Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa especially, got ugly riots and even one classical early 20th century style pogrom in one building with tens of victims, but still did not result in anything too drastic on grand scale, because the organized, sponsored and armed intervention was absent.

    Replies: @Mikel

  200. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool

    Women are more promiscuous than men, and their strategy is mating-up: early mating has polygamic structure, resulting in fewer men having more sex, and more men having less sex - the fact is well reflected not only through phenomenon of groupies but in the little noted fact that more young women than young men will have typical heterosexual veneral diseases (if you take into account that a fraction of men are gays, this statistically visible polygamy is even more pronounced) - one man will have sex with many women, who are thus lost for other men. Thus the wisdom of old cultures which always chaperoned young women.

    https://www.statista.com/statistics/622809/gonorrhea-rate-in-the-us-by-age-and-sex/

    Such early polygamic promiscuity does not suits well monogamic marriages (creating a shadow of an ideal lover a woman once had - together with many other women; on the male side, it could create resentment of the not-ideal-lovers class, also not useful for marriage building), which maybe should be polygamic too in order to accommodate women unbridled preferences. So I am afraid women did not betray white men, they never really coveted them except few alpha cases!

    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok. So maybe worshipping Nature is not so good after all...?!

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Ivashka the fool

    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok.

    Worshipping nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1. The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory. It is the individualistic and hedonistic deviation of the selfish gene instinct that leads to sexual promiscuity and conjugal instability. The dopamine that is naturally coupled with copulation is aimed at ensuring posterity. When sex is completely detached from any prospects of childbirth, it is not a natural pleasure, but more of an artificial and civilized one. Anyway, we’re all Calhoun’s mice nowadays. None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    • Replies: @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool


    The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory.
     
    Not sure whether this can be explain with selfish gene theory - by mating only with alpha male, in the long run women decrease fitness of their own community (everyone becomes cousin of everyone).
    Also mating with alphas is not so universal among animals, many birds will have just one partner for life.

    In general, I think the explanatory power of selfish gene theory is over-advertised.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool


    None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.
     
    https://www.amazon.com/Anastasia-Ringing-Cedars-Book-1/dp/0976333309/

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    , @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool


    nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1

     

    World fertility rate now is higher above replacement than most of human history.

    In most of history, the population was stable i.e. fertility rates historically were not above replacement, while today it is increasing (i.e. fertility rates are above replacement, which is something unusual of recent human history).

    The large population of humans is because of recent humans being able to create artificial nature, i.e. is a result of engineering the environment and unnatural by the definition.*

    For most of history, the human population was not increasing. To create the first population of 1 billion humans, required 200,000 years (196,200 BC- 1800 AD, while another 1 billion humans has been added to the population in the last 11 years.

    So, the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD) has added more humans to world population, than the first 200,000 years of human history (196,200 BC- 1800 AD).

    Natural population of humans was around 20,000 people for most our history. While today there are 60 times more Latvians, than the world population of humans our ancestors were living in.

    This is one of the main examples where we are not psychologically adapted. For example, we lived in societies with around 80 people.

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people, not societies with 146,000,000 people (or Chinese now in a society of 1,400,000,000 people, while their minds were designed for 80 people).

    If you live in a society with 80 people, it would be normal to see familiar people as your friends. But in the 21st century, familiar people are celebrities, politicians.

    They are people who rationally have no connection to us, but emotionally we view like they are friends. Sometimes they can be even the most dangerous people (i.e. our politicians), but our mind perceives them like a friendly relative.

    -

    *Constant increase in population of humans is because of creating artificial nature. Normal animals in our level in the food chain are like polar bears, lions, great apes or bears.

    Animals which are high in the food chain like humans are designed for small populations like 1000-10,000, not 8,000,000,000. Only other large animals with those numbers are artificial animals which humans farm for food like cows and sheeps.
    , @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool

    I was going to ask not about "Ancient Apocalypse" but something maybe more metaphysical https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-205/#comment-5766648

    The concept of "selfish gene", is that genes from evolution view are not interested in the animal, but only in the genes' replication through animals. This is the idea that the animal is not using genes, but genes are using the animal.

    It's opposition to the idea that intention of evolution would be seen in terms survival of the animal or survival of the animal's species.

    This is more problem of language to explain. For example, are we a single animal? From some viewpoint, we can each be viewed as a colony of animals with mitochondria. microbiome. And what is the relation of consciousness to animals?

    Finally, because genes can be using the animals, does this mean the animal can be reduced to the genetic information. Of course, the animal are including physical parts which cannot be reduced to the particular instructions or the physical media for storing instructions (chain of amino acids).

    -


    We think about our nonhuman ancestors which we still primarily continue. We are primarily constitution of nonhuman history as human history is only recent part of story.

    There is our ancestor "Purgatorius", who is the first primate. A very high proportion of our current genes would be used by, or using (in "self gene theory"), "Purgatorius".

    https://i.imgur.com/dO8vumu.jpg


    Our early vertebrate ancestor was something which lived in coastal waters as this, which also already would have mostly the same genes we have.

    https://i.imgur.com/1JD4PeC.jpg

    But are we as "eukaryotes" created by conjunction of single-cell animals entering each other.

    https://i.imgur.com/BjSNeoZ.jpg

    Is categorization as a single animal just a language concept or is it related to the consciousness?

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  201. @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Coconuts

    Who really wants the freedom to choose "whatever"? I'd rather choose the Good :)

    I'd rather be the type of creature that wants the Good, that is compelled to choose the valuable. Am I crazy? Whence comes this desire to be capable of choosing "whatever"? And yet I see it everywhere.

    Its been said that mankind models itself after it's conception of God, and at some point in the West, God's "omnipotence" began to take precedence over his Goodness. This was a fatal mistake - whence this obsession with "power"? The power to will anything at all?

    Rousseau was on some level hearkening back to a pre-Fall primordial state of perfection, but also prefiguring the modern obsession with the freedom to will "anything" - he was a confused man, although he had some good in him.

    In Taoism, "freedom" is aligning oneself with the Tao - it's not the freedom to will anything at all, but the freedom to will what is natural for us to will, to be the sorts of creatures who align ourselves with Good. The freedom to realize our determined nature.

    In a sense, the greatest freedom is the greatest un-freedom :) When we humans are what we are by necessity, when we follow our natures, we are freest.

    Humean logic is limited logic - one step further, and it undermines itself. Sure, logic alone and purely can't provide a basis for morality and value judgements - but logic also can't provide a basis for itself :) All these years, and we humans can't provide a "ground" for logic.

    Why is modernity so afraid to take that next step?

    Either there is some correspondence between human thought and "reality" or there isn't - if there isn't, then the very logic that tells us there isn't can't be trusted, and is self-undermining. But if there is, then....

    Then?

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective

    but logic also can’t provide a basis for itself

    Logical truths exist in their own kingdom (“Third Kingdom”), independently of anything human, so also of ethics: so said the great Gottlob Frege.

    In a sense, the greatest freedom is the greatest un-freedom 🙂 When we humans are what we are by necessity, when we follow our natures, we are freest.

    This somehow sounds very Marxist, Marx allegedly saying that “freedom is conscious necessity” (thus Marxism is the only rational choice), so at least the running saying during the communist times.

    • Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak
    @Another Polish Perspective

    Well, Marx didn't exist in a vacuum - he borrowed from pre-existing philosophies.

    But Marxian "necessity" is not at all what I mean - the question is, discover your necessity. Marx was just trying to make his laws, "inevitable". A sleight of hand.

    But what is, truly, inevitable? What is your nature? What do you truly want?

  202. @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective


    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok.
     
    Worshipping nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1. The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory. It is the individualistic and hedonistic deviation of the selfish gene instinct that leads to sexual promiscuity and conjugal instability. The dopamine that is naturally coupled with copulation is aimed at ensuring posterity. When sex is completely detached from any prospects of childbirth, it is not a natural pleasure, but more of an artificial and civilized one. Anyway, we're all Calhoun's mice nowadays. None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry, @Dmitry

    The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory.

    Not sure whether this can be explain with selfish gene theory – by mating only with alpha male, in the long run women decrease fitness of their own community (everyone becomes cousin of everyone).
    Also mating with alphas is not so universal among animals, many birds will have just one partner for life.

    In general, I think the explanatory power of selfish gene theory is over-advertised.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective


    mating only with alpha male, in the long run women decrease fitness of their own community (everyone becomes cousin of everyone).
     
    In the natural environment, it never got to this point. Men and women being what they are, we always had some cheating going on, and therefore some genetic diversification. Although it is true that some Y haplotypes performed better. However, this is due to the alpha providing more to the offspring and ensuing a better protection. Women seeking alphas is good and natural and fits well with selfish gene. But we probably have less of family oriented alphas nowadays. Today being an alpha is being a hedonistic playboy who is mainly interested in sex. Girls like it until they grow older and realize that there is a risk they end up lonely when getting older and less sexually attractive. Then they settle for a beta. Some women also basically settle for anyone if their baby-craving / pregnancy-craving gets strong enough.
  203. @Another Polish Perspective
    @HeavilyMarbledSteak


    but logic also can’t provide a basis for itself
     
    Logical truths exist in their own kingdom ("Third Kingdom"), independently of anything human, so also of ethics: so said the great Gottlob Frege.

    In a sense, the greatest freedom is the greatest un-freedom 🙂 When we humans are what we are by necessity, when we follow our natures, we are freest.
     
    This somehow sounds very Marxist, Marx allegedly saying that "freedom is conscious necessity" (thus Marxism is the only rational choice), so at least the running saying during the communist times.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak

    Well, Marx didn’t exist in a vacuum – he borrowed from pre-existing philosophies.

    But Marxian “necessity” is not at all what I mean – the question is, discover your necessity. Marx was just trying to make his laws, “inevitable”. A sleight of hand.

    But what is, truly, inevitable? What is your nature? What do you truly want?

  204. @Ivashka the fool
    To Coconuts and S, about the topic discussed by Charles Maurras in the excerpt posted by Coconuts.

    I was going to write a lenghty and unhinged rant, same as usual, and then I learned that someone (Rolo Slavskyi) has published some Shafarevich's translation on Unz Review.

    https://www.unz.com/article/postscript-to-the-three-thousand-year-old-enigma/

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-elusive-jewish-solution/

    Replies: @S, @Coconuts

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-elusive-jewish-solution/

    There is an interesting quote in the above post:

    He conceptualized society as a living organism, or rather, that one’s ethnic group is an extension of oneself. His reasoning is simple: a tribe helps protect the individual. A tribe and then a society grows around an individual like a protective hide grows around a boar. Better yet, individuals can be compared to the cells in a body. Castes or types of individuals are organs in this metaphor.

    About the views of Lev Gumilev.

    It reminded me a bit of Maurras’ idea of human societies as something like organisms:

    Societies are certainly not exactly the same as large animals and individuals are not simply subordinate component cells of them. But equally, they are not an example of the ‘pooling’ or ‘sharing’ of self-interest and of the choices of individuals that, in law, are known as associations.

    Societies are not voluntary associations, they are natural aggregates.

    They are not chosen or elected by their members. We choose neither our blood nor our country, nor our language, nor our traditions. The society we are born into is imposed on us. The need for human society is part of our nature.

    [MORE]

    I think Aristotle might have been the first to set out an organic view of human societies?

    Maurras thought the problems with hidden ethnic oligarchies could be solved by the establishment of a decentralised, corporatist monarchy, because the king would have enough independent power to control them, and the familial, organic structure of political society would make their existence and activities more obvious. He was writing pre-globalisation though, in the early 20th century.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Coconuts

    Marxism has taught us about the basis (economy) and the superstructure (culture, societal norms, religion etc.) But even before economy, we have biology. Humans pretend they are not animals, but they are.

    It's just that we are animals capable of culture and metaphysics. Therefore, natural human clans and tribes are also biological phenomena organized for the survival of a given genomic pool (a human population). Selfish gene again.

    Today we see the child-free, homosexual and trans propaganda directed at the younger population. It is done by those who want their clans to outbreed the clans of these kids. Kids must know that future belongs to those who show up to face it. No offspring offering a promess of posterity - no future.

    Maurras was right in a situation where the Monarch is part and parcel of the population he lords upon. But when a Monarch belongs to a foreign clan, it doen't necessarily lead to a better chance of survival for his subjects. If the elite is alien, then there is a higher chance for it to be a predatory one.

    Replies: @Dmitry

  205. @songbird
    @Emil Nikola Richard


    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.
     
    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.

    But they say that Charles II of Spain was more inbred than if his parents were normal brother and sister, and supposedly, his sister was a beautiful woman, even though he was ugly. Previously, I've theorized here that incest might have a worse effect on male births.

    Wonder what embryo selection would do to the congenital pathologies associated with incest.

    How many embryos would you need to select to cancel out or minimize the effects of first cousin marriage (non double)? Am guessing it wouldn't be that many.

    Also, just for the heck of it, wonder how far one could get with doing it for siblings. How difficult to reduce the risk to be equivalent to first cousin marriage? And what is the max you could do with iterative selection for siblings?

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard, @A123

    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.

    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.

    Bringing back Drogo rendered Daenerys sterile, “only death can pay for life”. She admits this in a TV episode. In terms of reproductive genetics, the overlapping lineage with Jon Snow (a.k.a. Jon Targaryen) is not relevant.

    This should have been handled better in TV season 8. Setting up a new royal family that cannot have an heir is absurd for the universe as established. Assuming George RR Martin lives long enough to finish the novels, we should find out more in a few years.

    PEACE 😇

    • Replies: @songbird
    @A123

    Technically, a Jon and Dany combination would still be less inbred than either Dany or Jon's father. (supposing such a thing is possible) I was speaking about the two generations of brother-sister marriages, of Dany's parents and grandparents.

    Mice can be inbred in the lab for a number of generations. But I think they are different because they are very r-selected, and may have had more purifying selection in nature. (Just my wild theory)

    As far as a heir goes, I would say they could either fake it. i.e. have Jon knock up some woman and pretend it was Dany's, or else legitimize a bastard. But probably Martin would not go for either of those things, but will just make Jon kill her.

    Don't know if Martin has 1.25 more books in him, at this point. Think he said he doesn't want anyone else to finish it if he dies, but pretty sure they will just rob the bones from his grave and force a pen in the skeleton's hand. Brandon Sanderson could probably pump it out in two years.

    BTW, I was recently just exposed to this old Trump tweet, and I thought it was pretty good:
    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/423780333687808001?s=20&t=bYyJH1I-FT4WXtKM62-IhA

  206. @Another Polish Perspective
    @Ivashka the fool


    The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory.
     
    Not sure whether this can be explain with selfish gene theory - by mating only with alpha male, in the long run women decrease fitness of their own community (everyone becomes cousin of everyone).
    Also mating with alphas is not so universal among animals, many birds will have just one partner for life.

    In general, I think the explanatory power of selfish gene theory is over-advertised.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    mating only with alpha male, in the long run women decrease fitness of their own community (everyone becomes cousin of everyone).

    In the natural environment, it never got to this point. Men and women being what they are, we always had some cheating going on, and therefore some genetic diversification. Although it is true that some Y haplotypes performed better. However, this is due to the alpha providing more to the offspring and ensuing a better protection. Women seeking alphas is good and natural and fits well with selfish gene. But we probably have less of family oriented alphas nowadays. Today being an alpha is being a hedonistic playboy who is mainly interested in sex. Girls like it until they grow older and realize that there is a risk they end up lonely when getting older and less sexually attractive. Then they settle for a beta. Some women also basically settle for anyone if their baby-craving / pregnancy-craving gets strong enough.

  207. @Coconuts
    @Ivashka the fool

    https://www.unz.com/article/the-elusive-jewish-solution/

    There is an interesting quote in the above post:


    He conceptualized society as a living organism, or rather, that one’s ethnic group is an extension of oneself. His reasoning is simple: a tribe helps protect the individual. A tribe and then a society grows around an individual like a protective hide grows around a boar. Better yet, individuals can be compared to the cells in a body. Castes or types of individuals are organs in this metaphor.
     
    About the views of Lev Gumilev.

    It reminded me a bit of Maurras' idea of human societies as something like organisms:


    Societies are certainly not exactly the same as large animals and individuals are not simply subordinate component cells of them. But equally, they are not an example of the 'pooling' or 'sharing' of self-interest and of the choices of individuals that, in law, are known as associations.

    Societies are not voluntary associations, they are natural aggregates.

    They are not chosen or elected by their members. We choose neither our blood nor our country, nor our language, nor our traditions. The society we are born into is imposed on us. The need for human society is part of our nature.
     

    I think Aristotle might have been the first to set out an organic view of human societies?

    Maurras thought the problems with hidden ethnic oligarchies could be solved by the establishment of a decentralised, corporatist monarchy, because the king would have enough independent power to control them, and the familial, organic structure of political society would make their existence and activities more obvious. He was writing pre-globalisation though, in the early 20th century.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Marxism has taught us about the basis (economy) and the superstructure (culture, societal norms, religion etc.) But even before economy, we have biology. Humans pretend they are not animals, but they are.

    It’s just that we are animals capable of culture and metaphysics. Therefore, natural human clans and tribes are also biological phenomena organized for the survival of a given genomic pool (a human population). Selfish gene again.

    Today we see the child-free, homosexual and trans propaganda directed at the younger population. It is done by those who want their clans to outbreed the clans of these kids. Kids must know that future belongs to those who show up to face it. No offspring offering a promess of posterity – no future.

    Maurras was right in a situation where the Monarch is part and parcel of the population he lords upon. But when a Monarch belongs to a foreign clan, it doen’t necessarily lead to a better chance of survival for his subjects. If the elite is alien, then there is a higher chance for it to be a predatory one.

    • Replies: @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool

    Current fertility rates are higher above replacement than in most of human history, as the population is increasing today, while in most of history the population was stable.

    For the human population to increase, is a result of humans changing their environment artificially, engineering an artificial nature. It is because of recent humans being able to create artificial nature, i.e. is a result of engineering the environment to create this artificial world we live in (just look at the objects in your room) that population increases.*

    It was 200,000 years of human population to increase to the first 1 billion, while since 2011 the population has increased by 1 billion.

    This is the first 200,000 years of our history (198,200 BC - 1800 AD) added the same number of people to the population, as the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD).

    So, the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD) has added more humans to world population, than the first 200,000 years of human history (196,200 BC- 1800 AD).

    Natural population of humans was around 20,000 people for most our history. While today there are 60 times more Latvians, than the world population of humans our ancestors were living in.

    This is one of the main examples where we are not psychologically adapted. For example, we lived in societies with around 80 people.

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people, not societies with 146,000,000 people (population of the Russian Federation), or 330,000,000 (population of the United States of America), or 1,400,000,000 people (population of China).

    There is a bit of different between what we are designed for, 80 people, or where Chinese live today 1,400,000,000.

    If you live in a society with 80 people, it would be normal to see familiar people as your friends. But in the 21st century, familiar people are celebrities, politicians.

    They are people who rationally have no connection to us, but emotionally we view like they are friends. Sometimes they can be even the most dangerous people (i.e. our politicians), but our mind perceives them like a friendly grandfather.

    *Constant increase in population of humans is because of creating artificial nature. Normal animals in our level in the food chain are like polar bears, lions, great apes or bears.

    Animals which are high in the food chain like humans are designed for small populations like 1000-30,000, not 8,000,000,000. Except humans, the only large animals with those numbers are semi-artificial animals, which humans farm for food like cows and sheeps.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @AP

  208. @Mikel
    @sudden death


    It all depends on what is your own prefered definition and chosen moment of starting the war
     
    No, and you're proving my point. Regardless of who started the conflict, you always have the choice of not shooting at civilians. Ukrainian authorities decided that their country's territorial integrity was more valuable than the lives of innocent civilians living in those territories and possibly most people in Ukraine found that decision correct, or eventually came to find it inevitable, including many practicing Christians. The public in the West was carefully kept ignorant of this fact but right now I wouldn't be too surprised if many Westerners also approved of Ukraine's decision to shell civilians areas because "Russia started first".


    if not RF’ian intervention, everything would have ended in UA/Crimea/Donbas circa 2014 no any different than it ended in Spain/Catalunya
     
    You're wrong. People on both sides in Ukraine were willing to kill and die, as proven by the Maidan events and later on in Donbas, Kharkiv, Odessa, etc. Nobody was really willing to die in Spain/Catalonia and nobody actually died. In fact, the Catalonian autonomous government had already declared the Catalan Republic in the 30s, at a time of much more political turbulence, but the rebellion also fizzled out in a couple of days when the Spanish authorities, backed by armed forces that in those days were definitely willing to kill, appeared on the scene.

    You may say that Catalans (and Basques) don't have what it takes to become independent, if you want. But how much they're willing to sacrifice for that political objective is their legitimate choice to make. ETA, that still retains plenty of support in some parts of the Basque Country, did kill around 800 people to try to achieve independence, many of them civilians and even some children, if that makes them more likeable to you, since the Spaniards started it all when they invaded the Kingdom of Navarre in the 16th century.

    Replies: @sudden death

    People on both sides in Ukraine were willing to kill and die, as proven by the Maidan events and later on in Donbas, Kharkiv, Odessa, etc.

    Despite that willingness to die/kill from some most passionate groups/individuals, the only place from above mentioned, where it ended differently than Spain eventually, was the place with armed intervention from RF’ians.

    Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa especially, got ugly riots and even one classical early 20th century style pogrom in one building with tens of victims, but still did not result in anything too drastic on grand scale, because the organized, sponsored and armed intervention was absent.

    • Replies: @Mikel
    @sudden death


    the only place from above mentioned, where it ended differently than Spain eventually, was the place with armed intervention from RF’ians.
     
    I do not want this to sound like any kind of moral comparison between Southwestern Europeans versus Eastern Slavs. I don't have any particular sympathy for the imperialist Spaniards or the woke Catalans separatists. I don't even sympathize much with my old countrymen. When I go there I feel like a foreigner surrounded by people stuck in a different era. Even when I lived there I felt that the ones who didn't support violence were too cowardly to oppose it openly and confront the radical bullies who imposed a reign of silence in every town.

    But it's you who is making a comparison that objectively doesn't stand. In all the places I've mentioned I remember at least two things: people killed by their political opponents (they even shot the major of Kharkiv, who had to be evacuated to a hospital in Israel) and HRW documenting tortures, disappearances and arbitrary detentions. In Catalonia one person lost her eye and it wasn't intentional. There were some rather brutal scenes too, captured by the international press at the polling stations. That was all. Different situations and a very different history and social evolution during the 20th century that led to opposite consequences.

    The Spanish public opinion, from what I can gather, is massively in favor of the Ukrainians in this war anyway, so things may sadly be transitioning towards a higher acceptance of violence, like in the 30s.

    Replies: @sudden death

  209. @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective


    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok.
     
    Worshipping nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1. The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory. It is the individualistic and hedonistic deviation of the selfish gene instinct that leads to sexual promiscuity and conjugal instability. The dopamine that is naturally coupled with copulation is aimed at ensuring posterity. When sex is completely detached from any prospects of childbirth, it is not a natural pleasure, but more of an artificial and civilized one. Anyway, we're all Calhoun's mice nowadays. None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry, @Dmitry

    None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    • LOL: Ivashka the fool
    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    I remember my mom reading it around mid 90ies. She tried to make me go through it, but I phased out after a couple of pages. At the time she was also reading the books of Vissaryion the Minusinsk pseudo-Jesus that the RusFed authorities have recently arrested under fake accusations to seize his community's land because it is supposedly sitting atop of some ore deposits. RusFed was full of various sects and cults back then.

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

  210. @Yahya
    @Greasy William


    B.) Looks Irish as the day is long.
     
    I know; that's why I said she looks Black Irish.

    I don’t see anything remotely Near Eastern in Connelly’s appearance

     

    I know; that's why I said she requires some facial surgery to pass in the Middle East.

    Her hair and skin color already fit the bill; just the facial features are too European for the Middle East.

    On the other hand; some native Middle Easterners look more Irish than Connelly:

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02943/izzat-al-douri-ira_2943572b.jpg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-UzxqpPLc8&ab_channel=ABCNews

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkvxJYG1coI&ab_channel=MazeejByLucasSakr

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM_zetLvrhE&ab_channel=DalalAbuAmneh-%D8%AF%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%A8%D9%88%D8%A2%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A9

    Replies: @Dmitry, @Not Raul

    A Bedouin soldier was killed in Israel.

    You could have changed the uniform for a Ukrainian soldier and nobody would know.

    But the cousin looks Saudi, converted to Judaism to become a Haredi rabbi.

    https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/2165715/family-of-heroes-the-lubavitch-cousin-of-the-bedouin-policeman-killed-in-terror-attack.html

  211. @A123
    @Wokechoke


    3 pipes were ruptured by explosives. A 4th pipe was left alone for unknow reasons which we can speculate about…or the bomb on the 4th failed to detonate for some reason. Either technical failure or perhaps counter measures.
     
    We have still seen no evidence of explosives. That is based on anonymous sources.

    Three pipes ruptured in a manner consistent with a heavy industrial accident.

    What could happen if Russia dropped pressure at the fill end to reverse flow & recovery salable material?

    • The operators opened valves at their end 1,200 km from Germany.
    • Hydrate slug #1 created a rupture.
    • Hydrate slug #2 quickly followed, resembling a single event.
    • Pipe #3 had a pressure differential end to end 1,200 km. 17 hours lucky it had a slug movement & rupture.
    • Pipe #4 luck smiled, no issue

    If the operators were clever, they may have been trying to repressurize their end of pipes #3 and #4.

    Unfortunately, it is sort of like the CCP's lab at WIV. We will never get an opportunity to thoroughly investigate.

    PEACE 😇

    Replies: @QCIC

    Will you drop this theory when someone admits they bombed it?

    • Replies: @A123
    @QCIC


    Will you drop this theory when someone admits they bombed it?
     
    If the admission makes sense. The confessor would need:

    -- authority
    -- resources
    -- motive
    -- capabilities & competence

    Then answer key questions:

    -- Why this geography? (1)
     
    https://thelawdogfiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/nord-292x300.jpg
     
    -- Why a 17 hour delay on pipe #3?
    -- Why leave pipe #4 undamaged?

     

    UR being a conspiracy site creates issues. It attracts commenters prone to leap to complex solution when more straightforward ones are available.

    • Did the event have overlap with politicians talking about a problem? Certainly.

    • Does that make those politicians the most likely explanation? No. That is a leap.

    • How competent are politicians? They are skilled enough to commission such a plan. The plan delivers a foul up. And, they talk so much they bring suspicion themselves.

    Ask these questions about the WUHAN-19 virus or NordStream. It is easy to see conspiracy explanations popping out that the woodwork that ultimately make little sense.

    PEACE 😇
    __________

    (1) https://thelawdogfiles.com/2022/10/nordstream-ii-electric-instapundit.html

    Replies: @QCIC

  212. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool


    None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.
     
    https://www.amazon.com/Anastasia-Ringing-Cedars-Book-1/dp/0976333309/

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    I remember my mom reading it around mid 90ies. She tried to make me go through it, but I phased out after a couple of pages. At the time she was also reading the books of Vissaryion the Minusinsk pseudo-Jesus that the RusFed authorities have recently arrested under fake accusations to seize his community’s land because it is supposedly sitting atop of some ore deposits. RusFed was full of various sects and cults back then.

    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Ivashka the fool

    She didn't tell you the part about the psilocybin mushrooms I'm guessing.

    Apparently the guy who started the sect was really stinkin' rich and he gave all his money away?

    Maybe it was like the Wittgenstein deal where he just signed it all over to his sister who worshiped him their whole lives.

  213. @Ivashka the fool
    @Emil Nikola Richard

    I remember my mom reading it around mid 90ies. She tried to make me go through it, but I phased out after a couple of pages. At the time she was also reading the books of Vissaryion the Minusinsk pseudo-Jesus that the RusFed authorities have recently arrested under fake accusations to seize his community's land because it is supposedly sitting atop of some ore deposits. RusFed was full of various sects and cults back then.

    Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard

    She didn’t tell you the part about the psilocybin mushrooms I’m guessing.

    Apparently the guy who started the sect was really stinkin’ rich and he gave all his money away?

    Maybe it was like the Wittgenstein deal where he just signed it all over to his sister who worshiped him their whole lives.

  214. @songbird
    @AP

    How popular is this idea in the Baltics? And in Ukraine?

    Could be wrong, but I don't really see how Balts would want to be culturally and politically swamped by some much bigger country.

    Or are you imagining it, without them?

    Replies: @LatW

    How popular is this idea in the Baltics?

    Getting more attention than before but, unfortunately, not yet fully mainstream. There are some newly established political formats, which is not bad.

    Could be wrong, but I don’t really see how Balts would want to be culturally and politically swamped by some much bigger country.

    You’re correct that most Balts are focused more on the nation state type of ideas as well as partly on the EU, but the world has changed a lot, and is still changing rather fast.

    I’m not exactly sure I understand what you mean by “culturally and politically swamped”. Everyone has their own country and culture, many of the political views are aligned, and it would be more about coordination, rather than creating a full on confederation. Substance and content is more important than formalities.

    • Replies: @songbird
    @LatW


    I’m not exactly sure I understand what you mean by “culturally and politically swamped”. Everyone has their own country and culture, many of the political views are aligned, and it would be more about coordination, rather than creating a full on confederation.
     
    I have a lot of trouble categorizing AP, on various grounds, but I am not altogether convinced that he wants the same endpoint as you. Outside of Ukraine (where he seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist.

    But beyond that, we have seen the path of the EU, and I am convinced that it is the organic path of any such organization. Meaning, I think you would need to design a system which would prevent the elites from eroding national boundaries, and it is probably harder than just putting a law or regulation down on paper. It would need to be incentivized and run through simulations, and be over-engineered by a factor of four. That is, if you want to keep some national identity.

    But even for those who aren't attached to it, and don't mind their neighbors. There is the tendency to keep growing and accepting new neighbors, and new peoples. You still would need a new national identity to prevent that, and it is not guaranteed they would give it to you.

    Replies: @LatW, @A123, @AP

  215. @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective


    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok.
     
    Worshipping nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1. The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory. It is the individualistic and hedonistic deviation of the selfish gene instinct that leads to sexual promiscuity and conjugal instability. The dopamine that is naturally coupled with copulation is aimed at ensuring posterity. When sex is completely detached from any prospects of childbirth, it is not a natural pleasure, but more of an artificial and civilized one. Anyway, we're all Calhoun's mice nowadays. None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry, @Dmitry

    nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1

    World fertility rate now is higher above replacement than most of human history.

    In most of history, the population was stable i.e. fertility rates historically were not above replacement, while today it is increasing (i.e. fertility rates are above replacement, which is something unusual of recent human history).

    The large population of humans is because of recent humans being able to create artificial nature, i.e. is a result of engineering the environment and unnatural by the definition.*

    For most of history, the human population was not increasing. To create the first population of 1 billion humans, required 200,000 years (196,200 BC- 1800 AD, while another 1 billion humans has been added to the population in the last 11 years.

    So, the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD) has added more humans to world population, than the first 200,000 years of human history (196,200 BC- 1800 AD).

    Natural population of humans was around 20,000 people for most our history. While today there are 60 times more Latvians, than the world population of humans our ancestors were living in.

    This is one of the main examples where we are not psychologically adapted. For example, we lived in societies with around 80 people.

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people, not societies with 146,000,000 people (or Chinese now in a society of 1,400,000,000 people, while their minds were designed for 80 people).

    If you live in a society with 80 people, it would be normal to see familiar people as your friends. But in the 21st century, familiar people are celebrities, politicians.

    They are people who rationally have no connection to us, but emotionally we view like they are friends. Sometimes they can be even the most dangerous people (i.e. our politicians), but our mind perceives them like a friendly relative.

    *Constant increase in population of humans is because of creating artificial nature. Normal animals in our level in the food chain are like polar bears, lions, great apes or bears.

    Animals which are high in the food chain like humans are designed for small populations like 1000-10,000, not 8,000,000,000. Only other large animals with those numbers are artificial animals which humans farm for food like cows and sheeps.

  216. @sudden death
    @Mikel


    People on both sides in Ukraine were willing to kill and die, as proven by the Maidan events and later on in Donbas, Kharkiv, Odessa, etc.
     
    Despite that willingness to die/kill from some most passionate groups/individuals, the only place from above mentioned, where it ended differently than Spain eventually, was the place with armed intervention from RF'ians.

    Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa especially, got ugly riots and even one classical early 20th century style pogrom in one building with tens of victims, but still did not result in anything too drastic on grand scale, because the organized, sponsored and armed intervention was absent.

    Replies: @Mikel

    the only place from above mentioned, where it ended differently than Spain eventually, was the place with armed intervention from RF’ians.

    I do not want this to sound like any kind of moral comparison between Southwestern Europeans versus Eastern Slavs. I don’t have any particular sympathy for the imperialist Spaniards or the woke Catalans separatists. I don’t even sympathize much with my old countrymen. When I go there I feel like a foreigner surrounded by people stuck in a different era. Even when I lived there I felt that the ones who didn’t support violence were too cowardly to oppose it openly and confront the radical bullies who imposed a reign of silence in every town.

    But it’s you who is making a comparison that objectively doesn’t stand. In all the places I’ve mentioned I remember at least two things: people killed by their political opponents (they even shot the major of Kharkiv, who had to be evacuated to a hospital in Israel) and HRW documenting tortures, disappearances and arbitrary detentions. In Catalonia one person lost her eye and it wasn’t intentional. There were some rather brutal scenes too, captured by the international press at the polling stations. That was all. Different situations and a very different history and social evolution during the 20th century that led to opposite consequences.

    The Spanish public opinion, from what I can gather, is massively in favor of the Ukrainians in this war anyway, so things may sadly be transitioning towards a higher acceptance of violence, like in the 30s.

    • Replies: @sudden death
    @Mikel

    That mentioned Kharkov mayor Kernes was not supporting joining RF at the time, so could have been shot by RF'ians as well, cause then he sucesfully returned into that horrible UA Maidan dictatorship and worked as a mayor further there next six years up until he died from Covid.

    So despite all those immediate HRW noted violations during ensuing initial political chaos, everything calmed/normalized more or less quite quickly without a direct war, so in that aspect it ended like in Spain still, if the criteria is war/no war. If the criteria is zero any violations or deadly victims at all, then yes, it ended bit differently.

  217. @A123
    @songbird



    yesterday I found out Daneris was John Snow’s aunt.
     
    Her parents and grandparents were brother and sister, so they were even closer. Not sure if that is even biologically possible.
     
    Bringing back Drogo rendered Daenerys sterile, "only death can pay for life". She admits this in a TV episode. In terms of reproductive genetics, the overlapping lineage with Jon Snow (a.k.a. Jon Targaryen) is not relevant.

    This should have been handled better in TV season 8. Setting up a new royal family that cannot have an heir is absurd for the universe as established. Assuming George RR Martin lives long enough to finish the novels, we should find out more in a few years.

    PEACE 😇

    Replies: @songbird

    Technically, a Jon and Dany combination would still be less inbred than either Dany or Jon’s father. (supposing such a thing is possible) I was speaking about the two generations of brother-sister marriages, of Dany’s parents and grandparents.

    [MORE]

    Mice can be inbred in the lab for a number of generations. But I think they are different because they are very r-selected, and may have had more purifying selection in nature. (Just my wild theory)

    As far as a heir goes, I would say they could either fake it. i.e. have Jon knock up some woman and pretend it was Dany’s, or else legitimize a bastard. But probably Martin would not go for either of those things, but will just make Jon kill her.

    Don’t know if Martin has 1.25 more books in him, at this point. Think he said he doesn’t want anyone else to finish it if he dies, but pretty sure they will just rob the bones from his grave and force a pen in the skeleton’s hand. Brandon Sanderson could probably pump it out in two years.

    BTW, I was recently just exposed to this old Trump tweet, and I thought it was pretty good:

  218. @Ivashka the fool
    @Coconuts

    Marxism has taught us about the basis (economy) and the superstructure (culture, societal norms, religion etc.) But even before economy, we have biology. Humans pretend they are not animals, but they are.

    It's just that we are animals capable of culture and metaphysics. Therefore, natural human clans and tribes are also biological phenomena organized for the survival of a given genomic pool (a human population). Selfish gene again.

    Today we see the child-free, homosexual and trans propaganda directed at the younger population. It is done by those who want their clans to outbreed the clans of these kids. Kids must know that future belongs to those who show up to face it. No offspring offering a promess of posterity - no future.

    Maurras was right in a situation where the Monarch is part and parcel of the population he lords upon. But when a Monarch belongs to a foreign clan, it doen't necessarily lead to a better chance of survival for his subjects. If the elite is alien, then there is a higher chance for it to be a predatory one.

    Replies: @Dmitry

    Current fertility rates are higher above replacement than in most of human history, as the population is increasing today, while in most of history the population was stable.

    For the human population to increase, is a result of humans changing their environment artificially, engineering an artificial nature. It is because of recent humans being able to create artificial nature, i.e. is a result of engineering the environment to create this artificial world we live in (just look at the objects in your room) that population increases.*

    It was 200,000 years of human population to increase to the first 1 billion, while since 2011 the population has increased by 1 billion.

    This is the first 200,000 years of our history (198,200 BC – 1800 AD) added the same number of people to the population, as the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD).

    So, the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD) has added more humans to world population, than the first 200,000 years of human history (196,200 BC- 1800 AD).

    Natural population of humans was around 20,000 people for most our history. While today there are 60 times more Latvians, than the world population of humans our ancestors were living in.

    This is one of the main examples where we are not psychologically adapted. For example, we lived in societies with around 80 people.

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people, not societies with 146,000,000 people (population of the Russian Federation), or 330,000,000 (population of the United States of America), or 1,400,000,000 people (population of China).

    There is a bit of different between what we are designed for, 80 people, or where Chinese live today 1,400,000,000.

    If you live in a society with 80 people, it would be normal to see familiar people as your friends. But in the 21st century, familiar people are celebrities, politicians.

    They are people who rationally have no connection to us, but emotionally we view like they are friends. Sometimes they can be even the most dangerous people (i.e. our politicians), but our mind perceives them like a friendly grandfather.

    *Constant increase in population of humans is because of creating artificial nature. Normal animals in our level in the food chain are like polar bears, lions, great apes or bears.

    Animals which are high in the food chain like humans are designed for small populations like 1000-30,000, not 8,000,000,000. Except humans, the only large animals with those numbers are semi-artificial animals, which humans farm for food like cows and sheeps.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Dmitry


    It was 200,000 years of human population to increase to the first 1 billion, while since 2011 the population has increased by 1 billion.
     
    Did you watch Ancient Apocalypse ?

    https://youtu.be/DgvaXros3MY

    Also René Barjavel would have disagreed.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_(Barjavel_novel)

    Just kidding because you're too serious.

    I agree with what you wrote. We are living in a completely unnatural way. Desmond Morris in the Naked Ape and the Naked Couple had adequately described the problem. I've read both books when I was in my early twenties, but I didn't really consider it that important. Now I think otherwise. But I have since also read the Unabomber Manifesto and discussed metaphysics with Chat GPT. Perhaps I should re-read Desmond Morris...

    🙂

    Replies: @Dmitry

    , @AP
    @Dmitry


    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people
     
    Why do you think our evolution stopped 20,000 years ago?

    In most of Europe, Middle East, and Asia people have lived in populated agricultural communities for thousands of years and in urban environments for many hundreds of years.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @Dmitry

  219. No, she didn’t tell me about it. But I remember that the guy who was the author of this “esoteric novel” and who started the “Anastasian Movement” was supposedly a businessman who decided to downshift in Siberia or the Russian Far East (what a ridiculous idea when one can downshift in Thailand). But I suspect that he made even more money selling these books than he supposed lost due to mafia taking over his business or someone.

    BTW thanks for making me nostalgic, these were crazy times, but there were some really funny moments. Like a young female Jews for Jesus missionary trying to have a discussion with me in Moscow, Gipsy guys inviting me to an “Orthodox Gipsy Church” (I declined their invitation) or me sharing a night train between Moscow and Piter, drinking with a Chechen mafia dude until we both passed out.

    Ah yeah, also me receiving my first book of translation of the Gnostic Nag Hammadi texts as a gift from a Muscovite intelligentsia couple who wanted me to date their daughter (she was probably smart, but she wasn’t sexy) they added a Krishnamurti picture to the book for some unknown reason.

    Anyways, those were the times.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Ivashka the fool

    Should have been a reply to Emil

  220. @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool

    Current fertility rates are higher above replacement than in most of human history, as the population is increasing today, while in most of history the population was stable.

    For the human population to increase, is a result of humans changing their environment artificially, engineering an artificial nature. It is because of recent humans being able to create artificial nature, i.e. is a result of engineering the environment to create this artificial world we live in (just look at the objects in your room) that population increases.*

    It was 200,000 years of human population to increase to the first 1 billion, while since 2011 the population has increased by 1 billion.

    This is the first 200,000 years of our history (198,200 BC - 1800 AD) added the same number of people to the population, as the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD).

    So, the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD) has added more humans to world population, than the first 200,000 years of human history (196,200 BC- 1800 AD).

    Natural population of humans was around 20,000 people for most our history. While today there are 60 times more Latvians, than the world population of humans our ancestors were living in.

    This is one of the main examples where we are not psychologically adapted. For example, we lived in societies with around 80 people.

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people, not societies with 146,000,000 people (population of the Russian Federation), or 330,000,000 (population of the United States of America), or 1,400,000,000 people (population of China).

    There is a bit of different between what we are designed for, 80 people, or where Chinese live today 1,400,000,000.

    If you live in a society with 80 people, it would be normal to see familiar people as your friends. But in the 21st century, familiar people are celebrities, politicians.

    They are people who rationally have no connection to us, but emotionally we view like they are friends. Sometimes they can be even the most dangerous people (i.e. our politicians), but our mind perceives them like a friendly grandfather.

    *Constant increase in population of humans is because of creating artificial nature. Normal animals in our level in the food chain are like polar bears, lions, great apes or bears.

    Animals which are high in the food chain like humans are designed for small populations like 1000-30,000, not 8,000,000,000. Except humans, the only large animals with those numbers are semi-artificial animals, which humans farm for food like cows and sheeps.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @AP

    It was 200,000 years of human population to increase to the first 1 billion, while since 2011 the population has increased by 1 billion.

    Did you watch Ancient Apocalypse ?

    Also René Barjavel would have disagreed.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ice_People_(Barjavel_novel)

    Just kidding because you’re too serious.

    I agree with what you wrote. We are living in a completely unnatural way. Desmond Morris in the Naked Ape and the Naked Couple had adequately described the problem. I’ve read both books when I was in my early twenties, but I didn’t really consider it that important. Now I think otherwise. But I have since also read the Unabomber Manifesto and discussed metaphysics with Chat GPT. Perhaps I should re-read Desmond Morris…

    🙂

    • Replies: @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool


    Ancient Apocalypse ?
     
    Lol we need Yahya to comment about this
    https://youtu.be/Ss8vJNx-iw8?t=73.

    Replies: @Yahya

  221. @Ivashka the fool
    No, she didn't tell me about it. But I remember that the guy who was the author of this "esoteric novel" and who started the "Anastasian Movement" was supposedly a businessman who decided to downshift in Siberia or the Russian Far East (what a ridiculous idea when one can downshift in Thailand). But I suspect that he made even more money selling these books than he supposed lost due to mafia taking over his business or someone.

    BTW thanks for making me nostalgic, these were crazy times, but there were some really funny moments. Like a young female Jews for Jesus missionary trying to have a discussion with me in Moscow, Gipsy guys inviting me to an "Orthodox Gipsy Church" (I declined their invitation) or me sharing a night train between Moscow and Piter, drinking with a Chechen mafia dude until we both passed out.

    Ah yeah, also me receiving my first book of translation of the Gnostic Nag Hammadi texts as a gift from a Muscovite intelligentsia couple who wanted me to date their daughter (she was probably smart, but she wasn't sexy) they added a Krishnamurti picture to the book for some unknown reason.

    Anyways, those were the times.

    https://youtu.be/-CmQ7PmkorQ

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    Should have been a reply to Emil

  222. @Ivashka the fool
    @Another Polish Perspective


    But as we worship Nature now, it is all ok.
     
    Worshipping nature is hard to equate with TFR ~ 1. The fecund natural human couple would naturally behave according to the selfish gene theory. It is the individualistic and hedonistic deviation of the selfish gene instinct that leads to sexual promiscuity and conjugal instability. The dopamine that is naturally coupled with copulation is aimed at ensuring posterity. When sex is completely detached from any prospects of childbirth, it is not a natural pleasure, but more of an artificial and civilized one. Anyway, we're all Calhoun's mice nowadays. None among us is still truly natural. We have been thoroughly domesticated.

    Replies: @Another Polish Perspective, @Emil Nikola Richard, @Dmitry, @Dmitry

    I was going to ask not about “Ancient Apocalypse” but something maybe more metaphysical https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-205/#comment-5766648

    The concept of “selfish gene”, is that genes from evolution view are not interested in the animal, but only in the genes’ replication through animals. This is the idea that the animal is not using genes, but genes are using the animal.

    It’s opposition to the idea that intention of evolution would be seen in terms survival of the animal or survival of the animal’s species.

    This is more problem of language to explain. For example, are we a single animal? From some viewpoint, we can each be viewed as a colony of animals with mitochondria. microbiome. And what is the relation of consciousness to animals?

    Finally, because genes can be using the animals, does this mean the animal can be reduced to the genetic information. Of course, the animal are including physical parts which cannot be reduced to the particular instructions or the physical media for storing instructions (chain of amino acids).

    We think about our nonhuman ancestors which we still primarily continue. We are primarily constitution of nonhuman history as human history is only recent part of story.

    There is our ancestor “Purgatorius”, who is the first primate. A very high proportion of our current genes would be used by, or using (in “self gene theory”), “Purgatorius”.

    Our early vertebrate ancestor was something which lived in coastal waters as this, which also already would have mostly the same genes we have.

    But are we as “eukaryotes” created by conjunction of single-cell animals entering each other.

    Is categorization as a single animal just a language concept or is it related to the consciousness?

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Dmitry

    An excellent question.

    From a very tangible and material pov, we are not individuals, but colonies of specialized cells working together as an organism. Our consciousness allows us to see ourselves as an entity, but this view is misleading and is due to the way our brain processes information. I think we should see our personality as an attractor for the many non linear streams of information that our being is woven from.

    Regarding the selfish gene and the Evolution, you are right about our genome carrying information from our ancestors from the different biological entities that have existed before us up to the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Some has been lost, some has been produced through the duplication, segregation and evolution of novel functions, but some is quite ancient too. So yes, it is the genetic information that is climbing the stairs of evolution towards some Omega point while we are just the carriers.

    That is one of the reasons I care so much about my genetic lineage. It is in very real and material terms a chain linking me both to the beginnings of life on this planet, and (if things go well and we don't get a nuclear war because of Bakhmut or Artyomovsk), to some future lifeforms whom might well one day live somewhere far away outside our small blue sphere.

    Replies: @Dmitry

  223. @LatW
    @songbird


    How popular is this idea in the Baltics?
     
    Getting more attention than before but, unfortunately, not yet fully mainstream. There are some newly established political formats, which is not bad.

    Could be wrong, but I don’t really see how Balts would want to be culturally and politically swamped by some much bigger country.

     

    You're correct that most Balts are focused more on the nation state type of ideas as well as partly on the EU, but the world has changed a lot, and is still changing rather fast.

    I'm not exactly sure I understand what you mean by "culturally and politically swamped". Everyone has their own country and culture, many of the political views are aligned, and it would be more about coordination, rather than creating a full on confederation. Substance and content is more important than formalities.

    Replies: @songbird

    I’m not exactly sure I understand what you mean by “culturally and politically swamped”. Everyone has their own country and culture, many of the political views are aligned, and it would be more about coordination, rather than creating a full on confederation.

    I have a lot of trouble categorizing AP, on various grounds, but I am not altogether convinced that he wants the same endpoint as you. Outside of Ukraine (where he seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist.

    But beyond that, we have seen the path of the EU, and I am convinced that it is the organic path of any such organization. Meaning, I think you would need to design a system which would prevent the elites from eroding national boundaries, and it is probably harder than just putting a law or regulation down on paper. It would need to be incentivized and run through simulations, and be over-engineered by a factor of four. That is, if you want to keep some national identity.

    But even for those who aren’t attached to it, and don’t mind their neighbors. There is the tendency to keep growing and accepting new neighbors, and new peoples. You still would need a new national identity to prevent that, and it is not guaranteed they would give it to you.

    • Replies: @LatW
    @songbird


    I have a lot of trouble categorizing AP
     
    I took a long time "categorizing" him, too, but I was able to finally (he's rather complex, with a mix of ideas and predispositions that are not always consistent or immediately visible to non-Anglos, but in the US it is possible to be that way).

    Outside of Ukraine (where he seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist.
     
    Yes, that is problematic, but he has a right to his ideology and outlook, this may be what happens when you have an immigrant country (at home he would be more balanced, and, btw, there is nothing wrong with Poland-Galician integrationalism at all). America has to pay for everyone she takes in that way. So far America has been strong... but at this point America's burden is not light. It attests to America's strength.

    but I am not altogether convinced that he wants the same endpoint as you.
     
    Not fully, but there is a rather significant overlap. I won't dissect him because, in this particular time and space, he's a friendly. Besides, the "endpoint", as you say, will not be something that either he, nor I, nor you will decide on our own, most likely. It will be a larger collective of people. We can only contribute our energy and hopes.

    Meaning, I think you would need to design a system which would prevent the elites from eroding national boundaries

     

    There are such systems in the Intermarium, but they are not ideal. These things need to be constantly managed. Elites and the military, as well as the police, need to be held to high standards but also have respect. The civic society needs to be free but similarly as the state institutions, needs to be held to a high accountability.

    And even tough and rigorous bureaucracy. A bureaucrat gets to approve somebody's asylum or immigration application - you don't want to leave that decision to be based on their mood or what they had for lunch, but based on intelligence, a strong patriotic conviction and, ideally, the interests of the nation (hopefully, in a way that you and I understand it). All of these components need to be in place. Ideology is important, even if it is not voiced in words and political documents, but in other symbols and gestures that everyone understands without saying.

    We used to have a totalitarian society where others took care of this. But when one has freedom, the most valuable gift, one has to have self-discipline. The classical Greek culture teaches us to question things the way Socrates did, the Socratic method is still useful - when someone proposes something for your state and nation, question it. Ask simple questions - "Is this needed?", "Why?", "How is this good for the children?". Do not just accept it. Question it just for the sake of it.. question it openly. :)


    It would need to be incentivized and run through simulations, and be over-engineered by a factor of four.
     
    No need to exaggerate, just have a normal, strict common sense approach. That's why formalities are a good thing to have, as I said, but they are not the most important. A nation, a tribe, a family, a family of similar peoples, needs to be able to stand without a state (most nations in history have been that way). But a strong state and an ideology is still important, to have more than one layer of protection. A nation is like a warrior and a strong, nationalist state is like a shield.

    There is the tendency to keep growing and accepting new neighbors
     
    Our neighbors are static and have been static for millennia or for hundreds of years. I guess we are lucky that way. But the EU neighbors, in the future, will need a discussion. We go back to Socrates, we question, instead of just accepting things as a given.

    You still would need a new national identity to prevent that, and it is not guaranteed they would give it to you.
     
    It is our own job to nurture our identity, but I don't agree that "they" can give us anything or take our national identity, as easily as you seem to assume. They know how important it is, they are careful, that's why they have had a "soft" approach. More dangerous for us that way, actually. You know how you walk during a blizzard on a snowed in path, really freezing? When you reach the limit of your strength you fall down comfortably in the snow and start falling asleep.. they say it's the most pleasant feeling. It's the feeling right before you die and they teach you to fight that pleasant sleep, to bring yourself out of it, to keep yourself alert.

    Replies: @S, @songbird

    , @A123
    @songbird


    design a system which would prevent the elites from eroding national boundaries, and it is probably harder than just putting a law or regulation down on paper. ... That is, if you want to keep some national identity.
     
    Identity is trained. To the extent migration occurs it has to be backed up by assimilation.

    Keeping control of education is key. Many have warned of this: (1)

    Yesterday, commenter “Paul Nachman” kindly drew our attention to this talk by Thomas Sowell on multicultualism. It was given some time in the 1990s, and displays Sowell’s characteristic sharpness of observation and clarity of expression He grasped the problem long before most people even noticed the phenomenon.

    An excerpt:

    But is there any evidence that colleges that have gone whole hog into multiculturalism have better relations among the various groups on campus? Or is it precisely on such campuses that separatism and hostility are worse than on campuses that have not gone in for the multicultural craze?

    You want to see multiculturalism in action? Look at Yugoslavia, at Lebanon, at Sri Lanka, at Northern Ireland, at Azerbaijan, or wherever else group “identity” has been hyped. There is no point in the multiculturalists’ saying that this is not what they have in mind. You might as well open the floodgates and then say that you don’t mean for people to drown. Once you have opened the floodgates, you can’t tell the water where to do.
     

     
    If the "have nots" can destroy workers via wealth extraction -- cohesiveness is a pipe dream. Similarly, if multiculturalists can swamp unifying nationalism, the system will inevitability fail.

    If nations are to have elections, then the system needs restrictions. Heinlein's Starship Troopers introduced the idea of full citizens with the vote, recognized residents with rights but no vote. However it was not dwelled on in depth. Limiting the vote to only committed nationalists makes a great deal of sense. How would one design such a system?

    PEACE 😇
    ___________

    (1) https://www.thenewneo.com/2023/02/14/sowell-on-multiculturalism/

    Replies: @songbird

    , @AP
    @songbird


    I have a lot of trouble categorizing AP, on various grounds, but I am not altogether convinced that he wants the same endpoint as you. Outside of Ukraine (where he seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist
     
    I am a vehement anti-nationalist within Ukraine, too. I just consider nationalism to be a far lesser evil than communism or other later -isms. And I think it’s better to have one’s own nation state than to be occupied by another peoples nation-state, if those are the only available choices.

    I am basically a traditionalist. I like Austria-Hungary and PLC more then I like nation-states. Monarchs, Churches, aristocrats, parliaments (depending on one’s traditions) rather than demagogue-led “peoples assemblies” in charge. Monarchs constrained by tradition rather than “enlightened despots.” From this perspective, the American experiment has been an interesting mixed bag, both counter-revolutionary and revolutionary at the same time.

    I am more of a fan of local identities than of “national identities” constructed by some 19th century Romantics. But I share with my local Romantics an aversion towards foreign invaders.

    Replies: @Greasy William, @LatW

  224. @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool

    I was going to ask not about "Ancient Apocalypse" but something maybe more metaphysical https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-205/#comment-5766648

    The concept of "selfish gene", is that genes from evolution view are not interested in the animal, but only in the genes' replication through animals. This is the idea that the animal is not using genes, but genes are using the animal.

    It's opposition to the idea that intention of evolution would be seen in terms survival of the animal or survival of the animal's species.

    This is more problem of language to explain. For example, are we a single animal? From some viewpoint, we can each be viewed as a colony of animals with mitochondria. microbiome. And what is the relation of consciousness to animals?

    Finally, because genes can be using the animals, does this mean the animal can be reduced to the genetic information. Of course, the animal are including physical parts which cannot be reduced to the particular instructions or the physical media for storing instructions (chain of amino acids).

    -


    We think about our nonhuman ancestors which we still primarily continue. We are primarily constitution of nonhuman history as human history is only recent part of story.

    There is our ancestor "Purgatorius", who is the first primate. A very high proportion of our current genes would be used by, or using (in "self gene theory"), "Purgatorius".

    https://i.imgur.com/dO8vumu.jpg


    Our early vertebrate ancestor was something which lived in coastal waters as this, which also already would have mostly the same genes we have.

    https://i.imgur.com/1JD4PeC.jpg

    But are we as "eukaryotes" created by conjunction of single-cell animals entering each other.

    https://i.imgur.com/BjSNeoZ.jpg

    Is categorization as a single animal just a language concept or is it related to the consciousness?

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

    An excellent question.

    From a very tangible and material pov, we are not individuals, but colonies of specialized cells working together as an organism. Our consciousness allows us to see ourselves as an entity, but this view is misleading and is due to the way our brain processes information. I think we should see our personality as an attractor for the many non linear streams of information that our being is woven from.

    Regarding the selfish gene and the Evolution, you are right about our genome carrying information from our ancestors from the different biological entities that have existed before us up to the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Some has been lost, some has been produced through the duplication, segregation and evolution of novel functions, but some is quite ancient too. So yes, it is the genetic information that is climbing the stairs of evolution towards some Omega point while we are just the carriers.

    That is one of the reasons I care so much about my genetic lineage. It is in very real and material terms a chain linking me both to the beginnings of life on this planet, and (if things go well and we don’t get a nuclear war because of Bakhmut or Artyomovsk), to some future lifeforms whom might well one day live somewhere far away outside our small blue sphere.

    • Replies: @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool


    selfish gene and the Evolution

     

    In this theory, the genes use the animal as a physical media (of course, the genes are also physical, but the information encoded surpasses the chains of protein).

    Then genes could be seen as information encoded by the physical media (animals). In the interaction of physical media (animals) with environment and time, the animals are like the past answer sheets for exams. How correct the answers can be, is regularly tested by evolution. It is a data processing (with some competitive activities similar to some methods already used in machine learning like generative adversarial networks).


    future lifeforms whom might well one day live somewhere far away outside our small blue sphere.
     
    I was asking about this film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence#Plot I think people in the forum could find the story interesting.

    It reminded of your posts. Although the answer of the writers is different.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool

  225. @Ivashka the fool
    @Dmitry

    An excellent question.

    From a very tangible and material pov, we are not individuals, but colonies of specialized cells working together as an organism. Our consciousness allows us to see ourselves as an entity, but this view is misleading and is due to the way our brain processes information. I think we should see our personality as an attractor for the many non linear streams of information that our being is woven from.

    Regarding the selfish gene and the Evolution, you are right about our genome carrying information from our ancestors from the different biological entities that have existed before us up to the Last Universal Common Ancestor. Some has been lost, some has been produced through the duplication, segregation and evolution of novel functions, but some is quite ancient too. So yes, it is the genetic information that is climbing the stairs of evolution towards some Omega point while we are just the carriers.

    That is one of the reasons I care so much about my genetic lineage. It is in very real and material terms a chain linking me both to the beginnings of life on this planet, and (if things go well and we don't get a nuclear war because of Bakhmut or Artyomovsk), to some future lifeforms whom might well one day live somewhere far away outside our small blue sphere.

    Replies: @Dmitry

    selfish gene and the Evolution

    In this theory, the genes use the animal as a physical media (of course, the genes are also physical, but the information encoded surpasses the chains of protein).

    Then genes could be seen as information encoded by the physical media (animals). In the interaction of physical media (animals) with environment and time, the animals are like the past answer sheets for exams. How correct the answers can be, is regularly tested by evolution. It is a data processing (with some competitive activities similar to some methods already used in machine learning like generative adversarial networks).

    future lifeforms whom might well one day live somewhere far away outside our small blue sphere.

    I was asking about this film https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence#Plot I think people in the forum could find the story interesting.

    It reminded of your posts. Although the answer of the writers is different.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @Dmitry

    I have seen AI when it was in the movie theaters. I forgot the main part of the plot with the exception of the android kid traveling accross the future US after running from a bourgeois home and being nearly destroyed by some evil antirobot Redneck crowd (because obviously Rednecks are always negative and destructive in Hollywood scenarios and cannot be otherwise). IIRC it was the last movie of Stanley Kubrick, that he hadn't had time to finish and that was completed by someone else (Spielberg?).

    I am wondering why this movie brought my ramblings on this forum to your mind and how you have linked it with the evolution of information towards consciousness. I haven't had any philosophical musings about it at the time, unlike after seeing the Matrix. I have just found it touching and sad, and in a sense it made me think of Solaris (the book by Lem, not the movie by Tarkovsky) because of the unrequited love of the robot kid for "his mother" and the impossibility of reaching an objective state of connection to the other.

    But yes, coming back to what we discussed earlier, basically what we are witnessing is information evolving towards forms of organisation that are more adapted to manipulate matter/energy/information itself, these three semantic categories being human-made descriptors for the Ontological Reality (Whole of Being in itself).



    I (perhaps wrongly) believe that the True Nature of Ontological Reality is ineffable. Anything that can be said about it is just descriptors - human made definitions - words. These words are the product of our consciousness effected by our perception that has been shaped and biased in a certain (practical and useful) sense by the evolution. As an example, we see colors and not wavelengths of photons, we feel solid and material something that is made of 99,9999... void etc. Of course what I write here is platitudes and clichés, but I think that they correspond to our existential situation which is basically wrong perception inevitably leading to ignorance (that's the core of Buddhadharma here).

    What is more peculiar is that we have a difficult time defining information itself. My idiosyncratic definition of information is "any pattern of distribution of matter/energy that can be detected by any type of receptor". It doesn't necessarily contain meaning and is not necessarily connected to anything except a stochastic distribution of bits. Now, out of necessity,any receptor is itself a "pattern of distribution of matter/energy" therefore it is itself a sum of information - an "information system". Following from here information is perceived by information and processed as information. We live in an information Reality we are information ourselves.

    If we add to it that according to modern physics, everything can be reduced to quarks, leptons, gluons etc. and that those can be described as potential in their respective quantum fields that "permeate" (for a lack of better word) our Universe, and that quantum fields are basically more aptly described as mathematical functions, then we see that the closest we can get to Ontological Reality is information expressed as mathematics which are inherently incomplete in Gödel's meaning.

    Perhaps that's what a Sufi could term "the Veil of ignorance" that is made as an Orthodox Christian would perhaps say of "subtle energies" of the Palamite Theology hiding the Essence (Ousia) of God. Then the Sufi and the Orthodox Christian might discuss it with a Buddhist who would note that the experience of this Ontological Reality is of necessity a physico-psychological one, made in the here and now, as constructed from elemental units - the dharmas. And the Hinduist would concur that "Tat tvam asi" (You are that).

    Then the Atheist would call 911 and send them all to a mental asylum for not stopping at the Veil of Ignorance and trying to imagine something beneath it.

    Sorry, I digresses again. Same as usual.

    Not sure whether what I wrote makes any sense. But I would like to read what you think of it. And thanks of making me think realize that AI algorithms are sometimes (or is it always?) using competing neural network models. Very interesting, I will have to read about it.

    🙂

    Replies: @Dmitry

  226. @Dmitry
    @Ivashka the fool

    Current fertility rates are higher above replacement than in most of human history, as the population is increasing today, while in most of history the population was stable.

    For the human population to increase, is a result of humans changing their environment artificially, engineering an artificial nature. It is because of recent humans being able to create artificial nature, i.e. is a result of engineering the environment to create this artificial world we live in (just look at the objects in your room) that population increases.*

    It was 200,000 years of human population to increase to the first 1 billion, while since 2011 the population has increased by 1 billion.

    This is the first 200,000 years of our history (198,200 BC - 1800 AD) added the same number of people to the population, as the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD).

    So, the last 11 years (2011-2022 AD) has added more humans to world population, than the first 200,000 years of human history (196,200 BC- 1800 AD).

    Natural population of humans was around 20,000 people for most our history. While today there are 60 times more Latvians, than the world population of humans our ancestors were living in.

    This is one of the main examples where we are not psychologically adapted. For example, we lived in societies with around 80 people.

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people, not societies with 146,000,000 people (population of the Russian Federation), or 330,000,000 (population of the United States of America), or 1,400,000,000 people (population of China).

    There is a bit of different between what we are designed for, 80 people, or where Chinese live today 1,400,000,000.

    If you live in a society with 80 people, it would be normal to see familiar people as your friends. But in the 21st century, familiar people are celebrities, politicians.

    They are people who rationally have no connection to us, but emotionally we view like they are friends. Sometimes they can be even the most dangerous people (i.e. our politicians), but our mind perceives them like a friendly grandfather.

    *Constant increase in population of humans is because of creating artificial nature. Normal animals in our level in the food chain are like polar bears, lions, great apes or bears.

    Animals which are high in the food chain like humans are designed for small populations like 1000-30,000, not 8,000,000,000. Except humans, the only large animals with those numbers are semi-artificial animals, which humans farm for food like cows and sheeps.

    Replies: @Ivashka the fool, @AP

    Our mind is designed for these societies of 80 people

    Why do you think our evolution stopped 20,000 years ago?

    In most of Europe, Middle East, and Asia people have lived in populated agricultural communities for thousands of years and in urban environments for many hundreds of years.

    • Replies: @Ivashka the fool
    @AP

    The Neolithic Revolution had led to "human domestication", which is a narrowing of our total mental capabilities and a selection of some peculiar mental aptitudes (mathematical thinking is one of those). But it hasn't affected our consciousness at its core and of course it hasn't really changed our genetics. Simply because evolution is working on a longer timescale in higher mammals.

    Replies: @Yahya

    , @Dmitry
    @AP

    Humans in the fertile crescent invented farming around 500 generations, while most of our ancestors have farming for significantly less. For example, in Northern Europe, there was rejection of agriculture for thousands of years in Neolithic time.

    This is just talking about farming -

    500 generations vs 1000,000,000,000 of generations of evolution. (Even for human history, farming is only 500 vs 8000 generations, but most of our adaptations were from the prehuman history)

    From any quantitative view, evolution on first side of this "vs" will not very nonsignificant, relative to the other side.

    Also, invention of farming up to 500 generations ago, creates reduction of the selection pressure from the environment. So, we have insignificant number of generations, with reduction of selection pressure from environment in the low number of generations as result of artificial engineering of the environment.

    Writing was invented by Sumerians around 200 generations past. For many of our ancestors only had experience of writing for 4-8 generations. Humans were living for over 8000 generations without writing and the pre-humans (which is most of our adaptations for the environment) 1000,000,000,000 of generations without writing.

    Replies: @AP, @Yahya

  227. @Ivashka the fool
    @Mikel

    You're right Mikel. You have also been a voice for peace and sanity. I apologize for having omitted mentioning that.

    Re. the acceptability of war in Europe. I think we are undergoing a regression of social norms. My opinion is that it started in the West in 2001 after the Twin Towers attack. It started in the former USSR earlier in late 80ies and early 90ies with all the ethnic strife and the criminal and political violence.

    I think we are devolving toward more tribalism everywhere. I don't think that this is entirely negative. Humans need a clan and a tribe to rely upon. Progress has deprived them from that, the regression & archaization would probably bring it back.

    Replies: @Mikel

    I think we are devolving toward more tribalism everywhere. I don’t think that this is entirely negative. Humans need a clan and a tribe to rely upon. 

    This is the crux of the issue, imho. I don’t have much time to elaborate but we humans evolved for hundreds of thousands of years as a tribal species. During all of that time using violence to keep outsiders away from our hunting-gathering space made perfect sense, from a survival perspective. Defending your tribe was just a natural extension of defending your family, which not even the most extremist pacifists would object to, I think. And even if we hadn’t have that particular evolution we have the same territorial instinct of all members of the animalia group in the eukaryotes domain.

    People may rationalize the necessity of war in many different ways but it all boils down to our very deep, ancestral instincts. However, we don’t live in tribal structures anymore at all. Nation states are a very novel, abstract structure that mimics the tribe that, as you correctly point out, we still feel the need to belong to but are radically different. People being rounded up in Odessa to be forced to kill what they perhaps consider their own kin is the perfect example of this difference.

    Besides, we are the only rational species on this planet. Chimpanzees may go to war against a neighboring group and use much more violence than necessary without giving it any thought or feeling any moral compunction but our brains evolved too much and we are not like that.

    In fact, our brains have evolved so much that we have now made our planet enter the nuclear era and we can turn one of our old territorial disputes into a global catastrophic event, which history and human nature suggest will happen sooner or later. So, paradoxically, our survival now depends on being able to put under strict control an instinct that until recently was beneficial for our survival.

    In other words, I agree with you on the importance of the human tribal dimension but I disagree on the benefits of turning back to it in the present circumstances.

    • Replies: @Coconuts
    @Mikel


    In fact, our brains have evolved so much that we have now made our planet enter the nuclear era and we can turn one of our old territorial disputes into a global catastrophic event, which history and human nature suggest will happen sooner or later.
     
    The problem may lie in the fact that human brains and bodies haven't been able to evolve to keep up with our capacity to modify our environment. Then you get an evolutionary mismatch where the species is no longer adapted to its environment and you may see reduction in numbers or the risk of something like an extinction event.

    An unavoidable reduction in numbers raises the question of whose families and whose lines are going to die out and who gets to choose, so conflicting interests over scare resources that is likely to give rise to tribalism again.

    Then there is the argument that has appeared a few times in the thread already that appeals to liberalism and universal pacification/conflict elimination, humanity as a political entity etc. can themselves end up a mask for more particular and sectional interests; they end up serving the survival needs of particular families and groups of families.

    These issues seem to be looming in some Western European countries as a result of wealth disparities and demographic change, though things are starting from a high base in terms of living standards and expectations. I wondered about the East Slav sphere as well, where distrust seems to have grown around how elites dependent on natural resource exploitation and the security forces are going to manage the future for the wider population.

    Replies: @HeavilyMarbledSteak, @Ivashka the fool, @Mikel

  228. @songbird
    @LatW


    I’m not exactly sure I understand what you mean by “culturally and politically swamped”. Everyone has their own country and culture, many of the political views are aligned, and it would be more about coordination, rather than creating a full on confederation.
     
    I have a lot of trouble categorizing AP, on various grounds, but I am not altogether convinced that he wants the same endpoint as you. Outside of Ukraine (where he seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist.

    But beyond that, we have seen the path of the EU, and I am convinced that it is the organic path of any such organization. Meaning, I think you would need to design a system which would prevent the elites from eroding national boundaries, and it is probably harder than just putting a law or regulation down on paper. It would need to be incentivized and run through simulations, and be over-engineered by a factor of four. That is, if you want to keep some national identity.

    But even for those who aren't attached to it, and don't mind their neighbors. There is the tendency to keep growing and accepting new neighbors, and new peoples. You still would need a new national identity to prevent that, and it is not guaranteed they would give it to you.

    Replies: @LatW, @A123, @AP

    I have a lot of trouble categorizing AP

    I took a long time “categorizing” him, too, but I was able to finally (he’s rather complex, with a mix of ideas and predispositions that are not always consistent or immediately visible to non-Anglos, but in the US it is possible to be that way).

    Outside of Ukraine (where he seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist.

    Yes, that is problematic, but he has a right to his ideology and outlook, this may be what happens when you have an immigrant country (at home he would be more balanced, and, btw, there is nothing wrong with Poland-Galician integrationalism at all). America has to pay for everyone she takes in that way. So far America has been strong… but at this point America’s burden is not light. It attests to America’s strength.

    but I am not altogether convinced that he wants the same endpoint as you.

    Not fully, but there is a rather significant overlap. I won’t dissect him because, in this particular time and space, he’s a friendly. Besides, the “endpoint”, as you say, will not be something that either he, nor I, nor you will decide on our own, most likely. It will be a larger collective of people. We can only contribute our energy and hopes.

    Meaning, I think you would need to design a system which would prevent the elites from eroding national boundaries

    There are such systems in the Intermarium, but they are not ideal. These things need to be constantly managed. Elites and the military, as well as the police, need to be held to high standards but also have respect. The civic society needs to be free but similarly as the state institutions, needs to be held to a high accountability.

    And even tough and rigorous bureaucracy. A bureaucrat gets to approve somebody’s asylum or immigration application – you don’t want to leave that decision to be based on their mood or what they had for lunch, but based on intelligence, a strong patriotic conviction and, ideally, the interests of the nation (hopefully, in a way that you and I understand it). All of these components need to be in place. Ideology is important, even if it is not voiced in words and political documents, but in other symbols and gestures that everyone understands without saying.

    We used to have a totalitarian society where others took care of this. But when one has freedom, the most valuable gift, one has to have self-discipline. The classical Greek culture teaches us to question things the way Socrates did, the Socratic method is still useful – when someone proposes something for your state and nation, question it. Ask simple questions – “Is this needed?”, “Why?”, “How is this good for the children?”. Do not just accept it. Question it just for the sake of it.. question it openly. 🙂

    It would need to be incentivized and run through simulations, and be over-engineered by a factor of four.

    No need to exaggerate, just have a normal, strict common sense approach. That’s why formalities are a good thing to have, as I said, but they are not the most important. A nation, a tribe, a family, a family of similar peoples, needs to be able to stand without a state (most nations in history have been that way). But a strong state and an ideology is still important, to have more than one layer of protection. A nation is like a warrior and a strong, nationalist state is like a shield.

    There is the tendency to keep growing and accepting new neighbors

    Our neighbors are static and have been static for millennia or for hundreds of years. I guess we are lucky that way. But the EU neighbors, in the future, will need a discussion. We go back to Socrates, we question, instead of just accepting things as a given.

    You still would need a new national identity to prevent that, and it is not guaranteed they would give it to you.

    It is our own job to nurture our identity, but I don’t agree that “they” can give us anything or take our national identity, as easily as you seem to assume. They know how important it is, they are careful, that’s why they have had a “soft” approach. More dangerous for us that way, actually. You know how you walk during a blizzard on a snowed in path, really freezing? When you reach the limit of your strength you fall down comfortably in the snow and start falling asleep.. they say it’s the most pleasant feeling. It’s the feeling right before you die and they teach you to fight that pleasant sleep, to bring yourself out of it, to keep yourself alert.

    • Replies: @S
    @LatW



    Outside of Ukraine (where he [AP] seems to be some weird Poland-Galician integrationalist), he appears to be a vehement anti-nationalist.
     
    Yes, that is problematic, but he [AP] has a right to his [selective weaponized Progressive Multi-Culturalism, for everyone else, yes, for me and mine, no] ideology and outlook, this may be what happens when you have an immigrant country...America has to pay [and pay, and pay, and pay some more] for everyone she takes in that way.
     
    Yes, and sometimes what has to be 'paid' is far too high of a cost.

    I'm in full agreement with Kevin MacDonald that at the time the Immigration Act of 1924 was signed the imported by diktat East European wage slaves (aka 'immigrants') should of been deported en masse back to their countries of origin.

    With some noble exceptions, they would seem to be a bunch of narcissistic, self-centered, arrogant, shameless, grifters, willing tools of the so called 'progressives', AP being a prime example of the type whose own words condemn him.

    The other Anglosphere countries should of done the very same thing.

    Replies: @LatW, @sudden death, @AP, @Leaves No Shadow

    , @songbird
    @LatW


    It is our own job to nurture our identity, but I don’t agree that “they” can give us anything or take our national identity, as easily as you seem to assume.
     
    Of course, in the purest spiritual sense, you are correct. But I fear that you are also wrong, if only in a narrow materialist sense, which however is not unimportant, and which ultimately does connect and interface with the spiritual realm.

    IMO, you must look West and seek to prevent what happened there, and it requires more than optimism and resolve. It requires vigilence, tactics, and strategy. Organization, and mechanism.

    Make an analogy to war. War has changed and evolved dramatically. Nobody would think of bringing Macedonian tactics, as good as they were in their day, to a modern battlefield.

    Well, there is another kind of war, today: the war for identity. And I hope you will not be so dismissive of us Western Euros as to think that we wanted to give up our identity. Honestly, to a large extent, it has been usurped. We may not all recognize the claims of the usurpers, but it is easy to recognize their level of success.

    The promotion of terms, like 'white Irish' and 'white British.' Once, 'American' even meant something highly specific. In the dictionary, for American, it said 'white person', but that was really just shorthand for a narrow circle of the world, NW Europe, where we had a lot in common culturally and genetically. I don't think anyone really wanted to give that up - actual meaning to the word, an ethnic label - but it has been usurped. And it is funny to see all sorts of genetically distant people, alien-looking and acting, unalike in every conceivable way, and severely wanting in some, demand that Chinese and Japanese recognize them as Americans, and portray them as such. What loyalty have they shown us? And yet they want our identity, and indeed have robbed us of it to a very large extent.

    This is why I tell you that I think that identity is important, and you need a strong conception of it, which must extend beyond the spiritual and into the physical. Into public organizations with resources, intelligence and hierarchy. Perhaps, I am preaching to the choir, but just so you don't misunderstand my meaning.

    Replies: @LatW

  229. @Ivashka the fool
    @AP

    I agree that Muscovite tradition has been authoritarian since Ivan the Terrible at least, probably even since his father's time. That was the price of survival as the only Orthodox Slav country (with the notable exception of Montenegro) not conquered by some German or Turkic neighbor. It was also the price of building an Empire. Something that the Rzezcpospolita failed at.

    Nowadays, the time of classical Empires is over. Now it is time for federations and confederations. Vyacheslav Chornovil, one of the most respected Ukrainian nationalists of the early independent Ukraine, had in his time warned that the Ukrainian state would better be a federation instead of attempting at imposing an unified "one size fits all" approach to all the regions. He had also suggested giving a very large level of autonomy to Crimea.

    He was an intelligent person. If Ukrainian political circles would have headed his advice, there would have been no war.

    Replies: @Mr. Hack, @AP

    It’s been a long, long time since I’ve read his famous political manifesto “Boomerang”, and he may have been another Skoropadsky type who was all over the board depending on the time of day, but I don’t remember him advocating a federative approach for Ukraine? During my college days, I was involved in getting him to come to Mpls when he first was released, even met with him privately in his hotel room after he got through with his big meeting with the whole diaspora crowd.

    This is the Valentyn Moroz that I remember:

    Moroz’s political utterances, for instance his view that Ukrainian independence should be secured by any possible means, including guerrilla war, appealed to supporters of the former guerrilla leader Stepan Bandera, but not to other sections of Canada’s Ukrainian diaspora. After the Ukrainian former political prisoner Leonid Plyushch had asserted that Ukraine needed “democracy, not fascism”, Moroz dismissed him as an “underdeveloped Ukrainian – a Jew.”[3]

    I don’t think that he would chacterize Zelensky as such today.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentyn_Moroz

  230. @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Beckow


    I say, time for them to go…
     
    Them disappearing will include (P~.98) totalitarian control on your consumption of wine, t-bone steak, cannabis, gasoline, heating and cooling energy, and an ad infinitum of consumer goods.

    Also your speech. They would control your thoughts if they had the power to do so. Attempting to control our thoughts will consume an increasing fraction of resources.

    Ted Kaczynski had a better plan and his plan was retarded.

    Replies: @Beckow

    Well, I am glad you took my screed against the lazy, parasitic Western middle classes seriously :)…

    On second thought, given the risks to my steaks, I will reconsider and let them stay…could they in turn be nice enough to stay mostly home, watch their stupid tv and video games, and refrain from marching around nature and picturesque old towns? Also, leave the fat wives (of all genders) home…we need to get back to some semblance of civilization…

    • Replies: @Emil Nikola Richard
    @Beckow


    refrain from marching around nature and picturesque old towns?
     
    I march around nature constantly and one thing never observed there is fat people.

    As for your picturesque old towns, perhaps you might maybe lobby with your local tourist board to discourage fat tourists? Those fat bus seats look like a juicy target. If nothing else works you could send them an anonymous message that if they don't retire the buses it would be a real shame if something happened to them.

    Do your local grocery stores have fat shopper vehicles? They have been standard in American grocery stores for many years and are as good a coal mine canary as any society could ever want.

    On the other hand this probably is a subject you don't want to get me started on. : )

    https://c8.alamy.com/comp/R4096E/large-heavy-woman-shopper-on-in-store-use-only-electric-shopping-scooter-R4096E.jpg

    Replies: @Mikhail, @Beckow

  231. @AP
    @Beckow


    “This can be done (and is being done) on the territory Ukraine already has.”

    That is an attempt at genocide by any standards. Nice that you admit to it
     
    Ukraine is erasing the Russian language and culture on its territory, in accordance with the will of a majority of its people; ethnic Ukrainian kids are learning in their own language now.

    Russia is erasing towns and thousands of Russian-speaking people.

    An honest person would admit which action is closer to genocide.

    Lviv has programmers and researchers, not call centers….

    Stop lying, there is a total of 35k “IT workers” in the Lviv region
     
    It has increased since the war as companies have moved from places like Kharkiv and many more of Ukraine’s 200,000 IT workers have transferred to Lviv:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/business/ukraine-tech-companies-putin.html

    The entire country of Slovakia only has 28k such workers:

    https://www.itminions.be/en/blog/slo