Outside the Roman Empire in Europe, most, if not all, of the various tribes were Christianized en masse when the tribal leader decided to become Christian. 
 
Looking at the Roman Empire, Christianity was primarily an upper class urban phenomenon. In the later Empire, paganus meant both non Christian and also hick, rustic, country bumpkin, etc.

Use of upper class was a stretch. I meant more the higher classes, both economic and social. Also, it’s probably more correct to say Christians were in the higher classes, rather than the higher classes were Christian, as you allude to, at least until Constantine’s conversion.

This may shed some light on Benedict’s controversial speech comparing the philosophies of Christianity and Islam and whether one is more peaceful (or reasonable) than the other. There may be more instances of advocation of peace among Christian thinkers, but if the followers of Christianity are not as peaceful as the rhetoric, the question becomes what is more important, rhetoric or action?

In regards to changing meanings of ideas, how about the ever more popular idea that Christianity and Capitalism are intertwined or that Christianity created Capitalism.  
 
It’s odd that the Catholic Church could be so misguided for so long about the unchristian nature of usury.

free trade = bye bye u.s. dollar

Razib,

There are a couple of things one can say about this, but the primary one is: why should this be a case of “simple knowledge”? Presumably to make a well-grounded claim about Kant’s religious beliefs would require both a careful study of his relevant writings, incl. his published work & ‘nachlass’, and as thorough a biographical study as possible.

As if that weren’t bad enough (considering how bad his prose is) you then have to bear in mind that his writings were subject to official censorship and his position at Koenigsberg technically made him a State official; there were concrete reasons why he might have to diminish his own religious heterodoxy. In fact, Kant was forbidden by the Prussian royal censor from ever making public statements on religion after releasing a second edition of his “Religion within the Bounds of Reason Alone” in 1794. Granted, ’94 was pretty late in the game for Kant, but it illustrates the context if nothing else.

I think the variety of answers among even people with more than an informed layperson’s knowledge of Kant has as much to do with their indifference as the difficulty in giving a well-established answer. Kant’s philosophy of religion is not exactly a hot topic in academic philosophy, and my informed guess (having known my fair share of Kantians and Kantians-in-training) is that it’s something even most Kant specialists will give cursory attention to at some point in their educations, and then promptly ignore thereafter.

FWIW, I’d be highly suspicious of anyone who tried to tell me that Kant’s religious beliefs were anything more orthodox than a very thoroughly rationalized, and so pretty tepid, form of Christianity. I don’t know enough to take a position beyond that.

I don’t get all the Plato hate. A lot of it, Popper & his ilk esp., is based on an unconvincing conflation of his idealism and his allegedly totalitarian politics. And while Platonism doesn’t fit with the modern natural sciences, it’s not like Aristotelianism is any better — and the latter’s insistence that mathematics not be applied to natural phenomenon was a greater impediment to the development of science than anything in Plato.

FTR, I love ’em both. “To be a friend to Plato is to be a greater friend to truth.”

I think #9 makes a good point, one that gels with your assertion Razib, but approaches it from the opposite angle. Not only would there have been something like Platonism without Plato, but actual existing Platonism isn’t something that just falls out of Plato’s dialogues fully-formed. Plato, IOW, wasn’t (necessarily, obviously) a Platonist.

And back to Aristotle serving as an impediment to the development of the modern mathematical natural sciences, I think Aristotle’s authoritativeness was a big part of the problem, but not the only one. Aristotle’s physics is in its own way deeply resonant with our intuitions, and arguably more consonant with our common-sense engagement with the world than Platonism. Had the more radical (Averroist) interpretations of Aristotle not brought down the Vatican thunder, who knows how things might’ve gone? I wouldn’t go so far as Duhem does when he says that the Condemnation of 1277 was the birth of modern science, but there’s a grain of truth to it — a grain which ought to stick in the craw of whiggish historians of science.

For more on the Condemnation of 1277: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/condemnation/

Interesting article. Seems the political set-up in Japan hasn’t changed much since the time of the Meiji restoration(1853-68).
E.M.Satow, author of “A Diplomat in Japan” (based on his diaries as a diplomat there) described the years 1862-69, and the go-to person for info on the period.
Quote
”The effect of this etiquette over the course of time was a curious degeneracy and aloofness from public affairs. The feudal chiefs gave themselves up to pleasure, lived a life of artificial seclusion, and allowed their retainers to think and act for them. If, during the period of storm and stress which preceded the revolution of 1868, some of them were distinguished for political ability, it was mainly because they were younger sons, who had received an ordinary education.”

one of those cases
where a person can be both dumb and smart at one and the same time.

i got to take issue with
“the Americans, who have not defeated anybody or anything in a very long time” hahaha

it’s not the winning that counts;it’s the taking part (isnt that the motto of the Olympics?)

yes. but they have destroyed numerous countries
(Iraq on at least 3 occasions
1990-1998 war,sanctions
2003 war
since 2003 more of the same)

Henry Liu also made some interesting comparisons between MAO AND LINCOLN some years ago
see MAO AND LINCOLN
Henry C.K. Liu
Part I: Demon and deity,
This article appeared in AToL on March 31, 2004
https://henryckl.ipower.com/page115.html

although i think best comparison would be to compare Mao with the original architect of China
Qin Shi Huang (whom Mao considered a progenitor of his)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang

ps but you still got to say that the accomplishments of Chinese people since 1945
were generally made in spite of Mao, not because of Mao
and i consider achievements of Deng Xiaoping to be greater.

i must admit i once held a favourable view of Lenin. not so favourable now, perhaps.

once read a book called “Mutual Aid” by Russian anarchist philosopher Peter Kropotkin
(it’s actually a very good text-book re:wikipedia:”it is an argument against the competition-centred theories of so-called social Darwinism, as well as the romantic depictions of cooperation presented by writers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who argued it was motivated by universal love rather than self-interest. Mutual Aid is considered a fundamental text in anarchist communism, presenting a scientific basis for communism alternative to the historical materialism of the Marxists. Many biologists also consider it an important catalyst in the scientific study of cooperation.”

however, i was more interested in reading the foreword (1920) to the book (originally written 1902) in which Peter Kropotkin took issue with Lenin and his practice of hostage-taking ( as a form of “protection” against the Tsarist police who were after him at the time (early 1900s”)

“Vladimir Ilyich, your concrete actions are completely unworthy of the ideas you pretend to hold.
Is it possible that you do not know what a hostage really is — a man imprisoned not because of a crime he has committed, but only because it suits his enemies to exert blackmail on his companions? … If you admit such methods, one can foresee that one day you will use torture, as was done in the Middle Ages.
I hope you will not answer me that Power is for political men a professional duty, and that any attack against that power must be considered as a threat against which one must guard oneself at any price. This opinion is no longer held even by kings… Are you so blinded, so much a prisoner of your own authoritarian ideas, that you do not realise that being at the head of European Communism, you have no right to soil the ideas which you defend by shameful methods … What future lies in store for Communism when one of its most important defenders tramples in this way every honest feeling?
Letter to Vladimir Lenin (21 December 1920); as quoted in Peter Kropotkin : From Prince to Rebel (1990) by George Woodcock and Ivan Avakumovic, p. 426
Variant translation: Whoever holds dear the future of communism cannot embark upon such measures. It is possible that no one has explained what a hostage really is? A hostage is imprisoned not as punishment for some crime. He is held in order to blackmail the enemy with his death.”

my attitude then was : what’s a few hostages mean when you’re about to start a Revolution
(cf Danton:how can you make an omelette, without breaking a few eggs)

Crikey. so many comments on this article.

And sad to hear that so many of the commenters of this article must refer to the authors religious affiliation (66 at last count).

You always suspect that when people adopt certain tones that what follows next is going to be some sort of collective blame-game.

it does makes me cringe.

I read about case of Bokkie Potgieter
Murdered, killer carts his body away in his victims truck, feet sticking out
(well,if I was going to kill somebody, I would at least try to hide his body).
I suppose that reflects the mentality of his killer (ie stupid).

at least killer received some sort of justice (lynched/murdered by fellow black workers)

my oh my, how things have changed!!

well remember the good old-bad old days
and a favourite slogan of mine

“workers of the world unite for ………a white south africa”
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Rebellion)

always thought that was very funny/ironic.

you definitely couldn’t say that about the current crop of Marxists.
( a totally humourless bunch)

good idea, although not surprised at this much-needed initiative
considering where current trends are leading.

YouTube hiring thousands of staff to stop disturbing videos aimed at children
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/youtube-children-kids-moderators-google-alphabet-announcement-latest-a8093191.html

“YouTube says it will hire more than 10,000 people in part to address a disturbing trend among its videos.

The new moderators will try and stop the spread of bizarre, potentially damaging videos across its site. In recent weeks, the site has been increasingly criticised for hosting the posts, which seem aimed to target children but in fact show graphic, extremist and violent content.”

Gwot/to stop money-laundering/protecting young children etc etc.
it’s called a scheme to catch-all, pure and simple.

i doubt if very few, if any, see this for what it is. ie censorship of the internet.

it is rather unfortunate that you have to use the name of Iain Duncan Smith to make your point regarding UKs delusional view-of-itself on the global stage.

as i understand it, he is one of the few rational and fair-minded people in the House of Commons.(although i could be wrong, but i very much doubt it)

if you wanted to make issue of someone in this regard, then there are any number of other prominent politicians who would fit the billing to the title of this post, then the name of Boris Johnson would automatically spring to mind. (likewise Hilary Benn, and many many others.)

The House of Commons is full of its fair share of personalities whose main claim to fame is their own narcissism.

Ms Mercers article as to the African mindset
reminds me of Senegalese film Hyènes (1992)

Hyènes is a 1992 Senegalese comedy film adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Swiss-German satirical play The Visit, directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty.

Linguere Ramatou, an aging, wealthy woman who revisits her home village of Colobane. Linguere offers a disturbing proposition to the people of Colobane and lavishes luxuries upon them to persuade them. This embittered woman, “as rich as the World Bank”, will bestow upon Colobane a fortune in exchange for the murder of Dramaan Drameh, a local shopkeeper who abandoned her after a love affair and her illegitimate pregnancy when she was 16.

seems the average African is only too happy with his lot,
provided the right leader is in place.

if that fails; he can always emigrate to Europe.

Interesting article
however it does seem a bit of a stretch to believe that “Stalin had directed his powerful German Communist Party to take political actions ensuring that Hitler came to power ”

however you would be able to believe that if you also believed that perhaps the Germans did the same thing with respect to Russia during WW1 to ensure that Lenin came to power
during the Bolshevik revolution.

(however i really did find it impossible to believe that ” the Soviets had at least 1,000,000 trained paratroopers, and Suvorov believes that the true total was actually closer to 2,000,000.”

in what way could you say that these personnel were actually “trained” to any degree or level?

see that Kamala Harris is actually the person most likely to defeat
Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential Election
(via Oddschecker website)
and so,being from the UK, and knowing absolutely nothing about Kamala Harris,

i was interested in knowing just a little bit more about her.

now i do.
tells us a lot about her priorities, (ie Mission Statement)

cant see how The Donald could possibly lose in 2020.

my only issue with Alex Jones is that he is a bit, well loud.
which, to my sensibilities, is somewhat off-putting.

However to ban him, partly on the grounds that he is a bit of a so-called “conspiracy theorist”.

So what. it seems that a fairly large proportion of your average talk-show hosts inc most newsreaders
could be described as a “conspiracy theorist” (like 99%)

So that just turns poor old Alex in to one conspriracy theorist
(amongst a multitude of others of the same species).

Cyril Ramaphosa.

i probably remember this guy back from the 1980s.
(and i am sure Ms Mercer’s father probably also knows this guy quite well, perhaps personally)

back then he (in the 1980s) probably seemed quite reasonable regarding the struggles against apartheid.

now what?, Apartheid has gone for good and they’ve got majority rule, and he’s (or at least his party has) been in power for the past 25 years, and his demands seem to be like that of Napoleon (the head pig) in a rerun of Animal Farm.

Cyril Ramaphosa has morphed into quite an hypocrite over the past 35 years.
(or was he always like this?)

now he’s showing his true colours.

yes, it is surprising that not there is not much focus (on Iraq) from the media regarding current events in Middle East. (not withstanding the current ongoing Syrian Government offensive in Idlib)

however Elijah Magnier does have a good article on his blog (via his twitter feed)
regarding current events in Basra.

https://ejmagnier.com/2018/09/07/a-wake-up-call-to-the-us-in-baghdad-will-haidar-abadi-become-the-mohammad-morsi-of-iraq/

reading through that article and just looking at the complete mish-mash of
names of politicians and political parties, one can not possibly be surprised as to why the country of Iraq is in the straits it is in today (and the previous x number of years)

although Magnier does go on to say that, in conclusion that

“All the same, an unstable political situation in Iraq or a civil war would fall to the advantage of the US and not Iran. Many Iraqi leaders are well aware of this. It is unclear how the anti-US camp can succeed in thwarting the US attempt to bring their man into the prime ministership, and at the same time manage that essential damage limitation.”

Ms Mercer says on her twitter page
“I can just imagine who the GOP is hiring to defend a man they don’t have the male bits to defend”

i think she ought to have said
“…….it’s more like that they need to grow a spine”

(you do get to read a lot of funny comments on twitter regarding this tale/saga)

Generally speaking, the outcome of US mid-term elections aren’t usually
exactly something of any great interest to 99% of people outside the US.

and i don’t think this time will be very much different.

However, it seems that the Democrats could be looking on these elections as a time of great opportunity for themselves (according to just about each and every political poll).

the bad news for them might well be that a larger proportion (relative to Republican voters)
of people who say or indicate that they will vote Democrat, will, in the end, just decide to stay away.

at least if things dont turn out the way Democrats are expecting, then that will be their excuse.

and does it seems that Democrats #1 and seemingly only meme, at present, is to just go after Trump

(what, are they still trying to impeach him? it hasn’t worked yet, and one would hate to see Democrats spending the next 2 years doing what they have been doing for the past 2 years);
Democrats best hope for the next 2 years would be to hope for a recession in the US
and for Trump and US and world economy to fall flat on his face; but then, that’s not really much of an hope anyway, isnt it?

its strange (or maybe not that strange at all )
that this sudden mass-migration of people towards the US
is happening on the eve of upcoming US mid-term elections.

we all know that is in Democrats interests , (and other left-leaning parties)
will nearly always favour such people. That is a well-documented fact. After all immigrants, and particularly very recent immigrants, will vote for such parties (the more recent the immigrant the better).

so question is just who is really behind this particular movement.
obvious answer would be the Democrats, as they hope to be the party which reaps the benefit of such an influx of future Democrat voters.

but then they may not be aware that these electoral shenanigans is probably about to blow up in their faces (as many a suicide bomber has found to their cost)

if you’re going to be playing around with fireworks (see November 5th) it’s best to take along an adult to do the dangerous things.

Erdogan is very smart and he certainly knows how to drive a bargain.
it is probably not such a good idea to trying blackmail someone who is himself a master at the same thing.

right now, it seems that his #1 objective is extracting a big enough ransom/extortion from Saudis as in $xx+ bn.

although, technically speaking, what happened with murder of Khashoggi was the murder of a Saudi citizen on Saudi soil by the future monarch of Saudi Arabia,
(and what Turks were up to was an infringement of Saudi sovereignty)

therefore, isnt what happened in Saudi embassy on Turkish soil technically a matter for Saudis alone?

think Erdogan must have been watching episodes of “Wheeler Dealers”

Got to say that i disagree with quite a lot about most of this article.

However, whatever ones own opinion maybe of the stay/leave argument,
you do have to admit that this current Government have actually managed to make their handling of the Leave procedure into a monumental cock-up of epic proportions.

Just as one might have expected.

the author could at least have tried to present the current shenanigans as a sort
of comedy of sorts

my own opinion was and has been from the start,
a) vote Leave and, once public has voted accordingly
b) immediately cancel the vote and decide to stay in anyway (as is the European way)

this way the Brexit camp wins (so they’re happy)
and the Remain camp also gets to win ( so they’re also happy)

so everybody gets to win, ie everybody has reason to rejoice (or perhaps not)

when they finally get around to voting on this,
think i will decide to watch the silent Japanese film
“a page of madness ,1926” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Page_of_Madness)

(it’s a story about an asylum)

reply to comment #6
“European officials laugh about the fairy tale that Assange has been ‘living’ at the Ecuador embassy in London – the UK police apparently ‘watch’ the place so MI5-MI6 can move him in and out for his meetings and photo opportunities, Assange is known to stay on a Rothschild friend’s estate”

what? are you being funny?

that comment does reminds me of a series of books (and a few BBC TV program called Chronicle)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronicle_(UK_TV_programme)
“for example in the three episodes by Henry Lincoln on the Rennes-le-Château “mystery” and Knights Templar conspiracy theory broadcast in 1972, 1974, and 1979 (the conspiracy theory would be further expounded in The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail and later became the inspiration for Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code).”

the upshot of those series of books and the TV programs was

no, Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, as is commonly believed
…..but survived and went off to live in the South of France, where he founded the French Merovingian dynasty.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Blood_and_the_Holy_Grail)

still, that does not mean that these “stories” are true, or not true.

just that i am somewhat flabbergasted.

one can always agree with the statement that children have an inalienable right to be gay

but it seems that nowadays the issue has moved forward from tolerance towards people
of a deviant behaviour, towards those same people trying to foist their aberrations
upon the rest of the general population.

it is usual practice amongst “normal” societies to expect people to try to live by the rules
and practices of the majority.

just think of Michael Jackson. (and countless other deviants), who, so it seems was somewhat
of an expert in these matters.

not an expert on these matters, but i’ll take your word for it.

that fire was nothing.
France and rest of Europe can recover from these things
after all the Great Fire of London was followed by the building of St Pauls Cathedral.

no. the scary part was President Macrons ideas as to how to go about repairing the damage after
the fire at Notre Dame.

now that is scary.

Very Interesting article

Never knew the Chinese were such World leaders in the field of 5G
If you were to get your information from your usual sources such as CNN,BBC,MSM in general
(Which I don’t ) then one would be under the apprehension that absolutely everything the Chinese do was via massive copyright theft from the West (mainly ie 90% from the US and with a little bit from such backwaters as the EU and Japan )

However this article does remind me of an another article about 10 years ago from asia times
(China and the art of (standards) war By Indrajit Basu Apr 13, 2006

in that article the author detailed Chinese efforts about developing their own set of standards (it was all about getting Intellectual Property and thence things like royalties and the like)

Excerpt from article
Technology
International standard Proposed or adopted Chinese standard
Digital television (DTV) Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC);High Definition Television (HDTV);Standard Definition Television (SDTV);Digital Video Broadcasting-Cable (DVBC) Digital Multimedia Broadcasting-Terrestrial (DMBT); and Advanced Digital Television Broadcast-Terrestrial (ADTBT)
Mobile telephony Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA – European); Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000 – US) Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA)
Wireless Local Area Networks (LANs) Existing 802.11 Security Standards Including: Service Set Identifier (SSID); Media Access Control (MAC); Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI)
Video discs Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) Enhanced Versatile Disk (EVD)
Home networking Digital Home Working Group (DHWG) Intelligent Grouping and Resource Sharing (IGRS)
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags Electronic Product Code Network (EPC) Undecided
Audio/video compression Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) 4; H.264 Audio Video Coding Standard (AVS)

All these plans/standards have proved to be failures (except perhaps the Chinese implementation of Digital Television)

Seems that 5G is China’s first successful attempt at achieving a World-beating standard

actually, decided to do a bit of follow-up to previous comment.

perhaps Huawei is or is not such a leader in 5g after all

https://www.quora.com/US-blacklisted-Huawei-in-what-is-evidently-ZTE-style-surgical-strike-It-appears-Huawei-is-pretty-much-dead-What-can-Huawei-or-China-do-to-overcome-this-or-to-retaliate-What-will-China-do

https://www.quora.com/If-Huawei-is-a-leader-in-5G-patents-how-would-Huawei-be-able-to-monetize-this-patent-portfolio-if-the-West-were-successful-in-its-boycott-of-Huawei-5G-gear

https://www.iam-media.com/who-will-be-technology-leader-5g-part-one

am not all that clued-up about these matters; so the only thing you can really say
is that it all depends upon who you rely on for your news.

it seems that perhaps the 3rd article might be more informative as to relevance
(as opposed to the other 2 references)
reading the 2 articles from https://www.quora.com does beg the question
as to whether or not Huawei might be a compamy that is on its last legs or not
( i think not)

perhaps arresting their CFO was either a masterstroke or perhaps something else

“Avia tells us that her proposal is driven by her own personal story:

If I have made this draft law proposal, it is because I have myself encountered this phenomenon: a wave of racist messages that I have received on social media. This law of course aims to go beyond my personal case”

Please Give me a break.
Who does she thinks he’s kidding.

If i saw someone looking like her coming towards me in a dark alley one night
who do you think is going to be the scared one. Me or her?

just the thought of it is enough to give one goose-pimples.

what personal experience is she talking about?
nobody on earth is going to be trying to threaten her under any circumstances, except perhaps……
(his name escapes me)

seems that the entire Biden-Ukraine affair
may be all about an internal-Democratic party issue.

1) he’s currently the front-runner of sorts in the upcoming Presidential election
2) he is very accident-prone, ( particularly when it comes to issues of corruption, as in this case)
and so has very little chance of being their nominee
3) so Democrats want to throw him under a bus asap, and
4) get the msm to believe that it’s all Trumps fault, whom everyone hates (or so they believe)

simples.

There does seem to be a somewhat wide range of opinions as to why people voted Brexit,
and a lot of truth to all of them.

but from my own perspective there has only ever been one reason
and that has to do with actual UK sovereignty.

over the past 40+years of UK EU membership
the UK Parliament has been steadily delegating its role from own sovereign body ( itself)
to another, not so sovereign one (called the EU)
(the UK and other Parliaments have been doing the same sort of thing with respect to other bodies
such as the UN etc etc)

the question is not whether the UK should leave, but what exactly is the future role
of the UK Parliament, and by extension, the point of the UK?

if in the longer run, it wishes to abolish itself, or just relegate itself to some
form of whatever, then so be it.

if it wishes to remain Sovereign, or something just more than another layer of Government
then it needs to act accordingly.

this implies leaving the EU, but not necessarily so.

(what is currently going on in the UK parliament seems to be an effort by the Remainers to regain control of the reins of power (ie derail Brexit) only to hand it back to the EU.
it’s a bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face)

keep your hair on (at least what’s left of it)
(that’s a line i borrowed from the film The Life of Oharu (1952))

the chances of conflict (ie a direct full-on war between US and Iran ie WW2) are a damn sight less than the 90 % you talk about. it’s more like 20-30% at best.

and the crisis has never been about Iran’s potential acquisition of nuclear weapons
(they wouldn’t be of much use in such a local conflict anyway (possibly of no use)

the only countries in this situation that envisage use of nuclear weapons would be Israel and its little proxy, ie the US. (but mainly Israel)

current crisis in Middle-east (going back to 1971) was always about the use of the US petrodollar and the emergence of a multipolar World order, and its prevention thereof.

time to take a deep breath (until US presidential election….aka Trump or the neocons last stand)

considering the speed of the response of the Chinese authorities
in dealing with this epidemic, (very effectively, it seems)
has anyone considered the possibility that the crisis may have been “engineered”
by the Chinese just to show the rest of the world, their capabilities in getting on top of something of global importance (in a way that the rest of the world, aka the US, EU presently seems singularly ill-suited of doing.

(Russiagate,Ukrainegate,Brexit, Russia,Iraq,Iran, etc…….its all one big crisis to them )

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pepe-escobar-chinas-virus-response-has-been-breathtaking

1.Ghebreyesus for his part could not but praise Beijing for its extremely swift, coordinated response strategy – which includes fast identification of the genome sequence. Chinese scientists have already handed over to Russian counterparts the virus genome, with snap tests able to identify it in a human body within two hours. A Russia-China vaccine is under development.
2.Apart from crisis management, the speed of the Chinese scientific response has been breathtaking – and obviously not fully appreciated in an environment of Total Information War. Compare the Chinese performance with the American CDC, arguably the top infectious disease research agency in the world, with an $11 billion annual budget and 11,000 employees.

During the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 – considered a maximum urgency, and facing a virus with a 90% fatality rate – the CDC took no less than two months from getting the first patient sample to identifying the complete genomic sequence. The Chinese did it in a few days.

During the swine flu in the US in 2009 – 55 million infected Americans, 11,000 killed – the CDC took over a month and a half to come up with identification kits.

The Chinese took only one week from the first patient sample to complete, vital identification and sequencing of coronavirus. Right away, they went for publication and deposit in the genomics library for immediate access by the whole planet. Based on this sequence, Chinese biotech companies produced validated essays within a week – also a first.

Seems that few people can quite trust the Chinese regarding many things
such as where , when and how the Coronavirus began its Long-March
from Wuhan to the rest of the world.
That, i’m afraid, will have to be left to future scientists and historians.
And It is quite possible that there are certain aspects to this that may never be answered to everyones satisfaction.

But at least we can confidently state that the Chinese cannot be trusted with their numbers (cases, deaths, etc)

However, it seems that there is no such problem with the numbers game wrt South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan.

My question to Linh Dinh has to be
1) does he believe that the Chinese are so untrustworthy, yet those other countries are (ie South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan.) …..all these countries seem to have got a firm grip on this pandemic
(ie similar results regarding numbers of cases, deaths)

2) and why is it that Vietnam (pop 100 million) has seemingly managed to get such a firm grip
on this that not one person there has succumbed to this virus.

surely both China and Vietnam are ruled by similar types of Governments ( ie Communist, authoritarian), and we might expect similar outcomes from 2 such similar states.

re: Ethiopia: Egypt has a potentially much bigger problem than Libya to deal with: the construction by Ethiopia of the “The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)”

have been following construction of this project for some years
and while a lot of Ethiopian/Egyptian commentators have in the last few weeks been talking up the possibility of conflict between the 2 regarding the filling of the dam (which started on Tuesday night)

and although i dont speak a damn word of Amharic or Egyptian/Arabic
can tell you that is almost 0% chance of any major conflict between the 2.

talks between the 2 (+sudan) regarding this have been ongoing for weeks now (although talks have broken down for now; this dispute is now an affair of the African Union, and it’s now Africa’s affair
come hell or high water (sorry about the pun)

by the way how can Russia be taking one side (allying with Egypt against Turkey in the Libyan conflict, yet allying with Ethiopia against Turkey in the other?

although can only the position of this from the Ethiopian side ie

“by the time this dam is filled with water, then Ethiopia could help the South Sudanese economy
via use of water from dam to help Sudanese benefit from water for irrigation and boost their agricultural sector. (thereby enhancing Ethiopian-Sudanese economic relations; the one thing Egypt cannot provide their neighbours)
in fact that alone might be the major reason as to why the Egyptians would be against it
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/nile-river-valley-ethiopia-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-4-8-billion-u-c.1446571/page-104

fancy that. for the past 4,000 years the gippos have considered the River Nile, and its benefits
was their (and only theirs) birthright.

and now along come the Ethiopian upstarts only to turn history on its head
4,000 years of Egyptian history turned upside down

you could even see this as a chance to unite Egypt (against their wishes) with the rest of the Arab world, and divorce it from the rest of Africa.
Sudan has more to gain economically from this project from Ethiopia than maybe even Ethiopia

(and this only the start of closer Ethiopian/Sudanese/Eritrean etc economic ties
(not that the Sudanese are aware of it)

sorry about the slip up in previous comment
“by the way how can Russia be taking one side (allying with Egypt against Turkey in the Libyan conflict, yet allying with Ethiopia against Turkey in the other?”

i meant ” how can Russia be taking one side (allying with Egypt against Turkey in the Libyan conflict, yet allying with Ethiopia against Egypt in the other?”

(among my many typos) grammar was never my strong point

only thing to say is
“give me control of a nations money supply and i care not who makes its laws”

US has lost control of its money supply, but to whom?

question is who is in control of US money supply?
probably (if anybody) China

http://www.deepthroatipo.com/the-fed-the-treasury-america-and-china-walk-into-a-bar/
http://www.deepthroatipo.com/the-cares-act-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-western-democracy/

to be perfectly honest,
you should take it as a compliment

( ie getting “disappeared” by Google et al)

what would it mean to you to find your web pages near the top of any Google search query)

personally, i like to think of web-sites such as unz.com attract what is called a cult-like following
(ie controversial, but still worthy of “food for thought”, etc)

problem is when certain things move from attracting cult-like following to becoming main-stream
then original devotees tend to gradually lose interest.

you should consider, as i do, the way Tucker Carlson’s show is treated by youtube/Google
(same as yourselves)

just type in “Tucker Carlson Tonight” , via youtube and you get to see Google/youtube/facebook et al editorial policy of what they think of Tucker. (and its not too good)

if people want to find “find” things on or via unz.com, or other controversial sites
then they are not going to be using the traditional methods such as Google to do so
(and Google et al are not traditional in the normal sense, anyway)

so getting “censored” is a sort of compliment.

am in total disagreement regarding your thesis about Germany. ie your argument is just too Germany-centric (ie 100%). there were other factors at play

regarding WW2, however, there is a lot of evidence, which pointed to the fact that
World War II was orchestrated by the circles of the City of London and of Wall Street to maneuver two great obstacles—Russia and Germany—to wage a war to the death against each other
and that’s what they got.

so thats my opinion about WW2.

as for WW1, exactly the same argument can be made.
The evidence would seem to indicate a campaign, dating from the mid to late 19th
century to counter the rise of Germany (they were getting just too successful)

(although one doesnt want to dwell too long into the causes of WW1;many books have already been written about it)

Do seem to remember reading, about 15-20 years ago,an archived copy of The Spectator, a British Imperialist publication (when Britain really did rule the World) from early 20th century (before 1910) pointing in exactly the same direction.

however, nobody can argue with that nowadays the primary target of Western angst is directed towards the rise of China. however, i do believe that the Chinese, if they have any sense, have probably already realised this, and ought to do their best to find a way to outmanouver such machinations.

not many comments on this particular story.

probably indicative of the “high-esteem” accorded to people like George Monbiot.

who is he, anyway?

perhaps Donald Trump (and the rest) are just the fall-guys for our own failings.

and i am probably not the first person to point this out is that the answer will eventually (sooner rather than later) have to lie in the return to a sound money system
(currently Bitcoin is acting as the canary in the coal mine, as to what happens next)

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”( Act 1, Scene 2) In a nutshell, this means that people are in charge of their own destiny. They can succumb to someone else’s rule, or they can make their own choices.

i could quote Lenin as well, but Shakespeare will have to do for now.

And to say nothing regarding recent article on zero hedge
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/does-world-need-gold-backed-deutsche-mark
Does The World Need A Gold-Backed Deutsche Mark?
Mon, Feb 15, 2021 –

It would seem that the answer to many of the Euro’s travails, particularly since the GFC of 2008/9
And subsequent problems within the Eurozone itself (Greek and Italian debt crises)
Would be for 1 or more country to leave the Euro zone altogether.
Although the most likely option at the time (as favoured by the bookmakers et al)
Was for one of the weaker countries (such as Greece, Italy etc) to leave first.

The best option, as the above article points out,
was always for Germany to leave the Euro and reinstate the DM
as that event would eventually lead to the most beneficent results from everyones point of view
and not just within Europe itself but ultimately the Rest of the World.

There are also various Wikileaks cables pointing to this and other problems regarding relations between the Germany , Russia and the EU (if one cares to look ).
Currently the default option is to let these crises run on indefinitely.

But then might be the reason why Julian Assange is under armed guard at the moment and for the foreseeable future. So one wouldn’t be allowed to mention it.

the above article immediately brings to mind another article (by the late Justin Raimondo (2005))

https://original.antiwar.com/justin/2005/01/21/w-and-dostoevsky/

in which the author references George W. Bush and his inaugural address (20 jan 2005)
just after getting elected as President for a 2nd term.

“Midway through his inaugural address, when the president proclaimed “the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world,” I wondered if Bush or his speechwriters knew or cared how alien this ultra-revolutionary rhetoric would seem to conservatives of the old school – and soon had my answer:

“Because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts we have lit a fire as well, a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power; it burns those who fight its progress. And one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.”

raimondo:
In Dostoevsky’s novel, that fire in the minds of men is not a yearning for liberty, but a nihilistic will to power that can only end in destruction. Put in George W. Bush’s mouth, those words are not a paean to freedom, but a manifesto of pure destructionism.

(Justin Raimondo passed away on June 27, 2019)

also see https://www.antiwar.com/justin/j111003.html
November 10, 2003; GEORGE W. BUSH, TROTSKYITE

Nowadays, It seems that even Tucker Carlson is succumbing to this political correctness nonsense .
Doubt any serious person would or should give a damn as to whether creator of Dr Seuss was or was not a racist.
Although most “normal” people would or probably should have the feeling that any racist inclinations (likely not much) on the part of Theodor Seuss Geisel would be more likely to make us more interested in his works, not less. (partly as a result of our own curiosity, but mainly as a result of a desire to be entertained, if that)

Likewise that icon of moral rectitude, Abraham Lincoln. If we were dig to around in the archives a little bit, then The average reader must be horrified (not) to find out that the man who has been credited with single-handedly ending the practice of slavery, turns out to be not the quite Mr Nice Guy we have all been led to believe.(and even maybe he was not that honest).

Karl Marx was right on at least one thing.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.
Well at least we have had the tragedy (Stalin, Mr H, Mao, Pol Pot etc)
And now it seems that what we are seeing is the comedy. (except it is not the farce we had maybe expected)

The best we can say of the current situation in the US, is that it is currently in the throes of its own cultural revolution (in the same that China and Russia experienced in the 1960s, 1930s respectively.)
And perhaps we shouldn’t take things too seriously.

perhaps US and its “allies” (ie nobody in particular)
should follow advice of its own Taliban (neocons)
and re-enter Afghanistan to ally itself with Taliban to fight ISIS-K

you dont suppose that having somebody who sounds like Captain Pugwash in charge of the sub might have something to do with it?

Video Link(Childrens TV programme of 1960s/1970s

might add recent article in US machinations in Afghanistan prior to Soviet invasion

https://covertactionmagazine.com/2021/10/29/1979-assassination-of-u-s-ambassador-to-afghanistan-adolph-dubs-set-groundwork-for-americas-longest-war/

1979 Assassination of U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Adolph Dubs Set Groundwork for America’s Longest War
“New evidence links Zbigniew Brzezinski, the CIA and European fascists who formed the Safari Club to the crime.
Dubs had sought to prevent Soviet and U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, which made him a target of neoconservatives.”

was Adolph Dubs the 1979 equivalent to Hapsburg emperor Franz-Joseph
(both were sort of fall-guys)

sorry about my prev comment

seems i was already to make comment befor reading above article (which states the same thing)

still,looking at that picture of Brzezinski playing Chess, you gotta credit him with being one of those Great Deep Thinkers of our age

Nice to hear that Germany was trying its level-headed best to prevent war in the days leading up to it.

Current opinion, from the British side, seems to be that Britain had absolutely, nothing whatsoever, to do with it.

however, the US entry into WW1 does make absolutely no sense.

the only explanation i could give for the US entry into WW1 was they had lent money to Britain first
and had to follow up on their investment in case it went sour ie in the event that Germany would go on to win.

you can bet that that purported Rand document is a fake
but it probably does indicate what is likely to be true (except of course they couldnt let it be known publicly)
after all they can’t be that stupid

still America is going to be needing some other party (ie Germany) to be financing / sterilizing its
future deficits (if or when China ceases to)….at least that is along the lines of what i have been hearing
in past few years

US #1 nightmare must be the prospect of peace breaking out

reminds me of Bertolt Brecht
““Some party hack decreed that the people
had lost the government’s confidence
and could only regain it with redoubled effort.
If that is the case, would it not be be simpler,
If the government simply dissolved the people
And elected another?”

― Bertolt Brecht

we need to change the electorate, not the ruling elites
(ie the think tankies and their like)

couldn’t that TV series called “Friends” have been called “Enemies ” instead

Q could this new Canadian law about to become British/US/Eu rule in the near future?

we are not amused

technically speaking it is illegal to say that

you can’t deny it….after all they are the chosen ones
and they do have special permission, granted by Gd, to do so

well at least the Gods of the Middle East

re: “Even more remarkable were the discoveries I made regarding our supposedly accidental bombing of the Chinese Embassy in 1999. Not long after launching this website, I added former Asia Times contributor Peter Lee as a columnist, incorporating his China Matters blogsite archives that stretched back for a decade. He soon published a 7,000 word article on the Belgrade Embassy bombing, representing a compilation of material already contained in a half-dozen previous pieces he’d written on that subject from 2007 onward. To my considerable surprise, he provided a great deal of persuasive evidence that the American attack on the Chinese embassy had indeed been deliberate, just as China had always maintained.”

regarding that incident see https://chinamatters.blogspot.com/2008/04/f117a-swan-song-fall-of-belgrade.html
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The F117A Swan Song, the Fall of the Belgrade Embassy…and China Rising

and https://chinamatters.blogspot.com/2009/04/murder-in-loudounten-years-after.html
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Murder in Loudoun…Ten Years After the Bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade

and prob other links relating to same China embassy bombing incident
@ chinamatters.blogspot.com

its a good job one has a very long memory (on my hard drive)

regarding political relations in the East Asian sphere

China–Japan–South Korea trilateral summit
“Chinese Premier Li Qiang said on Monday at a trilateral meeting with leaders of Japan and South Korea which was held in Seoul, South Korea, that the three countries should stay committed to the original aspiration for cooperation and make joint efforts to resume and accelerate China-Japan-South Korea cooperation so as to make greater contributions to regional prosperity and stability.

Li made the remarks at the ninth Trilateral Summit Meeting among China, Japan and South Korea, where Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol attended, the Xinhua News Agency reported.”

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202405/1313099.shtml

the last such meeting between the 3 was 23–25 December 2019 (no such meetings since, partly because of the Covid epidemic/plague from 2020-2022)
before that there was also a meeting on 9 May 2018

also fwiw 10year japanese bond yields have recently broken the 1.00% yield for first time in 12 years

that also may or may not be significant (need to refer to the so-called Yen carry trade)

that begs the question as to whether there are or will be more political/economic changes afoot
in that particular region

follow-up to prev comment
at least those 3 (China Japan South Korea ) are still on speaking terms

or perhaps should say that they have resumed their respective dialogues/trialogue

The Americans (Angl0-Saxons) havent just destroyed German culture
they’ve also managed to destroy everybody’s culture, including their own

or at least seems that was or is the general idea

case in point….the 1950s (and earlier) up till say 1965 were the golden age of Japanese film industry

since late 1980s it seems the Japanese film industry has been undergoing a steady infantilisation
in-line with their American mentors

he great beauty of those earlier Japanese films was that they were in Japanese
(this is actually of great benefit to those of us not conversant in the Japanese language, as it forced us to read the subtitles to their films and consequently concentrate on the films themselves)

nowadays they often seem to drop their own language altogether from many of their own films
and have everything dubbed in English ie gibberish) . this is no compliment

didnt WW2 start when the the axis powers (Japanese) invade Manchuria (China) in 1937 (or 1931)
although
The term “invasion of Manchuria 1937” refers to the second stage of the Second Sino-Japanese War, not a separate invasion. In 1937, Japan, which had already controlled Manchuria since 1931 and established the puppet state of Manchukuo, launched a full-scale invasion of the rest of China, leading to a prolonged and brutal war.

most people used to believe it was all about the Young Winston
and as far as he see saw it, it was

see trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J2r4xp2bFU

Video Link

always thought that film to be a great laugh

Let us do unto China what we did to Japan
so the big thing going through the Chinese minds right now
is no to any Plaza accords, which will be a good place to start from
So, before deciding on doing something, first decide what you are not going to do
first eliminate the impossible, then whatever is left must be the truth
that should clear the brain cells for starters

Trump is already looking like a lame duck

do like the Donalds take on Huawei though
“after the talks in Geneva the U.S. decided to adopt new rules banning the use of Huawei’s new AI chips “anywhere in the world” (which, insanely, includes China),”

cant wait to see the outcome of that particular outburst

reminds me of the Don Pacifico affair aka gunboat diplomacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Pacifico_affair

well remember his stance with regards to the EU in 1975 EU debate/referendum

then Conservatives were pro-EU and Labour anti-EU

Enoch, speaking against the EU, went against his own party line
and suggested voters choose Labour in any subsequent election

he was also proud of the fact that he was elected as MP to represent his own constituency
there was this connection between Member of Parliament and constituency
that is so easily overlooked nowadays

most of he certainly had integrity, which is not something you could say about modern day politicians