As a kid who grew up in town I can attest to the steep learning curve in agricultural/ animal husbandry. There really is a lot more to it than is commonly given credit for. Perhaps the biggest aspect is just doing things at the correct time and knowing what that time is. Not later. Not earlier. Just at the right time.

Doing things at the wrong time, be it sowing seeds, turning out to pasture, allowing animals to breed etc. increases troubles and risk of spectacular failures. For example, if you breed your sheep too early you may end up with frozen lambs.

It's really a lot of learning to work within the constraints of reality and then figuring out how to optimize those constraints to produce the results you want. Good systems will need relatively little work compared to systems which ignore the nature's of animals and plants.

But anyhow, I hope you keep up with a bit of vegetable growing, despite past difficulties. The big thing is to start with something that isn't so damnably easy to kill. When all else fails there is always cucumbers or squash. If you plant those you'll be guaranteed to feel like a horticultural genius!

Replies: @iffen

Hah! Now you've gotten me curious as to the offending sentiment that pushed me back over the edge. Care to share since expiring mind need to know?

Replies: @iffen

When I die, I want to be eaten by other life forms on earth, and make my contribution to the whole – the worms, the beasts, the insects, can have me. The worst fate is to be embalmed or put in a steel coffin, that hideous modern practice, thus even in death affirming ones separation from all life.

There is a beautiful Tibetan burial practice called “sky burial”, where they take your body to a high cliff in the mountains, and cut you into pieces for the vultures and other wild beasts to eat you, thus affirming your connection to, and compassion for, the whole of life.
 

Replies: @songbird, @iffen, @iffen

When I die, I want to be eaten by other life forms on earth, and make my contribution to the whole – the worms, the beasts, the insects, can have me. The worst fate is to be embalmed or put in a steel coffin, that hideous modern practice, thus even in death affirming ones separation from all life.

There is a beautiful Tibetan burial practice called “sky burial”, where they take your body to a high cliff in the mountains, and cut you into pieces for the vultures and other wild beasts to eat you, thus affirming your connection to, and compassion for, the whole of life.
 

Replies: @songbird, @iffen, @iffen

"Time for you to be honest with yourself and come back to reality." - Not very likely but possible in cases of Mikel and German_reader.

Useful idiocy of characters like Mikel or German_reader has its origin in the same psycho-operation that was performed on the brains of rightoids in last 5-10 years which resulted in complete distrust and hostility towards 'official' narratives promulgated by the MSM and thus the first reaction they always have is: 'they are lying' as they did on issues X, Y and X and thus I must believe only those who say the opposite to what the MSM say and even more so when they are vilified by the MSM. Obviously this is a fallacious syllogism but they get trapped in it. This fallacious syllogism is often used explicitly by Ron Unz.

But what makes Mikel and German_reader different from typical denizens of the Ron Unz's rightoid sabbath is that Mikel and German_reader could be mistaken for normal people (unlike majority of unz-dot-com commentariat), that in most social contexts their pathology would remains hidden under the surface and would not manifest itself except for a minor trait of passive aggressiveness to cut down any certainty you may display which is a form of projection as they lack certainty and courage so they want to bring you to their 'misery likes company' reality. You could imagine having drinks with them and never noticing what is beneath the surface.

But most important reason for the difference is that Mikel and German_reader have a very strong feminine element (*) in their personas and that's why they emphasizes passivity and concerns for suffering of civilians and women and children in particular. Acts of active resistance are too risky and too masculine for them. Zelensky challenges that and that's why he irks them very much to the point of hatred. They would like Ukraine to lay down, spread her legs and enjoy what Russia will do to her. This case of projection is utilized very well by Kremlin propaganda.

Mikel and German_reader belong to the faction of cunts and twats rather than openly deplorable fetishists of power and 'might makes right' among Putin supporters.

While Mikel or German_reader may argue like rightoids deep down they are liberals who feel betrayed by liberalism and what they often sputter in form of whinging (very visible in German_reader) is the deep sense of betrayal (accusation d of hypocrisy of the West) but there is not an ounce of any conviction left in them. Their only moral dilemma is when to spread their legs so it does not look like too premature invitation to rape. Even cunts and twats still care for some appearance of dignity.

(*) 'feminine element' as an archetype that many women do not have but when the feminine element dominates woman's personality there is not dissonance and there is no lack of courage but when a man has feminine element dominat it is sure sign of cowardliness and nothing else comes to one's mind than a twat or a cunt.

Replies: @Mikel, @iffen, @PhysicistDave

Did you know during the training season (now) the biggest beasts in the NFL, fellows like Aaron Donald and Watt brothers and Derrick Henry drink a gallon of milk a day?

Not that 2% crap.

Replies: @Barbarossa

Blood and culture, like any ethnonationalist recognizes. But most importantly, there are divides on ideological and political legitimacy, like calling each other secessionists and bandits. Time to transcend that level and work for a common civilizational good.

Replies: @iffen

ignoring the carefully chosen words of the writer, in this case

History doesn’t have to be used or misused for partisan political purposes.
 

Replies: @WIzard of Oz

Recent events suffer a higher influence of political forces. As time passes, and the people who have an interest in the events die, or leave power, those influences wane. But I agree that there is a permanent factor of bias that does not go away, and is inherent to humans.

Replies: @iffen

Your comment is filled with half-truths. I still like to read you because with a little work I weed out the untruths and end up with something positive.
You are probably right about evolution in action in the history of ideas, but what you call "subversion" is actually part of evolution: it's called "mutations", and you never can know when a successful mutation will appear. This is happening all the time with regards to ancient history; for example, just the other day there was a book about Caligula saying he was not the monster everyone thought he was.
I really don't know whether these things are more likely to happen after centuries have passed or just a few decades. There are two opposing factors at work: a longer time span means a greater chance of working without the passions and ideological fads that conditions historical discourse; on the other hand, it also means working without primary sources, and perhaps even secondary ones.

Replies: @iffen, @Emil Nikola Richard

If you are going to be presumptuous and tell someone what he thinks you need to have the intellect and integrity which would resstrain you from ignoring the carefully chosen words of the writer, in this case

History doesn’t have to be used or misused for partisan political purposes.

 

Replies: @iffen

Please explain what profundity YOU think you are hinting at Oh oracular one. History doesn't have to be used or misused for partisan political purposes.

Replies: @iffen

Replies: @AaronB, @Wokechoke, @A123, @songbird, @Mikel, @S, @iffen, @Pro Bono

In your tentative probabilistic assess.ent (as such a good example to UR threadsters) do you think you've given enough weight to what is increasingly emerging about Putin's peculiarities. I include the evidence of his illness ad the real possibility that its treatment is affecting his mind and overt behaviour. Also his repeated mischarecterisation of Russian and Ukrainian history, his refusal to acknowledge that the vast majority of Ukrainians, including the Russian speaking majority identify as Ukrainian and - if only because they haven't been inundated with Russian propaganda from a censored media - have very different attitudes to free enterprise and state ownership, for example.
He doesn't resiled at all from denying Ukraine is a real country (yet Russia is!!?).

Replies: @iffen

What is interesting is that A123 often responds promptly with elaborate and full of information and disinformation content as if he had access to lots of data on his finger tips. This would require a quite resourceful and knowledgeable individual.
 

To the extent that a limited amount of bad data slips through. My apologies.

so I wonder whether it is a team that is assigned to several forums to push Brooklyn -Tel Aviv – Lubyanka spiel. Actually I would like to know how such an operations work and what does it take to launch them and sustain them. I suspect that a database of past comments is generated in real time and somehow parsed by AI to provide quick answers to queries that are similar that already have been posed
 

What organizer would fund a team to or AI to expose George IslamoSoros as a Muslim?

I wish that type of support for the TRUTH existed. Sadly, it does not.

PEACE 😇

Replies: @iffen

Replies: @Mikhail, @cortesar, @A123, @iffen, @Brás Cubas, @AP, @Yevardian, @Mr. Hack, @Wizard of Oz

is granted a new lease on life by Russia – the very country whose rejection of globohomo values many us hoped to hold up as a model worth emulating.
 

Replies: @iffen

from some absolutely respectable average mainstream carreer politician in the middle of EU.
 

Replies: @sudden death, @iffen

Even after full mobilization and with an unlimited pool of slave labor, Germany plus it’s empire was unable to match the wartime production of the smaller economy of Great Britain alone.
 

Replies: @iffen

I understand your point now. Thanks for clarifying.

In my personal view there is a definite line drawn between the US as ideology and political entity and the concrete aspects of people and land.

The former is something that I have no affinity for because it stands against and is actively hostile to pretty much all my beliefs and priorities in life. I have especially little regard for the American Empire, because I believe that much rot stems from our position as global hegemon. Power corrupts and the US has not been exempt in that regard. I believe that the sooner the US can cease to be an empire and can begin to be a country again, the better a chance that it may represent our interests. The fall will entail a loss of prestige and material position of course, but if it sparks some return to rationality it would be well worth it.

On the other hand, I feel a deep sense of loyalty to my family, community, the land. I'm very glad to go out of my way to strengthen and defend these in any way I can.

I think it all depends on what one considers an in-group and an out-group. I just can't extend my in-group thinking to our political class as it stands.

Replies: @iffen

State direction of private industry, rewarded by favourable awards of contracts is fascist economics.
 

The IMF experts had concluded that no real structural transformation had yet taken place in the Russian economy. In their opinion, the unemployment rate was still “too low” and no “inefficient” enterprises had been allowed to go bankrupt. The average consumption level in Russia had even risen, they complained. (This was because of imported consumer goods.) “Capital flight” remained high, and the self-indulgent life of “new Russians” abroad had already become legendary.
 

Replies: @songbird, @Dmitry, @Greasy William

It may also worsen the postwar settlement, because rapid victories can discredit the old order and produce collaborators.
 

The media and political environments have coalesced around the idea that we need to do more to assist the Ukrainians, including routine calls for a so-called no-fly zone (itself a dangerously misleading term). Meanwhile, the slow progress of the Russian offensive along with Ukrainian dominance of the infowar has led many to the conclusion that Russia is a paper bear that will fold when pushed. Effectively the possibility of WW3 is being restrained by the prudence of one man–the geriatric President Biden.
 

The people at the very top understand that a lot of these media narratives are utter lies. That was the case with James Clapper during the Syrian chemical gas hoax and it is true now.

That said, I don't discount some form of false flag attack, but it will likely be used to motivate people (read: feckless europoors) to take the economic hits from even more extreme sanctions and to ramp up the proxy war, such as sending the S-300 from Slovakia. Hell, we might even see the MiG-29 issue being resurfaced if a significant fraction of the Western public gets fooled into thinking that Putin "was using a chemical gas attack because he is desperate, so we must double down".

But US troops on the ground in Ukraine or a NFZ? No. This is a proxy war.

Replies: @iffen

It doesn't work like that. The initiatitive to destroy the city was Russian.

Replies: @Beckow

In the movie it was the Sterling Hayden character, General Jack D. Ripper, who went berzerk and dropped the nukes. Doctor Strangelove was the guy who gleefully explained all the strategic and tactical scenarios to the big wigs inside the War Room.

Replies: @iffen

Russians are politically an Asiatic people.

So it’s true!

Ukies parrot Nazi propaganda.
 

Replies: @iffen

I’m not a Slavic language speaker, but I frequently hear about Ukrainian simply being a dialect of Russian or at least mutually intelligible.
 

It should also be pointed out that English-language transliterations of Ukrainian words consistently look much worse than their Russian equivalents
 

Russia, Poland, and Serbia are the only Slavic states needed by the world.
 

Replies: @iffen, @Thorfinnsson, @Yevardian, @Strasser

Well, if we were as terse and cranky as yourself it wouldn't be much of a thread, would it? ;)

Actually, I'm kind of curious what makes you think I am a prime example of failure in the "application of ingroup/ outgroup instinct? I'm not particularly offended by the allegation, it just seems an odd one.

Dagnabbit, I knew I shouldn't have posted all those plans for my dreams of opening a utopian summer camp for rehabilitating and accepting transgender African child-soldiers to be integrated into the local Amish communities!

Replies: @iffen

What does make sense is runaway pathological altruism. Just the Jesus influence alone has had close to 2 thousand years to warp our genes.
 

1). The only world ethno-racial group which can authoritatively be described as "pathologically altruistic" are Western Europeans and their descendants in North America. Not whites, not Europeans, not even Northern Europeans (Slavs, Greeks, Sicilians, Balts etc. need not apply) - just Western Europeans, save for perhaps Portugal. In other words, only what Joe Heinrich calls WEIRDOs exhibit a cultural/genetic trait that can be described as pathologically altruistic - at least in comparison to the rest of the world.

2). The Jesus influence on Western Europeans only began in the 3rd-4th century AD. Christianity is older in the Middle East, the Caucuses, and Southern Europe. If your thesis that Christianity leads to pathological altruism is true, we would see a greater deal of pathological altruism among Christian Arabs, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks etc. than Western Europeans - but that is not the case. At the very least, we should narrow it down to Western forms of Christianity (Catholicism and Protestanism), and exclude Orthodox and other non-Western versions of Christianity.

3). Islam likewise has a universalist message at its core - similar to Christianity. If universalist teachings were a cause of pathological altruism, we would see the trait exhibited by Muslims - but that is not the case. From this, we can conclude that while the universality teachings of Christianity could have played a role in developing pathological altruism among Westerners, other contingent factors were necessary as well. Hajnal Western European marriage/kinship patterns (delayed marriage, low fertility, less cousin marriage) is likely a more critical factor in explaining why pathological altruism developed among WEIRDOs but not among Eastern Christians or Muslims.

Figure 1: Global Out-Group Trust

https://i.ibb.co/dQWdP23/1.png

Figure 2: Hajnal Line

https://i.ibb.co/d2F4Y2b/2.png

Replies: @iffen, @Coconuts

What does make sense is runaway pathological altruism. Just the Jesus influence alone has had close to 2 thousand years to warp our genes.
 

1). The only world ethno-racial group which can authoritatively be described as "pathologically altruistic" are Western Europeans and their descendants in North America. Not whites, not Europeans, not even Northern Europeans (Slavs, Greeks, Sicilians, Balts etc. need not apply) - just Western Europeans, save for perhaps Portugal. In other words, only what Joe Heinrich calls WEIRDOs exhibit a cultural/genetic trait that can be described as pathologically altruistic - at least in comparison to the rest of the world.

2). The Jesus influence on Western Europeans only began in the 3rd-4th century AD. Christianity is older in the Middle East, the Caucuses, and Southern Europe. If your thesis that Christianity leads to pathological altruism is true, we would see a greater deal of pathological altruism among Christian Arabs, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks etc. than Western Europeans - but that is not the case. At the very least, we should narrow it down to Western forms of Christianity (Catholicism and Protestanism), and exclude Orthodox and other non-Western versions of Christianity.

3). Islam likewise has a universalist message at its core - similar to Christianity. If universalist teachings were a cause of pathological altruism, we would see the trait exhibited by Muslims - but that is not the case. From this, we can conclude that while the universality teachings of Christianity could have played a role in developing pathological altruism among Westerners, other contingent factors were necessary as well. Hajnal Western European marriage/kinship patterns (delayed marriage, low fertility, less cousin marriage) is likely a more critical factor in explaining why pathological altruism developed among WEIRDOs but not among Eastern Christians or Muslims.

Figure 1: Global Out-Group Trust

https://i.ibb.co/dQWdP23/1.png

Figure 2: Hajnal Line

https://i.ibb.co/d2F4Y2b/2.png

Replies: @iffen, @Coconuts

He kicked off universalism in a big way by divorcing from the Jewish tribal religion.
 

Replies: @iffen

Actually, I'm not sure if I agreed or disagreed with your comment.

I thought the point was good that those in prisons are a very different population than up until recently. Debtors prison being a notable example.

We certainly have runaway pathological altruism today, though I'm not sure you can blame that on Jesus' influence (if that's what you were saying) since it's more a result of Enlightenment mindsets regarding the perfectibility of man

Replies: @iffen, @Coconuts

"I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me." - Matthew 25:36

Replies: @iffen

Did you get banged? And I mean that not in the good way.
 

Replies: @Thulean Friend, @iffen

Look, since you're intent on being totally ignorant and thinking that Moon of Alabama has any credibility whatsoever. Just ask yourself, what "effect" does this air launched Iskander that is named "Khinzal" achieve, which isn't achieved already by other much cheaper means?

The answer is nothing. It is a neat piece of technology, but a waste of money. Like the NASA space pen.

People like Scott Ritter are the same sort of grifters who sold people on their "stop the steal" expertise. Unimpressive individuals who bluster well and have a patina of credentials.

The gaping mouth soyface response to them is embarrassing.

In reality, the American military may as well be from a different universe than the Russian one, and France would wipe the floor with the Russians too.

The simple truth is that the Russians are unable to operate at even the most basic of Western levels, such as at night, with aggression under fire and with proper combined arms.

They do have a lot of equipment, but much of it is clearly ill-maintained, aged or badly designed. Shelling places from a distance seems to be their only skill, but that achieves no useful effect. By "useful", I mean something that contributes to victory.

If you want to start understanding military operations, this is how you have to think. Think in terms of effects and tie everything into the mission and purpose.

E.g shelling a city indiscriminately might slightly attrit enemy forces hiding within it, but, if you seek to demoralise or otherwise pacify the enemy, under your domination, you are going backwards by doing the shelling. This is akin to trying to lose weight by doing the exercise of walking up to the all you can eat buffet!

The Gerasimov doctrine, of emphasising hybrid warfare and avoiding any but utterly decisive combat, was smart, but the Russians lost the hybrid war in Ukraine over the last decade.

And now they have thrown it out of the window and are utilising a strategy that only ever made sense as the aggressor if you are a fighting a total war of near extermination.

Since this is obviously not what Russia is fighting and they would gain nothing by eventually winning that type of war anyway, this is mental.

They are now in the worst position a modern professional army can be in. They are settled into a war of attrition against an entire country, that hates them, has infinite resupply, borders which can't be closed and the Russians don't even have victory conditions.

This isn't like Iraq or Afghanistan, where the US and USSR were participants in a mostly local civil war. This is much, much worse. The only thing that the Russians have got going for them is that, like all aggressors early in the game, they can withdraw and end their nightmare before it really starts. Will they keep Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk? Maybe, but when you invade a country and murder a whole bunch of people, you tend to create a lot of enemies who will fight you to your death. How long can Russia afford to hold those territories for against the growing Ukrainian military? Russia has a GDP less than Canada. Ukraine is now supported by countries with the majority of the GDP in the world.

Are Donetsk and Lugansk even places Putin should want to govern? Under Russian domination, they have been run literal criminal gangs and are a sinkhole. Ukrainians know what is happening there and this is a large part of why they want nothing to do with Russia, even before the invasion. They're like Transniestra but much worse. Crimea is a different point, because it does seem that the locals benefit from Russian largesse and it has few people anyway, but Russia could have bought it for less than they will have already spent on this ridiculous aggression, and infinitely less than the sanctions will cost them.

The fact that the Russians haven't realised and acted on all of this yet, brings light to the truth that all of the publicity surrounding Western bungling only makes sense because the West is the only major part of the world that has "acted" on the world stage for decades. It is also the only part of the world that actively encourages criticism and rewards it. People in the cheap seats think that this makes it weak. Anyone with who isn't a bizarre recluse or totally failed at everything, will recognise this as a sign of strength and a source of more strength in the future.

Observers have therefore confused the incredible complexity of "acting" in our reality with Western incompetence, but now you're seeing what a less than stellar power achieves when it acts and faces even the slightest resistance.

Control of Covid is more of an anomaly. Authoritarian countries are obviously going to be more effective at locking civllians in their homes. Cultures which prize authoritarianism will also be much more compliant. While you may have preferred China's path and, with hindsight, it might look like a decent thing, the truth is that this is not what people wanted. People not wanting what you want does not make them incompetent or crazy. You are hardly the definition of what is normal nor would it be a better world if everyone were like you.

Unsurprisingly, it remains that the countries that everyone wants to move to are the most competent and those that they desperately want to move from are the least competent. Yes, it is harder to make great advances in the most advanced places, compared to how easy it is to simply copy those advances places from the least advanced, but saying a post-grad student is dumbed than a child because they got a lower score on their respective tests completely misses the point.

Ultimately, the discourse on Unz was always cruel, but now it is proving to also be utterly incompetent. Hence my contempt. All I see are bitter and nasty old fools, thinking that if they can stir up the handful of young people who agree with them and have seriously antisocial personalities, then they can compensate for whatever they feel they've missed out on in life. This hurts the world, the young antisocials and them. You're not changing the direction of anything. You're just making everything a bit more sh*t than it would otherwise be.

Replies: @Sean, @iffen

Hong Kong actually has a slightly higher vaccination rate than the US, by about 5%.

As your reply points out there are a lot of additional data points which muddy the waters. In an attempt to keep it fairly apples to apples here is what I did to reach my conclusion. I divided reported deaths by cases for the highest peak of daily peak Omicron infections. This number is actually basically the same for HK and the US. The next thing I did is factor in population size, which makes it look much worse per capita for HK.

However, on reflection, I think you are correct the density of HK is probably the deciding factor there, making my initial thoughts less accurate.

Replies: @china-russia-all-the-way, @iffen

I did get arrested for tax fraud. And insurance fraud. I served 17 months.

Replies: @German_reader, @iffen

The strange thing is that death rate in Hong Kong during Omicron has equaled the worst of the US by capita. This points to natural immunity, of which HK has none, as being an essential component in ameliorating Covid severity in the long term. Put another way it would seem that Omicron is not empirically less severe than other strains, but only relatively so in populations that have a residual existing base of immunity.

I'm not against the Covid vaccines per se, but they seem pretty "Meh" overall so far, especially in light of all the previous hype.

Replies: @Ron Unz, @iffen

An earnest person answer to the snarko-ironist:

Actually, red potatoes are very good as boiled potatoes, so they are right</b potatoes. Yukon gold are also very good. Some chefs (Chef John) say that Yukon gold are the best for mashed potatoes. IMO baking potatoes (like Russet) are the best for mashed potatoes because they do not have that much water so you can add more milk or cream to them but they are lousy as boiled potatoes. The best potatoes for potato/German salad are Belgian fingerling or Russian banana potatoes but because they are small and irregular shapes they are hard to work with when peeling after boiling.

The key point is not to overcook them for boiling potatoes and not to undercook them for mashed potatoes. The unpeeled potatoes have wide tolerance margin for overcooking but for hash browns you should slightly undercook them because you still will be frying them.

I do not have experience with more exotic potatoes from Peru that are purple or bluish or orange. But I am sure that hipster foodies will make them popular.

Replies: @iffen, @Philip Owen

Your mom was correct. Except that most likely she overcooked them and perhaps used wrong kind of potatoes not the best for boiled potatoes dish.

Unpeeled potatoes are boiled for other dishes. After cooking you let them cool off and then you peel them nad (1) you use them for potato salad by dicing or German potato salad by slicing or (2) for fried potatoes, perfect for hash browns for breakfast. Or for Jewish potato salad (knish filling) when you peel them while still hot (this part is difficult) and then mash them with chopped onions so onions partially cook but still remains sharp.

Unpeeled boiled potatoes and peeled boiled potatoes taste very different and have different consistency. Partly because peeled potatoes after cooking evaporate a lot of it moisture while the unpeeled let the moisture condense back in potato which makes them more dense.

Peeled cooked potatoes is an exquisite dish when made form right potatoes. The flavor of potatoes can be enjoyed the most which is not distorted by excessive taste altering thermal processing (like frying) or additives (like in mashed potatoes) or by the hint of skin flavor like in baked potatoes.

However we live in the age of excess of food processing and strong additives which makes us lose ability to enjoy more subtle flavors. The popularity of hot sauces and BBQ sauces is really a curse which 'primitivizes' our senses. It is hard to go back to enjoying pure unaltered flavors.

Traumas caused by bad home cooking can be overcome. My grandma's spinach trauma lasted till I went to college away form home and once very reluctantly tried spinach pure at my friend's home. Then I learned that spinach pure can be really good.

Replies: @iffen

Schwartzy is intellectually deficient, that's it.

Replies: @Mr. Hack

for whatever reason he went sideways on the Ukrainian supporters here
 

It would be best to drive a stake into it
 

Replies: @German_reader, @iffen

Also pretty funny that Anatoly is talking about racial war

Yeah, doesn't make a lot of sense.

I tuned in to his blog to learn about "Russian stuff" and now he is asking his commenters what's going on.

Seems safe to say that it’s over for this ‘community’, however. There’s no way any sort of cordiality will be re-established here between AK and everyone else

Yeah, for whatever reason he went sideways on the Ukrainian supporters here.

It would be best to drive a stake into it, but our esteemed publisher is not that sort of a person.

Replies: @Thulean Friend, @HenryBaker

Seems safe to say that it’s over for this ‘community’, however. There’s no way any sort of cordiality will be re-established here between AK and everyone else
 

Yeah, for whatever reason he went sideways on the Ukrainian supporters here.

It would be best to drive a stake into it, but our esteemed publisher is not that sort of a person.
 

Replies: @iffen

The only movie with Sean Penn I can remember having watched is Dead man walking, where he plays a death row inmate talking to a nun. I think it's supposed to be an anti-death penalty movie, but tbh I felt his character (based on a real killer) deserved being put to death.
And I don't know what more exactly the US should do for Ukraine that isn't already being done. This emotion-based activism is tiresome.

Replies: @A123, @Mr. Hack, @AP, @iffen

Well, looks like the NYT is beginning that transition -
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/health/flu-covid.html

Well, maybe this article isn't yet a trend, but either way, somehow, I just don't think it will work anymore :)

Replies: @iffen

Replies: @Yellowface Anon, @A123, @iffen

I don't quite understand how a nuclear war on top of what they are suffering would benefit Ukrainians but it is a fact that their president is pushing for a Western military confrontation with Russia with all his might. Apart from Fidel Castro, who reportedly encouraged Khrushchev to nuke the US, I'm not aware of any other nation having demanded any of the superpowers to unleash WWIII on their behalf. Perhaps Ukrainian nationalism is just as deranged as Russian imperialism (or Cuban socialism-or-deathism?).

If Biden manages to resist the growing pressure, both from the MSM and an increasing number of lawmakers from both parties, to declare a no-fly-zone, he may actually get my vote in the next elections. I don't believe Trump would have been able to do that, given the kind of people he likes being surrounded with and the pundits he listens to. And who cares about the southern border, the gender wars and all the rest when your children's survival is at stake?

Of course, it may well be very true that Putin would not dare to go nuclear if we declare a no-fly-zone (or carry out any other hostile action) but then again, it may also be false. Why so much rush to find out?

The way things are going, with Ukraine turning into a Grozny x 40 and no prospects of substantial Russian advance without resorting to more indiscriminate measures that will be propagated and even exaggerated by the MSM 24x7, I will consider myself lucky to escape WWIII this one time.

Replies: @Yevardian, @German_reader

If Anatolys ramping up of his rhetoric is representative of the Kremlin, at this point, we'll be bathing in nuclear fire in a week.

Also pretty funny that Anatoly is talking about racial war, Russians being almost genetically indistuingishable from other Europeans. I suppose the 3d world larp is the new way to go- we did push the Russians there again, but it's bizarre that we always end up in this spot.

Seems safe to say that it's over for this 'community', however. There's no way any sort of cordiality will be re-established here between AK and everyone else (us Westoids). All things must come to pass...

Replies: @sudden death, @iffen, @Anatoly Karlin, @Pharmakon, @Coconuts

Well said. Shock and disbelief indeed. This is a racial holy war against Western Supremacy.

https://twitter.com/akarlin0/status/1496534595759710210

https://twitter.com/MFA_China/status/1501185437901082629

https://twitter.com/unquirer/status/1504102321294348294

Replies: @iffen, @AP, @sudden death, @Mr. Hack

The willingness to use nukes has never been tested. All we have are speculations that have created a large unfilled space where the lunatics can play. Endlessly sitting in front of a forbidden room is tedious, some would like to see what is there.

There is also today an almost biological level of pure hatred of Russia, and possibly in Russia for the West. With elevated emotions some people have dropped all constraints. Putin said some time ago that he sees 'no point in preserving the world without Russia'. But there must be many in the West who see no point in having a world without Western dominance. Both are understandable, but what happens when they collide?

Look at the bright side: if we get nuked, even the most fanatical Covid devotees will drop the masks and stop hallucinating about more 'boosters'. That will leave 'utu' all alone in his quixotic fight. There is always a bright side.

Replies: @Yellowface Anon, @Dmitry, @iffen, @HenryBaker

Then in 1200 AD it’s like a population replacement has happened. All names are christianized and indeed most ‘normal’ Dutch names are the usual localized versions of Biblical figures’ names. I’d say 80% of normal names here are indeed not Germanic.
 

If I think of English personal names in use I think they're even scarcer, with nearly all sounding distinctly old-fashioned: Edgar, Edward Alfred, Edith (lol), Edmund. I suppose you can throw in a few common native Welsh or Goidelic ones too, Rhys, Arthur, Owen, Broderick (lol), Sean, Alastair (lol), Gareth, Lloyd.. hm, seems Celtic names are more common than Anglo-Saxon ones.. anyway, as I've implied, quite a few of them sound quite comical to native or fluent Anglophones nowadays.

Armenian still has a few extremely common names of pagan/Zoroastrian origin, Anahit, Ani, Hayk, Arman, Tigran, Nare, Arpine, Gor.. on balance I think more than English, even without counting Greek-derived names.

Likewise the old Germanic kindreds were extinguished and our way of life replaced with christianized forms. Yet, uselessly, the Dutch language persists even as christianity mutates everything around it.
 

The Dutch culture will still exist in a mutated form, but culture and language are ultimately not that important as they are just an appendix of the world-outlook.
 

I guess the main take from Toynbee's writings is that Civilisations die by cultural suicide, and practically never by force.

Replies: @songbird, @HenryBaker, @HenryBaker, @iffen

Now, unless you can come up with some categorical denunciation of nationalism, one that applies to me, you and AK, then your attacks on AK are mere partisanship on your part.
 

Replies: @Anatoly Karlin, @silviosilver, @iffen

The problem is when honor is de-legitimized and men have no way to climb the social ladder with it||
When a Bandit can become a General, and be recognized for his ability is a fair Aryan society||

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/916139577046085713/951179815451496529/143.jpeg
Go sit in the corner,

ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕਾਖਾਲਸਾਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕੀਫਤਿਹ

Replies: @iffen

The vast majority of people who think they have a sense of "honour" are just egocentric infants trapped in adult bodies. They go around hurting others, and themselves because they are psychological inferior. This manifests in the fact that no one wants to be near them and no one, except other broken losers, want to be like them.

A small proportion of men with unacknowledged and extreme dependency issues also lionise these mental midgets. This is because they hide their dependency issues behind a false bravado that even tricks themselves. Those individuals at least tend to be smart and sensitive, though prone to being taken advantage of as they can't see themselves as the easy target which they are.

As for the war, anyone notice that Russia is now fought to a standstill? I can tell pro-Russian partisans what is going to happen next, but they won't like it. How on earth they expect to pacify Ukraine when they can't even do the easy bit of advancing into neighbouring territory properly, I have no idea.

The number of thingssnd events which could now go wrong for them is dizzying, and they're currently stuck in a war of attrition with an entire country.

Ukrainians will eventually win, because they live there. It might take a week or a year or even more, but that much is inevitable now.

Hilariously, the Great Russian hope seems to be the thought that plugging captive Ukrainians into their domestic propoganda machine, the only thing about Russia which seems to work as advertised, is a good idea. As if a bunch of poor Ukrainians with murdered friends, neighbours and relatives and going to get on board with the utterly dystopian pretense that Russia isn't killing civilians and isn't an aggressor.

With every day that goes by, Russians are investing in their own future extreme suffering. This is the other half of the tragedy, the obvious half being obvious the disgusting cruelty which Russia is showing the Ukrainians.

Putin continues to escalate as he realises that he is bought into a doomed plan, but, at some point, Biden will see that not meeting Putin is encouraging him. Then we are all in danger, but Russians more than most. It is a serious point and one that people should understand. De-escalation drills occasionally necessitate escalation, because anything else just makes it inevitable that Putin will continue to escalate.

Replies: @sher singh, @mal, @Barbarossa

It is so simply and obvious that we must look for a reason why it was not done.
 

Dem Jews?
 

Replies: @iffen, @iffen, @Wokechoke

It is so simply and obvious that we must look for a reason why it was not done.
 

Dem Jews?
 

Replies: @iffen, @iffen, @Wokechoke

Opinions are not so malleable when blood is involved. Putin has managed to even lose eastern Ukrainians to Russia for a generation.

Replies: @iffen, @Aedib

They aren't even wild caught in Alaska like they used to be.

I heard they are farm raised in fetid conditions in Indonesia fed on a diet of expired off brand Doritos.

Gross.

Replies: @iffen

A123 will love this for an opportunity to exploit for his Trumpist bloc autarky/hard decoupling dreams
 

Replies: @iffen, @Yellowface Anon

Speaking of shock and disbelief, the international faith in Washington which was already in decline seems in free fall now. Things can rot on the inside for a long time before it's apparent on the outside and the tree dies quickly.
Regardless of the final calculus in Ukraine the world is feeling a lot more multi-polar these days. Even Europe seems intent to chart it's own course to a greater extent.

Replies: @iffen

Replies: @Anatoly Karlin, @Mikhail, @Boethiuss, @iffen

International response, also relates to saying to everyone there would be no invasion, then invading, with lack of casus belli.

They did a dozen small false flag attacks in Donbass and Crimea. They evacuated some "refugees" in a group of buses, which were children from orphanage. Prerecorded videos with metadata not matching the dates. They talked about "genocide" for a couple days. But there was lack of effort to create a coherent narrative or false flag.

In the end, everyone saw it followed what Zhirinovsky had already leaked. It was like (to copy your name) Operation Barbarossa, with the 4am surprise attack, with no declaration of war.

In 1999, with the Second Chechen War, they prepared with much more effort for the casus belli, operating false flag attacks with bombs of residential buildings in Moscow.

The preparation and false flags in 1999 was costly for human life (and incompetent, as parts of the false flag were revealed, when FSB agents are found to be adding bombs to a basement), but the result was no sanctions during the war. It was successful, from the cynical point of view.

Elaborate false flags with hundreds of casualties, can create more international acceptance of war, compared to some Mukden Incident or Gleiwitz incident.

But the Operation Barbarossa where you attack 4 am without declaration of war, is what happened, is one of most difficult to present to the international community. Even with Pearl Harbor there was a declaration of war, although only given late. Russia is still not declared war with Ukraine. It's legally still peacetime. That's why it's important in Russia to call this a "special military operation" and illegal to call it war.

Replies: @sudden death, @Barbarossa, @mal

You don't exclude homegrown movements being co-opted by the likes of Nuland, which proves both accounts right.

(Somewhat like how Russians groomed and weaponized Balkan and Slavic nationalism against the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary, which backfired horribly at the end)

Replies: @Mr. Hack

Well as I stated before I would be very happy if Ron Unz was to archive this blog and open separate Open Threads on Ukraine (or whichever other topics). The blog is supposedly under my name but I don't even have moderation powers under posts not started by myself.

Replies: @Beckow, @iffen

There really doesn’t seem to be any way out of this mess, unless Putin moderates his demands at least somewhat (which seems unlikely).
 

Replies: @German_reader, @Yellowface Anon, @Anatoly Karlin, @Dmitry, @LondonBob, @iffen, @Pharmakon

Unless Russia decides to pull back because of a behind-the-scene deal, they will win.
 

Don’t make their goal too big so you can claim they failed
 

Replies: @Yellowface Anon, @Beckow

Putin can be rehabilitated in a couple of decades as a memory if need be.
 

Replies: @Yevardian

This is not a mistranslation, it is in the original Greek (emphases added):
 

Until Satan let lose his spawn, The Anti-Christ Muhammad (a.k.a. The Colonial Prophet) in ~600 AD, language did not exist to properly express then necessary Biblical warnings. Even after the fact, language resistance continues. Let us consider the correct translation:

Exodus 22:

18 -- Thou shalt not suffer a Muslim live.
19 -- Whosoever lieth with the Beast of Islam shall surely be put to death.

These words could not be written in any human language until the horror of The Anti-Christ Muhammad, Spawn of Satan, had wielded the horror of genocide against Christianity.

Even today, fallible Bibles written by imperfect men desperately need correction.

PEACE 😇

Replies: @iffen, @Barbarossa

Do you really think Putin would be content with ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine (and banning "Nazi symbols")?
I mean, I wish it were that simple, if there's any chance Putin and his circle would take an off-ramp from this insane invasion, one should certainly evaluate the possibility and work towards it, but I'm afraid things have gone too far for that.

Replies: @iffen, @Beckow

...Ideally there should still be some sort of diplomatic approach allowing...
 

- Zelensky, NATO and Biden announce that Ukraine will not be in NATO

- Zelensky announces that he will not tolerate violence against Russian speakers in Ukraine and that Nazi symbols will be prohibited. That would 'save face' for everyone since even West couldn't object.

Is that so hard? Or unreasonable?

Replies: @iffen, @German_reader, @A123

ROTFLMAO

You are straw manning. ... And doing so in an incredibly pathetic way.

I am not now, never have been, and never claimed to support QAnon.

So, feel free to swing on QAnon... but it has nothing to do with me.

#LetsGoBrandon 😇

Replies: @iffen

Former White House Physician Says Biden Is Not Cognitively Fit To Deal With Russia Crisis

“The whole country is seeing his mental cognitive issues on display for over a year now, and there’s really no question in most people’s minds that there’s something going on with him,” said Jackson.

“He’s not cognitively the same as he used to be and, in my mind, not fit to be our president right now,” he added.

The Congressman said that the 79-year-old representing America at a time when a message of strength needs to be sent isn’t going to end well.
 

Replies: @iffen

There are many overt calls in the U. S. MSM for direct NATO “boots on the ground” intervention in Ukraine.
 

How do you justify your approval of German arm shipments to Ukraine? It will just increase the body count and what purpose will that serve?
 

Replies: @iffen, @Astuteobservor II

Also what bs from "Nabih", the war in Syria war did generate massive media attention (with lots of none too subtle calls for military intervention), so it's not like issues affecting Arabs are ignored just because they're Arabs (though of course something like the war in Yemen is largely ignored by Western media, because Western allies supported by the West are arguably the bad guys there and causing civilian suffering up to the threat of mass starvation).
These professional poc with their ethnic resentments and the white shitlibs supporting them are really just absolute scum, I hope their self-centred bs in this time will cost them sympathy among normies.

Replies: @iffen

Yes, this. Also, while I repeat that I greatly appreciate many of the commenters, it has become on the whole a space that is highly hostile not just to my corpus of work and to my core values but to me personally (https://www.unz.com/akarlin/open-thread-176/#comment-5188687), up to the point of one particular commenter calling for my execution, which is perfectly fine and based, but also rather absurd to continue to associate with me.

I requested Ron Unz to archive this blog and, if there is sufficient interest, to create a new/separate Open Threads section for the post-RR commentariat.

Replies: @iffen

Heed my word – you are delusional if you disbelieve there is one and only one outcome for the Ukraine.
 

Do you, really, believe that Putler would commit to denazification of the Ukraine if he weren’t 1500% sure of the success of his campaign!?
 

I hope you do realize that his failure would be the end of Russia!
 

Do you really believe he’s the madman who’d demolish Russia!?
 

Replies: @Thulean Fraud

Is Karlin volunteering to fight the "Nazis" in Ukraine? He is way closer to the action than I am. Same goes for a lot for the pro-Russian posters here. And AFAIK he doesn't have a job to lose and kids to support by going over there.

Meanwhile, some footage of a guy with an NLAW in combat:

https://twitter.com/NotWoofers/status/1497590211890581516/video/1

The ones risking their lives to kill Russian invaders in this video are "persecuted" Russian-speakers. The guy filmimg is yelling, in Russian, "Russian f*ggots die.."

Replies: @Felix Keverich, @iffen, @Mr. Hack

The remark wasn't meant to be any actual reflection on your views. It was just a little humor on how worked up A123 gets about allegedly "Islamo SJW anti-Trump yahoos" such as yourself, undermining the glorious ascendancy of Trumpism.

Point being, that if A123 was a bot he wouldn't waste time on folks here. Bad energy expended to results ratio.

Replies: @A123, @iffen

-

It seems like there had been wave of aerial landings of parachute soldiers around Kiev over night. Even reports of landings in Uman.

Ukrainian media is claiming now two of the planes had crashed. If this is true, it can be hundreds of dead in plane crashes, if planes are full.

Although if true and planes were empty (i.e. after parachutes exit), it could be only 14 dead as the crew number.

https://twitter.com/ELINTNews/status/1497431853531381762

Replies: @sudden death, @iffen

Sure the crazies, the likes of Azov, Poroshenko fearing he will be carted off to prison, will fight it out initially but once they are gone...

Sad to see AP from the comfort of his American home cheering on the Azov types barricading themselves in the civilian areas of Mariupol. I hope the sensible ones surrender and pressure is applied for a ceasefire and durable peace deal.

Replies: @iffen, @awry

It's cringeworthy because a distinguished US President is being removed in favor of a hideous negress.

The reason this is being done is because SJWs are negrolaters. Originally they wanted to remove Alexander Hamilton, but the popularity of the whiteface musical about the man saved him. So then they instead moved onto Andrew Jackson, a convenient target because he opened up Georgia for white settlement.

Long story short, putting Tubman on the bill is anti-white as well as completely ridiculous.

Replies: @iffen, @Emil Nikola Richard

The Ukraine is done for, and short of an immediate mobilization of the Polish army (still too late) and European air forces anything that's done is just signaling. It should be recalled that signaling is part of what caused this mess. A few weeks ago European leaders were bleating about how it is each sovereign country's "choice" about whether or not to enter into foreign military alliances.

The EU should instead carefully assess how its security environment has changed as a result. This will depend on the postwar settlement, but in the worst case it means that Russian human and industrial potential increase by one-quarter and that the Russian ability to project power into Central Europe and the Balkans is substantially enhanced.

The good news is that the Russian invasion was preceded by a slow buildup of forces, which would seem at least to enhance the relative security of exposed EU states as there would at least be ample warning in the future (no guarantee of course).

The biggest change I could see that would increase European deterrence and which could be done in a reasonable period of time is to conduct regular, large-scale army exercises over large geographic theaters like what Russia itself does. In particular this exercises should develop and credibly test the ability to move army formations on land by upwards of 500 km per day. The demonstrated ability to field a large European army in Poland within a weak would have a strong deterrent effect, and it requires a minimum of new spending.

Longer term Europe needs to reassess its ties with the United States, its confused foreign policy(ies), and of course its energy policy. If there's a specific goal of weakening Russian power than relatively open migration policy to skilled, young Russians would be highly detrimental to the Russian Federation and politically painful to counter.

Replies: @Mr. Hack, @LondonBob, @Anatoly Karlin, @iffen

Nah. I don't see it. Wally was way too shrill and petulant to be A123. Wally was also absurdly myopic.

A123 is more diverse in talking points (though they revolve around many consistent MAGA type themes).

To those who think that A123 is a bot, I would say no. His tone is quite consistent and the time effort and time intensive (pics and funnies) content of the posting far exceeds what would be profitable for a bot to spend effort on. Unless of course, convincing Iffen and YellowfaceAnon to accept Trumpism is the critical pivot point for some Earth shattering political revolution in the works.

Come on Iffen, once you accept Trump as your personal savior, it opens the way for the Orange One to descend on clouds of glory!

Replies: @iffen, @Barbarossa

Day 1 casualties:

Ukrainian: 137 mixed military and civilian

Russian: 800 military

But who's counting?

BTW, I've read somewhere that it was going to be a cakewalk for Russia. These can't be numbers that brings the kremlins any joy. Less joy for all 937 families. Lots and lots of demonstrations by Russians against the war in scores of Russian cities met with quick reprisals by the loyal Putlerite police. One can only imagine how folks will react if these sorts of numbers continue....

Replies: @Anatoly Karlin, @iffen

Nah. I don't see it. Wally was way too shrill and petulant to be A123. Wally was also absurdly myopic.

A123 is more diverse in talking points (though they revolve around many consistent MAGA type themes).

To those who think that A123 is a bot, I would say no. His tone is quite consistent and the time effort and time intensive (pics and funnies) content of the posting far exceeds what would be profitable for a bot to spend effort on. Unless of course, convincing Iffen and YellowfaceAnon to accept Trumpism is the critical pivot point for some Earth shattering political revolution in the works.

Come on Iffen, once you accept Trump as your personal savior, it opens the way for the Orange One to descend on clouds of glory!