Generational Dynamics World View News

[DaKardii]

With the recent developments in pro-Russian rebel-held territory, I am changing my opinion of whether or not an invasion is imminent. I am now officially in the "yes" camp.

Meanwhile, I'm hesitant to believe that Ukraine was responsible. Both Biden and Putin are capable of ordering false flags, but I'm currently leaning towards a CIA false flag as opposed to a Russian one.

[Guest]

With the recent developments in pro-Russian rebel-held territory, I am changing my opinion of whether or not an invasion is imminent. I am now officially in the "yes" camp.

Meanwhile, I'm hesitant to believe that Ukraine was responsible. Both Biden and Putin are capable of ordering false flags, but I'm currently leaning towards a CIA false flag as opposed to a Russian one.

[Burner Prime]

** 15-Feb-2022 World View: Biden's speech

Biden is giving a speech on tv right now. Here are some of his points:

- Russia says that some troops have been withdrawn, which is good.
- But we have not verified that.
- In fact, troops are still actively in place.
- An invasion is possible at any time.

Presumably, this is based on the latest current information.

This is a great example of a catastrophic failure in critical thinking. A brilliant article that came out today illustrates the point:

https://www.aier.org/article/d-c-s-best ... e-charade/

At best you can say the West is far superior to clumsy Russia when it comes to propaganda, or making legal cases in global forums. Being the Great Hegemon with the most powerful military and control of global reserve currency helps a lot in this regard.

The wise monastics caution Christians against judgement, because we never have all the information, we don't see as clearly as we might believe. We could even be wrong about people who appear evil beyond any shadow of a doubt. This does not prevent societies from isolating those who have been shown to cause harm, but condemnation is not permitted under that aegis.

Choose your propaganda as you like, if it brings you comfort.

-----------

We Are the Baddies...

The brilliant Mitchell and Webb skit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU

Few pause to consider that the West, the United States in particular, the world's Great Hegemon, just might be the bad guy.

The US invaded and shredded Iraq under false pretense. (1M dead - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualtie ... e_Iraq_War)
The US is "illegally occupying" Syria. (So much for sovereignty)
The US shredded Libya (Nice job Hillary - still in Chaos - 2500-250,000 deaths = Wiki)
The US shredded Afghanistan (200,000 dead - Wikipedia)
The US assassinates people (terrorists), and kidnaps "suspects" in foreign countries at will
The US maintains an extralegal detention facility in Guantanamo, imprisoning people with zero due process
The US "illegally annexed" Hawaii
The US genocided the Native American populations and drove them onto reservations. They have never recovered.
The US CIA has been involved in at least 70 attempts to overthrow governments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuMRAhe7Y0

Just is the past 20 years the body count as a result of US actions are in the millions. If you try to say "Well, Russia is worse", then you're missing the point and just choosing your propaganda - or your favorite football team.

[DT Subscriber]

And this will be Russia's excuse to attack Ukraine: they will be 'protecting' the two newly independent breakaway republics...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... nda-blitz/

Russians accuse Ukrainians of genocide as they pave way for potential invasion
Experts believe the extreme claims are part of a propaganda blitz as Moscow tries to justify any conflict at home and abroad

It was during an otherwise civil exchange with German chancellor Olaf Scholz this week that Vladimir Putin dropped the g-word.

“If I may: in our view, what is happening in the Donbas today is genocide,” he told reporters at a joint press conference, referring to east Ukraine’s separatist-controlled region.

It was an off-the-cuff remark, meant as a rebuke to Mr Scholz after he defended Nato’s involvement in the Balkans conflict in the 1990s by saying it prevented genocide there. The German chancellor later dismissed it as “wrong”.

But among Russia-watchers, it instantly raised fears that after months of official silence, Moscow was now formally laying the groundwork for justifying a potential invasion of Ukraine to both the Russian public and the international community.

From media figures to top diplomats, this last week has seen a number of prominent Russians invoke the baseless idea that the Ukrainian government is perpetrating a “genocide” against the hundreds and thousands of ethnic Russians living in its east.

“People are dying there every day; thousands of children have lost legs or arms; thousands of children were buried in tiny coffins,” Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia’s major propaganda outlet RT, said in a tearful speech about eastern Ukraine on a prime-time TV show last Sunday.

“Russia has no choice but to stop this war. What are we supposed to wait for? Until there are concentration camps and (Ukraine) will be gassing their population? This is what’s going to happen. It’s going to get worse.”

[Guest]

Yes, the Ukrainians would know a thing or two about the genocide perpetrated on them by the Russians!

[Guest]

Sputnik TV is showing massive explosions in Eastern Ukraine. A Tik Tok video shows a close up of apparently the same explosion and it looks like an atomic bomb mushroom cloud. The Russian attack will probably begin in a few hours. These are most likely false flag attacks to justify a full scale invasion.

WW3 has begun.

[Ken]

With the recent developments in pro-Russian rebel-held territory, I am changing my opinion of whether or not an invasion is imminent. I am now officially in the "yes" camp.

Meanwhile, I'm hesitant to believe that Ukraine was responsible. Both Biden and Putin are capable of ordering false flags, but I'm currently leaning towards a CIA false flag as opposed to a Russian one.

You've just woken from a drunken dream.

[John]

** 20-Feb-2022 World View: Ukraine - Russia

• Map of Ukraine

Putin said repeatedly that Russian troops would withdraw from Belarus
today, February 20. Everyone except idiots, trolls, and acolytes knew
that was a lie. So today the Russians announced that the troops would
remain indefinitely. Quelle surprise!

According to reports, Russia has 30,000 troops, hundreds of aircraft,
tanks, S-400 surface to air missiles in Belarus.

According to reports, Russia has shut down the Sea of Azov, and a
fleet of 10 warships have passed through the Kerch Strait into the
Sea. I've always believed that if Putin did nothing else, he would
invade the seaports Mariupol and Berdyansk, in order to create a land
bridge from Russia to Crimea. He might even go on to the port of
Odessa, in order to starve Ukraine.

The attacks by Russians in eastern Ukraine on Ukrainians have been
escalating. The Russian playbook, which they followed in Georgia,
would be to escalate the attacks until Ukraine's army is finally
forced to fire back, and then Putin would use that as justification
for a full-scale attack.

The Biden administration is being blamed for foreign policy disasters
(as opposed to Trump's successes), and so the administration is
desperate to do anything to appease the Russians to get Putin to back
off. If there's no war, then Biden will claim credit.

[Navigator]

** 15-Feb-2022 World View: Biden's speech

Biden is giving a speech on tv right now. Here are some of his points:

- Russia says that some troops have been withdrawn, which is good.
- But we have not verified that.
- In fact, troops are still actively in place.
- An invasion is possible at any time.

Presumably, this is based on the latest current information.

This is a great example of a catastrophic failure in critical thinking. A brilliant article that came out today illustrates the point:

https://www.aier.org/article/d-c-s-best ... e-charade/

At best you can say the West is far superior to clumsy Russia when it comes to propaganda, or making legal cases in global forums. Being the Great Hegemon with the most powerful military and control of global reserve currency helps a lot in this regard.

The wise monastics caution Christians against judgement, because we never have all the information, we don't see as clearly as we might believe. We could even be wrong about people who appear evil beyond any shadow of a doubt. This does not prevent societies from isolating those who have been shown to cause harm, but condemnation is not permitted under that aegis.

Choose your propaganda as you like, if it brings you comfort.

-----------

We Are the Baddies...

The brilliant Mitchell and Webb skit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn1VxaMEjRU

Few pause to consider that the West, the United States in particular, the world's Great Hegemon, just might be the bad guy.

The US invaded and shredded Iraq under false pretense. (1M dead - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualtie ... e_Iraq_War)
The US is "illegally occupying" Syria. (So much for sovereignty)
The US shredded Libya (Nice job Hillary - still in Chaos - 2500-250,000 deaths = Wiki)
The US shredded Afghanistan (200,000 dead - Wikipedia)
The US assassinates people (terrorists), and kidnaps "suspects" in foreign countries at will
The US maintains an extralegal detention facility in Guantanamo, imprisoning people with zero due process
The US "illegally annexed" Hawaii
The US genocided the Native American populations and drove them onto reservations. They have never recovered.
The US CIA has been involved in at least 70 attempts to overthrow governments:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDuMRAhe7Y0

Just is the past 20 years the body count as a result of US actions are in the millions. If you try to say "Well, Russia is worse", then you're missing the point and just choosing your propaganda - or your favorite football team.

I was hoping that someone else would have attacked this baloney earlier, but it cannot go unanswered as this type of Anti-American misinformation and one-sided self-hatred has been going on in America since the Vietnam War.

At first it was the anti-draft people who stayed in university academia, but over the decades it has seeped down to the lowest levels of the American education system, which has gone from middling to bad to abysmal in just about every subject. Especially math and history.

The United States of America has, as a country, been the greatest force for good in this world since its inception. It has stood, and continues to stand, as a beacon of hope and of liberty to the oppressed masses on earth. It has, and will continue, to provide the means of overcoming extreme evil in the hands of those who would otherwise subjugate and destroy personal liberty.

Now to go through the list of half truths and misinformation in the quote above:

1. US invaded Iraq under false pretenses and this led to 1M dead.

This is of course referring to Iraq not having WMDs. But guess what, we already had PLENTY of justification for attacking Iraq the second time. They were shooting at our planes who were patrolling the no-fly zones as per the peace treaty that came out of the first Iraq war. This was enough reason, as the Iraqis were both in violation of the peace treaty by doing this, and its an ACT of WAR.

Our WMD argument I think was more of a play to get more nations on board, and it was not done as a “lie” but rather based on faulty intelligence. But the point is that Iraq having WMDs was not needed for us to invade the country. Iraq had already crossed the internationally recognized line by breaking the peace treaty and committing acts of war.

The US would have happily installed a democratic government and then left. Instead, terrorist elements infiltrated the country and Iraqi’s themselves set up an insurgency to fight “American Occupation”. We were just trying to set up a viable Iraqi run government and leave. If they wanted us to leave, they could have not conducted terrorist or insurgent activity for about 6 months, and we would have been gone.
Instead, they brought about all kinds of destruction on their own people, who, in the end, turned on the insurgency, got it under control, and then we left.

And reports of 1M casualties in Iraq are WAY inflated. Probably more like 300K. And most of that due to the terrorists and foreign insurgents who were there trying to kill Americans who were actually trying to help the Iraqi people rebuild from decades of a bloody and despotic dictatorship.

I am surprised the “US invaded Iraq to steal its Oil Wealth” wasn’t included in the diatribe, but most would now see that this lie, heavily used at the time, was just that. The US hasn’t taken Iraq’s oil, nor are we getting in “on the cheap” as our current gasoline prices show.

2. The US is illegally occupying Syria

Syria had turned into a failed state of anarchy long before the US went in there, and in VERY small numbers. Whole areas were not run by the Syrian government, but by the terrorist group ISIS. We went in to destroy them, and to allow the people they were killing and torturing to attempt to return to some semblance of normal life.

Whole sections of Syria are now under Turkish and even Russian control, while the Syrian government is engaged in genocide of its own people. We have maybe a couple of hundred troops in Syria, how on earth can this be seen as some kind of “occupation”. We are just trying to keep ISIS from getting out of control again.

3. The US shredded Libya

No, Libyans shredded their own country. At first, they rose up against Khadafi (a bloody dictator who ruled for decades). As Khadafi brought in foreign mercenaries to support his regime, the rebels appealed to NATO for support, which they got. In fact, it was mostly French and Italian planes that dropped a lot of ordinance on Libya, in support of these rebels, and to finally rid Libya of their dictator. The current mess is a result of Libyans fighting Libyans and not finding ways to bring their own country out of a protracted civil war that only benefits Libyan war lords.

Hillary’s mess in Libya was due to allowing a naïve diplomat to go off without adequate security on 9/11 anniversary and then not supporting the diplomatic compounds under attack.

4. The US shredded Afghanistan

The pre-9/11 Taliban government of Afghanistan allowed Al-Queda to set up operations in their country. They aided and abetted Al-Queda in the planning and execution of the 9/11 attacks. This was an Act of War by the Afghan government versus the United States, and the US was perfectly justified in attacking and taking out this government. The US (and allies) then attempted to set up a democratic government in Afghanistan and to raise the standard of living in the country through all kinds of improvement projects.

The mess in Afghanistan was due to the Pakistan government allowing radical Muslims to train in their country and then move across the border into Afghanistan to attack Americans and Europeans because they are trying to help Afghanis and establish a secular government.

5. The US assassinates people (terrorists), and kidnaps "suspects" in foreign countries at will

Yes, the US assassinates terrorists. Even the most liberal of US administrations have engaged in this. Would it be better to let them engage in terrorism? Of course, sometimes there are mistakes or unfortunate collateral damage. But then what do terrorists do but create massive amounts of collateral damage.

Who would have been against assassinating Hitler or Stalin or any of their senior crew? Wouldn’t the world have been better off? The people we kill by drone strikes are those that have already engaged in killing people or have made every effort to tell us that they are going to do that.

6. The US maintains an extralegal detention facility in Guantanamo, imprisoning people with zero due process

The United States has for years provided detainees in Guantanamo with legal representation. I for one would have been very happy to have the military run these people through tribunals and execute the guilty for their crimes. But the US didn’t want to create martyrs and didn’t know what to do with these dangerous people (as demonstrated by those who have been released and have gone back to killing). Any other country would have just killed these people after their interrogations were done.

7. The US "illegally annexed" Hawaii

Yes, the US annexed Hawaii under questionable circumstances. However, if the US hadn’t, someone else would have. Either the Germans or the British. And if they hadn’t, the Japanese certainly would have taken them over by the 1920s. There is just no way that Hawaii would have remained an “independent” nation.

The annexation of Hawaii led to it being properly defended against the Japanese in World War Two. They may have sunk obsolete battleships in Pearl Harbor, but the two full divisions of combat troops on the islands ensured that the Japanese could never have taken the islands. What would have happened to the Hawaiians had the Japanese controlled the islands?

So, how awful has American “annexation” of Hawaii been? They were protected from the Japanese. They were given American citizenship. Yes, the pineapple growers took land that wasn’t there. That should be fixed, if it isn’t already. And given that Hawaii has been a self-governing state since 1960 or so, I would be surprised if it hasn’t been addressed.

8. The US genocided the Native American populations and drove them onto reservations. They have never recovered

The Native American populations in North America were pre-Bronze age hunter gatherers. Their civilization was going to end once Europeans showed up. In Europe this happened when people with better technology literally eradicated lower tech rivals for the land. The people the Romans called Barbarians (the Goths, Franks, Alemanni, and so on) had come from Asia and had already completely eradicated the original inhabitants. There is little record of this, as neither side in such struggles was keeping written records.

The settlers on the East Coast of what would later be the United States usually co-existed peacefully with the Native Americans (NA). Most of the deaths to the NAs happened as a result of the diseases Europeans unintentionally brought over, against which the NAs had no immunity. The Europeans engaged in agriculture, while the NA were engaged mostly in hunting/gathering. Hunting/gathering is, unfortunately for the NA, a very poor use of land, as vast tracts are required to support a small population. Europeans did attempt to convert some NA tribes to agriculture, and, early on, where this worked, the tribes were actually assimilated into society. The best example of this is the Seneca Indians.

With the invention of the cotton gin and the explosion of cotton agriculture in the southern states, the NAs were forcibly evicted en-masse from these areas (the “trail of tears”). This was wrong. The US set aside what is now Oklahoma as territory for NA, thinking it of little worth. In the northern areas (Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and so on) the NA were also pushed off of the land, just not as forcefully as in the south.

The point is that hunting/gathering, using let’s say Ohio as your hunting ground, was NEVER going to last once people with European technology showed up.

Also, unlike the silly movies about the Native Americans being peaceful spiritualists, the truth was that they were in almost constant conflict with each other. Their constant fighting amongst themselves made it even easier for Americans (or Canadians or the Spanish) to take over their land.
Many greedy and unscrupulous Americans wrongly took Indian lands granted them by treaty. Many other Americans tried to do as much as possible to help the Indians (the almost complete lack of Indian wars in areas settled by Mormons are an example).

Since the early 20th century, the Native Americans in the USA have received all kinds of government assistance and aide. Much land has been returned to them, and more probably will be (half of Maine, for example, was returned to Native Americans tribal control). They are allowed to administer their own laws on their own lands. They have American citizenship, and many have “left the reservation” to better opportunities.

I served with some Native Americans in the military, and they were among the best Soldiers I ever came in contact with. Currently, the biggest problem for the NA community is alcoholism. This is, unfortunately, a self-inflicted blight. The Native Americans populations are doing better and are recovering from what happened to them more than a century ago. There is still a long way to go, but I believe that the vast majority of Americans support them in these efforts.

Contrast this with what is currently going on in China with the Uighurs, how the Germans and Russians handled the Jews, and so on.

9. The US CIA has been involved in at least 70 attempts to overthrow governments:

Almost all of this happened during the Cold War between USSR/CCP communism and Western Capitalism. Missing in this statement is how the Russians and their allies used their armies to end democratically elected governments, and then subjugate people for decades. All of Eastern Europe and much of Asia ended up in pathetic if not dire circumstances as a result of these communist takeovers. The CIA was involved, in the vast majority of cases, in overthrowing governments that were on track to end up as communist dictatorships. For example, look how Cuba and Venezuela have turned out. Originally Castro or Chavez were just socialists who were there to “help the common man”. Then they got in power, and the “common man” was MUCH worse off than they were in the first place.

Were many of the governments that we supported oppressive? Yes, but a communist dictatorship would have been even worse. I would have preferred that all such places were able to transition to functioning democracy, but sometimes that culture and traditions necessary for that are not yet there. Much of South and Central America now is, and these areas are moving in the direction of increased personal liberty. Other areas, where, for example CIA efforts were thwarted (namely Nicaragua) are moving or have moved to dictatorships that are much worse for their populations than the military juntas ever were.

I am assuming that you would have been against a CIA led effort to depose Chavez/Maduro. How is that working out for the people of Venezuela?

Now let’s talk about what the United States has done:

Set up the first functional democracy in modern history. The US constitution has been the model for democracy and increases in personal freedom around the world for hundreds of years. Prior to the United States, there were only absolute monarchies and dictatorships. Now the world is mostly democratic.

We were the land of “unlimited opportunity” for those that wanted to move here, improve their and their family’s situation in life, and enjoy personal liberty. Millions and their descendants enjoy the results of this today.

The United States served as the Arsenal of Freedom during since the start of the 20th Century. Without the Unites States, Europe would have descended back into an age of absolute monarchy as the Kaiser would have won World War One in 1918.

Hitler and the Japanese Military would have won World War Two were it not for the United States. Even the USSR could not have survived without US help (we provided the logistical equipment and supplies they desperately needed). The mass genocides that would have accompanied an Axis win of WW2 are unimaginable.

The US has, with some very minor exceptions, not engaged in empire building. We gave Cuba to the Cubans after we liberated it from Spain. We eventually gave the Philippines back the Filipinos. We gave the Hawaiians statehood and citizenship to most others.

We could have taken over Canada and Mexico (all of it, not just the marginally habited parts we took in 1847). We could have taken over the entire Middle East and populated it with Americans. But we didn’t. We could have completely taken over Japan or Germany after WW2, but instead we assisted them in moving their cultures away from militarism and even allowed them to compete with us economically.

Here is the danger that lies ahead:

Too many have bought into the half-truths and lies that you stated earlier. This has weakened the proper pride that Americans should have in their country. Others have become so “Anti-American” that they will become traitors in the upcoming war. Once again that war will be a war for either liberty or subjugation.

The Chinese are already brutalizing their own people. It will not go well for non-Chinese under CCP subjugation. The Uighers are a good example of what could be expected.

Putin wants a return to the USSR, with himself as a modern Stalin. We will shortly see how he treats the Ukrainians.

The coming war will be needlessly lengthened by the amount of effort that the US will have to expend to deal with “Anti-American” Americans. And Billions will suffer needlessly as a result.

[Guest]

Well said, as always, Navigator.

But, as any intelligent person knows, the best people volunteer to fight while worthless avoid combat. The most worthless will.survive and our fate as a nation will be sealed.