Excellent article, as usual. Some brief comments and conjectures...
According to some of the Russian analysts I have read, the drive toward Kiev was a feint, designed to draw Ukrainian forces away from key areas in the east and to gauge NATO reaction.
Once currently held positions in the east are solidified and life for citizens there returns to some semblance of normalcy, the Russian military is likely to drive further westward to the Dnieper and south to Odessa, leaving a landlocked western Ukraine rump state. I suspect we should see a new round of western teeth gnashing and "Russian atrocity" as this unfolds - but as for direct NATO counter-action, don't expect much other than hot air and perhaps more outmoded weapons dumps.
Coinciding with the speculated Russian drive west and southward, Europe is going to be experiencing an energy emergency and economic crash the likes of which haven't been seen in 90 years. There will be no appetite among the population to launch a counter offensive per se. However, I wouldn't put it past the demonic main stream media to attempt to blame the Russians for their self-inflicted woes while offering war as the only "viable" solution. It remains to be seen if the gullible public will take the bait.
Patrick: Excellent reporting here. I occasionally engage on-line with gung-ho Russophobes - with more-or-less the things you outline here. And reports here in Australia (from our national broadcaster too, no less) of the Russian "atrocities" - and of the bravery and courage of the Ukrainians (nothing about the sons and fathers forced into the military - run by the Azov mob) and their inspiring President - and his face on screens around the world and visitors (including, unfortunately Australia's new PM as well) dropping in from the west to parrot the lines of support (along with weaponry) from the US, Boris Boofhead from the UK et al - it s quite frankly nauseating in its "toeing the line" out of the US. Almost nowhere challenged! And now Pelosi taunting China with Hurrahs from Dumbo Pompeo! The US is determined to end the world, it seems - while murdering its children in classrooms and denying women rights over their own bodies! And gerrymandering the franchise system. Keep on posting, Patrick. We need your honesty and understanding...
Patrick Lang... age will do all in. What once was sharp and straight is now twisted, dull, and dirty. Go visit an assisted care facility for hippies or former Trotskyist if the urge to hear reactionary raves over a fictional world should take a hold (again), and hope the cure works.
What's the old Texas saying; All hat and no cattle. It pretty much describes our entire establishment and the culture they presume to officiate.
I do think once all the layers are peeled away, it's that age old tension between finance and government. Yet because humanity has finally seen fit to recognize government is a natural public utility, but not yet recognized that banking is as well, it has given the banks the upper hand, since they are subject to less oversight and no election cycles.
The problem is that government, as executive and regulatory function, is analogous to the central nervous system, while money and banking are society's economic blood and circulation system.
Given that government is the decision making function and it has been hollowed out, leaving a bunch of grifters, psychopaths and prostitutes filling the roles, until they get their payout, the dynamic has all the strategic aptitude of bacteria racing across a petri dish. That's why it seems so incredibly mindless, short-sighted and perfectly willing to change the story with a moments notice and without an once of compunction or thought. That. Is. Who. They. Are.
Life will always be that tension between desire and judgement. The head and the heart. Though while the future is nearly infinite, decisions have to be made constantly in the present and all that remains is rapidly fading memories and crumbling forms.
So government and banking are on opposite sides of this relationship. The one expanding out, like the energies of youth, while the other coalesces in, like the lessons of age.
Which goes to explain why our current rainbow hued woke culture seems to so easily find itself marching in lockstep with the neo-con psychopaths and neo-liberal thieves, with no rational discussion allowed. Because it's all about unlimited desire, whether for money, power, or simply to avoid the trials and tribulations of puberty. No one is allowed to say no. There are no adults allowed.
That is why Donald Trump is their arch nemesis. He might be a total clown and buffoon, but he cut his teeth with The Apprentice. Remember? You're Fired!
Their television/videoscreen version of reality is reaching out through the looking glass and grabbing them by their shriveled little souls and it confounds and perplexes them. He's been out of office two years and still has them running in circles, like a puppy chasing its tail, or a snake eating its tail.
The next two years should continue to get ever more interesting.
What say we start an Assange for President campaign, if we really want to screw with their minds? Especially if they finally get their wish to put him on trial. Can you imagine the bumper stickers on cars all over the country?
I have also been wondering how they are going to reconcile the “narrative” with reality. When the Azov fighters surrendered in Mariupol it was initially reported as an evacuation planned by Zelensky in coordination with the Red Cross. There was some video of Ukranian soldiers being searched and loaded into buses by Russians, but far less than one would expect considering the media focus on the seige and the length of the stand off. Why weren’t there reporters in Mariupol waiting for them to emerge? Why aren’t there interviews with Ukrainians subtitled so we can understand them? Vietnam was supposed to be the war that was brought into American’s living rooms through television. There were journalists taking photos and video during actual battles. The coverage was thought to have contributed to public sentiment turning against the war. In Iraq they sought to avoid this by embedding reporters with specific units. By this method, the military controlled what reporters witnessed and because the reporters were under the protection of the military units they tended to bond with those soldiers. In Ukraine this practice doesn’t seem to be necessary. Very few reporters are any where near the actual fighting. What’s the difference between journalists reporting from their hotels in Kiev or their offices in New York? In both cases they are relying on reports from Ukrainian officials. Even in Bucha there didn’t seem to be many reporters on the ground at the critical time. Why weren’t reporters there during the first 4 days? Am I wrong to see a major change in war reporting? It’s not just reporter’s bias in favor of Ukraine, it’s their lack of first person observation. This war has been a stunning demonstration of how thoroughly those in power can control the narrative, but it has been building up for some time. Throughout Russiagate, I became frustrated because I kept waiting for the truth to out. When it was discovered that HRC funded the Steele report, I thought “aha! The gig is up.” But the press acted as though it was practically irrelevant. When it was discovered that phone calls of Trump’s campaign staff were being intercepted by the FBI the press laughed thst Trump had claimed he was being “bugged” which was ridiculous because “bugging” was hopelessly outdated technology. As if that wasn’t a distinction without a difference. The Muller report found no collusion, but to hear them tell it now, it was the smoking gun. So I’ve begun to wonder if control of the MSM can actually keep the public entirely enfolded in a delusion. Will anyone know when we actually have fought to the last Ukrainian? It depresses me.
If the NY Times is no longer taken seriously after this war, then some good will have been done.
Excellent article, as usual. Some brief comments and conjectures...
According to some of the Russian analysts I have read, the drive toward Kiev was a feint, designed to draw Ukrainian forces away from key areas in the east and to gauge NATO reaction.
Once currently held positions in the east are solidified and life for citizens there returns to some semblance of normalcy, the Russian military is likely to drive further westward to the Dnieper and south to Odessa, leaving a landlocked western Ukraine rump state. I suspect we should see a new round of western teeth gnashing and "Russian atrocity" as this unfolds - but as for direct NATO counter-action, don't expect much other than hot air and perhaps more outmoded weapons dumps.
Coinciding with the speculated Russian drive west and southward, Europe is going to be experiencing an energy emergency and economic crash the likes of which haven't been seen in 90 years. There will be no appetite among the population to launch a counter offensive per se. However, I wouldn't put it past the demonic main stream media to attempt to blame the Russians for their self-inflicted woes while offering war as the only "viable" solution. It remains to be seen if the gullible public will take the bait.
Patrick: Excellent reporting here. I occasionally engage on-line with gung-ho Russophobes - with more-or-less the things you outline here. And reports here in Australia (from our national broadcaster too, no less) of the Russian "atrocities" - and of the bravery and courage of the Ukrainians (nothing about the sons and fathers forced into the military - run by the Azov mob) and their inspiring President - and his face on screens around the world and visitors (including, unfortunately Australia's new PM as well) dropping in from the west to parrot the lines of support (along with weaponry) from the US, Boris Boofhead from the UK et al - it s quite frankly nauseating in its "toeing the line" out of the US. Almost nowhere challenged! And now Pelosi taunting China with Hurrahs from Dumbo Pompeo! The US is determined to end the world, it seems - while murdering its children in classrooms and denying women rights over their own bodies! And gerrymandering the franchise system. Keep on posting, Patrick. We need your honesty and understanding...
Patrick Lang... age will do all in. What once was sharp and straight is now twisted, dull, and dirty. Go visit an assisted care facility for hippies or former Trotskyist if the urge to hear reactionary raves over a fictional world should take a hold (again), and hope the cure works.
What's the old Texas saying; All hat and no cattle. It pretty much describes our entire establishment and the culture they presume to officiate.
I do think once all the layers are peeled away, it's that age old tension between finance and government. Yet because humanity has finally seen fit to recognize government is a natural public utility, but not yet recognized that banking is as well, it has given the banks the upper hand, since they are subject to less oversight and no election cycles.
The problem is that government, as executive and regulatory function, is analogous to the central nervous system, while money and banking are society's economic blood and circulation system.
Given that government is the decision making function and it has been hollowed out, leaving a bunch of grifters, psychopaths and prostitutes filling the roles, until they get their payout, the dynamic has all the strategic aptitude of bacteria racing across a petri dish. That's why it seems so incredibly mindless, short-sighted and perfectly willing to change the story with a moments notice and without an once of compunction or thought. That. Is. Who. They. Are.
Life will always be that tension between desire and judgement. The head and the heart. Though while the future is nearly infinite, decisions have to be made constantly in the present and all that remains is rapidly fading memories and crumbling forms.
So government and banking are on opposite sides of this relationship. The one expanding out, like the energies of youth, while the other coalesces in, like the lessons of age.
Which goes to explain why our current rainbow hued woke culture seems to so easily find itself marching in lockstep with the neo-con psychopaths and neo-liberal thieves, with no rational discussion allowed. Because it's all about unlimited desire, whether for money, power, or simply to avoid the trials and tribulations of puberty. No one is allowed to say no. There are no adults allowed.
That is why Donald Trump is their arch nemesis. He might be a total clown and buffoon, but he cut his teeth with The Apprentice. Remember? You're Fired!
Their television/videoscreen version of reality is reaching out through the looking glass and grabbing them by their shriveled little souls and it confounds and perplexes them. He's been out of office two years and still has them running in circles, like a puppy chasing its tail, or a snake eating its tail.
The next two years should continue to get ever more interesting.
What say we start an Assange for President campaign, if we really want to screw with their minds? Especially if they finally get their wish to put him on trial. Can you imagine the bumper stickers on cars all over the country?
I have also been wondering how they are going to reconcile the “narrative” with reality. When the Azov fighters surrendered in Mariupol it was initially reported as an evacuation planned by Zelensky in coordination with the Red Cross. There was some video of Ukranian soldiers being searched and loaded into buses by Russians, but far less than one would expect considering the media focus on the seige and the length of the stand off. Why weren’t there reporters in Mariupol waiting for them to emerge? Why aren’t there interviews with Ukrainians subtitled so we can understand them? Vietnam was supposed to be the war that was brought into American’s living rooms through television. There were journalists taking photos and video during actual battles. The coverage was thought to have contributed to public sentiment turning against the war. In Iraq they sought to avoid this by embedding reporters with specific units. By this method, the military controlled what reporters witnessed and because the reporters were under the protection of the military units they tended to bond with those soldiers. In Ukraine this practice doesn’t seem to be necessary. Very few reporters are any where near the actual fighting. What’s the difference between journalists reporting from their hotels in Kiev or their offices in New York? In both cases they are relying on reports from Ukrainian officials. Even in Bucha there didn’t seem to be many reporters on the ground at the critical time. Why weren’t reporters there during the first 4 days? Am I wrong to see a major change in war reporting? It’s not just reporter’s bias in favor of Ukraine, it’s their lack of first person observation. This war has been a stunning demonstration of how thoroughly those in power can control the narrative, but it has been building up for some time. Throughout Russiagate, I became frustrated because I kept waiting for the truth to out. When it was discovered that HRC funded the Steele report, I thought “aha! The gig is up.” But the press acted as though it was practically irrelevant. When it was discovered that phone calls of Trump’s campaign staff were being intercepted by the FBI the press laughed thst Trump had claimed he was being “bugged” which was ridiculous because “bugging” was hopelessly outdated technology. As if that wasn’t a distinction without a difference. The Muller report found no collusion, but to hear them tell it now, it was the smoking gun. So I’ve begun to wonder if control of the MSM can actually keep the public entirely enfolded in a delusion. Will anyone know when we actually have fought to the last Ukrainian? It depresses me.
Excellent, thank you.
Instead of the 3 "N"'s it is 6 "N"'s - No Nazis's, No Nukes, No Nato !
Looks like Natostan cannot count!
I would add a 7-8th - No NYT - No matter what!