"These measures, which US officials said were taken to sever the Taliban’s access to foreign assets..."
The insanity & hypocrisy of this is staggering...
The Times of London reports that the US simply abandoned a truly astounding arsenal of military equipment and weapons. This reportedly includes up to 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs. So, too, the list of allegedly abandoned weaponry includes up to 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units. Oh, and the Taliban will likely inherit state-of-the-art military helicopters, warplanes, and other aircraft... The value of the abandoned equipment/weaponry estimates range from $10-$80 billion...
It seems to me that the choice of allegiance is made on a group level and then adopted by individuals. If your friends, family, neighbours - all your significant others - cheer for Oilers, it would be seen by them as a betrayal if you do not cheer or, worse, cheer for a team Oilers currently are competing with.
So dissenting is costly and painful. Moreover, as Hume once said: "If we believe, that fire warms, or water refreshes, it is only because it costs us too much pains to think otherwise." Thus we believe that Oilers are the best. Many do not even dare to consider the possibility that the current narrative might be wrong, because it might possibly lead you to pain and social isolation.
Somehow we can sense that following a certain line of reasoning can have catastrophic consequences. So we do not even start it, repelled by the threat it poses.
Recently my friend, a biologist himself, talked to his colleagues (biologists as well) about the inconsistencies in the official Bucha narrative, that they accept completely. Namely, he pointed out that organic tissue after laying on the road for 2 weeks exposed to warm weather, stray dogs, rats and crows should look completely different.
However, his colleagues did not even try to find some explanation. They completely ignored his argument, switching to discussion of the psychology of the contract army. Apparently, going into this argument might lead them to a catastrophe (doubt, dissent and social isolation), so they avoid it by all means.
I wanted to thank you for your poetry reading on the most recent Aesthetic Resistance podcast. It is infectious.
Here is a poem in honor of another divinely mad poet, Christopher Smart, born today (April 11) who praised in Jubilate Agnos the elements of the day August 13, 1759, including his cat Jeoffrey.
Wild Gratitude
Tonight when I knelt down next to our cat, Zooey,
And put my fingers into her clean cat's mouth,
And rubbed her swollen belly that will never know kittens,
And watched her wriggle onto her side, pawing the air,
And listened to her solemn little squeals of delight,
I was thinking about the poet, Christopher Smart,
Who wanted to kneel down and pray without ceasing
In every one of the splintered London streets,
And was locked away in the madhouse at St. Luke's
With his sad religious mania, and his wild gratitude,
And his grave prayers for the other lunatics,
And his great love for his speckled cat, Jeoffry.
All day today—August 13, 1983—I remembered how
Christopher Smart blessed this same day in August, 1759,
For its calm bravery and ordinary good conscience.
This was the day that he blessed the Postmaster General
"And all conveyancers of letters" for their warm humanity,
And the gardeners for their private benevolence
And intricate knowledge of the language of flowers,
And the milkmen for their universal human kindness.
This morning I understood that he loved to hear—
As I have heard—the soft clink of milk bottles
On the rickety stairs in the early morning,
And how terrible it must have seemed
When even this small pleasure was denied him.
But it wasn't until tonight when I knelt down
And slipped my hand into Zooey's waggling mouth
That I remembered how he'd called Jeoffry "the servant
RF troops destroy, kill, rape, commit many atrocities in Ukraine. NOW! Whatever support Ukraine gained, that is useful but not enough. We live in the world, where the war must be stopped. Not by neutrality, virtue signalling, but active commitment either to have peace or not. RF is evil now, not an escape goat, but pure evil. Stop the war, then can be time for reflection and philosophy, whatever kind of philosophy and critical or geopolitical thinking, but now all what can help to stop the war need to be absolutely mobilised. Even small virtue signalling!! Absolutely Everything! Stop the war, get us go back to our lives, then think together.
Certainly, but the war began decades ago, and this most recent development is not going to be helped by our naive demonization of one side, nor the scattershot sanctions which most of all are going to harm impoverished third world-nations.
There was frozen conflict in Donbas, where I grew up. I am Ukrainian form Donbas and I know how it was artificially created by RF. But that was not full scale invasions across huge front, which affects directly 20 mln of people and bormbardment is going even in the Western Ukraine. That is complete destruction of all infrastructure, direct, deliberate destruction and burning out of all what is on the way of RF troop. That is their sadistic tactic and strategy. Burning out of all on their way. That need to be stopped, if the rest of the world remain some humanity left. Stop the atrocities, then can be all possible philosophical discussions. Ukraine is 4 Swedens by population and it has right to live and be independent!
RF is far form demonisation given what they do in Ukraine. They are aggressors, they attacked Ukraine, they bombard Ukraine and kill people. That is terrible reality, blowing into the face of everyone. Just look what they turned into our cities, villages and lives of millions of people. That is called naive demonisation? What is then not naive? What means scattershot sanctions? How they would most likely affect 3d world-nation? How to stop the war? Should it continue to the last Ukrainian?
I'm sure that the situation on the ground must be horrendous. My point is just that the media's portrayal, devoid of historical context and the roles of other parties aside from Russia, is not helping in terms of solving this crisis.
If the media had done its job, the situation could probably have been averted before it turned violent.
Now, there are basically only three conceivable paths forward through this war. Either a Ukrainian acceptance of the Russian terms; an escalation and full-scale NATO intervention with an uncertain outcome; or a drawn-out conflict over many years with Ukraine plagued by networks of insurgents with various affiliations.
None of these seem optimal in comparison to what could have been possible just a few months back.
There is the only option and that is to provide either no-fly-zone or give Ukraine means to do so themselves, i.e. ammunition, including air-defence, jets, tanks. And also embargo on Russian oil. RF cannot sustain this war for long. They cannot conduct the ground operations, their army does not want to go into war. All they can do is destruction. Ukrainians are prepared to fight and we do so quite successfully. Putin plan of blitzkrig did not work out due to our defence. (1) Ukraine will never accept Russian terms of capitulation. When in the modern human history the country who was so determined to fight for independence would just accept the capitulation on absolutely ludicrous terms. Out of questions. (2) NATO is not a kindergarten, how they behave now. Their mantra not to upset Putin is appeasing the aggressor. Putin understands only strength. Otherwise he will go for more and more. This is why even G´Finland is considering to join NATO. NATO is capable to supply Ukraine with the ammunition. That is what we are asking for. And that is not full scale NATO involvement. (3) At this scale the protracted many years conflict will not work out. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have strength for full blown war for long time. As RF set it, it is not a local conflict. Therefore it cannot be localised. There is only one way - support Ukraine to win this war. That is also determination of Ukrainians. People are live by and driven by determination. Nothing less. If 44 lmn people will be slotted in front of all world in Europe, what will be left out of Europe? What has been before the war, we can return back to this and analyse. Now the war need to be stopped!!!!
The embargoes are very problematic. There's not very much petroleum to go around, and there are other markets for Russian oil and gas than the West.
What sanctions do is force prices upwards, especially when you target energy, which translates to starvation in the third world. It's not surprising that basically no states outside of Western hegemony are very interested in sanctions.
I agree that Ukraine most likely will not accept the Russian terms for peace. Yet a NATO intervention will mean total war, possibly with global repercussions. If the BRIC nations side with Russia to any extent, the global economy will collapse almost immediately just because of the supply chain disruptions.
I suspect that the result will either amount to a division of the Ukraine, or protracted low-intensity conflict with foreign-supported insurgencies on Ukranian territory for the foreseeable future, since NATO is very unlikely to risk something like total war here.
for low-intensity conflict we do not need foreign-supported insurgencies, we can handle it ourselves. We want to win the war, that is our point. In 1939 little Finland wan the war against the almighty Soviet Union at the top of their military power. RF is a weak, empty shell country which has no economy, but only oil pump. But it has nuclear weapon and blackmail the world. NATO has thousand fold military capabilities. I am not talking about global war, but about firmer standing. Half of RF tanks were dysfunctional, because the corruption is very high to check and equipped them. RF conscripts do not wish to fight. They collect all mob who fought in Syria ets to send them to war. I am amazed how little knowledge and trust in Ukraine. All alternative media after covid operate on the simple principle, if MSM said one thing, we will do opposite. But that is not enough. If there are some facts of corruption as Hunter Biden or Nulland came to the Maidan, it does not mean that they run the country. We fought by insurgencies against Soviet Union till 1956, in complete isolation, but still the war was continued. Now that is am open large scale war, which we are determined to win!
" If the BRIC nations side with Russia to any extent, the global economy will collapse almost immediately just because of the supply chain disruptions."
The 'R' in BRIC stands for Russia. How will continuing to be supplied with russian goods affect the supply chains?
NATO intervention will mean total war which NATO knows it would loose, hence no intervention.
Foreign supported insurgencies in Ukrainian territory for the foreseeable future are what NATO wants, as this, they hope, would help to weaken Russia, lead to regime change and thus to monopoly access to russian resources by western corporations.
Ukraine had independance until 2014, now its just western canon foder.
"These measures, which US officials said were taken to sever the Taliban’s access to foreign assets..."
The insanity & hypocrisy of this is staggering...
The Times of London reports that the US simply abandoned a truly astounding arsenal of military equipment and weapons. This reportedly includes up to 22,174 Humvee vehicles, nearly 1,000 armored vehicles, 64,363 machine guns, and 42,000 pick-up trucks and SUVs. So, too, the list of allegedly abandoned weaponry includes up to 358,530 assault rifles, 126,295 pistols, and nearly 200 artillery units. Oh, and the Taliban will likely inherit state-of-the-art military helicopters, warplanes, and other aircraft... The value of the abandoned equipment/weaponry estimates range from $10-$80 billion...
https://web.archive.org/web/20210901203254/https://www.themainewire.com/2021/09/heres-the-list-of-billions-in-military-equipment-the-us-left-behind-for-the-taliban/
I like your comparison with the hockey fans.
It seems to me that the choice of allegiance is made on a group level and then adopted by individuals. If your friends, family, neighbours - all your significant others - cheer for Oilers, it would be seen by them as a betrayal if you do not cheer or, worse, cheer for a team Oilers currently are competing with.
So dissenting is costly and painful. Moreover, as Hume once said: "If we believe, that fire warms, or water refreshes, it is only because it costs us too much pains to think otherwise." Thus we believe that Oilers are the best. Many do not even dare to consider the possibility that the current narrative might be wrong, because it might possibly lead you to pain and social isolation.
Exactly, great description. The cost for dissent is very high when you've hijacked group allegiance like this, so it's basically unthinkable for most.
Somehow we can sense that following a certain line of reasoning can have catastrophic consequences. So we do not even start it, repelled by the threat it poses.
Recently my friend, a biologist himself, talked to his colleagues (biologists as well) about the inconsistencies in the official Bucha narrative, that they accept completely. Namely, he pointed out that organic tissue after laying on the road for 2 weeks exposed to warm weather, stray dogs, rats and crows should look completely different.
However, his colleagues did not even try to find some explanation. They completely ignored his argument, switching to discussion of the psychology of the contract army. Apparently, going into this argument might lead them to a catastrophe (doubt, dissent and social isolation), so they avoid it by all means.
I wanted to thank you for your poetry reading on the most recent Aesthetic Resistance podcast. It is infectious.
Here is a poem in honor of another divinely mad poet, Christopher Smart, born today (April 11) who praised in Jubilate Agnos the elements of the day August 13, 1759, including his cat Jeoffrey.
Wild Gratitude
Tonight when I knelt down next to our cat, Zooey,
And put my fingers into her clean cat's mouth,
And rubbed her swollen belly that will never know kittens,
And watched her wriggle onto her side, pawing the air,
And listened to her solemn little squeals of delight,
I was thinking about the poet, Christopher Smart,
Who wanted to kneel down and pray without ceasing
In every one of the splintered London streets,
And was locked away in the madhouse at St. Luke's
With his sad religious mania, and his wild gratitude,
And his grave prayers for the other lunatics,
And his great love for his speckled cat, Jeoffry.
All day today—August 13, 1983—I remembered how
Christopher Smart blessed this same day in August, 1759,
For its calm bravery and ordinary good conscience.
This was the day that he blessed the Postmaster General
"And all conveyancers of letters" for their warm humanity,
And the gardeners for their private benevolence
And intricate knowledge of the language of flowers,
And the milkmen for their universal human kindness.
This morning I understood that he loved to hear—
As I have heard—the soft clink of milk bottles
On the rickety stairs in the early morning,
And how terrible it must have seemed
When even this small pleasure was denied him.
But it wasn't until tonight when I knelt down
And slipped my hand into Zooey's waggling mouth
That I remembered how he'd called Jeoffry "the servant
Of the Living God duly and daily serving Him,"
And for the first time understood what it meant.
Because it wasn't until I saw my own cat
Whine and roll over on her fluffy back
That I realized how gratefully he had watched
Jeoffry fetch and carry his wooden cork
Across the grass in the wet garden, patiently
Jumping over a high stick, calmly sharpening
His claws on the woodpile, rubbing his nose
Against the nose of another cat, stretching, or
Slowly stalking his traditional enemy, the mouse,
A rodent, "a creature of great personal valour,"
And then dallying so much that his enemy escaped.
And only then did I understand
It is Jeoffry—and every creature like him—
Who can teach us how to praise—purring
In their own language,
Wreathing themselves in the living fire.
From Wild Gratitude by Edward Hirsch Copyright © 1986 by Edward Hirsch.
RF troops destroy, kill, rape, commit many atrocities in Ukraine. NOW! Whatever support Ukraine gained, that is useful but not enough. We live in the world, where the war must be stopped. Not by neutrality, virtue signalling, but active commitment either to have peace or not. RF is evil now, not an escape goat, but pure evil. Stop the war, then can be time for reflection and philosophy, whatever kind of philosophy and critical or geopolitical thinking, but now all what can help to stop the war need to be absolutely mobilised. Even small virtue signalling!! Absolutely Everything! Stop the war, get us go back to our lives, then think together.
Certainly, but the war began decades ago, and this most recent development is not going to be helped by our naive demonization of one side, nor the scattershot sanctions which most of all are going to harm impoverished third world-nations.
There was frozen conflict in Donbas, where I grew up. I am Ukrainian form Donbas and I know how it was artificially created by RF. But that was not full scale invasions across huge front, which affects directly 20 mln of people and bormbardment is going even in the Western Ukraine. That is complete destruction of all infrastructure, direct, deliberate destruction and burning out of all what is on the way of RF troop. That is their sadistic tactic and strategy. Burning out of all on their way. That need to be stopped, if the rest of the world remain some humanity left. Stop the atrocities, then can be all possible philosophical discussions. Ukraine is 4 Swedens by population and it has right to live and be independent!
RF is far form demonisation given what they do in Ukraine. They are aggressors, they attacked Ukraine, they bombard Ukraine and kill people. That is terrible reality, blowing into the face of everyone. Just look what they turned into our cities, villages and lives of millions of people. That is called naive demonisation? What is then not naive? What means scattershot sanctions? How they would most likely affect 3d world-nation? How to stop the war? Should it continue to the last Ukrainian?
I'm sure that the situation on the ground must be horrendous. My point is just that the media's portrayal, devoid of historical context and the roles of other parties aside from Russia, is not helping in terms of solving this crisis.
If the media had done its job, the situation could probably have been averted before it turned violent.
Now, there are basically only three conceivable paths forward through this war. Either a Ukrainian acceptance of the Russian terms; an escalation and full-scale NATO intervention with an uncertain outcome; or a drawn-out conflict over many years with Ukraine plagued by networks of insurgents with various affiliations.
None of these seem optimal in comparison to what could have been possible just a few months back.
There is the only option and that is to provide either no-fly-zone or give Ukraine means to do so themselves, i.e. ammunition, including air-defence, jets, tanks. And also embargo on Russian oil. RF cannot sustain this war for long. They cannot conduct the ground operations, their army does not want to go into war. All they can do is destruction. Ukrainians are prepared to fight and we do so quite successfully. Putin plan of blitzkrig did not work out due to our defence. (1) Ukraine will never accept Russian terms of capitulation. When in the modern human history the country who was so determined to fight for independence would just accept the capitulation on absolutely ludicrous terms. Out of questions. (2) NATO is not a kindergarten, how they behave now. Their mantra not to upset Putin is appeasing the aggressor. Putin understands only strength. Otherwise he will go for more and more. This is why even G´Finland is considering to join NATO. NATO is capable to supply Ukraine with the ammunition. That is what we are asking for. And that is not full scale NATO involvement. (3) At this scale the protracted many years conflict will not work out. Neither Russia nor Ukraine have strength for full blown war for long time. As RF set it, it is not a local conflict. Therefore it cannot be localised. There is only one way - support Ukraine to win this war. That is also determination of Ukrainians. People are live by and driven by determination. Nothing less. If 44 lmn people will be slotted in front of all world in Europe, what will be left out of Europe? What has been before the war, we can return back to this and analyse. Now the war need to be stopped!!!!
The embargoes are very problematic. There's not very much petroleum to go around, and there are other markets for Russian oil and gas than the West.
What sanctions do is force prices upwards, especially when you target energy, which translates to starvation in the third world. It's not surprising that basically no states outside of Western hegemony are very interested in sanctions.
I agree that Ukraine most likely will not accept the Russian terms for peace. Yet a NATO intervention will mean total war, possibly with global repercussions. If the BRIC nations side with Russia to any extent, the global economy will collapse almost immediately just because of the supply chain disruptions.
I suspect that the result will either amount to a division of the Ukraine, or protracted low-intensity conflict with foreign-supported insurgencies on Ukranian territory for the foreseeable future, since NATO is very unlikely to risk something like total war here.
for low-intensity conflict we do not need foreign-supported insurgencies, we can handle it ourselves. We want to win the war, that is our point. In 1939 little Finland wan the war against the almighty Soviet Union at the top of their military power. RF is a weak, empty shell country which has no economy, but only oil pump. But it has nuclear weapon and blackmail the world. NATO has thousand fold military capabilities. I am not talking about global war, but about firmer standing. Half of RF tanks were dysfunctional, because the corruption is very high to check and equipped them. RF conscripts do not wish to fight. They collect all mob who fought in Syria ets to send them to war. I am amazed how little knowledge and trust in Ukraine. All alternative media after covid operate on the simple principle, if MSM said one thing, we will do opposite. But that is not enough. If there are some facts of corruption as Hunter Biden or Nulland came to the Maidan, it does not mean that they run the country. We fought by insurgencies against Soviet Union till 1956, in complete isolation, but still the war was continued. Now that is am open large scale war, which we are determined to win!
" If the BRIC nations side with Russia to any extent, the global economy will collapse almost immediately just because of the supply chain disruptions."
The 'R' in BRIC stands for Russia. How will continuing to be supplied with russian goods affect the supply chains?
NATO intervention will mean total war which NATO knows it would loose, hence no intervention.
Foreign supported insurgencies in Ukrainian territory for the foreseeable future are what NATO wants, as this, they hope, would help to weaken Russia, lead to regime change and thus to monopoly access to russian resources by western corporations.
Ukraine had independance until 2014, now its just western canon foder.