“Look, America is no more a democracy than Russia is a Communist state. The governments of the U.S. and Russia are practically the same. There’s only a difference of degree. We both have the same basic form of government: economic totalitarianism. In other words, the settlement to all questions, the solutions to all issues are determined not by what will make the people most healthy and happy in their bodies and their minds but by economics. Dollars or rubles. Economy über alles. Let nothing interfere with economic growth, even though that growth is castrating truth, poisoning beauty, turning a continent into a shit-heap and driving an entire civilization insane. Don’t spill the Coca-Cola, boys, and keep those monthly payments coming.”– Tom Robbins
I agree, but at the same time, think that in a transnational system of global corporate capitalism, it’s a distinction without much of a difference. The economic growth and power/control aspects are like the strands in a DNA double helix, separate but interconnected.
Feral and others, if you need something to do today call this number collect! It is allegedly the Ice Field office in Tel Aviv.011-972-3-5197575. Have a nice day. Free Palestine.
At least half of the US spending on the military enriches government contractors who view that as positive ROI on their investments in lobbying and bribery.
The employees of the defense contractors are happy to be employed, even if their work doesn’t produce goods or services for the taxpayers.
Not sure anyone considers fresh raspberries a "right" and I am not aware of a trillion dollars a year being spent to secure our nation's precious supply of raspberries.
By your logic, anything outside of hunter/gatherer existence potentially qualifies as a "negative", thus making pretty much everyone in the same boat.
Whole Foods makes a tidy profit from people who consider that a right. There are millions in the consumer cult America has created that are infected with this disorder.
“The so-called consumer society and the politics of corporate capitalism have created a second nature of man which ties him libidinally and aggressively to the commodity form. The need for possessing, consuming, handling and constantly renewing the gadgets, devices, instruments, engines, offered to and imposed upon the people, for using these wares even at the danger of one’s own destruction, has become a ‘biological’ need.”– Herbert Marcuse
El Capitalismo, Tom, es lo que ha llevado a la mismisima mierda en la que se ecuentra ahora USA, quitate de la cabeza el capitalismo de mierda, la arrogancia y la codicia, te ira mejor en la vida, y ponte a trabajar la tierra, tendras tu comida de mañana. Las redes sociales no te darán de comer te schuparán la sangre que te pueda aún quedar.
Except to those people who KNOW absolutely that Iran is a horrible, horrible place and that we need to support them to achieve Freedom & Democracy (tm).
Those people seem to be unaware that they're reciting regime propaganda.
Obnoxious creature- we don't have the constant human need for more more more, more than we and all the kittens we could sire could ever use and still it's not enough.
Gordon Groves: Merriam Webster definition of feral: "having escaped from domestication and become wild". Most (at least many) Americans are manipulated into obedience. They are not wild. They have been domesticated by loonies in power who want soldiers and consumers.
Listen to this pathetic young man talking to Dimitri Lascaris at a demo in Montreal. He has no idea who his real enemy is. He has been convinced that the Shah was a democratic ruler.
Many Americans thought the Shah was a “good guy”. The Capitalist propaganda machine was very effective. The Shah was a big customer of the US defense contractors.
Susan T, You may have heard of the collaborator class. The western colonialists of the past and the neo-neo colonialists now, always made/make use of, and cultivated a 'native' component as collaborators to keep their grip on the nations they subjugate.
You would have noticed the any number of Iranians the media class can whistle up to betray their own, and for the empire to justify their aggression.
The same goes for the Miami Cubans and some Venezuelans.
And CK, the Shah was a US puppet and wouldn't have been there but for the 'grace' of the USA.
I do know what you mean. There are many people like that. I was in Cuba for 3 weeks a few years back, but not at a resort. I went with a Cuban/Canadian group to learn more about Cuba and its people. When I got back to Canada, someone said to me "it must feel good to be back in a democracy". It is difficult to know what to say to such an uninformed statement.
Tom me recuerdas, al principio por el cual todos los ladrones y criminales del mundo piensan que el resto del mundo es igual que ellos. Y no Tom, lo mires
como lo quieras mirar, Rusia no es ni será jamás la criminal y asesina USA, se alimentan de forma distinta, y el menú ruso no tiene coca cola ni hamburguesas Mac Donals tiene beluga y champan ruso.
well said Mr. High, things are very rapidly going downhill, and the sad part is the declining empire doesn't go down without harming many others in the process
can't he say this without mentioning russia? when people can't seem to formulate the vileness of us-empire on itself without mentioning one or another geopolitical enemy of the us, i always get this feeling of getting psy-opped.
I wouldn’t read too much into that, especially from a guy like Robbins. Can’t speak for anyone else, but sometimes, depending on the political spectrum of my audience, I’ll mention the malfeasance of other nations in a critique of America, as it sometimes prevents defensive walls from coming up which prevents the American critique from being heard.
What I worry about is Americans will forget how we ended up with Trump in the first place. Trump is a symptom of the disease, but not the disease itself. The disease: the US Federal government (and many State governments) have been corrupted by Big Money Interests - and no longer represent the Will of ordinary Americans. Both major political parties are deeply corrupt.
Republicans will likely fall out of power next election cycle. But then what will the Democratic party do? They'll make a few feeble changes, might actually go after Trump and his corrupt cronies, and herald these changes as a new revolutionary act by their so-called party of the people - but in truth, little of anything will be changed in the country.
The dynamic of power of US politics has shifted so far to the Monied Interests in the US, and their profit based interests are so counter to the common good of the majority of ordinary Americans - that the country is spiraling down into depravity and ruin. Electing one deeply corrupt political party over another corrupt party, like some kind of fixed and corrupt ping pong game by the obscenely wealthy - is leading the country nowhere.
But the settler-colonialist USA from its inception had a Constitution written by white men of property, for white men of property. ( How else could they have ended up with all these oligarchs?). It was never for the people by the people. The myth of " Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness " kept the people in thrall.
Gracias, Dra. Sadaf Gilani, aqui en lo que queda de civilización de mierda occidental, tienen poca memoria o selectiva, son todos unos santos canonizados por el Vaticano.
Which is before we even begin to talk about how the current government and situation in Iran came to be the way it is. The global power structure was meddling and being oppressive there when it wore the stiff British upper lip. Many forget “BP” was actually Anglo-Iranian oil before it rebranded. And then the Baton passed to the new American bombast logo for the same power structure and the meddling and thuggery continued on as was, updated and more modern of course, but basically the same shit.
Like any corporation, a new logo and a lick of paint are necessary every now and again to ensure continued relevancy in the collective perception. Something for all the “China will save the world through multi polar stuff” heads. It may be communist in name, but it’s the beating heart of the capitalist system now. Just modernised for a modern audience….
1953 democratically elected mossadegh nationalized oil and got coup'ed, the shah pahlavi was put back in power, gave the oil back to the west and ransacked the country with forced westernisation and the savak secret police. so they had an islamic revolution in 1979. khomeini came in (from france, iirc). 1980 the west sends in sadam to do war. afterward the west & israel sponsored & fomented opposition and terrorism (mek), international isolation (sanctions).
It is abundantly obvious that the empire is eating its own now, openly and proudly, during this invasion of Minnesota (!) and mass violence by the state across the nation. We are all being deeply harmed by this now, while in former days many could be willfully blind, now it takes great effort and you must be foul enough to actively hate and malign your literal neighbors. And schoolchildren.
The violence and mayhem sown for generations around the globe (ongoing) is pointing the guns at you now Merikka. Are there enough bullets or space in the gulag for all?
If misery loves company this maniacal farce of a country will drag the world down with it.
Well Caitlin is not exactly Galadriel. I mean, she's one of the best contemporary political writers we have extant right now, but it's more up to each of us individually to do what we can with our two cents of individuality and soul (I'd like to believe we do have a soul, and are not just biological robots) then look for some kind of magical savior.
It is nice though to have a forum/comments section where we each get to reflect on our thoughts each day. There's something to be said about that Landru. So in that sense, I guess she does bring us together.
That would be a heavy burden to put on Caitlin and Tim, we need to instead make our own protests not expect someone to take on the load first, unless that someone has the money and the following already--I mean millions of both--but is there anyone like that, that we would happily follow into the lion's den of corruption?
Syria was torn apart by American bombers flying saturation missions day and night against civilian apartment blocks all the way from Jordan to Damascus. Then shake hands with ISIS in the White House.
Also very very true. Yanis however has repeatedly shown his idiotic street cred and refused to acknowledge it, which is the crucial bit at the end of the day.
Aye. Not that i’m a fan of any of those heads of state like, but he’s by no means a new Hitler or any of that horse shit. Prof Stephen Cohen’s coverage of russia under his rule is a phenomenal bit of work. Can’t mind the exact name now - Trump to War with Russia is the general gist of the title and a thoroughly brilliant read, for anybody interested in a bit of objectivity. As an economist, Yanis has some chops. I’ll give him that.
That's always been a bit of surprise for me as well. You will find those steeped in academics, who have written a number of books - well respected, or well accomplished in their respective field from surgeon to film director to scholarly professor, and yet how often will you find even these people can be blind to certain truths, or downright lost in a one-way alley of intransigent beliefs?
The older I've gotten, the more books I've read, the more I realize even those whom we think are the best amongst us regarding intelligence, or achievement, or success - are *just* as human and capable of error as those of us more ordinary humans. I think it best we always try to maintain our own version of reality for ourself and let our instinct be our guide. Don't over trust anyone, or any book for absolute truth. Seems like the wisest path to take.
I agree and I have, unfortunately been forced to live like that, as well.
However, I'm also a strong believer no human has the mental fortitude to stay grounded in reality all by ourselves, without comparing our own reality up against other humans.
Although, I never completely accept my own perspectives without steelmanning them with people in my social networks, to check that I'm not engaging in self-indulgence.
Yes, one cannot individuate on Mt. Everest. True. On the other hand, you do have to make a stand somewhere or other for yourself. I suppose we all lean towards some person's opinion we come to respect - over anothers. For example, I highly respect the writings of William James, his good friend Frederic Myers. I also have read a great deal of what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, and have followed the psychological theories and opinions of Carl Jung - for most of my life (come to think of it) while not really respecting much of what Freud wrote or theorized.
Many, I think within my social network would probably go, Frederic Myers who? Ralph Waldo Emerson - isn't that a stove top? And yet both these men I highly respect and find what they wrote profoundly true in many instances.
This is what has grounded me and guided my instinct. Astonishingly, Carl Jung insists we can ground ourselves with what we can find within the unconscious - and the unconscious provides a direction for self-realization, actually even prefigures a man's life. Dreams point the way. It is not the ego that leads the Self, but the Self leading the ego. And if you are not aware of this, then you will meet yourself via what appears to you to be just the misfortunes of Fate. Emerson, interestingly enough, held a similar view regarding Fate and Character.
But I agree Martin the Martian, we must try to be tolerant of other people's biases as who knows what biases we may contain unwittingly ourselves that may in the end, just be nothing more than self-indulgence. But you got to keep driving your car through life right? You got to pick some road to take!
Caitlin says you can’t cheer for regime change in Iran without cheering for the US empire—but I don’t recall you making the same argument about Gaza. Didn’t you know that if Gaza revolts and we cheer for it, it could also fall into the hands of the US empire? Why is that point only raised for Iran?
I've thought that it's very possible Israel is behind the current unrest in Iran. It was just a little too coincidental that Trump meets with Netanyahu at Chriistnas, with Netanyahu purportedly attempting to convince Trump to attack Iran again. Then they both attempt to conflate Trump's desire to attack Venezuela with yet another excuse for it... "illegal" weapons trade between Venezuela and Iran.
Then, amazingly coincidentally, the "unrest" in Iran starts up within several days of the Trump/Netanyahu "brain trust". And just a few days after that, Trump attacks Venezuela and kidnaps the President and his spouse. And again coincidentally, Trump wants to attack Iran again, using more conflated excuses... Iran building up its ballistic missile and military weapons programs, combined with a stupifyingly sudden concern for Iranian citizens' "safety" and "human rights" during the recently started "civil unrest" in Iran.
If the U.S. was actually interested in Iranian citizens' well-being, they could always stop their constant attempts at crippling Iran's economy with sanctions and trade embargoes. And if the U.S. was actually concerned with "human rights" in the Middle East, they could easily stop funding and arming Israel's genocide being committed against Palestinians.
Again, this is all happening a little too conveniently nearly simultaneously with Trump's desire to attack and steal oil from Venezuela, and Isreal's perpetual desire to attack Iran (and almost everyone else in the Middle East).
None of these actions make any sense... unless it's all just a ruse for the U.S. and Israel to continue attacking and killing "the right people" (as Lindsey Graham so eloquently put it). Then it all makes perfect sense.
People are questioning how educated Germans could have allowed themselves to be led down the primrose path by a group of fanatical thugs. When Greenland gets taken, either purchased or taken by force, there will not be any other event like it since 1939 Munich. The call to raise the defense of the military budget to 1.5T looks more like preparation for war—against China and Russia. The regime's violence against its own citizens will increase.
Not to mention the billions Trump has poured into ICE, and every day resembles more and more like the early German Gestapo police force - from detention centers where Americans cannot trace where a loved one has been taken, to brutal door-to-door terror where US citizens are increasingly being gunned down in the streets with impunity.
Yes, it's a little weird to hear Europeans object to negotiating with Russia, because that would be like pre-WW2 appeasement of Hitler. And then to hear them whining and mewling when Trump threatens to seize Greenland.
Formation of the EU seems to have taken all the backbone out of Europe.
Thank you Caitlin. Fortunately more and more people get their not so easy to get news/information from sources like you. Iran's best hope is people like you, Kind, Intelligent, Caring, and above all truthful. Like you even though I know people in Iran I have no idea how many in Iran will be swayed by Mossad/CIA/MI6. Thank you for leading us to truth.
You pseudo leftists, so-called Western/American leftists love to talk about anti-imperialism while enjoying imperial comfort. You won't fight the fucking imperialist state you live inside, and you just dump that fight onto bodies in the Global South. You are the other side of your imperialist government. You colonize people's lives in global south for your stupid identity disorders the same way your criminal imperialist governments exploit Southern resources. You are colonizing bodies instead of taking responsibility where you actually live. Shame on you!!!
You are right, it would be far easier for me as well as less costly to just say Death to Iran let it be over sooner than later. You are right I do nothing.
I have spoken with opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in recent months and believe she and President-elect Edmundo González have the best interests of the Venezuelan people in mind. They should be allowed to begin the formidable task of rebuilding their own nation.
Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.
Caitlin says you can’t cheer for regime change in Iran without cheering for the US empire—but I don’t recall her making the same argument about Gaza. Didn’t she know that if Gaza revolts and we cheer for it, it could also fall into the hands of the US empire? Why is that point only raised for Iran?
You sound confused. The argument would be “you can’t cheer for israhell’s genocide in gaza without cheering for the US empire”. This point she (ms. Johnstone) has been raising throughout.
Funding genocide based upon a worldwide known obvious false flag is the worst crime ever committed by the U.S., or at least right up there. Max penalties should apply to both little Bibi and big Bibi.
We’re on the proverbial highway to hell.
“Look, America is no more a democracy than Russia is a Communist state. The governments of the U.S. and Russia are practically the same. There’s only a difference of degree. We both have the same basic form of government: economic totalitarianism. In other words, the settlement to all questions, the solutions to all issues are determined not by what will make the people most healthy and happy in their bodies and their minds but by economics. Dollars or rubles. Economy über alles. Let nothing interfere with economic growth, even though that growth is castrating truth, poisoning beauty, turning a continent into a shit-heap and driving an entire civilization insane. Don’t spill the Coca-Cola, boys, and keep those monthly payments coming.”– Tom Robbins
If Russia or America were solely concerned with growth at all costs, they would behave very differently.
America is obsessed, even more than with growth, with power, domination and control.
I agree, but at the same time, think that in a transnational system of global corporate capitalism, it’s a distinction without much of a difference. The economic growth and power/control aspects are like the strands in a DNA double helix, separate but interconnected.
Not really. The US spends a huge amount of money on negative ROI projects (like the military and propaganda) at the expense of positive ROI.
Feral and others, if you need something to do today call this number collect! It is allegedly the Ice Field office in Tel Aviv.011-972-3-5197575. Have a nice day. Free Palestine.
Im making flyers, for a good time call 011-972-3-5197575
;-) Bibi
0.0
At least half of the US spending on the military enriches government contractors who view that as positive ROI on their investments in lobbying and bribery.
The employees of the defense contractors are happy to be employed, even if their work doesn’t produce goods or services for the taxpayers.
Because of course it is not possible to lobby for anything other than the military or projects that generate a positive ROI.
There are many lobbyists who promote various agendas.
Sure, the military is a negative, but so is the desire to have a fresh raspberry in a grocery in February be considered a right.
Much of what we consider progress/innovation coming from positive ROI is actually a negative when the external cost calculations are made.
Not sure anyone considers fresh raspberries a "right" and I am not aware of a trillion dollars a year being spent to secure our nation's precious supply of raspberries.
By your logic, anything outside of hunter/gatherer existence potentially qualifies as a "negative", thus making pretty much everyone in the same boat.
I think fresh raspberries should be a "right".
Whole Foods makes a tidy profit from people who consider that a right. There are millions in the consumer cult America has created that are infected with this disorder.
“The so-called consumer society and the politics of corporate capitalism have created a second nature of man which ties him libidinally and aggressively to the commodity form. The need for possessing, consuming, handling and constantly renewing the gadgets, devices, instruments, engines, offered to and imposed upon the people, for using these wares even at the danger of one’s own destruction, has become a ‘biological’ need.”– Herbert Marcuse
El Capitalismo, Tom, es lo que ha llevado a la mismisima mierda en la que se ecuentra ahora USA, quitate de la cabeza el capitalismo de mierda, la arrogancia y la codicia, te ira mejor en la vida, y ponte a trabajar la tierra, tendras tu comida de mañana. Las redes sociales no te darán de comer te schuparán la sangre que te pueda aún quedar.
And it's frightenly obvious.
Except to those people who KNOW absolutely that Iran is a horrible, horrible place and that we need to support them to achieve Freedom & Democracy (tm).
Those people seem to be unaware that they're reciting regime propaganda.
Humans could not care less about right. They want to be on the side that is stronger.
Most Americans are feral, Finster
I dunno, feral cats like territory, enough for food and recreation and solitude when needed, kittens if one is female.
We don't grab more more more.
Fuck cats.
If you were small they would eat you.
Obnoxious creature- we don't have the constant human need for more more more, more than we and all the kittens we could sire could ever use and still it's not enough.
Feral, no one loves a kitten more than me. But maybe you could use “protection” 😉
Now now ...
Feral et al: If you haven't already watched it, I really think you would like "The Cat Returns" on Netflix.
Gordon Groves: Merriam Webster definition of feral: "having escaped from domestication and become wild". Most (at least many) Americans are manipulated into obedience. They are not wild. They have been domesticated by loonies in power who want soldiers and consumers.
Well, if that was their intention then they fucked up when they made cats.
Listen to this pathetic young man talking to Dimitri Lascaris at a demo in Montreal. He has no idea who his real enemy is. He has been convinced that the Shah was a democratic ruler.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loE9upV3kwQ
Like
Many Americans thought the Shah was a “good guy”. The Capitalist propaganda machine was very effective. The Shah was a big customer of the US defense contractors.
yes, CK But, sadly, the person in this video is Iranian.
Susan T, You may have heard of the collaborator class. The western colonialists of the past and the neo-neo colonialists now, always made/make use of, and cultivated a 'native' component as collaborators to keep their grip on the nations they subjugate.
You would have noticed the any number of Iranians the media class can whistle up to betray their own, and for the empire to justify their aggression.
The same goes for the Miami Cubans and some Venezuelans.
And CK, the Shah was a US puppet and wouldn't have been there but for the 'grace' of the USA.
I do know what you mean. There are many people like that. I was in Cuba for 3 weeks a few years back, but not at a resort. I went with a Cuban/Canadian group to learn more about Cuba and its people. When I got back to Canada, someone said to me "it must feel good to be back in a democracy". It is difficult to know what to say to such an uninformed statement.
Tom me recuerdas, al principio por el cual todos los ladrones y criminales del mundo piensan que el resto del mundo es igual que ellos. Y no Tom, lo mires
como lo quieras mirar, Rusia no es ni será jamás la criminal y asesina USA, se alimentan de forma distinta, y el menú ruso no tiene coca cola ni hamburguesas Mac Donals tiene beluga y champan ruso.
Growth for growths sake is the ideology of a cancer cell.
well said Mr. High, things are very rapidly going downhill, and the sad part is the declining empire doesn't go down without harming many others in the process
Capitalism is and stays evil, where ever.
nice quote. So damn true
can't he say this without mentioning russia? when people can't seem to formulate the vileness of us-empire on itself without mentioning one or another geopolitical enemy of the us, i always get this feeling of getting psy-opped.
I wouldn’t read too much into that, especially from a guy like Robbins. Can’t speak for anyone else, but sometimes, depending on the political spectrum of my audience, I’ll mention the malfeasance of other nations in a critique of America, as it sometimes prevents defensive walls from coming up which prevents the American critique from being heard.
I am totally impressed Tom that you could get the whole global truth into a single paragraph. Well done.
Shhhhh Coca-cola is full of CO2
Recall Albright opined the price of 500,000 dead Iraqi children from sanctions was "Worth it." This is the level of evil we are dealing with.
And Trump and his oligarch cronies will only make life in America indistinguishable from Hell
What I worry about is Americans will forget how we ended up with Trump in the first place. Trump is a symptom of the disease, but not the disease itself. The disease: the US Federal government (and many State governments) have been corrupted by Big Money Interests - and no longer represent the Will of ordinary Americans. Both major political parties are deeply corrupt.
Republicans will likely fall out of power next election cycle. But then what will the Democratic party do? They'll make a few feeble changes, might actually go after Trump and his corrupt cronies, and herald these changes as a new revolutionary act by their so-called party of the people - but in truth, little of anything will be changed in the country.
The dynamic of power of US politics has shifted so far to the Monied Interests in the US, and their profit based interests are so counter to the common good of the majority of ordinary Americans - that the country is spiraling down into depravity and ruin. Electing one deeply corrupt political party over another corrupt party, like some kind of fixed and corrupt ping pong game by the obscenely wealthy - is leading the country nowhere.
Agreed, well said, as a Canadian I commiserate with this analysis.
Well said, Jamenta.
Hear ya, spot on, but there is "salvation" FOOTBALL will save them !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sigh ...
Yep. (sigh)
All very true jamenta.
But the settler-colonialist USA from its inception had a Constitution written by white men of property, for white men of property. ( How else could they have ended up with all these oligarchs?). It was never for the people by the people. The myth of " Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness " kept the people in thrall.
Gracias, Dra. Sadaf Gilani, aqui en lo que queda de civilización de mierda occidental, tienen poca memoria o selectiva, son todos unos santos canonizados por el Vaticano.
Amen to that.
Which is before we even begin to talk about how the current government and situation in Iran came to be the way it is. The global power structure was meddling and being oppressive there when it wore the stiff British upper lip. Many forget “BP” was actually Anglo-Iranian oil before it rebranded. And then the Baton passed to the new American bombast logo for the same power structure and the meddling and thuggery continued on as was, updated and more modern of course, but basically the same shit.
To this day I would rather run out of gas then fill with anything BP.
o.0
really well stated, the system of colonial global interference and oppression continued, only the names, places and flag colors changed.
Like any corporation, a new logo and a lick of paint are necessary every now and again to ensure continued relevancy in the collective perception. Something for all the “China will save the world through multi polar stuff” heads. It may be communist in name, but it’s the beating heart of the capitalist system now. Just modernised for a modern audience….
i'd prefer that chinese 'capitalism' before the empire's any time. (yes, 'it's not communism' is a western imperial talking point.)
1953 democratically elected mossadegh nationalized oil and got coup'ed, the shah pahlavi was put back in power, gave the oil back to the west and ransacked the country with forced westernisation and the savak secret police. so they had an islamic revolution in 1979. khomeini came in (from france, iirc). 1980 the west sends in sadam to do war. afterward the west & israel sponsored & fomented opposition and terrorism (mek), international isolation (sanctions).
It is abundantly obvious that the empire is eating its own now, openly and proudly, during this invasion of Minnesota (!) and mass violence by the state across the nation. We are all being deeply harmed by this now, while in former days many could be willfully blind, now it takes great effort and you must be foul enough to actively hate and malign your literal neighbors. And schoolchildren.
The violence and mayhem sown for generations around the globe (ongoing) is pointing the guns at you now Merikka. Are there enough bullets or space in the gulag for all?
If misery loves company this maniacal farce of a country will drag the world down with it.
Yes, and fortunately we have Caitlin to bring us together.
Well Caitlin is not exactly Galadriel. I mean, she's one of the best contemporary political writers we have extant right now, but it's more up to each of us individually to do what we can with our two cents of individuality and soul (I'd like to believe we do have a soul, and are not just biological robots) then look for some kind of magical savior.
It is nice though to have a forum/comments section where we each get to reflect on our thoughts each day. There's something to be said about that Landru. So in that sense, I guess she does bring us together.
That would be a heavy burden to put on Caitlin and Tim, we need to instead make our own protests not expect someone to take on the load first, unless that someone has the money and the following already--I mean millions of both--but is there anyone like that, that we would happily follow into the lion's den of corruption?
It’s been the Israelis long term wet dream to see US soldiers sacrificed to topple the Iranian government.
And Trump and his "free" market backers would happily sacrifice them. After, what else are poor people's children for?
Australian governments in the past have also eagerly sent young people to faraway places to die for US interests.
Making it easier for israel to get more control og America?
The limitations of the human intelligence never seizes to amaze me.
This brings me back a year when I had to explain this to Yanis Varoufakis on Twitter, when Syria fell.
This should have been an embarrassing moment for the academic.
However, he didn't seem to grasp the concept and doubled down on his stance of celebrating the loss against the empire.
Remember Christopher Hitchens cheering on the invasion of Iraq?
Yeah, I remember.
As an atheist, it was one of the biggest disappointments in my life.
Especially, because I was so young and quite innocent, still.
Syria was torn apart by American bombers flying saturation missions day and night against civilian apartment blocks all the way from Jordan to Damascus. Then shake hands with ISIS in the White House.
Everyone has the potential for issue stupidity when it comes to the geopolitical realm, no matter the intellectual street cred.
Also very very true. Yanis however has repeatedly shown his idiotic street cred and refused to acknowledge it, which is the crucial bit at the end of the day.
I used to think that Varoufakis was intelligent, but it turns out he is afflicted by a virulent strain of PDS (Putin derangement syndrome).
Aye. Not that i’m a fan of any of those heads of state like, but he’s by no means a new Hitler or any of that horse shit. Prof Stephen Cohen’s coverage of russia under his rule is a phenomenal bit of work. Can’t mind the exact name now - Trump to War with Russia is the general gist of the title and a thoroughly brilliant read, for anybody interested in a bit of objectivity. As an economist, Yanis has some chops. I’ll give him that.
That's always been a bit of surprise for me as well. You will find those steeped in academics, who have written a number of books - well respected, or well accomplished in their respective field from surgeon to film director to scholarly professor, and yet how often will you find even these people can be blind to certain truths, or downright lost in a one-way alley of intransigent beliefs?
The older I've gotten, the more books I've read, the more I realize even those whom we think are the best amongst us regarding intelligence, or achievement, or success - are *just* as human and capable of error as those of us more ordinary humans. I think it best we always try to maintain our own version of reality for ourself and let our instinct be our guide. Don't over trust anyone, or any book for absolute truth. Seems like the wisest path to take.
I agree and I have, unfortunately been forced to live like that, as well.
However, I'm also a strong believer no human has the mental fortitude to stay grounded in reality all by ourselves, without comparing our own reality up against other humans.
Although, I never completely accept my own perspectives without steelmanning them with people in my social networks, to check that I'm not engaging in self-indulgence.
Yes, one cannot individuate on Mt. Everest. True. On the other hand, you do have to make a stand somewhere or other for yourself. I suppose we all lean towards some person's opinion we come to respect - over anothers. For example, I highly respect the writings of William James, his good friend Frederic Myers. I also have read a great deal of what Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, and have followed the psychological theories and opinions of Carl Jung - for most of my life (come to think of it) while not really respecting much of what Freud wrote or theorized.
Many, I think within my social network would probably go, Frederic Myers who? Ralph Waldo Emerson - isn't that a stove top? And yet both these men I highly respect and find what they wrote profoundly true in many instances.
This is what has grounded me and guided my instinct. Astonishingly, Carl Jung insists we can ground ourselves with what we can find within the unconscious - and the unconscious provides a direction for self-realization, actually even prefigures a man's life. Dreams point the way. It is not the ego that leads the Self, but the Self leading the ego. And if you are not aware of this, then you will meet yourself via what appears to you to be just the misfortunes of Fate. Emerson, interestingly enough, held a similar view regarding Fate and Character.
But I agree Martin the Martian, we must try to be tolerant of other people's biases as who knows what biases we may contain unwittingly ourselves that may in the end, just be nothing more than self-indulgence. But you got to keep driving your car through life right? You got to pick some road to take!
Who, Yan Is Very Vacuous? A well read boob if ever there was one.
Caitlin says you can’t cheer for regime change in Iran without cheering for the US empire—but I don’t recall you making the same argument about Gaza. Didn’t you know that if Gaza revolts and we cheer for it, it could also fall into the hands of the US empire? Why is that point only raised for Iran?
I've thought that it's very possible Israel is behind the current unrest in Iran. It was just a little too coincidental that Trump meets with Netanyahu at Chriistnas, with Netanyahu purportedly attempting to convince Trump to attack Iran again. Then they both attempt to conflate Trump's desire to attack Venezuela with yet another excuse for it... "illegal" weapons trade between Venezuela and Iran.
Then, amazingly coincidentally, the "unrest" in Iran starts up within several days of the Trump/Netanyahu "brain trust". And just a few days after that, Trump attacks Venezuela and kidnaps the President and his spouse. And again coincidentally, Trump wants to attack Iran again, using more conflated excuses... Iran building up its ballistic missile and military weapons programs, combined with a stupifyingly sudden concern for Iranian citizens' "safety" and "human rights" during the recently started "civil unrest" in Iran.
If the U.S. was actually interested in Iranian citizens' well-being, they could always stop their constant attempts at crippling Iran's economy with sanctions and trade embargoes. And if the U.S. was actually concerned with "human rights" in the Middle East, they could easily stop funding and arming Israel's genocide being committed against Palestinians.
Again, this is all happening a little too conveniently nearly simultaneously with Trump's desire to attack and steal oil from Venezuela, and Isreal's perpetual desire to attack Iran (and almost everyone else in the Middle East).
None of these actions make any sense... unless it's all just a ruse for the U.S. and Israel to continue attacking and killing "the right people" (as Lindsey Graham so eloquently put it). Then it all makes perfect sense.
And the zionist scum
People are questioning how educated Germans could have allowed themselves to be led down the primrose path by a group of fanatical thugs. When Greenland gets taken, either purchased or taken by force, there will not be any other event like it since 1939 Munich. The call to raise the defense of the military budget to 1.5T looks more like preparation for war—against China and Russia. The regime's violence against its own citizens will increase.
Not to mention the billions Trump has poured into ICE, and every day resembles more and more like the early German Gestapo police force - from detention centers where Americans cannot trace where a loved one has been taken, to brutal door-to-door terror where US citizens are increasingly being gunned down in the streets with impunity.
Yes, it's a little weird to hear Europeans object to negotiating with Russia, because that would be like pre-WW2 appeasement of Hitler. And then to hear them whining and mewling when Trump threatens to seize Greenland.
Formation of the EU seems to have taken all the backbone out of Europe.
Thank you Caitlin. Fortunately more and more people get their not so easy to get news/information from sources like you. Iran's best hope is people like you, Kind, Intelligent, Caring, and above all truthful. Like you even though I know people in Iran I have no idea how many in Iran will be swayed by Mossad/CIA/MI6. Thank you for leading us to truth.
You pseudo leftists, so-called Western/American leftists love to talk about anti-imperialism while enjoying imperial comfort. You won't fight the fucking imperialist state you live inside, and you just dump that fight onto bodies in the Global South. You are the other side of your imperialist government. You colonize people's lives in global south for your stupid identity disorders the same way your criminal imperialist governments exploit Southern resources. You are colonizing bodies instead of taking responsibility where you actually live. Shame on you!!!
You are right, it would be far easier for me as well as less costly to just say Death to Iran let it be over sooner than later. You are right I do nothing.
I have spoken with opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in recent months and believe she and President-elect Edmundo González have the best interests of the Venezuelan people in mind. They should be allowed to begin the formidable task of rebuilding their own nation.
Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator
Iran has the right to defend itself. There will be more world peace without the Zio Racist Genicidal State and its supporters.
Right has nothing to do with it. This is a question of power. Nothing more.
Caitlin says you can’t cheer for regime change in Iran without cheering for the US empire—but I don’t recall her making the same argument about Gaza. Didn’t she know that if Gaza revolts and we cheer for it, it could also fall into the hands of the US empire? Why is that point only raised for Iran?
You sound confused. The argument would be “you can’t cheer for israhell’s genocide in gaza without cheering for the US empire”. This point she (ms. Johnstone) has been raising throughout.
💯
The worrying thing is that the USraeli attack on Iran is already under preparation, though the Islamic Republic is also readying to defend itself and counter-attack: https://geopolitiq.substack.com/i/183995855/unrest-and-internet-blackout-in-iran
Yes, and then what? This is how World Wars start. But we're living now in the nuclear age. :(
Of course the American methods are cynical. What matters is that they work, that the Iranians think that this time it will be a different....
Can't think of the last time American regime change methods actually worked for the good of the targeted country or the world. World War II maybe?
They work fine for the humans who want them to work.
They see Libya and Iraq, for example, as unqualified successes.
Yes. The inhumans in washington believe they're protecting the americas while doing their gangsterism.
No, they know perfectly well that they protect nobody. They seek to extend their power.
The power has to have a turf to reside in; theirs is this hemisphere, at least for
a start, which they believe they're protecting, while ruining everything.
The washington inhumans don't live off the planet.
Or it could just be all suicide.
Funding genocide based upon a worldwide known obvious false flag is the worst crime ever committed by the U.S., or at least right up there. Max penalties should apply to both little Bibi and big Bibi.
Unless I’m mistaken, isn’t the person they want to install descended from the same Shah that the US put in Power 80 some years ago?
Wasn't he in Tel Aviv kissing a wall?
Does anyone have a cool meme that says MOSSAD EEEEEEEVRYWHERE