For those who are interested in monitoring Russian deployments, here is a link . It is a secure website that will check your security before giving you access.
That's an excellent website. I was surprised to see Russian deployments in places I wouldn't have expected. Thanks for the link.
I've thought a lot about why most people need or want an authority to tell them what to think and what to feel. Edmond Burke is quoted as saying; “The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind is curiosity.” – Edmund Burke I disagree. I think fear is our strongest and simplest emotion. Most people ( myself included ) never really mature into what they could be. Ideally, parents would raise a child to become independent, strong and to be their own person apart from the parents. Anyone looking at people can see this is the exception and not the rule. An immature person seeks a replacement parent for the ones that are no longer there, Governments and the people who run them are happy to fill this role. It turns out that freedom isn't the heaven that we are led to believe. In fact it is never an achievement but a lifelong process and mindset and often painful. Further, if seeing and thinking for oneself leads straight to emotional trauma, as in seeing what is really going on in the world, who can blame anyone for falling back on trusting the bad substitute parent?
My philosophy on child-rearing is the same as mountaineering: You start them with simple tasks with safeguards such as ropes, the slowly move them to more and more difficult tasks until they are free-climbing El Capitan or equivalent. You don't just put your kids on the mountainside and say, "Good Luck!"
Apropos to the discussion, I think ... John Martyn - Don't Want To Know I don't want to know about evil Only want to know about love I don't want to know about evil Only want to know about love Sometimes it gets so hard to listen Hard for me to use my eyes And all around the cold is glistening Making sure it keeps me down to size And I don't want to know about evil Only want to know about love I don't want to know one thing about evil Only want to know about love I'm waiting for the planes to tumble Waiting for the towns to fall I'm waiting for the cities to crumble Waiting till I see you crawl Yes, it's getting hard to listen Hard for us to use our eyes 'Cause all around that gold is glistening Making sure it keeps us hypnotized And I don't want to know about evil I only want to know about love I don't want to know about evil Only want to know about love
Who wins the censorship race, the US or Ukraine? The United States ( from Salon.com ) The militarists who have waged permanent war costing trillions of dollars over the past two decades have invested heavily in controlling the public narrative. The enemy, whether Saddam Hussein or Vladimir Putin, is always the epitome of evil, the new Hitler. Anyone who questions the righteousness of the cause is a traitor or a foreign agent. Those we support are always heroic defenders of liberty and democracy. Anyone who questions the righteousness of the cause is accused of being an agent of a foreign power and a traitor. The mass media cravenly disseminates these binary absurdities in 24-hour news cycles. Its news celebrities and experts, universally drawn from the intelligence community and military, rarely deviate from the approved script. Day and night, the drums of war never stop beating. Its goal: to keep billions of dollars flowing into the hands of the war industry and prevent the public from asking inconvenient questions. In the face of this barrage, no dissent is permitted.CBS News caved to pressure and retracted its documentary which charged that only 30 percent of arms shipped to Ukraine were making it to the front lines, with the rest siphoned off to the black market, a finding that was separately reported upon by U.S. journalist Lindsey Snell. CNN has acknowledged there is no oversight of weapons once they arrive in Ukraine, long considered the most corrupt country in Europe. According to a poll of executives responsible for tackling fraud, completed by Ernst & Young in 2018, Ukraine was ranked the ninth-most corrupt nation from 53 surveyed. Ukraine ( from RT.com ) While fierce battles continue to rage between the Ukrainian and Russian armies in Donbass, Kherson Region, and Zaporozhye, the Kiev regime is busy eradicating the last vestiges of freedom of speech in the country. On August 30, Ukraine’s rubber-stamp parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed a bill on the media at the first reading. Despite the numerous changes that the 300-page document has undergone since President Vladimir Zelensky’s team developed and submitted it a few years ago, its essence remains unchanged. If it becomes law, the authorities’ power over virtually all outlets will be essentially limitless. The main danger this bill presents is that it grants government agencies the authority to block internet resources without any court proceedings, and revoke licenses from broadcast and print media solely on the basis of complaints. This huge power would be vested in the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting. Britannica - propaganda, dissemination of information—facts, arguments, rumours, half-truths, or lies—to influence public opinion. Merriam-Webster - Propaganda is today most often used in reference to political statements, but the word comes to our language through its use in a religious context. The Congregatio de propaganda fide (“Congregation for propagating the faith”) was an organization established in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV as a means of furthering Catholic missionary activity. The word propaganda is from the ablative singular feminine of propogandus, which is the gerundive of the Latin propagare, meaning “to propagate.” The first use of the word propaganda (without the rest of the Latin title) in English was in reference to this Catholic organization. It was not until the beginning of the 19th century that it began to be used as a term denoting ideas or information that are of questionable accuracy as a means of advancing a cause.
That is the way wars are conducted, @Dwight Ward, especially in the modern era. Europe and the U.S. are receiving one side, and the Russians, Chinese, etc. are receiving another. It is still possible for us to see both sides, although it may be much more difficult for those in Russia, and particularly China, to see the other side. The general role is, "If it is in the news, our side is probably winning or at least holding their own. If it drops from the news entirely, as it did for a while, the other side is probably winning." Some stuff I normally trust has been lying or at least slanting the story when I check the back story and apply intellect to the information. Those who believe that the Russians blew up the pipelines just aren't thinking about it. I am a bit concerned for NATO and Europe when the Europeans realize that either the U.S., NATO, or the Ukrainians blew up the pipeline to weaken Russia's negotiating power. There are already large demonstrations in France demanding that France withdraw from NATO, and I think other nations will follow as the energy supply tightens and the prices go up. As you said, they aren't sure they want to sacrifice their own national well-being on behalf of the most corrupt regime in Europe. Figures on arms I read said that for every $30 billion in aid sent to Ukraine, about $7 billion actually reaches the intended recipient, so that is similar to the CBS report.
The Russians sabotaged their own pipeline, duh yeah. Long story short, the Russians can sell their oil and natural gas anywhere in the world at the market price. The Europeans have a choice of buying Russian energy at market price or being gouged by US suppliers. Some are predicting many deaths from freezing in the EU this winter. Those deaths will be among the poorest people, of course. I saw one figure that the average EU heating bill will be ten times or more last year's. Business is business. The more I learn about this stuff the more I feel like I need a shower.
Sweden is now hinting that the U.S. was responsible for the pipeline destruction, but they refuse to say how they know that or give details, as it would compromise their sources. How to the people in Europe feel about that? The U.S. probably had help from some European powers since the destruction coincided with the opening of the pipeline from Norway. How would we feel if the Russians decided to take out one of our pipelines? I guess the Administration wouldn't care, as they are taking down many of our own pipelines themselves.
I think patriotism is honoring what is best for your nation, not the person we put in office, although who we put there should also be watched and reprimanded when appropriate. " A nation of sheep, will be ruled by wolves: Forgot who said it, but it is true we bow to tolerance and tolerate the intolerable.
Expect a massive Russian attack on Ukraine, including Kiev, very soon. Many countries are issuing emergency orders for their citizens to evacuate Ukraine. https://www.brighteon.com/f6a851ac-cdcb-4e53-9079-e8321c6de9c9
Good video, @Dwight Ward. I don't know how many here are following both sides of the world war, but it appears that Biden is pushing the world further into war. The narrator is brilliant, as he agrees with me . That is how I judge people's intelligence--how much thy agree with me. I had already thought about the analogy of Biden pushing China (and Russia) and Roosevelt's isolation of Japan. I don't know why Democrat presidents see sanctions as the only way to deal with other countries. I guess they have no capable diplomats on their side of things. The narrator predicted an imminent stile against the U.S. by China. I am not sure of that, but Putin has said he could take out the entire U.S. electrical grid very easily, and he usually does what he says. A coordinated strike against us by both Russia and China would take us to the 18th century very quickly. Europe is totally unable to do anything without us, so I assume they would fall quickly as well. Will we make it to the New Year?
Great comment, Don. Speaking of a possible invasion of mainland USA by the Chinese, I'm wondering how much back channel money China is spending for gun control in this country. They sure don't want a prolonged guerilla war. You're not wrong in judging others' intelligence by your own. I do it myself and I don't think it's overly arrogant. Where I fall down is when I encounter someone more intelligent than myself and can only guess at how much smarter they are. If they're female it's even worse. I'm attracted to smart women but they scare me too. I think it's because I suspect they've got my number. What do you mean by stile? I looked it up and it's a real word but it doesn't seem to apply. If it's a mistype I can't think of what word you were shooting for.
My greatest fear is that those in charge of the US government wouldn't even be on our side. I believe that the ultimate goal is a takeover of the United States by a more authoritative government that won't have to worry about persuasion.