The divided selfOne good place to start to get an idea of the underlying differences between the people of West and East Ukraine, and this war, could found in their different ideas of who they are, how they see themselves, and how these differences might be reconciled if that is possible.To understand this approach, first, try reading my earlier post The United Self.Roman or OrthodoxLook at who's fighting whom in Ukraine, and if you take out the idea that this is a proxy war between America and Russia, which of course it is, then you are...
Thursday, 25 August 2022
THE FUTURES OF UKRAINE
25 August 2022
MORE AMERICAN AIDSomewhere - I cannot find the reference - there is a breakdown of the latest 3 billion USD America has promised in arms shipments to Ukraine and three points emerge on analysis: 1 is that it is just lightweight stuff whereas what Ukraine could really use is aircraft HiMAAS etcetera 2 the supplies will only last for a short time: so for example the 240,000 rounds of ammunition considering that...
Tuesday, 23 August 2022
WHO IS ALEXANDER DUGIN?
23 August 2022Alexander Dugin has been portrayed in the West as the frontman for Russia's deep (military) state.Dugin took his cue from a famous Glaswegian, Halford Mackinder.Mackinder put geography in the driving seat of history, not economics. He created the school of Geopolitics.He split the world into Europe/Asia/Africa, and America. With inner Asia (the tundran plains of Russia rolling over the Carpathians into central Europe) as the heartland.He split the peoples into land powers and sea powers, forever at war. Russia does not...
Monday, 15 August 2022
NOT SEEING EYE TO EYE - RUSHDIE RUSHED TO HOSPITAL
15 August 2022What we are talking about here is the freedom of thought, speech and assembly, which is the motor of progress let's also remember that we are talking about a death threat to a citizen of the US and UK and an attempt at his execution on American soil. Someone ironically, we are also talking about a Salmon Rushdie who is very quick to criticise white society and yet in this situation where his life is threatened ,he seeks the help and support of the very society he criticises.Salman Rushdie observes that " a new world has been...
BOEUF BOURGUIGNON
Jacques Pepin paints15 August 2022There is a French quarter here, with quite a number of friendly, inexpensive restaurants. This last weekend, the dish of the day at one was "Daube de boeuf" - this is a beef bourguignon or Irish boiled beef and carrots, or Yorkshire stew, but there are intriguing key differences between Fr and Eng cuisine.With the cubed beef soaked in cooking wine beforehand, salt pepper...
Saturday, 13 August 2022
CUTTING THE BEARD OF THE CHINESE DRAGON
13 August 2022THE ISSUENancy Pelosi, leader America's House of Representatives, has just returned from a controversial unofficial visit to Taiwan. Lithuania is sending a delegation to Taiwan on a 5 day tour and Taiwan is about to open some sort of office consulate in Vilnius. Why would anyone want to cut the beard of the Chinese dragon?As a matter of identity, the people of Taiwan, in polls, self-identify as Taiwanese, and have chosen the Republic of China ROC to govern them.
Aswhere China - the present govt at least, the PRC - identifies...
Friday, 12 August 2022
CHINA'S RED LINE
12 August 2022“Strategic Ambiguity""Midline" (of the Straits of Taiwan)"Unilateral Challenge to the Status Quo"You can believe in Taiwan as an independent country, but at the same time take a bit of care with the language fabricated by our American friends. Noam Chomsky sussed out the linguistics of "this unprovoked invasion": it was hardly unprovoked, and although it was an invasion it was America that started the war.I'm sure Chonsky would have a thing or two to say about these three latest linguistic traps. They take a long time to think...
Sunday, 7 August 2022
RANT AGAINST MEDIAGARCHY
7 August 2022https://youtu.be/TV5ubJq39h0So mad! Yes! it is the media running public opinion, on behalf of an oligarchy of the rich and a minorigarchy of the weird and the woke, in the absence of any political leadership on behalf of the majority and the public interest.The public interest is for me about a fair distribution of wealth, opportunity and freedom to the majority.Where are the politicians with a longer term view of what's good for the country and the strength of leadership to outdistance the polls?Instead, for reasons most of us link...
Saturday, 6 August 2022
DOES THE CIA MAKE AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY?
6 August 2022Does America have a foreign policy strategy and if so, who is running it? ... is it the CIA, sitting in the Pentagon?How foreign policy is made-You are supposed to start with your vision/goals/aims.-Then you turn these vague wishes into measurable objectives.-Then for each you need resources, and so a strategy: a strategy is what you'll create to plan best use of resources to achieve your objectives.-Then, you get to the policies, which are the rules governing running the strategy; and the organisation units you need to man the...
Wednesday, 3 August 2022
ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS NUCLEAR OBLIVION
3 August 2022https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-says-united-states-is-directly-involved-ukraine-war-2022-08-02/Another step towards nuclear oblivion.We've known this for a long time anyway, we've known perfectly well that the strategy and the planning - not just the training and the supply of arms - is down to the Western powers if it's the M142 HiMARS, it's Lockheed Martin, it's the Americans who plan the launch if it's the M270 MLRS launchers with GMLRS munitions, it's still Lockheed Martin, but from British stocks, it's gotta...
Tuesday, 2 August 2022
THE UNITED SELF
2 Aug 2022self and identity - a biography of our self - who we are - our identityhttps://youtu.be/ZD52aZ5Jh7A"personality modernity and the storied self"modernmodernity means modern times. Especially in the West ("The West" by this time in the 21st century includes many non Western countries like South Korea or Japan, according to the following framework...).we have to make a difference between pre modern or pre-industrial times and times since the industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries.what makes our time "modern" is: capitalism,...
