Geopolitics

[Freegrass]

I was looking for the right thread to post this video in, but couldn't really find one. Many of the political threads here are country specific, or topic specific, and so I think we could combine many of them into this one single thread that I called Geopolitics.

Geopolitics, analysis of the geographic influences on power relationships in international relations. The word geopolitics was originally coined by the Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellén about the turn of the 20th century, and its use spread throughout Europe in the period between World Wars I and II (1918–39) and came into worldwide use during the latter. In contemporary discourse, geopolitics has been widely employed as a loose synonym for international politics.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/geopolitics

Here's a good video to start of the thread. A lot will be changing in the coming years.

[SeanAU]

( for educational purposes only  )

4th Political Theory and Post-Liberalism

17.01.2017

Anatoly Kuzichev: Good evening everyone, this is Radio Kuzichev. Today we have, roughly speaking in journalistic jargon, a mono-topic. And you know that it’s worth it.

Ekaterina Arkalova: Good evening, dear listeners and viewers. Today an extremely interesting conversation awaits us on how in this brave new world of globalism, post-modernity, and post-liberalism, Russia’s future can be preserved by way of reconstructing traditions. Listen, watch, and write to rk@tsargrad.tv. This will be interesting. We have a whole hour.

Kuzichev: Yes, a whole hour, thank you very much. I want to introduce our guest…Actually, let’s do it this way, with the topic first: the “Fourth Political Theory.” Our guest, of course, is Alexander Dugin, the editor-in-chief of Tsargrad, philosopher, PhD. Alexander Gelyevich, good evening.

Alexander Dugin: Good evening. 
[...]

Dugin: Yes, of course. This is necessary.

In fact, if we closely examine the political and ideological results of the 20th century, then we see that in this century which ended not too long ago, three ideologies fought amongst each other. The first political theory which emerged earliest of all was liberalism, whose roots date back to the 18th century but which in the 20th century acquired full ideological embodiment…

Kuzichev: So you’ll run through the names, and then…

Dugin: Yes. There’s the liberal political theory, and the second arises as an antithesis - communism and socialism, all the versions of the leftist critique, which we call critical theory. This is left, communist, socialist ideology with all its nuances. The third political theory is overall nationalism or fascism, which attempted to provide a critique of the previous ones, liberalism and communism. All of these three political theories - liberalism, communism, and fascism - were locked in a life and death struggle in the 20th century. First liberalism and communism defeated fascism together, then, as we know, the Cold War began between communism and liberalism. Then in 1991, liberalism defeated communism on a global scale.

Thus, the first, liberalism, won in the battle between these three theories. And now we live with liberalism and everything else falls into line based on this conclusion. If we understand the point of this and draw conclusions with enough intellectual clarity and attention so that our listeners and viewers understand what I’ve just said, this means that we have arrived at the possibility of understanding what remains. We can group liberalism, communism, and fascism as three political ideologies, three political doctrines, and if we can apply these three political theories to the history of the 20th century, the world wars, the Cold War, the events surrounding the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the changes in the world system tied to this, then we are already at the threshold of understanding the need for a fourth political theory.

Kuzichev: So we have the first, second, and third - this is a chronology…

Dugin: Yes, in terms of their emergence.

[...]

Kuzichev: The third political theory even more…

Dugin: Even more. If you say even a word about how you don’t like another nation, you’re going to jail. In the West, it’s very harsh. If you call a black a black, that’s it, you’re off to jail. It’s very harsh. This means that you can be right-wing or left, you can be of the third or the second theory, but only in the framework of the first theory. And this is where we’re at today.

The first political theory is no longer a theory among others like it was earlier. It’s become part of us. We don’t think of anything outside of liberalism. There is only one theory for us. It’s simply written in the constitution of the European Union that the EU recognizes those states that share the values of the EU, i.e., democratic liberalism.

If a state doesn’t share liberal democratic values, i.e., doesn’t have the separation of powers, a parliament, free press, freedom of movement, then these states become outlaws. People professing ideologies other than the first political theory become outlaws. They’re deprived of human rights.

Kuzichev: This strongly resembles the third political theory, but we won’t need to speak aloud about this. It reminds us of some of the suffering.

Dugin: Absolutely right. This resembles both the third and second political theories because all three of these political theories - and this is most interesting - are totalitarian. All three of them. As for fascism, it’s obvious - concentration camps. It’s totalitarian and it doesn’t hide it - “we are a totalitarian ideology. We’re Aryans and for all who aren’t - death, we’ll intern them.” The Bolsheviks did not call themselves totalitarian ideologues, but of course they acted with purely totalitarian methods. If you don’t like something, it’s the Gulag, a psychiatric hospital. They insisted that being a human means being a communist or not yet a communist, but in the least sympathetic.

Kuzichev: Or “non-party”…

Dugin: Yes, you have to be a communist or just “non-party”, but “non-party” means semi-communist. For a long time, liberals ideologically criticized communism and fascism for this totalitarianism while presenting themselves as the bearers of freedom. They were, but only in relation to fascism and communism. As soon as fascism and communism disappeared, only the liberals remained. And suddenly, interestingly enough, they became the representatives of a third form of totalitarianism. And they say the same as the communists and fascists: if you are liberal, then you have the right to be anyone you want in the framework of liberalism and democracy. If you are outside of liberalism and democracy, then you’re a dangerous extremist, a fanatic, a terrorist…

Kuzichev: Yes, and you will be fought, shot down. Political death, but also even physical.

Dugin: Yes. And now liberalism which, of course, compared to the open totalitarianism of communism and fascism, which didn’t claim anything else - the communists hinted at it and the fascists said “yes, we’re totalitarian - accept us as such” - the liberals won the whole time because they were hidden totalitarians while the others were open. And now that only the liberals remain in today’s global society, we see that liberalism is the carrier of the last form of totalitarianism.

Kuzichev: Global society is maybe another thing, maybe not. I feel that globalism and totalitarianism are connected.

Dugin: They are directly connected.

https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/node/63972

[SeanAU]

 

[Paddy]

So because many liberal democracies have laws against racist hate speech (the impact of which Dugin wildly overstates), Dugin thinks they are as totalitarian as fascist states? And he uses this to advocate for his own version of totalitarianism?

Sorry, but I remain entirely unimpressed by Dugin and his hate on for human rights, anti-racism etc.

[El Cid]

With Dugin (the founder of the National Bolshevik Party) here I wonder when "Mein Kampf" suddenly becomes a credible source on these pages.

Dugin is 100% Nazi (which means National Socialist). Dugin is National "Bolshevik" which is pretty much the same. Here is their logo:

(Seriously guys this is worse than climate denial)

[The Walrus]

So because many liberal democracies have laws against racist hate speech (the impact of which Dugin wildly overstates), Dugin thinks they are as totalitarian as fascist states? And he uses this to advocate for his own version of totalitarianism?

Sorry, but I remain entirely unimpressed by Dugin and his hate on for human rights, anti-racism etc.

That is the problem with laws against free speech.  It gives fuel to the radicals to inflame their platform.

[oren]

I think that is the problem with radicals, not with laws against hate speech, but to each his/her own.

[kassy]

Anyway geopolitics is not radicals. Geopolitics is the big countries vs each other and all the fall out from that.

[SeanAU]

This is quite funny to me, because it is like a time delay fire cracker going off 10 days after you lit it.

The other thing that is funny is that Alexander Dugin is not a "radical" per se, he was when the USSR was still in existence though. Now he is a main stream professor historian and philosopher.

Much like Prof Steven Cohen (deceased) was mainstream, as is Prof. John Mearsheimer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mearsheimer is mainstream.

All three are well regarded experts in the subject of Geopolitics in their own right among those who know why that is so.

[SeanAU]

by coincidence this popped today

30.05.2023
Australia
Tony Kevin
Speech on the Global Forum on Multipolarity. April 29, 2023.
(with Dugin sitting in online streaming conference)
https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/challenge-multipolar-world

‘There are both challenges and opportunities for my country Australia in the current global movement away from the old Western-dominated ‘Rules Based Order’, and  towards a genuine multipolar world order,  of strong civilisational states  and regions sharing the world’s resources and governance more equitably and peacefully. 

Australia by virtue of its geography and history as a European-settled British colony in the Asia-Pacific region is particularly torn between negative and positive cultural forces on our complex national identity and foreign policy.

First , the negatives .  Dominant is the inbred white Australian fear of Anglo-American abandonment. The early European settlers in Australia , mainly from England Scotland and Ireland , took the continent from its indigenous peoples with relative ease. They imported the British hierarchical imperial model of society and adopted it as their own. 

Australians unconsciously absorbed racist attitudes of cultural superiority to our indigenous First Australian peoples , and to our Asia-Pacific neighbours.  These attitudes have held our nation back.

As Japan grew in military and economic strength , and began her own imperial adventurism in the Russian Far East,  Korea, Manchuria, China and further south, most Australians instinctively sought our security in the old Anglo-American rules- based order: protection first by our colonial motherland, Britain, and then increasingly by our adopted step-parent , the imperial United  States.

Australia’s evident weakness and vulnerability to Japanese invasion in WW2 indoctrinated Australians to a perceived need to be, and to be seen as, an indispensable and super-loyal forward military ally of United States and Britain in the Asia -Pacific region.

The two parent countries continue, even now , to take advantage of these deeply ingrained Australian insecurities to consolidate their positions as key influencers of, and beneficiaries from, Australian strategic policy.  It has become a deeply unequal relationship.

Against these powerful negative forces are important positive forces which I believe are strengthening and will prevail.

First is geography. As a secure continental state rich in natural mineral and agricultural resources, Australia is a natural economic partner to the dynamic Asia-Pacific region  to our north.

Second is the asset of our increasingly multicultural society. Especially in our major cities, our civilisation is now being profoundly influenced by immigrants from our Asia-Pacific region  and their cultural inheritance,  now going back many generations in Australia.

It is becoming anachronistic to describe Australia as a predominantly European country in Asia . Our civilisation is increasingly multicultural in character, and this is beginning at last to influence our political culture.

Australia stands to benefit greatly from the coming multipolar world order , now being championed by Russia and China. It will be easy for Australians culturally to ‘plug into’ our Asia-Pacific region’s main socio-economic poles - China, India, Japan, ASEAN , even extending to West Asia, Eurasia and even Russia -  but only if we can mentally move forward from the backward-looking psychological insecurities that still tie us to the waning Anglo-American Rules Based Order: an order which most of the world increasingly sees through as an hollow shadow of its former hegemonic self.

It is difficult to predict how soon this might happen in Australia.

At the moment, Australia seems to be moving backwards : retreating into the military posturing and risk-taking of AUKUS, and the empty promise of a meaningless Quad grouping (US, Japan, Aus, India); and enlisting ourselves as a forward United States military base for its futile attempted encirclement and provocation of China. And,  in the worst case , risking national disaster as an expendable American pawn.

Our southeast Asian neighbours shake their heads sorrowfully at how Australia, after our progress towards real sovereignty in the 1970s  and 1980s,  is now apparently retreating into an anachronistic Anglo-American camp. 

They see the opportunities Australia is missing to re-direct its energies as a vibrant young multicultural nation in an increasingly multipolar Asia-Pacific region .

All the economic and social assets are here to achieve this : the only thing stopping us is our political elites’  immature fears of Anglo-American abandonment.

Fortunately , influential Australian voices are calling for a change in policy direction : people like former Prime Ministers the late Malcolm Fraser and a still influential Paul Keating, former foreign ministers Gareth Evans and Bob  Carr , and many distinguished former academics and senior public servants such as John Menadue and Hugh White .

The critical mass in Australian elites for real policy change is not there yet, but I am sure that Australia’s present competent leadership trio  - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Defence Minister Richard Marles, and Foreign Minister Penny Wong - are beginning to think about how Australia over the next few years might jump into the multipolar world pool. They will find it a refreshing and welcoming place when they do. “

Tony Kevin

eg prior conservative PM Malcolm Fraser 1975-1983 (Army Minister in Vietnam war) his last book -
We need the US for defence, but we only need defence because of the US
 https://www.mup.com.au/books/dangerous-allies-paperback-softback--1

center right former Labor PM Paul Keating
https://johnmenadue.com/paul-keating-has-warned-us-that-our-strategic-sovereignty-is-being-outsourced-to-another-country-the-us/

Paul Keating said these things twenty-five years ago in a major address to the University of New South Wales, 4 September 1997:
The decision to expand NATO by inviting Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to participate and to hold out the prospect to others – in other words to move Europe’s military demarcation point to the very borders of the former Soviet Union – is, I believe, an error which may rank in the end with the strategic miscalculations which prevented Germany from taking its full place in the international system at the beginning of this (20th) century.
https://johnmenadue.com/paul-keating-russia-speech-25-years-ago/

AUKUS v China concerns
https://johnmenadue.com/an-open-letter-to-the-australian-government-from-concerned-scholars-regarding-the-aukus-agreement/

Hugh White
https://johnmenadue.com/doubts-about-aukus/

Just a few examples, it's a 'crazy' world out there. Everything is not as it seems, nor as we are being 'told' it is.

with many photos - In Memory of Daria Dugina - Murdered in a Ukrainian terrorist attack 2022
https://t-me.translate.goog/s/Dugin_Aleksandr?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[SeanAU]

( for educational purposes only )

Dugin: Absolutely right. This resembles both the third and second political theories because all three of these political theories - and this is most interesting - are totalitarian. All three of them.
[...]

Dugin: Yes. And now liberalism which, of course, compared to the open totalitarianism of communism and fascism, which didn’t claim anything else - the communists hinted at it and the fascists said “yes, we’re totalitarian - accept us as such” - the liberals won the whole time because they were hidden totalitarians while the others were open. And now that only the liberals remain in today’s global society, we see that liberalism is the carrier of the last form of totalitarianism.

Kuzichev: Global society is maybe another thing, maybe not. I feel that globalism and totalitarianism are connected.

Dugin: They are directly connected.

Dr Jordan Peterson on Totalitarianism

@5:30 mins
people have complimented me on my
bravery which is something I'm not
particularly comfortable with because I
don't think it's the right way of
thinking about it, it's not how I think
about it I think now I'm just afraid of
the right thing it's not that I'm brave
I'm way more afraid of not saying what I
have to say than I am of saying it and
the consequence of saying what I have
had to say have been dramatic and
sometimes very painful and also
extremely rewarding both of those at
the same time, but I know perfectly
well what the consequence of not
saying what you have to say is
because I studied totalitarianism for 40
years and in a totalitarian state no one
ever says what they have to say.

you know we have this theory myth
about totalitarianism, it's sort of the
theory myth we have about Putin
right now is like there's a lot of innocent
Russians and there's Putin. He's the
Tyrant and all these innocent Russians
are the victims of the Tyrant and
that's a totalitarian state, and there's
some truth in that because power
structures get extraordinarily warped
and punitive in totalitarian States but
it's a completely preposterous model
of totalitarianism. The reason that
totalitarianism is total is because
everyone in a totalitarian state lies
about absolutely everything all the
time to everyone to themselves to
their wife and or husband to their
children to the other members of
their family to their friends to their
colleagues.

and you think well does everybody really
lie all the time in a totalitarian state?

if you ask that question the first proper
response to that is you wouldn't ask
that question if you knew anything at
all about what you're talking about,
because the evidence is pretty damn
clear in places like East Germany.


On being cancelled, reasons to avoid it and not speaking up

@11:55
one you're going to face something like
cancellation which is Justice at the
hands of a vengeful mob, let's say it's
going to be pretty damn brutal

[kassy]

The reason that totalitarianism is total is because everyone in a totalitarian state lies about absolutely everything all the time to everyone to themselves to their wife and or husband to their
children to the other members of their family to their friends to their colleagues.

But you need to to survive. The systems changed through time and the methods changed with them.

Say the wrong thing which the kid repeats at school and you have a problem.

Still the people in the overt totalitarian systems are very conscious of what they repress.

The liberal version touts the supremacy of the market and the rest of that collective dream. We get to vote so you can´t criticize that because hey you voted for it. Of course there is no direct relation to some person and the politics you then get.

Where the classic totalitarianism supresses the liberal version is just very vocal on what everybody must think and since the discussion is all headed one way that is what most people end up thinking.

Anyway they are all more or less blind to the future so we will see how well they will cope.

[SeanAU]

Wasn't sure where to put this short interview, some is connected with ukraine/russia w the first half about France riots etc though more about the longer term historical view and causes. It sounds reasonable, speaks to the current collapse of the post-ww3 order in europe -  due to both unbridled immigrations and the breakdown of the post-war ideals due to the changes driven by neoliberalism, noecons and fictionalization while the real economy pf making things was detroyed -- there for both immigrants and the traditional populations suffer greatly .....

only 25 mins w/ Alastair Crooke, Fmr British Diplomat who I don't always align with, but I think its a good summary of what has caused the current social upheavals ... along with issues surrounding Ukraine nato russia etc. and not only france but the UK and all of europe is deep trouble.

he also speaks of how the police and army have been saying to Macron either address the upheavals violence or thye will .... so could a military coup arise? could Macron quit?

(immigration social decay, social welfare cuts loss of "equality/fairness" etc )
it's the major problem facing Europe
this and it's causing not only just that
breakdown but new patterns of voting new
alignments I think the old alignments
right v left are over I think the class
alignment is gone. in a way we're talking
about values now people who stick with
Traditional Values, with  Family Values

if you like family values about saving the
country and the family and things are on
one side and then on the other side you
have if you like the (neoliberal) zealots who are
talking about a Woke World 

This seems to be causing frictions all over the western world  ... and it again shows up in ukriane, US/Nato. Russia and SCO Brics geopolitucs too. Much trouble ahead?




and on Ukfiane?

(The Russians/Belarus etc )
 just waiting to see when the
point comes when the whole of the Kiev
project implodes

Q "and how much longer do
you think this will remain a hot War
uh before it's either a stalemate or the
zielinski government flees Ukraine"?


I think probably I don't know sometime
into August I think it'll probably (be by then)
I don't think it's in the Russian interest if it
would go on another year which might be
the conclusion to that - it's not going to
be a stalemate because it's not in the
Russian (interests) it's certainly not
- first of all Lavrov said they're not going to have a
frozen conflict and why should they

Meaning it only be a return to the post-coup moment of 2014 and the failed Minsk agreement in 2015 thru to 2022, where the the US NATO simply rearmed Ukraine to the hilt - so Russia will not pause at all here, but will keep fighting on for as long as needed - Russia will not strike a ceasefire without the total collapse of first the Military and then the Kiev regime itself .....

and here another seems to agree with my prognostication of that coming circa end of July ... +/-  .... meaning where the Ukraine army is in a position where it can no longer defend itself as a fighting force.

Things will unfold slower after that, but that will be seen as the beginning of the end of this sick neo-nazi criminal regime in Kiev - that was created and installed by the US neocons.

Once this happens then the whole global geopolitical world is going to shaken to its foundations as the year / years unfold.

Because the US and NATO, the EU and the UK are all "toast" and crumbling fast. France and Ukraine are two insightful premonitions into whats coming all over the west.

[SeanAU]

Seems like a stunning shift in political party support in latest German polling.

From  ZeRada TG with graphic

Remember, we wrote that the trend towards nationalism in the EU will grow?
The right-wing Alternative for Germany party soared from fifth to second place.☝🏻

"AfD" with 21% is already ahead of even the ruling party SDP, whose rating has simply collapsed by 7%.

And now the SDP has only 19%. And the CDU / CSU took the lead with 25.5%. Strongly sank "Free Democrats". The "Greens" and the "Lefts" have their fixed percentages.

Of course, the power of the AfD is still far away. Yes, and even after taking first place, they will have no one to form a coalition with. But, after all, in 1930, the NSDAP, led by Hitler, in its first elections to the Reichstag, also took second place with 18.5%. And already in 1933 - the NSDAP receives 44% and comes to absolute power.

Hitler achieved this against the backdrop of economic failures of the Weimar Republic. If Germany does go into recession, then you yourself understand ...

We remind you that in the AfD Program
- exit from the EU and NATO
- return to the national currency and departure from the euro
- expulsion from the country of "new migrants" (those who entered Germany after 2010)
- a nightmare for the US and the EU

https://t-me.translate.goog/ZeRada1/14640?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Not real sure about their historical comparisons being drawn. It's a very strange world today

[SeanAU]

Unsure where to put this,

 Maria Zakharova - Russian MFA in today's briefing again said the following:
[ see https://mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/1895632/ in english not yet updated in full ]

Of the incidents at Salisbury and Amesbury
from in Russia - https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1895632/#13
Machine translation ....

This year marks five years since the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury, which not only significantly complicated Russian-British relations, but were also used by London to launch a large-scale anti-Russian political propaganda campaign with the aim of internationally demonizing our country.

Let us recall a brief chronology of events.

On March 4, 2018, Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious in Salisbury (Wiltshire, UK). They were discovered and provided the first help “quite by accident” by the chief nurse of the British army, Colonel E. McCourt, who was on vacation and passing by. “Completely by chance”, “coincidentally” that all this happened in the immediate vicinity of the very place where for many years experiments, study, testing of chemical warfare agents by Britain were carried out.

On March 14, 2018, T. May announced in the House of Commons a list of anti-Russian steps in connection with the Skripal case, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats. Literally in ten days (it also “happened, coincided”) the investigation was successfully carried out, and a verdict was passed by no one knows. T. May decided who was to blame and carried out the sentence.

On July 4, 2018, the Wiltshire County Police announced that on the evening of June 30, 2018, D. Sturges and Ch. Salisbury "on suspicion of poisoning with an unknown substance".

On the same day, the then British Home Secretary S. Javid said that the nerve agent that poisoned the couple in Amesbury was of the same group as the substance that poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March 2018.

On July 8, 2018, it was announced that one of the victims, 44-year-old D. Sturges, died in the hospital without regaining consciousness, and on July 9, 2018, the then Minister of Defense G. Williamson stated that “Russia committed in the UK attack that resulted in the death of a British citizen.

From the first report (March 4, 2018) about what happened to the decision that "Russia attacked" 3-4 months passed. Everything, the investigation was carried out, no one saw anything else, no forms were handed over to anyone, not a single one of our letters was answered.

The stingy chronology and the fragile "evidence base" testify to the many inconsistencies in this case and the unsubstantiated nature of Russia's accusations, about another staging that was carried out by the British government and British intelligence services.

The British ignored more than sixty [60] appeals from the Russian Embassy in London regarding the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury, refused any cooperation with the Russian competent departments in investigating the incident, leaving repeated requests for legal assistance from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office unanswered.

Scotland Yard, which should have at least said something in the course of the investigation, has been silent for years. Why is he silent? Because there are the same people who are conducting the investigation and who do not want to take responsibility for the forgery committed by the British intelligence services. That is why they are silent.

For all this time we have seen only one press conference. How many years have passed, there was only one more or less adequate public action, in which representatives of Scotland Yard took part. True, they did not say anything, but at least they held one.

All the "dirty work" in the information field was done by the British tabloids by working with controlled leaks. "Unnamed sources" endlessly commented on the newspapers, but in fact these stuffing [Lies/Spin/Disinformation] was written out in Downing Street, in the Foreign Office and of course in the British intelligence services. They were distributed among newspapers, tabloids, journalists under the guise of an "official position". In fact, no one has heard the official position.

June 29 this year The Russian Embassy in London sent another note “on the Skripal case” to the British Foreign Office, in which they once again reminded the British that the Skripals, in fact, disappeared in an unknown direction. Nobody knows anything about them for more than five years.

With reference to the Vienna and bilateral consular conventions, the Russian embassy in London again demanded access to the Russians. The British are also called upon to provide information on the results of the investigation of the incident, which they promised five years ago to pass on to all countries that expelled our diplomats, and never passed on. It was just necessary to send out diplomats and complicate the work of our foreign missions, create another story about “bad Russia” and “good West”. There is nothing more behind this. Such an information and political campaign.

So far, the British side has not provided any reliable information on the Skripal case. She cannot provide it, because reliable information reveals the criminal activities of the British government. Apparently, they hide everything not only from us, but also from their own

[SeanAU]

MFA con't - On the report of the OPCW's Chemical Weapons Fact-Finding Mission in Syria (FFM)

 from https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1895632/#12 - translated

We got acquainted with the published (docs) on June 28 of this year. another anti-Syrian report by the Mission to establish the facts of the use of chemical weapons in Syria (FFM) on the alleged mortar attacks by the Syrian armed opposition using toxic gas on the positions of the Syrian army in the village of Harbit Massasneh on July 7 and August 4, 2017.

And this time, the experts of the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) did not find “convincing” grounds for confirming these terrorist acts by armed anti-government groups operating in Syria in the geopolitical interests of the “collective West”.

It would seem that against the backdrop of the horror that, on the orders of Washington and Brussels, the leadership of the OPCW's Technical Secretariat arranged with the falsification of the reports of the Mission to establish the facts of the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the "attribute" Investigation and Identification Group on a staged provocation by the pseudo-humanitarian non-governmental organization "White Helmets" with the use of chlorine on April 7, 2018 in the city of Douma, such “inconsistencies” in the study of the convincing facts presented by the Syrian side of the use of toxic chemicals by the armed opposition do not look so cynical, however, they say a lot.

This report and the previous expert “research” by the OPCW Technical Secretariat in Syria testify to the trend that has taken root on the site of this once purely technical international structure to finally turn it into an instrument of the “collective West” geopolitics in the Middle East and beyond.

Unfortunately, events similar to this situation are already taking place not only in relation to the Syrian “chemical dossier” contrived by the West, but also to well-known anti-Russian provocations with imaginary “poisonings” and other stories around the Skripals and A.A. Navalny.

Apparently, other provocations on the topic of alleged violations by the Russian Federation of its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, which, according to our information, have long been hatched in Washington, London, Berlin and Brussels, are next in line. It is not for nothing that false ideas are being planted in the Western socio-political space and in the media that Russia is ready and plans to use weapons of mass destruction in the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine.

The Kiev regime, as we understand it, is ready for anything - whether it be threats to the physical nuclear safety of Zaporozhye NPP facilities or to the safe operation of chemical industry enterprises in new regions of the Russian Federation, central and western Ukraine. There is plenty of evidence - shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and sabotage at chemical enterprises in the cities of Sumy, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, undermining the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline by the special services of Ukraine.

We call on the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention that are still capable of resisting the politicization of the OPCW's activities to come out in solidarity in defense of the integrity of the Convention and the once well-deserved authority of the OPCW itself.

As a recent historical retrospective shows, in particular with regard to Iraq and Iran, irresponsible military-political "games" on the subject of the alleged use or threat of use of weapons of mass destruction by any states objectionable to Washington and Brussels only exacerbate global problems and the suffering of the majority of the world's population.

The unbridled desire of Western countries to preserve and strengthen their military-political, financial-economic and dubious cultural and civilizational dominance is doomed to failure.

It is better to take care of the prevention of crimes being prepared by the Kyiv regime, in particular, in relation to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

[SeanAU]

Brussels looks to regain influence in Latin America, as leaders summit begins

The landscape is rapidly shifting under our feet ..... (well maybe, because could be all show, and it probably is)

The EU and it's chief warmonger Josep Borell are only now beginning to realize the war against Russia is lost: "Europeans didn't pay enough attention to Latin Americans. And now we have to take into account a new geopolitical scenario with the emergence of China and a new role for Russia."

The EU has been forced to reorganize it's Latin America conference without inviting the fading star Zelensky, and they'll have to talk about other stuff than Ukraine this time around.

Even worse, it seems that Latin Americans have been inspired by Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell's immoderate rants about historical justice and reparations that aggressors and violators of human rights should pay it's victims.

The Latin Americans are now directly asking the EU to pay up for the illegal wars, the native genocides, and the African slave trade EU member States conducted within Central and South America.

https://www.euronews.com/video/2023/07/17/brussels-looks-to-regain-influence-in-latin-america-as-leaders-summit-begins

Perhaps Russia and China can start looking for EU assets to freeze and confiscate, and transfer to Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Haiti, and Cuba and all other victims of European aggression, rape and pillaging? Or maybe start to expropriate European oligarchs for "not doing enough" in forcing their governments to "do the right thing"?

Interesting times, if Europe's politicians will finally be forced to eat the insipid gruel they have been serving the rest of the world for centuries!

[SeanAU]

There are 54 countries in Africa today, according to the United Nations.

23 Jul, 2023 - Africa deserves ‘rightful place’ in deciding world’s fate – Putin
The Russian leader has no doubt that Africa will “free itself from the bitter legacy of colonialism”

The second Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg is scheduled for July 27-28, taking place alongside the Economic and Humanitarian Forum, which is expected to provide a platform for business meetings and panel sessions. Forty-nine countries have confirmed their participation.

The first high-level meeting, attended by nearly 50 African heads of state, was held in Sochi in 2019 under the theme ‘For peace, security, and development’.

Russia welcomes the rising international authority of individual African states as well as the continent as a whole, and their desire to make their voices strongly heard, President Vladimir Putin said in an article

Moscow stands for “granting African countries their rightful place in the structures that determine the world’s fate,” including the UN Security Council and the G20, and supports “reforming the global financial and trade institutions in a way that meets their interests,” Putin added.

“We have consistently supported African peoples in their struggle for liberation from colonial oppression. We have provided assistance in developing statehood, strengthening their sovereignty and defense capability,” he wrote.

Moscow, according to Putin, always adhered to the principle of “African solutions to African problems” and respected the “sovereignty of African states, their traditions and values, their desire to independently determine their own destiny and freely build relationships with partners.”

“We have never tried to impose on partners our own ideas about the internal structure, forms and methods of management, development goals and ways to achieve them,” Putin said.


The Russian leader said that there is no doubt that Africa will “finally free itself from the bitter legacy of colonialism and neo-colonialism” to take its “worthy place” on the world stage. He promised to support African partners’ desire to “make their voices strongly heard and to take the continent's problems into their own hands.”

Tick tick tick goes the timer towards the end of the US-UK-EU Colonial Empire of Lies.

[SeanAU]

NATO and the West are working to destabilize Africa, but the Central African Republic is not afraid of coups anymore because of the security assistance it is getting from Moscow, Gouandjika insisted.

African country confirms defense contract with Russian fighters - Wagner PMC is protecting the president of the Central African Republic, an adviser to its head of state has said

According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Defense Ministry also sent “several hundred” military instructors to CAR.

The country turned to Russia after France, which maintained a military presence in the country until 2022, refused to provide it with weapons to fight terrorism, the aide explained.

The cooperation between Bangui and Moscow is mutually beneficial, while Paris treated CAR as “private property” and tried to exploit the country’s resources, he said.

Members of the Russian PMC are training local forces and protecting President Faustin-Archange Touadera, the adviser said in an interview with Al-Arabiya on Saturday.

Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said late in June that the Russian authorities “enjoy” security cooperation with CAR and that it would be maintained despite the mutiny by Wagner.

Lavrov confirmed a few days later that Moscow would not demand the PMC end its missions in CAR or elsewhere in Africa.

Soldiers belonging to the PMC were deployed in African countries in line with agreements reached directly between their governments and Wagner, the foreign minister said.

Go Wagner - Fuck the French Colonialists!

[SeanAU]

EuroZone Geopolitics

Exclusive: Hungarian think tank seeks to ‘realize the liberals’ nightmare’ and combine ‘patriotic, right-wing forces’ across the West

An exclusive interview with Miklós Szánthó, lawyer, political analyst, director general of Hungary’s Center for Fundamental Rights, and president of CPAC Hungary
August 09, 2023

It is indeed part of the so-called renaissance of the Hungarian right because it is not just the MCC Feszt. It is also CPAC Hungary; Tranzit, which is another huge political festival; and it is also Tusványos as well as many other events organized by different institutions, think tanks, and organizations of the Hungarian right.

All these events show that the Hungarian right is a real community based on friendship. And maybe this is one very important point that was highlighted as well by Prime Minister Victor Orbán in Tusványos this year when he spoke about the fundamental law, the Hungarian constitution.

He highlighted that while all of the other progressive or liberal constitutions, or even the previous Hungarian constitution, put the focus on the individual, the new Hungarian constitution puts the “We,” the “Us” at the center. It is about community.

All those events, including the MCC Feszt, the Tranzit festival, and CPAC Hungary, which is organized by the Center for Fundamental Rights, are there to fulfill this goal to build a real community.

One can understand the importance of this community-building when comparing such activity of the Hungarian right to the inactivity and fragmented nature of the Hungarian left. On the other side of the political spectrum, they have become so individualistic, in line with the progressive mantra, that they have also become fragmented and lonely, with no real community and no collective spirit.

On the Hungarian left, you will find no such event as MCC Feszt, Tranzit, or CPAC Hungary. And this shows also the courage of the Hungarian right.

https://rmx.news/hungary/exclusive-hungarian-think-tank-seeks-to-realize-the-liberals-nightmare-and-combine-patriotic-right-wing-forces-across-the-west/

[El Cid]

Ok, Sean. I live in Hungary. let me tell you how it actually is.

The Hungarian government is probably on the top 10 list of kleptocracies in the World. The prime minister's primary school mate, 10 years ago just a gas repairman with obviously a 2 digit IQ (he can hardly speak Hungarian properly even) is now the richest person in the country. He and other "businessmen" aligned with the government win every possible government contract at extremely inflated prices. They stole cca 5-10 billions of euros in taxpayer and EU money. Most of the looted "goods" are in so called private funds which is a legal category created a few years ago in Hungary. These are basically legal offshore like structures  with no taxation, you can not know the owners behind them, and the owners could change within a minute if so desired. All in all, the lost money is basically owned by the Prime minister and his family (have I told you that his son in law is also on the Top 10 richest list? His father is also famously rich, and the PM is building a multimilliondollar mansion in his homeplace though officialy his savings are 2000 euros).
They hacked the election system so that it would be extremely hard for anyone else to win, they took control of the media, they took away the little resources the opposition has.
Oh, and about this "MCC Feszt". This is hosted by MCC which is a "foundation" led by none other than the right hand man of the PM. This foundation was given 2-3 years ago half of the government's shares in two of the biggest companies in Hungary worth about 1.5 billion euros. Oh yes, you find no such festivals on the Hungarian "left" (codeword for democratic parties as opposed to the autocratic ruling Fidesz party) because they have no money at all. Even if they had, most venues , billboards, advertisements are unavailable to them by either law or coercion. Yes, the Hungarian right is extremely courageous to hold such a festival.

Oh and what about the interviewee "Miklós Szánthó, lawyer, political analyst, director general of Hungary’s Center for Fundamental Rights". He is paid by the (surprise) government, and his Center of Fundamental Rights is a government outfit. He is a government propagandist, nothing else.

BTW, under Fidesz rule Hungary has become the 2nd poorest country in the EU (by personal consumption measures, the best to show actualy buying power) with the highest rate of inflation (topping above 25% this year) and biggest loss of value in the currency

Success, success everywhere


(I suspect you to be a Russian troll paid by Putin so you will not care about the above but for anyone else reading your quote, this is how things are in Hungary)

[SeanAU]

Funny, your description sounds like Ukraine, except they are even worse. And I hope you like the video I posted of Tucker Carlson giving speech at that festival in Hungary yesterday.

"I suspect you to be a Russian troll paid by Putin ............."


Hey, I could do with the extra money so where do I apply?

[oren]

I have this philosophical debate with myself, what is worse:
A person who chooses to become a Russian propaganda troll because of the money.
A person who voluntarily becomes a Russian propaganda troll and is not even getting paid.

Still haven't made up my mind yet.

[SeanAU]

I have this philosophical debate with myself, what is worse:
A person who chooses to become a Russian propaganda troll because of the money.
A person who voluntarily becomes a Russian propaganda troll and is not even getting paid.

Still haven't made up my mind yet.

"Blowing out others’ lamp will not bring light to oneself." Lao Tsu

Hat tip to Invica ....
Right now, changes in the world, in our times and in history are unfolding in ways like never before, bringing human society to a critical juncture.
   Should we pursue cooperation and integration, or just succumb to division and confrontation?
   Should we work together to maintain peace and stability, or just sleepwalk into the abyss of a new Cold War?
   Should we embrace prosperity, openness and inclusiveness, or allow hegemonic and bullying acts to throw us into depression?
   Should we deepen mutual trust through exchanges and mutual learning, or allow hubris and prejudice to blind conscience?
The course of history will be shaped by the choices we make.
Every country has the right to development, and the people in every country have the freedom to pursue a happy life.

Xi Jinping’s speech at the Closing Ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum 2023
https://africa.cgtn.com/full-text-xi-jinpings-speech-at-the-closing-ceremony-of-the-brics-business-forum-2023/ 

Building an Inclusive World: BRICS Summit Address by Cyril Ramaphosa



15th BRICS Summit | SABC News speaks to UN Chief Guterres

[Alexander555]

I would kick them all out of Africa. The europeans, the asians, the arabs.....All the foreigners in the first place. And they would only return if it was in the interest of Africa. Because if you look at most countries, they could have a good future. If you look at Sudan, 1,8 million square km for a population of 45 million people. We have 30 000 km2 for a quarter of that population. They have plenty water, they even have (had) a herd of a million big wild mammals that roam free. They have everything the rest of the world lost already a long time ago. They just want to exploit everything in their benefit these foreigners. Look at Ethiopia, they have  almost 500 000 square km with almost no humans in it. If they manage it in the interest of Ethiopia. It would be a paradise.

https://news.mongabay.com/2007/06/massive-wildlife-population-discovered-in-southern-sudan/#:~:text=Aerial%20surveys%20by%20the%20New,despite%20decades%20of%20civil%20war.

[NevB]

Ok, Sean. I live in Hungary. let me tell you how it actually is.

Thanks, I had no idea it was that bad.

[Neven]

I have this philosophical debate with myself, what is worse:
A person who chooses to become a Russian propaganda troll because of the money.
A person who voluntarily becomes a Russian propaganda troll and is not even getting paid.

Still haven't made up my mind yet.

How about this one:

A person who thinks he is fighting Russian propaganda trolls (they're everywhere), which unbeknownst to him makes him a Russian propaganda troll.

We have a lot of those on this Forum, pointing their fingers, spouting their sarcasm, doing exactly what those evil Russians want them to do.

[KiwiGriff]

Your self awareness deficit is on display yet again.

If I were you I would look carefully at the actions and behavior patterns of your allies and who on this forum oppose their actions.

Two persons spam the politics threads with pro Russian and anti west properganda. When active they average about ten links a day to Russian talking points gleaned from across global media.   Neither has exposed much if anything about who they , were they live , Glimpses of the real person behind the posts is absent . Strangely they seem to alternate on which one is active at any time. They make  volumes  of cut and paste pro Russian posts followed by months of absence then again straight back into spamming threads as though they never stopped.   
 
Nether has the  capability of informed , measured and supported debate.
Instead if challenged their reply's can be best described as infantile insults and illogically constructed garbage.

Organised Russian properganda trolls .....


       


 

[Florifulgurator]

I have this philosophical debate with myself, what is worse:
A person who chooses to become a Russian propaganda troll because of the money.
A person who voluntarily becomes a Russian propaganda troll and is not even getting paid.

Still haven't made up my mind yet.

How about this one:

A person who thinks he is fighting Russian propaganda trolls (they're everywhere), which unbeknownst to him makes him a Russian propaganda troll.

We have a lot of those on this Forum, pointing their fingers, spouting their sarcasm, doing exactly what those evil Russians want them to do.

True, in a sense: A major aim of Russian disinformation warfare is to amplify division. Paradigm: Russiagate. But, like with climate or covid denialists, sarcasm and pointing fingers is the only response to a brain for which plain facts don't matter.

(This discussion is quite on topic, BTW.)

[Neven]

True, in a sense: A major aim of Russian disinformation warfare is to amplify division. Paradigm: Russiagate. But, like with climate or covid denialists, sarcasm and pointing fingers is the only response to a brain for which plain facts don't matter.

I don't agree this is the only response. In fact, I think it's counterproductive. Weren't you a Buddhist at some point? Didn't you learn anything from that?

You can reply to that question, but let's go back on topic after that.

[Florifulgurator]

True, in a sense: A major aim of Russian disinformation warfare is to amplify division. Paradigm: Russiagate. But, like with climate or covid denialists, sarcasm and pointing fingers is the only response to a brain for which plain facts don't matter.

I don't agree this is the only response. In fact, I think it's counterproductive. Weren't you a Buddhist at some point? Didn't you learn anything from that?

You can reply to that question, but let's go back on topic after that.

In general it is counterproductive, if one can't explain the sarcasm. The Buddhist Middle Way of avoiding extremes tells me to avoid being extremely on the middle way - it tells me to not always avoid extremes at all cost. (The Buddha himself could get angry and insulting towards stupid.)  It's similar to Karl Popper's paradox of tolerance: Tolerating mind poison can help mind poison spread. Sometimes you have to apply the mind poison of aversion against mind poisons. Such intolerance is similar to homeopathy (similia similibus curentur) i.e. a paradoxical intervention.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_tolerance
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_poisons

(Which reminds me of my old advice to climate scientists in climate "debate": Use the term "bullshit" more often!)

[SeanAU]

Putin's 'evil machinations' seems to be working quite well. People all over the west (and here) are losing their minds over Russia Russia Russia.

    " The President read my text with great irritation, slammed it back at me and said he would not refer to McCarthy personally—‘I will not get in the gutter with that guy.’ "
    C. D. Jackson, Eisenhower speechwriter, 1953

There are Reds Under Every Bed
The Red Scare (1947-57) was a decade-long period of intense anti-communist paranoia in the United States. During this period, millions of ordinary Americans were paralysed by an irrational fear of ‘Reds under the bed’ – the (unfounded ludicrous delusional) belief that thousands of communist agents and sympathisers were secretly living amongst them, plotting or waiting to overthrow the government.
https://alphahistory.com/coldwar/reds-under-the-bed/

The phrase reds under the bed and variants were used to denote an exaggerated or obsessive fear of the presence and harmful influence of communist sympathisers in a particular society, institution, etc. The earliest instance that I have found is from the Chicago Sunday Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) of 28th September 1924:
https://wordhistories.net/2018/01/25/reds-under-bed/



McCarthyism and the Red Scare
McCarthyism, also known as the second Red Scare, was the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a campaign spreading fear of alleged communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s.[1] After the mid-1950s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, who had spearheaded the campaign, gradually lost his public popularity and lost credibility after several of his accusations were found to be false.

The paranoia about the internal Communist threat—what we call the Red Scare—reached a fever pitch between 1950 and 1954, with Senator Joe McCarthy.  In the end, President Eisenhower had no choice but to fight back against Senator Joseph McCarthy—and he did
 
https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

[SeanAU]

Gerontocrat on another thread has described the Outlaw US Empire of Lies to a T

"Religious dictatorship, communist dictatorship, free-market dictatorships have much in common. The suppression of dissent and discussion, total control over how people live their lives, and the inevitable degradation of the rule of law, rampant corruption and accumulation of wealth by the elite and in the end, failure."

Failure has arrived.

[SeanAU]

In A World Ruled By Propaganda, A Sane Worldview Will Necessarily Be A Fringe Worldview
by  Caitlin Johnstone, August 23, 2023
cognitive biases, logic, media, overton window, politics, propaganda, US empire

https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2023/08/23/in-a-world-ruled-by-propaganda-a-sane-worldview-will-necessarily-be-a-fringe-worldview/

It’s a well-documented fact that the rich and powerful (in America the West) pour vast fortunes into manipulating the political and media landscape in ways that serve their interests. Their control over the news media and Silicon Valley tech platforms is used to set the agenda and influence public perception by determining what issues will receive attention and which won’t in ways that preserve the political status quo they’ve built their empire upon, thereby shrinking the Overton window of acceptable debate down to a very narrow spectrum whose outcomes can’t threaten their interests in any way.

We just discussed this dynamic with regard to US aggressions against Russia and China; the Overton window is being narrowed to a debate between which US enemy should be the target of the most imperial aggressions, with voices who advocate detente with both countries finding no platform in mainstream politics or media. This is what Noam Chomsky was talking about when he said “the smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.”

In truth the so-called “centrists” or “moderates” of our world are really violent extremists, because they support the most murderous and tyrannical power structure on our planet - the Outlaw US Empire of Lies, and are only regarded as moderate because they sit in the mid-range of a completely artificially created spectrum. A perspective that is actually sane will be about as far away from their perspective as you can get.

Because the majority of people have been duped by (western/US political) propaganda into espousing mainstream political perspectives, those with an accurate read on things will necessarily be a small fringe minority until that dynamic changes.

As long as your entire civilization is structured around deceit-based perspectives which serve the powerful, going along with the crowd will prevent you from forming a truth-based perspective that serves human interests.

-- And you will be surrounded by rushing hordes of Russian Propaganda Trolls forever. It is what inculcated Paranoid Delusions do to people. It sends you troppo!
-- Mass Formation Psychology
https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,3471.msg379394.html#msg379394

The sincere pursuit of a truth-based perspective is ultimately the surest path not only toward a healthy society, but toward lasting happiness as an individual as well.

[Freegrass]

How about this one:

A person who thinks he is fighting Russian propaganda trolls (they're everywhere), which unbeknownst to him makes him a Russian propaganda troll.

We have a lot of those on this Forum, pointing their fingers, spouting their sarcasm, doing exactly what those evil Russians want them to do.

And they are succeeding in destroying this forum. So why don't you remove them from this forum?

[gerontocrat]

How about this one:

A person who thinks he is fighting Russian propaganda trolls (they're everywhere), which unbeknownst to him makes him a Russian propaganda troll.

We have a lot of those on this Forum, pointing their fingers, spouting their sarcasm, doing exactly what those evil Russians want them to do.

And they are succeeding in destroying this forum. So why don't you remove them from this forum?

Well said, Freegrass.

The behaviour on the politics threads is a poisonous miasma infecting the forum that in the end may well be fatal. But .... nothing lasts forever.

[zenith]

are you still upset that russiagate was a complete fraud or is it that the unipolar world order and full spectrum dominance are failing?

[SeanAU]

Here is Freegrasses post which started this thread

I was looking for the right thread to post this video in, but couldn't really find one. Many of the political threads here are country specific, or topic specific, and so I think we could combine many of them into this one single thread that I called Geopolitics.

Geopolitics, analysis of the geographic influences on power relationships in international relations. The word geopolitics was originally coined by the Swedish political scientist Rudolf Kjellén about the turn of the 20th century, and its use spread throughout Europe in the period between World Wars I and II (1918–39) and came into worldwide use during the latter. In contemporary discourse, geopolitics has been widely employed as a loose synonym for international politics.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/geopolitics

Here's a good video to start of the thread. A lot will be changing in the coming years.

That video covers a lot of ground including Russia in view of global geopolitics and many other nations too. You should all watch it before saying another thing imo. Freegrass included!

Every post i have added in this thread in some way related back to the theme of this first post and video. They each add value to the topic and are factual news reports / analysis / commentary and are on topic.

Now el cid seems to have personal issues about Hungary and disagrees vociferously with a "recent report" - well you get that - it is what happens on sites like this - people present their own pov / personal knowledge etc when they disagree with>  a journo or think tank or climate / academic study or doxumentary or news report or comment or a politician or a Musk etc.

I see no big deal in that. Do you? He had his say and then he accused me of being a Russian propaganda troll ... so what, who cares what he thinks, I do not. Typical offensive ad hominem remark online. Oren then does his usual contribution along the same lines. Well done Oren. <applause>

BUT you have to go back to JULY 7th - 8 weeks ago - to find any post about Russia by me, ... and back to May before that .... the overwhelming comments by me have nothing whatsoever to do with Russia ... BRICS is about dozens of countries, and again it is a highly significant GEOPOLITICAL EVENT -- in perfect alignment with Freegrass' thread they created .... but now suddenly back-flips and now hates the politics section, demands people get banned as does Gerontocrat .... well fine - thanks for sharing.

Funny thing is they do not seem to understand what it is Neven was saying and what he meant - despite quoting him. Oh well, it is quite a common thing. Sad but true.

But nevertheless, maybe you should take it up with Neven in the Forum section - and not here because they are both Off Topic - as was Oren. Up to Neven of course.

But yeah Neven, I also ask you - Why don't you delete the entire Politics section? A few people don't like it at all.

BUT frankly, how any of you can be Pro-the lying warmongering USA Empire given it's known track record, how you can simply ignore what is being done to Julian Assange given what he has done for ALL OF YOU over the years as well as Snowdon, or why you are all so pro-UK, or Pro-War or Pro-Western capitalism or Pro-Neocolonialism or Pro-Economic Growth, or Pro-Elon Musk and Pro-Tesla or Pro-Space-X or Pro-CIA or Pro-anything to do with US Politics ... when all that combined has been and is still destroying the planet's ecosystems and climate stability and all these western nations who are the majority cumulative contributors of GHGs and warming on the planet to date (not to mention killing people for decades) and you still sleep at night is frankly impossible to fathom.

But each to their own. Such are the ways of people struggling with all their fickle "First World Problems."

Me, I am very glad not to be a Pro-USA Pro-western Lying Ignorant Propaganda Troll myself ...  in fact I'm quite proud of never lending my support or voice to such evil tyrants and criminal elites who run the western nations, and the US in particular.

I personally have not done anything immoral, criminal, or been doing any lying and violence myself - so don't blame me for the state of world you all appear to hate so much.

I can only assume you have worked out some way to justify your position of not doing anything about except complain and cry about so-called "Russian propaganda" and non-existent "trolls" being everywhere.... fearing Reds under your beds! Panic, shock horror indeed. What a very serious problem this all is, for you.   

If you don't like the politics section, or cannot cope with the subject matter of today's geopolitical realities or the commentary about it in the big bad world, then I have a tip - maybe stay away?

Go resolve and heal your own poisonous miasmas, because people in glass houses and all .... you know? Go chill in the Cryosphere section instead!   

[SeanAU]

And why does Geopolitics show in the recent posts listing?

Are you trying to send these people crazy on purpose Neven? You must be you must be!

Don't you realize they have no self control or personal sovereignty? That's why they are all so susceptible victims to the endless western political propaganda they've embraced as if it was the Gospel Truth.

LOL

[gerontocrat]

All the powerful countries interfere with their rivals, real or perceived, one way or another. I saw quite a bit of the wreckage from the Cold War proxy wars when working in Africa for a few years.

The unipolar world order was always going to be a temporary affair. Napoleon said the world needs to watch out when the "sleeping giant" that is China woke up. It took a bit of time but so what. How long the next configuration (whatever that turns out to be) will last is anybody's guess.

My comment was about the behaviour of certain individuals in the politics threads. End of.

And as Forrest Gump said "and that's all I'm going to say about that".

[morganism]

 Who is driving Germany's far-right poll surge?

(...)
Overall, the conclusion of the surveys seems quite clear. There has not been a general shift to the right. In addition to a base of far-right wing support, which makes up 15 percent of the population, the AfD is attracting a protest vote that takes it to slightly more than 20 percent support. This is driven by dissatisfaction with migration policy and a general fear of societal crisis.

What is striking is the conclusion drawn by Thomas Petersen and the FAZ editors from the Allensbach results, which I loosely translate as follows:

    AfD supporters see Germany’s migration policy as a catastrophe. Until “Politik” (policy … mainstream policy AT) “gets a grip on this problem” and until it stops creating the impression “with citizens” that it treats anyone who is concerned about migration with condescension and moral superiority, the appeals of the AfD will continue to fall on fertile soil.

What is striking about this framing is that it accepts the AfD’s definition of a “problem” - their view that migration policy is catastrophic. It also accepts their populist terms for discussing it i.e. there are regular people - the participants in the survey - and it is up to “policy” (Politik) to respond to them. One might also simply say that in German democracy distinct constituencies are represented by different political parties with different views on what policy should be. In the resulting debate and policy process, which seeks to respond to a huge global problem of displacement, poverty and violence, they make choices that leave a minority of Germans dissatisfied. Half of the dissatisfied group (c. 10-15 percent of the overall electorate) are confirmed neo-Nazis and far-right authoritarians. The other chunk - less than 10 percent - are engaged in the politics of protest rather than responsibility, aligning themselves with a party in which neo-Nazis and the far-right is a powerful presence, presumably with a view to pushing the CDU further to the right. From a centrist point of view this is regrettable, but it is hard to see why this should be a cause for panic or any exaggerated concern about elitism. The real concern is presumably that substantial slices of the CDU are actually minded to join the far-right in this populist discourse. 29 percent of CDU supporters believe in an inexorable crisis that requires systemic change, the second highest after the AfD. In that regard the slippage in the conclusion of the FAZ piece - the FAZ being the conservative paper of record - from descriptive statistics to prescription is telling.

https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-235-who-is-driving-germanys

(interesting point in the body of text is that the Greens have become the most state supportive group in Germany)

[SeanAU]

Who is driving Germany's far-right poll surge?

 

Thanks for the article - excellent food for thought ... people can make of it what they will.


My opinion about this topic in general is as follows:
Most people form their own opinions about everything - without being told by anyone else what to think - of course what they know and don't know will have a degree of influence on those opinions and judgments - to some degree.

But so will their own internalized values, ethics, morals, and beliefs, their cultural history and their personalities and possibly more so than whatever the latest "facts/news" might be. It depends on each individual and society. Polls and public surveys can never capture all these "drivers" accurately.   But common sense often can instead.

But no one needs to "drive" anything, there is no point assuming anyone does - more likely than not there is no "Who". The same as there was no "Who" who drove people to vote for Trump in 2016 in droves - he presented his policy platform and millions agreed with it. Simple.

Advertising and PR gimmicks only affect will predominantly impact the slow and dull witted / uninformed minority who can't be bothered to think for themselves (time poor or are incapable of it) - whereas the "first movers" / that is the majority of people can and will suddenly shift their allegiances to a new political party, policy proscription, or social movement (such as climate change issues) on their own cognizance - once they become personally aware of the important issues at stake.

These people will not generally be directly or immediately influenced by advertising/PR or soclial media memes per se, though that repeated exposure will possibly motivate / remind them to investigate the issues more thoroughly and from a variety of sources.

(Of course exceptions prove the rule - science based studies show advertising and propaganda does still unconsciously influence all sectors of society, often beyond our direct awareness, yes.)   

Look at it another way - WHO was driving the Pro-Climate political action of the last 2 decades? Was no one here able to think for themselves and make up their own minds? Or did Greta do it for you? Was it Greta or All Gore who was the "grandiose populist leader" who miraculously made you see the light?

People would be wise to look behind the curtain of WHO is making all this fuss over so-called - far-right populist discourse - and why are they framing the rhetoric this way to begin with? And why now?

It is easy to see what is currently impacting Germany's current political discourses and how we got here from 'there.' The country is imploding into an economic and social basket case more akin to a bankrupt banana republic if it keeps going the way it is heading.

That the people are seriously concerned about this and fearful is obvious and to be expected. No "puppet masters" or egregious "far right propaganda" is required! 

Germany is part of NATO right? People know what Nato did in 2011 and the consequences mass European illegal immigration of attacking Libya and bringing down the government of President Qaddafi and having him murdered by a terrorist mob which was directed to him by the US Military in the "air".

People know what NATO did when it attacked Syria trying to bring down the Government of Assad and the 1.5 million refugees who trekked all the way to Germany to be welcomed and embraced by Merkle and the Greens etc.

People know and can understand the results of the US terror regime blowing up the Nordstream gas pipelines means to them and their economy and their children's future job prospects.

People know why since 2022 millions of Ukrainian refugees have flooded into Europe and Germany, yet again. Most of them unlikely to ever leave!

They are not stupid people. When they say mass immigration is a serious problem they mean it and justifiably so. No far right political extremism and no racism is required to form such views. It's bleeding obvious! Everybody knows!

The political parties and politicians who continue to falsely declare there is no immigration problem and that anyone who disagrees with the "Woke" mentality are violent far right white supremacist neonazis - when they are not are rapidly going lose popular support in Germany and across Europe by the millions.

They will instead swing their support behind any political party that acknowledges the reality of what is. That's both a normal and quite sane response.

[SeanAU]

All the powerful countries interfere with their rivals, real or perceived, one way or another. I saw quite a bit of the wreckage from the Cold War proxy wars when working in Africa for a few years.

Another meaningless anecdote - while sidestepping the wreckage and trauma caused by Colonialism - the accrued wealth that was paying you for being there in the first place! I hope you made a killing, and are enjoying a "comfortable retirement" - unlike our African comrades.

My comment was about the behaviour of certain individuals in the politics threads. End of.

Your comment was offensive adhominem trolling - nothing more. Stop trying to discount and denying what you did.  Then, Napolean said something about China - must be true then. The sky is falling, the world's gonna end if China is successful, and the forum is going to be destroyed by "russian propaganda trolls" aka "me"!  Yikes!

The amount of cognitive dissonance and dishonesty required to be this misinformed, desperately leaping to unfounded and ignorant assumptions, while being so off-topic and offensive all at the same time, must come naturally because I cannot imagine anyone rational thinking this way without a lot of effort.

If you are going to 'engage' in a political thread you allude to have no interest in (like Oren), surely the least you can do is take it seriously enough to contribute something of actual value instead? Yes?

It appears to me G. must be another guy who chooses not to know things in order to maintain the narrative he's adopted as "his truth." He knows nothing about the generous expansive material I have contributed, that is for sure. While his overall political perspectives suggests the deliberate "not knowing" about things coupled with denial of highly provocative insults and baiting. He's not alone there. 

A person who acts with integrity will also necessarily be authentic. The authentic person’s lack of conformance to social norms may be abused by persons of lower integrity, as an ad hominem appeal inside an insincere argument or narrative. Anon

People will regularly make up their fantasy notions as they go, pushed and pulled by emotional reactions, with usually zero self-reflection. That's their free speech in play, not my problem and it's not my fault either. It was like this long before I arrived and said a word, it's like this everywhere.

People have their opinions and beliefs. So be it. (shrug)
-----------------------

Now, back on topic and the good comment ref above ^^^

Why is 'populism' always used and framed as an insult?

Like wtf was the French and American revolutions about if not populist idealism found in a Liberal Democratic Republican Constitutional model of Governance "of the People by the People and for the People" --- and the motto "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité" ? 

populism, political program or movement that champions, or claims to champion, the common person, usually by favourable contrast with a real or perceived elite or establishment. Populism usually combines elements of the left and the right, opposing large business and financial interests but also frequently being hostile to established liberal, socialist, and labour parties.

The term populism can designate either democratic or authoritarian movements. Populism is typically critical of political representation and anything that mediates the relation between the people and their leader or government. In its most democratic form, populism seeks to defend the interests and maximize the power of ordinary citizens, through reform rather than revolution.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/populism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Populism

Why do they not use the term Populist to describe those citizens and politicians who embrace the science behind climate change and who actively campaign against fossil fuel companies and their political elites and the entrenched economic systems that push back against de-carbonizing industry and the economy?

Because being Pro-climate action is by definition a Populist political action movement.

[SeanAU]

Can a Leopard change it's spots?

If this is what 'US establishment leaning' Wikipedia still includes, makes you wonder what else was and maybe is still going on today somewhere.

1970-1989: Operation Condor and Latin America
From 1968 until 1989, the United States of America supported a campaign of political repression and state terrorism involving intelligence operations, CIA-backed coup d'états, and assassinations of left-wing and socialist leaders in South America as part of Operation Condor. It was officially implemented in November 1975 by the right-wing dictatorships of the Southern Cone of South America in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, and Paraguay with substantial US support.

Related: The Dismissal of the (Labor Left) Whitlam Government by the Governor-General, on November 11, 1975, still stands as the most dramatic and controversial event in Australia’s political history. https://whitlamdismissal.com/what-happened

In 1970 Salvador Allende of the Socialist Party of Chile won election against the independent Jorge Alessandri and Christian Democrat Radomiro Tomic. After the inauguration, there was a period of social and political unrest between the Congress of Chile, which was dominated by right-wing parties, and the Chilean left. Economic warfare was waged by Washington. U.S. President Richard Nixon had promised to "prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him" via damaging the Chilean economy.

On 11 September 1973 President Allende was overthrown by the Chilean Armed Forces, which brought to power the neoliberal regime of Augusto Pinochet. The United States government funded and supported the coup. By 1970 the U.S. manufacturing company ITT Corporation had owned 70% of Chitelco (the Chilean Telephone Company). During the election the CIA had used ITT to hide the source of United States funding to Allende's opponents.

A document released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 2000 revealed that the CIA supported Pinochet and the military junta after Allende's overthrow and that it made many of Pinochet's officers into paid contacts of the CIA or U.S. military.

Before the coup, more than 300 Chilean and foreign companies had been nationalized without payment by the Allende government. Among these companies, about 40 had American investment. By October 1973 Crown Cork and Seal Company was returned to its former management, and within the first two weeks of the coup most companies that had been nationalized were placed back into the hands of their former private managers.

In a 1976 Argentine coup d'état, the Argentine Armed Forces overthrew President Isabel Perón, who had been elected in the 1973 presidential election, thus starting the military dictatorship of General Jorge Rafael Videla. The coup and the military dictatorship were supported by the U.S. government.

In the aftermath of the coup and the ensuing Dirty War, companies like Ford Motors profited from the military dictatorship through the arrest, torture, and disappearing of up to 30,000 workers and trade unionists. For example, in 1975 Ford's Argentina subsidiary reported a (Loss margin) of -18%, but by 1977 it was 10% (Profit.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism#1970-1989:_Operation_Condor_and_Latin_America

Refs:

Operation Condor was a United States-backed campaign of political repression and state terrorism involving intelligence operations, CIA-backed coup d'états, as well as assassinations of left-wing socialist leaders in South America from 1968 to 1989.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor

Operation Condor - A criminal conspiracy to forcibly disappear people
Operation Condor was a formal system to coordinate repression among the countries of the Southern Cone that operated from the mid-1970s until the early eighties. It aimed to persecute and eliminate political, social, trade-union and student activists from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Brazil.

Operation Condor was officially founded on November 28, 1975 in Santiago, Chile during the closing session of the First Meeting of National Intelligence, and it was signed by intelligence representatives from Argentina (Jorge Casas, Navy captain, SIDE−the Argentine State Intelligence Secretariat), Bolivia (Carlos Mena, Army major), Chile (Manuel Contreras Sepúlveda, head of the DINA−the National Intelligence Office), Uruguay (José Fons, Army coronel) and Paraguay (Benito Guanes Serrano, Army coronel).
https://www.cels.org.ar/especiales/plancondor/en/

Operation Condor: the cold war conspiracy that terrorised South America
During the 1970s and 80s, eight US-backed military dictatorships jointly plotted the cross-border kidnap, torture, rape and murder of hundreds of their political opponents. Now some of the perpetrators are finally facing justice
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/sep/03/operation-condor-the-illegal-state-network-that-terrorised-south-america

 

[zenith]

another day, another illegal coup by the united states.

THIS Is Why The Rest Of The World Hates Us!

[johnm33]

Hudson and Escobar being asked a few questions about the recent Brics meeting. They're both there for the first hour, both worth the time, and Danny Haiphongs stopped gurning which makes him more watchable too. Escobar has been in Moscow recently and towards the end [of the hour] announces that sources have informed him that a Russian offensive is prepared and due towards the end of sept. he suggests it'll be a huminliation for nato.

I'll post a link to the transcript when it shows up.

[KiwiGriff]

he suggests it'll be a humiliation for nato.

How ? NATO is not at war with any one let alone with Russia .
NATO members are among those assisting Ukraine with supplying mostly obsolete weapons and end of life munitions.
The full force of NATO would roll over Russia in a matter of weeks.

A Russian wife turned to her husband and asked...
"What's this special military operation our glorious leader keeps talking about?"

Her husband replied, "It's a proxy war between Russia and NATO."

"Oh, right. How's it going?"

"Well," he replied, "so far we've lost 200,000 soldiers, 4,000 tanks, 500 aircraft, numerous helicopters, loads of armoured vehicles and artillery pieces along with our 'flag ship'."

"Wow! What about NATO?"

"They haven't turned up yet."

   

[El Cid]

........... sources have informed him that a Russian offensive is prepared and due towards the end of sept. he suggests it'll be a huminliation for nato.

Oh yes! The Wunderwaffe is getting readied and then all will be well for the Russians. LOL

[johnm33]

El Cid, Kiwi Griff some of us are going to get a surprise one way or the other.
Transcript to above video here
https://globalsouth.co/2023/08/29/pepe-escobar-and-michael-hudson-brics-plus-six-ukraine-multipolar-world-economy/

[Freegrass]

he suggests it'll be a humiliation for nato.

How ? NATO is not at war with any one let alone with Russia .
NATO members are among those assisting Ukraine with supplying mostly obsolete weapons and end of life munitions.
The full force of NATO would roll over Russia in a matter of weeks.

A Russian wife turned to her husband and asked...
"What's this special military operation our glorious leader keeps talking about?"

Her husband replied, "It's a proxy war between Russia and NATO."

"Oh, right. How's it going?"

"Well," he replied, "so far we've lost 200,000 soldiers, 4,000 tanks, 500 aircraft, numerous helicopters, loads of armoured vehicles and artillery pieces along with our 'flag ship'."

"Wow! What about NATO?"

"They haven't turned up yet."

 

Absolutely brilliant post... 🤣🤣🤣

The unipolar world order was always going to be a temporary affair. Napoleon said the world needs to watch out when the "sleeping giant" that is China woke up. It took a bit of time but so what. How long the next configuration (whatever that turns out to be) will last is anybody's guess.

When China becomes the dominant power again in the world, it'll last for many centuries, just like it has always been before. The world will have returned to its normal state...

Under normal conditions of course, without a global collapse of civilization...