“his attack on Western values including references to transitioning children and other hot-button topics in the West (including family values which may have included an indirect swipe at the new Italian PM) was IMO a touch of brilliance that reflects the old Vladimir rather than the current. I expect to see any attempt to go after such efforts in the West now resulting in accusations of being a Russian stooge/proxy/agent/etc. Yet more Gramscian damage to the West. Well played.” (from Laughing Wolf’s latest)
Although I largely agree, I have three points to make about Laughing Wolf’s phrasing here.
1) Either Putin has rebuked the Russian handler of the first transgender US army officer traitor and returned the information, or I think the sincerity of his opposition to weird wokeness in the west should be questioned. (But I predict the western activists accusing the unwoke of being his stooges won’t question it, so it may have some effect.)
2) Putin’s not such a genius for coming up with this idea. The Clinton campaign floated this story in 2016, and the idea that Trump is a Russian asset and his followers either traitors or dupes was insolently rerun by the Times and others this February and laughably fallen for by this pundit and others in March. So I think a degree of it was happening anyway and would have continued to happen. Putin’s remarks may not add much fresh fuel to that already-burning bonfire on the ice.
3) However, seeing what the usual suspects pretend Trump meant by Vlad’s “genius move” (and how many of the usual dupes swallowed it or pretended to) maybe Laughing Wolf should be more cautious about saying things like “a touch of brilliance that reflects the old Vladimir … Yet more Gramscian damage to the West.”, lest he suffer some ‘Gramscian’ damage himself. 🙂
Also from Laughing Wolf:
For all that the US was the focus of his bitching, Great Britain comes in for a lot of oblique criticism too. In fact, it might could be argued that more was directed at them than most may realize — it depends on how well one knows Russian history and Russian culture.
Nice to know we’re appreciated.
Most of Mr Putin’s speech yesterday was far left drivel – all about how the West is “racist”, “colonialist”, “Imperialist” and so on – it sounded like the BBC or the New York Times.
Mr Putin even claimed that the United States was still “occupying” Japan (yes Japan) – in reality it is Mr Putin’s Russia that is occupying some Japanese islands.
As for his attack on Frankfurt School Marxist “Woke” stuff (in this case the sexual mutilation of children) – of course his attack is TRUE, a good liar mixes lies with THE TRUTH.
“How can you say that anything he says is true – you AGENT OF PUTIN!”
Again, a good liar, in the Soviet KGB tradition mixes lies with the truth – that is how to get a hearing.
Also, people in the “Woke” (Frankfurt School of Marxism) beset West are desperate, and Mr Putin knows they are desperate – so he throws them (throws us) a bone.
To turn to Mr Putin as a saviour is indeed like a drowning man clutching at a poisonous snake.
“But that does not deny that we are drowning in the West”.
I do not deny that we are drowning in the West – the Frankfurt School of Marxism (the “Woke”) forces have done terrible cultural damage.
And Western economies are a mass of corruption – based on Fiat Money and Corporate Credit Bubble finance.
We have the “Cantillon Effect” (the concentration of wealth into a few, very corrupt, hands – due to Credit Money) taken to an insane extreme.
And we have governments in almost all Western lands that have usurped the basic functions of Civil Society – and that is leading to economic and cultural (societal) ruin.
My take on it is that the systemic whole currently consists of a bunch of different vortexes whose centers have gone all wibbly-wobbly, and which are spinning out of control of those who started them up and who’ve been benefiting from them the most.
Problem is, all the inherent internal contradictions are now in the early stages of coming clear to all observers and participants.
Case in point–The Soviets and Putin have railed against “colonialism”. Did they ever look in the freakin’ mirror? If Mother Russia bewailing colonialism isn’t the richest joke in history, I’ll put it up as a contender any day of the week. The war in Ukraine is basically Russia fighting a war to regain and retain their former colonial asset, akin to what might have happened if the UK had said “Ya know what…? I think we’ll keep India after we take it back again…”
It can’t be missed by all the various ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation that their relationship to Moscow is rather more colonial than anything else in the world at this time. So, that’s one spinning vortex of stupid whose metaphoric wheels are likely to come off in the near future, once the locals figure out what all those ethnic Russians are doing running things for their own benefit, screwing said locals good and hard. It’s already been noted that small towns are seeing 300 men mobilized, while the entirety of Moscow has a microscopic sliver mobilized in terms of per capita numbers.
Another vortex spinning out of control is the way the various parties in the US are losing their ever-loving minds. As an observer, I’m sitting here incredulous as the Democrats (who had nothing bad at all to say about the Clintons selling off much of our uranium to the Russian-owned Uranium One…) are now claiming to be enemies of Russia and the guardians of freedom, while the Republicans are being morphed by the media into these reactionary commie-loving creeps. With them playing right along… I don’t give it much more time, and the Democrats will turn up a McCarthy who will be running a Star Chamber-esque operation to go after “Russki Symps” in the ranks of their enemies.
Meanwhile, the majority of non-insane Americans are watching this and going “WTF?”
I’m telling you, a third party operation offering some common sense and decency would likely make huge inroads with the vast center of American politics, right now. Most of us are just sick and tired of the Democrat corruption and the Republican enablement of same. Where we’re at, right now? Most of the people making up Congress should be worried, because it ain’t far out of the realm of possibility that they’re going to make their last visit to their constituents and wind up dangling from a lamp post. People are that pissed-off and that angry over what they’re doing; for now, the majority are willing to let the system try and work things through, but once it becomes brutally apparent that the system has failed to control these idiots? No telling where that one ends; there aren’t enough security forces in the country to make anything stick, should they try to push things too far.
I think there’s a number where you can repress a certain number of people in a specific culture and still maintain power. The idiot class running the US right now has edged right up to that number here, and I suspect things are going to look right lively should they exceed it.
As I told some friends of mine in the police a few years ago–You only police with the numbers they have so long as they have the consent and good will of the public they’re policing. You want full-scale repressive powers? You need to have damn near one cop per potential troublemaker, and they don’t have those numbers nor can they obtain them. And, Americans being derived from the world’s genetic stock of troublemakers? I’d highly advise against the attempt. In a lot of countries I’ve been in, the authorities say something and the public just quietly acquiesces to whatever it is; in the US, if what the authorities say makes sense to the people they’re telling it to, they’ll usually listen and conform. If it doesn’t? “Who the hell are you to be telling me anything, bud?”
I remember an incident from when I was in Germany back during the mid-1980s. Small town, narrow street, stalled car at the top of the street. Little old lady struggling with it all, line of cars behind her waiting. Motorcycle Polizei cop shows up, parks his bike on the side of the road, and with an incredible amount of brass, walks along the line of cars, pointing at able-bodied males, never saying a word, gathering them up with his gestures. All of them got out of their cars, followed him up to the stalled car, and he just casually waved them over to pick it up and set it on the verge. He never touched the car itself, just arrogantly stood their in his perfectly-shined jackboots and gestured. When the car was off the road, the gathered men just waited placidly for him to wave them off with a tip of his immaculate Polizei cap, and then they all went back to their cars and drove on past the elderly woman, who was having a ticket written for, I presume, obstruction of traffic.
Another GI and I watched that, incredulous. The Polizei officer skipped our car, I presume because of the USAEUR plates, and we got out ourselves to see what was going on, and joined in the help. As we got in our car and left, my friend looked over at me and said “Try that in the States; someone’s gonna get his cop ass beaten in…”
American cop could likely get the same result, but he’d have to ask nicely. The authoritarian thing goes over really badly with most Americans, and I don’t think the idiot class really grasps that fact. They’ve been deracinated from their heritage and fellow Americans, and the reacquaintance with both is going to come along with an ugly set of surprises.
No Nick – the point is not hypocrisy.
To say “Russia is being hypocritical because it has done X,Y,Z” is to accept the line Mr Putin is pushing – namely that the wealth of the West came from “exploiting” and “oppressing” other people.
Nick it is the old Marxist line – the sort of thing the KGB people (back when Mr Putin was in it) privately said that only “shit eaters” believed.
The speech of Mr Putin yesterday was “shit” – please do not “eat the shit”, by saying “well yes – but what about what you did…”
The Marxist line (that the West became rich by “exploitation” and “oppression”) is a LIE – there is no need to accept the lie and then try “but what about what you did”.
My apologies – the writer was not Nick, it was Kirk.
Kirk:
With all due respect, this is grossly inconsistent:
If you say that the Republicans are enabling Democrat corruption (and why not Woke insanity?), then you are saying that the GOP is ***too close** to the Democrats.
Therefore, people who are opposed to Democrat corruption (and insanity) are NOT “the vast center of American politics“: there is no space for a “center” between GOP and Democrats.
Majority???
I doubt that there is a majority of sane people in any country, although i admit that most people are not insane enough to suffer from their insanity.
Until disaster strikes.
—- BTW i found your anecdote about German deference to authority quite interesting; but let me tell you that i very much doubt that that sort of thing could happen anywhere further North (or further South).
And are you sure that the policeman did not say Bitte?
I can’t speak for Kirk, but I don’t think there is any real difference between the parties in the US. Between what the normal people want, sure, but what the leadership of the GOP and the DNC want? They only differ on how they want to get there.
I don’t know how it works in Britain, but in the US the old adage is that 40% of the electorate will vote Democrat no matter what. 40% will vote Republican no matter what. It’s the remaining 20% that are up for grabs. And that 20% are the moderates, the independents, the people who like this plank of that that party versus that plank of this party and who are deciding which candidate is least offensive.
But here’s the thing: most voters in the US treat politics like spectator sports. I vote for this guy because he has the right letter after his name. I can’t tell you a thing about him except he’s a R or D. And if he commits some crime, it’s okay because your guy or party does worse and I’ll cherry-pick crimes and coverups to illustrate my prove my point. The talking head interviewers won’t let the candidates or elected officials get a word in edgewise and constantly interrupt so they can get that “gotcha!” moment we’ll put online for 50 million viewers to watch on Youtube or Twitter or TikTok. The news shows will only show fifteen second clips of speeches so they too can get the “gotcha!” moments. But it’s all so I can say “see, my guy/party/team is better”. I vote whatever because my daddy did and my granddaddy did because once upon a time that party stood for [IMPORTANT ISSUE] so that’s how I vote, regardless of the actual track record of my party or candidate.
And we still haven’t even gotten to pork coming home.
Something like 94% of incumbents will be reelected to Congress every election cycle. Unless an incumbent gets caught with a live boy or a dead girl he is there for life and they all know it. So yeah, long story short, is the GOP members on Capitol Hill are very very close to the DNC members and all the corruption that goes along with Congress.
It’s like George Carlin said, “it’s a big club and you ain’t in it.”
Steven R. I must beg to differ.
For example, take the rising star of the Democrat Party – Governor Gavin Newsom of California.
In just the last few days Governor Newsom has signed into a law a Bill that would censor medical doctors (that Bill will cost many lives as what it called “misinformation” and “disinformation” is the truth – and the Bill also tears up the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States).
And Governor Newsom has just signed into law a Bill that supports the sexual mutilation of children – even if they are brought into California from other States without the knowledge of their parents.
Governor Newsom is not some fringe figure in the Democrat Party – he is mainstream.
What they are doing is evil – it is evil Steven.
The Republicans are horribly weak (cowardly) – but they are not like this.
The insane (and evil) Collectivist doctrines that control the universities and media (including the entertainment media) are manifesting themselves via the Democrats.
There is a danger of being “Black Pilled” – I suffer from depression (what used to be called melancholia) myself, I am often close to despair.
But it is not true – the Republicans and the Democrats are not the same, it does matter who wins elections.
And elections are won by turning out your own supporters – if your own supporters do not turn out, then you lose.
The “floating voters” do not tend to turn up and vote – so it is pointless aiming a campaign at them.
A lot of those kinds of laws are just pandering to their base. They know they won’t pass judicial muster, but the state and Federal legislatures do it anyway so they can tell the party faithful “hey, we tried. It’s the evil judges appointed by [INSERT OTHER PARTY NAME HERE], now open up those checkbooks so we can get them next time.”
Yeah, there are some real nutcases in the DNC with some evil plans they try to push into law. There are some in the GOP who do the same from their end. The problem isn’t the agenda of those fringe types, even the ones like Newsome who do end up as governors or even president, it’s not even the occasional truly evil act like murdering staffers or using the Alphabet Agencies as political bullies or killing citizens and then covering it up and redacting any FOIA releases. That’s to be expected I’m sorry to say, but rather the systemic corruption of everyone involved with the legislative process. All those campaign contributions end up in someone’s pocket. All those porkbarrel projects end up benefitting someone close to the process. All those insider trading laws Congress has specifically exempted themselves from turn thousandaires into multimillionaires. All those no-bid contracts that go to the spouses of Congressmen. And all those ex-Congressmen that end up as lobbyists who can gladhand the next generation of corrupt politicians.
The true evil comes down to the American people not demanding the press act as an impartial watchdog of the whole thing and then removing any and all traces of corruption as it pops up. We’re complacent. We’re fat and sated and have jobs and a million other excuses why we can’t be bothered to do our duty and rein in government at every level.
It’s our own damned fault, but at this point there is no voting our ways out of it.
Claire Wolf was right.
See, here’s the thing: Politicians and politics in the United States operate in that liminal region beneath what most people bother to pay attention to.
If you’re a really enthusiastic Democrat or Republican, you’re unusual. It’s about like sports teams; the really rabid fans are the ones who drive it all. Nobody else pays attention to them, most of the time. Local favorites win something big, then everyone in that catchment area for that team will likely go along with it.
As in sports, so in politics. Difference being that there are way more sports team adherents who really, truly “give a f*ck” about their teams than there are people who really care about politics.
The trick is, if you’re an American politician, you need to stay in that liminal window where what you do doesn’t impinge on the consciousness of the average American. And, if it does, you’d better make sure it impinges in a neutral way; you do not want anyone going down to buy gas and then muttering darkly about the way your policies have raised the prices.
Where the Democrats and their Republican fellow-travelers have royally screwed the pooch is that it is now impossible not to notice what they are doing. This is going to lead to Bad Things(TM) happening to incumbents and anyone supporting the current status quo in politics this November.
Enough people have had the results of politics come into their personal lives at this point; they’ve been converted from the uncaring to the caring. Which is always, always a fatal mistake in American politics. You don’t want to engage the full attention of the masses; the last crew to manage that were the Confederates, when they opened fire on Fort Sumter. Had they let well enough alone, I suspect that the North would have had a hard time getting everyone else on board for the Civil War, and whatever Lincoln did to try and make something happen would have been for naught; apathy would have led to a “two-state” solution, rather than civil war.
There wasn’t an awful lot of enthusiasm for war, up until Sumter. Which is something an awful lot of people fail to remember, or understand the implications thereof.
Kirk is right. My member of the House is David McKinley. He’s been there 12 years and I can’t think of a single thing he’s said or done since he’s been there except say he’s going to fight to keep Social Security and Medicare funded, which is the absolute safest thing any politician in DC can say.
He’ll probably be there another 12 years and have accomplished absolutely nothing in that time which makes him the perfect member of the House.
With all due respect (again); Steven, Paul, and Kirk seem to have completely missed my points:
First, that it is illogical and nonsensical to claim that Republicans do not offer an effective opposition to Democrats… but “””centrists””” do.
This is true a priori: independently of whether Republicans offer an effective opposition to Democrats.
Second, that the majority of people* is delusionally insane.
* I do not necessarily exclude myself: I presume that other people are delusionally insane when their beliefs are contradicted by some easily-obtained facts — BUT i do not know whether i myself have beliefs that are contradicted by some easily-obtained facts: if i knew, i’d have changed my mind already.
And i did, on many issues.
1) Neither Republicans (or at least the establishment Republicans) nor centrists offer effective opposition to Democrats. The Republicans as a party don’t want to oppose the Democrats; they merely wish to be an opposition party that can do nothing more than drag their feet and put out their hands for campaign donations for the next fight. The Centrists simply are not cohesive enough nor do they have the numbers to do much in any event.
2) I believe that the majority of people really don’t like either extreme, but either don’t know what to do since the only choice in the US are douchebags or turd sandwiches OR they treat politics like a spectator sport.
3) When the people in the middle do make their voices heard they are vilified in the media for it. Case in point: a whole bunch of normal Americans who were sick of politics as usual voted for the outsider in 2016 and have been called Nazis and then watched a presidential election be stolen right in front of their eyes for their efforts. Since the only other option was to start killing folks, something most people try to avoid, they don’t know what to do. That’s where we’re at.
Steven: You don’t have (and maybe you didn’t even intend) to address the issues that i raised above — but i should hope that you are not under the delusion that you have addressed them.
Let’s try this:
Does the Republican in the street oppose what the Democrats want? Yes.
Does the establishment Republicans in Congress oppose what the Democrats want: Only so far as it appears that they are fighting and need more campaign contributions, but effectively no.
Do the non-aligned centrists in the streets oppose what the Democrats want? Generally, but it depends on the issue.
Do the establishment non-aligned centrists in Congress oppose what the Democrats want? What establish non-aligned centrists?
It’s a decent summary and a fair question.
One thing I’d not be keen to do would be to reward the stealing party by letting them win a seat that my vote could deny them. Compared to legal punishment, merely political loss for being the principals in gross vote fraud is inadequate (especially when the word ‘inadequate’ also applies to the proffered alternative) – but visible political reward for it goes well beyond inadequate.
The election was stolen by vote fraud in 1960, in Chicago and Texas. Nixon wimped out of fighting then – as many RINOs have now – with fake-noble cowardice about serving the country better by not undermining the stability of politics, public trust, etc.. Such restraint was not reciprocated when those who stole it from him in 1960 saw in his own dodgy acts a chance to nullify his 1972 victory – as anyone with a clue could have foreseen. Trump acted far more admirably in denouncing the fraud when it happened, though unwise in not preparing for it far more vigorously and far earlier.
My impression (from a distance that puts my opinions very much at a discount) is that people are watching and waiting to see how much stealing marks the midterms, and how they (nevertheless?) go. A number of commenters on instapundit and elsewhere have described recent FBI actions as classic agent provocateur tactics to try and incite something they can make something of before they risk losing control of the formal legalities.
Niall.
I have suggested previously on here that the principal battlegrounds, as far as the Senate mid-terms are concerned, will be among the same dirty “suspend counting at 2am” states which turned the 2020 election.
I am unaware of any significant changes in these states’ legislatures which might restore integrity to the election process and have little faith in the widely-held belief that the Republicans will flip the Senate (even then to what effect considering McConnell’s proven ability to stymie anything remotely resembling conservative legislation?).
I doubt if the FBI will be much of a factor in the mid-terms. Their attention, along with that of the DOJ, will be focused squarely on either Trump or De Santis in 2023 & 2024.
They don’t even need McConnell to stop conservative efforts when the RINOs like Mittens and Murkowski and the thankfully now-dead McCain are in the Senate.
I don’t expect party members to always vote lock-step with each other on every issue, but occasionally, just occasionally, it would be nice if they remembered the supposed principles of the GOP and voted that way.
OK, let’s try this:
Steven: apart from the internal contradictions in your comments, you are simply not answering my comments: you are answering somebody else4’s comments.
I don’t know whose.