W. Niederhut

P.S. I'm still waiting for Jeff Carter and the Putin apologists to tell us what they think about Vladimir Sorokin's article in The Guardian today. Why the silence? Vladimir Putin sits atop a crumbling pyramid of power | Vladimir Sorokin | The Guardian Is Sorokin's perspective on the history of Putin and the Russian Federation during the past 20 years accurate? How about Gary Kasparov's perspective, which I posted here a week or so ago? (Greeted by silence.) Is it possible that Kasparov and Sorokin know more about the modern Russian Federation than we do? 🤥

Chris, I've said as much repeatedly. To wit, I'm not an apologist for the black ops and war crimes of NATO and, as I said above, the NATO exercises with Ukraine last fall were an unnecessary, foolish provocation. That said, Putin apologists are ignoring the man-eating Russian bear in the living room, while fretting about what Putin wants in order to feel happy about his fascist police state. Who gives a flying f--- about what Vlad Putin wants? He's a dictator, a murderer, and a thief. What about what the people of Ukraine want? Why are Putin apologists dodging that question?

Honestly, I'm astonished at the naivete (or dishonesty, in Jeff's case) of the Putin apologists on the forum. Sadly, you guys seem to have no awareness of what has been happening in the Russian Federation during the past 20 years under Putin's rule. The RF became a fascist police state in the 21st century. I realized that fact 15 years ago. I've been there, studied it, and I've also fraternized with the Russian Orthodox community here in Denver for the past quarter century. I recently posted a comment with a book review I wrote in 2010 about former KGB Col. Konstantin Preobrazhensky's expose of the Putin/FSB annexation of the ROCOR in 2007. No comments from the Jeff Carter's peanut gallery, other than Jeff's erroneous comment that Putin critics are merely posting propaganda from the M$M. It's Jeff's latest absurdity, because Preobrazhensky's book and the 2007 KGB/MP/ROCOR putsch was completely ignored by the M$M. At the time, only ITASS reported Putin's cynical comment that, "Religion is one of Russia's best weapons of self defense!" In my recent post, I wrote that, "people in the West are finally seeing Putin for who he really is, a KGB apparatchik from the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute." Then, today, Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin wrote exactly what I posted here a few days ago-- that "Putin's mask" has cracked, exposing the Andropov-trained KGB agent inside. Obviously, Sorokin knows a great deal more about Putin and the Russian Federation than I do, but we both, independently, reached the same conclusion. I'd like to know what the Putin apologists here have to say about Sorokin's observations of Putin and the Russian Federation.

Interesting analysis of Putin published in The Guardian today by the Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin. Oliver Stone interviewed the Mask of Putin, the "enlightened autocrat," which has now been removed. Sorokin confirms my impression of Putin after I witnessed the Act of Canonical Communion in 2007 (above) but he adds a lot of historical details about Putin's transformation during the past 20 years. The underlying theme of Sorokin's analysis echoes Lord Acton's famous dictum that, "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Vladimir Putin sits atop a crumbling pyramid of power | Vladimir Sorokin | The Guardian

Russia Condemned for Alleged Use of Cluster Bombs in Ukraine There must be "an immediate halt to use of the internationally banned weapon," said the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition. Russia Condemned for Alleged Use of Cluster Bombs in Ukraine (commondreams.org)

Mad Vlad is ramping up his shelling of civilians in Kyiv and elsewhere tonight, and possibly bringing in thermobaric bombs and flame throwers. Last time I checked it was a war crime to gratuitously murder non-combatant civilians. At what point do President Biden and NATO tell the little KGB son-of-a-bitch to knock it off, or else? It's beyond outrageous.

Russian missile strikes a residential building in Kyiv.

Jim, If I recall correctly, the principle of self-determination was promoted by FDR in the original Atlantic Charter negotiations with Winston Churchill. NATO evolved from that original Anglo-American framework. I'm not an apologist for NATO's black ops and war crimes, but who among us can deny that NATO nations are free, democratic states-- in sharp contrast to Putin's nationalist/fascist police state in the neo-Soviet Russian Federation? That was where I disagreed with Kuznick and Oliver Stone's portrayal of Soviet post-war history in The Untold History series. Did Kuznick and Stone ever study the writings of my favorite 20th century socialist, Milovan Djilas, including Djilas's Conversations With Stalin? Djilas, Tito and the Yugoslavs never had any illusions about Russian imperialism. What is missing from the Putin apologists in 2022 is any acknowledgement of Ukraine's right to self-determination. Ukrainian's don't want to be part of Putin's totalitarian police state. Why would they? Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew granted autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2018 because the Ukrainians didn't want to be under the thumb of Putin's KGB Moscow Patriarchate. (Bartholomew did the same thing for the Estonian Orthodox Church in 1996.) Who could blame them? As Charles P. Pierce phrased it in Esquire this week, "When Did We Stop Caring That Ukraine Doesn't Want To Be Part Of Russia?"

Hmmm... I learn something new every day on this forum. Kaliningrad (aka Konigsburg) is the Russia Federation's only ice free port on the Baltic-- annexed by the USSR at the end of WWII, and retained as RF territory after the dissolution of the USSR. The old Prussian port was renamed for the Bolshevik Politburo member and, unlike Leningrad and Stalingrad, has retained its 20th century Bolshevik moniker.

Correct, except for Poland, which borders Belarus, Lithuania, and Ukraine. I just realized that Norway does share a border with Russia's extreme northwest corner, north of Finland. Meanwhile, Putin has, apparently, threatened to drop thermobaric bombs on Ukraine, if the Ukrainians don't surrender.

And, meanwhile, the Russian people, apparently, don't even know what's going on... ‘Pure Orwell’: how Russian state media spins invasion as liberation | Russia | The Guardian

Indeed. Mad Vlad has even engaged in nuclear sable rattling, and now this! Russia Issues Ominous Warning to Finland, Sweden Should They Join NATO www.newsweek.com/russia-threatens-finland-sweden-nato-ukraine-invasion-1682715

Joe, I just finished reading the late LA journalist Fernando Faura's 2016 book about the RFK assassination, The Polka Dot File, which contains a wealth of firsthand witness testimony about RFK's assassination from the summer of '68. Faura documents very clearly how the FBI and LAPD systematically suppressed and lied about the obvious evidence of a conspiracy. The cover up wasn't even subtle. The two lead LAPD "investigators," Pena and Hernandez, were cops who had been working for the CIA (AID program) before being recalled to LA to manage the RFK assassination cover up.

Well, folks, I'll blurt it out... Where's Operation ZR/RIFLE when we really need it?

1) He didn't want to start WWIII, and Ukraine is not a member of NATO. 2) He probably doesn't want to alienate our NATO allies by blocking their access to fossil fuels in the winter. Now, let's get back to focusing on Putin's historic, catastrophic invasion of Ukraine. One of the points made in the second reference article I posted for you is that the Trump/MAGA faction of the GOP are responding to the invasion by praising Putin, blaming Biden, and/or deflecting to discussions about China. Does that sound familiar?

He was quite intelligent, but also nuts. For example, in his strange book on Hypnosis and Religion, Bryan proposes a theory that the healing miracles of Jesus described in the New Testament were actually accomplished by hypnosis. For example, he posits that the "lepers" healed by Jesus were actually not suffering from leprosy, but from neuro-dermatitis or Hansen's disease. Some of his interpretations of the scriptures were so bizarre that I couldn't help laughing while reading the book. But he was, obviously, quite serious and, evidently, pious. Now that you mention David Ferrie, as I recall, he was also quite religious, and had even attended a Catholic seminary before embarking on his strange career as a CIA pilot, hypnotist, and anti-Castro gun runner.

Ben, Are you repeating some anti-Biden talking points from Fox News, or what? 🤥 Let's recall that Fox News, Trump, Pompeo, and the Trumplicans have been singing Putin's praises as recently as this week. It's absolutely absurd. Russian T.V. is even broadcasting clips of Tucker Carlson and Mike Pompeo praising Putin. So, not surprisingly, Trumplicans and the Fox Propaganda channel are now anxiously blaming Biden for Putin's catastrophic decision to attack Ukraine-- after ridiculing Biden's warnings last week! You never read the references I post, but here are two accurate, reality-based references about; 1) Biden and Trump's policies toward Putin and NATO -- written by Russia expert, Dr. Fiona Hill, and 2) The truly bizarre Republican responses to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Enjoy. Former top Trump Russia adviser details the sharp contrast between the former President and Biden www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-top-trump-russia-adviser-details-the-sharp-contrast-between-the-former-president-and-biden/ar-AAU5Chu?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531 Ukrainian Crisis Reveals GOP’s Inability to Form Positions, Message, Or Even Unify www.politicususa.com/2022/02/23/ukrainian-crisis-reveals-gops-inability-to-form-positions-message-or-even-unify.html

The Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. reported today that a Russian platoon had surrendered in Ukraine, and told their Ukrainian captors that they didn't realize that they were being sent into Ukraine to kill Ukrainians. It sounds unbelievable, but my hunch is that the vast majority of Russians don't really know what is going on. it reminds me of a time when I was in St. Petersburg, in about 2005, and our elderly Russian tour guide was describing what it was like for Russians when they realized, after the advent of Perestroika and Glasnost, that Western democracies were actually wealthy, free, and prosperous. Everyone was shocked, depressed, and disillusioned. Soviet Pravda had painted an illusory picture of Western "reality" for decades. And, in fact, someone at Slate has presented a compelling case that Putin wasn't primarily worried about NATO in Ukraine. He was worried about the advent of democracy-- which would undermine his totalitarian police state. Putin’s War Was Never Actually About NATO https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/02/putin-war-is-not-about-nato.html February 24, 2022

William Bryan's San Diego history is probably related to his alleged WWII service in the U.S. Navy. But I've had difficulty tracking down any details about his life and work for the CIA. Obviously, his famous grandfather was from Nebraska, but I can't even find information about where he went to college and medical school. I'm curious about whether he had met or been trained in hypnosis by Estabrooks at some point. Judging from his book, Religion and Hypnosis, Bryan was, obviously, raised as a Protestant, and was, at least, superficially pious before his descent into drug abuse, carousing with prostitutes, and sexual abuse of patients in the 60s and 70s. He must have been quite the psychopath to program Sirhan in the plot to murder Bobby Kennedy.

Today, people in the West are finally seeing Putin for who he really is-- an old KGB apparatchik who was trained at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute. Remember Andropov? I figured this out back in 2007, when Putin and the FSB seized the ROCOR and started sending ordained FSB Orthodox "priests" into confiscated churches in Western Europe, North America, and Australia. The U.S. M$M never picked up on the ROCOR/MP story. It was the same playbook that the NKVD used inside of Russia after 1917. I wrote an Amazon review of former KGB Col. Konstantin Preobrazhensky's 2009 book on this subject in 2010, using the pen name, Dr. Ambrosius Aurelius. (Just realized that my old paperback of Preobrazhensky's book is selling for $199!) https://www.amazon.com/KGB-FSBs-New-Trojan-Horse/dp/0615249086

Yes, Matt, some of the amoral pettifoggery around here is difficult to stomach-- as it was during Jeff's repeated denial of Russian hacking of our 2016 election, of Trump's obvious status as a compromised Russian asset, Putin's successful, asymmetrical "Gerasimov Doctrine" warfare to divide the U.S. along racial and cultural fault lines, and Jeff's more recent denial of Trump's January 6th coup attempt. If these threads were innings in a baseball game, Jeff would be batting zero. No runs, no hits, and lots of errors. As for Ukraine, it's extremely upsetting to witness a free people under attack by a scoundrel like Vladimir Putin-- a dictator who has murdered dissenting journalists, incarcerated opposition politicians, and turned the Russian Federation's nascent democracy into a fascist police state. I share your moral indignation. And your point about the what-about-ism is exactly right. I took some flak back in 2003 for opposing the Bush/Cheney invasion of Iraq. I have also been opposed to our imperialist wars in Afghanistan Syria, Libya, and Yemen. But the war crimes of Bush, Cheney, and the Neocons don't justify Putin's invasion of Ukraine. It's an abomination. Charles P. Pierce said it well at Esquire today. When Did It Stop Mattering That Ukraine Doesn't Want to Be Part of Russia? https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a39178953/biden-sanctions-russia-ukraine-putin-oligarchs/ February 23, 2022

I think a movie about Fahey's story on June 4th (and later) would be an Oscar winning thriller. Can you imagine how Fahey must have felt when he woke up on June 5th and heard the news that RFK was shot at the Ambassador Hotel? After his detailed interview with Faura, then with the LAPD, he was re-contacted by the FBI and refused to talk to Faura. The guy was, obviously, terrified.

This is one of the best things I've read on the subject all week. I'm posting it for my fellow "leftist," Maestro Paul Brancato. Greetings from a Finnish leftist! The international situation has apparently left many people in the English-speaking countries confused. I write this thread in the hopes of sharing a perspective I believe is widely if not unilaterally shared in Finland, most leftists included. https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1496047631969234944.html February 22, 2022

And, meanwhile, there is no trace of Estabrooks (or Bryan) in the extant CIA records, to my knowledge. BTW, I just read William Bryan's strange book on Religion and Hypnosis. It truly surprised me, because he sounded pious and somewhat knowledgeable about Christianity--nothing like the Manchurian candidate-programming CIA psychiatrist and drug addict who cavorted with prostitutes and seduced patients!

Paul, Ironically, the fascist elements in the U.S. and Europe (e.g., Trump, Orban) have been aligned with Putin! As for Russian Federation totalitarianism, don't be deceived. There is no free press, dissent, or political opposition in the Russian Federation. It is, essentially, a fascist dictatorship. Putin has even promoted nationalist, Hitler Jugend style Russian youth groups. And the Soviet era KGB never disappeared. It simply changed its name. I have seen what happens when Putin and the FSB move in. In the case of the ROCOR, I have even known, or known of, men who were beaten up and/or kidnapped by the FSB. Resistance is futile, and people are afraid. It's probably the same in any totalitarian police state. Those FSB guys don't mess around. I believe they will be as ruthless toward democratic dissenters in Ukraine as they have been toward dissenters in the Russian Federation. Probably worse. (BTW, Putin's father served in one of those brutal NKVD "Destruction Brigades" in WWII-- the guys who enforced Communist Party control along the Western Front.) As for self-determination and honest plebiscites, I'm all for them. But that's not what Putin has in mind for Ukraine. He isn't negotiating or looking for popular approval. He's invading. Honestly, would any of us knowingly support a totalitarian police state like the RF over a democracy? What has been the fate of NATO member nations thus far? Have they been oppressed by the U.S. and NATO? If so, why have the former Soviet bloc nations been so desperate to join NATO?