Guest Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 Jordan Peterson talks to Lex Fridman and gives his opinion on Putin and the Ukraine situation after The Atlantic did a hit job on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 Address to participants and guests of the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security August 16, 2022 10:05 Address to participants and guests of the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Ladies and gentlemen, Esteemed foreign guests, Let me welcome you to the anniversary 10th Moscow Conference on International Security. Over the past decade, your representative forum has become a significant venue for discussing the most pressing military-political problems. Today, such an open discussion is particularly pertinent. The situation in the world is changing dynamically and the outlines of a multipolar world order are taking shape. An increasing number of countries and peoples are choosing a path of free and sovereign development based on their own distinct identity, traditions and values. These objective processes are being opposed by the Western globalist elites, who provoke chaos, fanning long-standing and new conflicts and pursuing the so-called containment policy, which in fact amounts to the subversion of any alternative, sovereign development options. Thus, they are doing all they can to keep hold onto the hegemony and power that are slipping from their hands; they are attempting to retain countries and peoples in the grip of what is essentially a neocolonial order. Their hegemony means stagnation for the rest of the world and for the entire civilisation; it means obscurantism, cancellation of culture, and neoliberal totalitarianism. They are using all expedients. The United States and its vassals grossly interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states by staging provocations, organising coups, or inciting civil wars. By threats, blackmail, and pressure, they are trying to force independent states to submit to their will and follow rules that are alien to them. This is being done with just one aim in view, which is to preserve their domination, the centuries-old model that enables them to sponge on everything in the world. But a model of this sort can only be retained by force. This is why the collective West – the so-called collective West – is deliberately undermining the European security system and knocking together ever new military alliances. NATO is crawling east and building up its military infrastructure. Among other things, it is deploying missile defence systems and enhancing the strike capabilities of its offensive forces. This is hypocritically attributed to the need to strengthen security in Europe, but in fact quite the opposite is taking place. Moreover, the proposals on mutual security measures, which Russia put forward last December, were once again disregarded. They need conflicts to retain their hegemony. It is for this reason that they have destined the Ukrainian people to being used as cannon fodder. They have implemented the anti-Russia project and connived at the dissemination of the neo-poopoo ideology. They looked the other way when residents of Donbass were killed in their thousands and continued to pour weapons, including heavy weapons, for use by the Kiev regime, something that they persist in doing now. Under these circumstances, we have taken the decision to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine, a decision which is in full conformity with the Charter of the United Nations. It has been clearly spelled out that the aims of this operation are to ensure the security of Russia and its citizens and protect the residents of Donbass from genocide. The situation in Ukraine shows that the United States is attempting to draw out this conflict. It acts in the same way elsewhere, fomenting the conflict potential in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As is common knowledge, the US has recently made another deliberate attempt to fuel the flames and stir up trouble in the Asia-Pacific. The US escapade towards Taiwan is not just a voyage by an irresponsible politician, but part of the purpose-oriented and deliberate US strategy designed to destabilise the situation and sow chaos in the region and the world. It is a brazen demonstration of disrespect for other countries and their own international commitments. We regard this as a thoroughly planned provocation. It is clear that by taking these actions the Western globalist elites are attempting, among other things, to divert the attention of their own citizens from pressing socioeconomic problems, such as plummeting living standards, unemployment, poverty, and deindustrialisation. They want to shift the blame for their own failures to other countries, namely Russia and China, which are defending their point of view and designing a sovereign development policy without submitting to the diktat of the supranational elites. We also see that the collective West is striving to expand its bloc-based system to the Asia-Pacific region, like it did with NATO in Europe. To this end, they are creating aggressive military-political unions such as AUKUS and others. It is obvious that it is only possible to reduce tensions in the world, overcome military-political threats and risks, improve trust between countries and ensure their sustainable development through a radical strengthening of the contemporary system of a multipolar world. I reiterate that the era of the unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past. No matter how strongly the beneficiaries of the current globalist model cling to the familiar state of affairs, it is doomed. The historic geopolitical changes are going in a totally different direction. And, of course, your conference is another important proof of the objective processes forming a multipolar world, bringing together representatives from many countries who want to discuss security issues on an equal footing, and conduct a dialogue that takes into account the interests of all parties, without exception. I want to emphasise that the multipolar world, based on international law and more just relations, opens up new opportunities for counteracting common threats, such as regional conflicts and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and cybercrime. All these challenges are global, and therefore it would be impossible to overcome them without combining the efforts and potentials of all states. As before, Russia will actively and assertively participate in such coordinated joint efforts; together with its allies, partners and fellow thinkers, it will improve the existing mechanisms of international security and create new ones, as well as consistently strengthen the national armed forces and other security structures by providing them with advanced weapons and military equipment. Russia will secure its national interests, as well as the protection of its allies, and take other steps towards building of a more democratic world where the rights of all peoples and cultural and civilisational diversity are guaranteed. We need to restore respect for international law, for its fundamental norms and principles. And, of course, it is important to promote such universal and commonly acknowledged agencies as the United Nations and other international dialogue platforms. The UN Security Council and the General Assembly, as it was intended initially, are supposed to serve as effective tools to reduce international tensions and prevent conflicts, as well as facilitate the provision of reliable security and wellbeing of countries and peoples. In conclusion, I want to thank the conference organisers for their major preparatory work and I wish all participants substantial discussions. I am sure that the forum will continue to make a significant contribution to the strengthening of peace and stability on our planet and facilitate the development of constructive dialogue and partnership. Thank you for your attention. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 Just wondered if any of you Russia/Ukraine aficionados has had the chance to read Putin’s speech on the 16th of August. What is to be gleaned from these words? Would anyone care to unpack this? Some of the stuff he is saying is what we all know about the US govt and its security apparatus. Hmm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 23 minutes ago, Chris Barnard said: Just wondered if any of you Russia/Ukraine aficionados has had the chance to read Putin’s speech LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 2 minutes ago, Matt Allison said: LOL See, we can all laugh 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 5 hours ago, Douglas Caddy said: Headline in today's New York Times: Growing Evidence Against a Republican Wave Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, it’s increasingly hard to see the once-clear signs of a G.O.P. advantage. There may be truth in this. It looks like the Supreme Court handed a real election tool to the Donks. Abortion is a very divisive issue, and also something of a diversionary one. A person might be for or against abortion, and that has nothing to do with foreign military wars or how wealth and income are taxed, and so on. The big stuff. But if a diversionary issue can be made into a wedge issue, the parties will exploit it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 9 hours ago, Kirk Gallaway said: This is what I mean by Spam. Ben has posted at least 4 posts on this. Now he dredges up a 5 year article and feigns faux astonishment of Schumer merely saying something everyone here already knows? And citing this as evidence that" Schumer and da donks" being in bed with the "Shadow Government Deep State" and couldn't just be an overall statement of common sense? Just like telling Roger Stone he's a complete fool for his tweets insulting his judge in his ongoing trial? And probably about a dozen posts saying this. Ben: Still waiting for a court trial, with an able well-funded defense, in an open courtroom. State investigations and prosecutions deserve detached, and skeptical review. Ben, We know by now you're an American justice homey who in this case thinks a 1/6 court trial will entirely turn around every testimony of all Trump's personal advisors , lawyers, cabinet members and his own family who desperately urged him to take action to call off the rioters that he ignored for over 3 hours, not even to mention the many who discouraged him from pursuing his election fraud claims in the first place. Just taking your advice, and giving a "detached, skeptical review." Kirk: Noted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 Something new and fresh and exciting for Kirk: The Great Disappearing Raid Story Did that big news two weeks ago actually happen? Matt Taibbi Aug 24 Excuse me for giving a dooky, but what happened to the Trump raid story? Two weeks ago, the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was the biggest story on earth and seemingly one of the most consequential American news events since 9/11. The search inspired a few hours of social media jubilation, followed by roughly a week of frenzied leaking as a parade of national security soothsayers unspooled sinister scenarios on TV, and then — nothing. The line went dead. By last week’s end, the cancellation of Brian Stelter on CNN was a top national headline in comparison. With a caveat that the relative quiet could be upended by a court decision Thursday, could we pause to reflect on the oddness of this episode? Has a story this big ever receded to the back pages this quickly? ... ---30--- First, a moment of silence for Brian Stelter. ---interlude of silence for Stelter--- Whatever you think of Trump (some people here have expressed some views, perhaps repeatedly) the guy has more lives than armored teflon cat. Explosive bombshell after explosive bombshell has dropped daily on Trump, but there he is, his big orange hair unbowed, and inflaming opponents into derangement. The raid story has human interest angles...but really, the federal government knew about the suspect boxes for months and months, and had already pawed through them, and wanted them back...and this means Trump will be prosecuted under the Espionage Act? Well, maybe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 2 hours ago, Chris Barnard said: Just wondered if any of you Russia/Ukraine aficionados has had the chance to read Putin’s speech on the 16th of August. What is to be gleaned from these words? Would anyone care to unpack this? Some of the stuff he is saying is what we all know about the US govt and its security apparatus. Hmm I'd describe the speech as a kind of rhetorical Russian pretzel. Putin makes some valid points about U.S./NATO imperialism, but he glosses over his own heinous, "imperialist" crimes in Ukraine by framing them as a righteous struggle against "neoliberal totalitarianism." WTF? Talk about Orwellian Double Speak! Neoliberal totalitarianism? 🤥 This is the same fascist dictator who has been claiming in recent years that liberal democracy is defunct, while murdering his own journalists and imprisoning opposition politicians. I've been telling people for the past 15 years that the Russian Federation has devolved into a fascist police state under Putin's thumb, and nothing in 2022 has changed my mind. If anything, the RF is regressing back to Stalinism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W. Niederhut Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 Ben, Not sure what planet Taibbi is living on lately. The biggest news story of the past 48 hours on my planet has been the 300 classified documents in Trump's confiscated trove from Mar-a-Lago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 8 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said: I'd describe the speech as a kind of rhetorical Russian pretzel. We certainly expect that from any of the super powers, rhetoric. Their objective is to seem just and righteous to their followers. 9 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said: Putin makes some valid points about U.S./NATO imperialism, but he glosses over his own heinous, "imperialist" crimes in Ukraine by framing them as a righteous struggle against "neoliberal totalitarianism." He does, points some of us have made here. That’s again expected, it’s not like the US govt references its crimes or shortcomings, its sort of par for the course when it comes to superpowers. Those of us looking can see war crimes on both sides. Dugin’s dau. was blown up with a car bomb in the past days. 15 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said: WTF? Talk about Orwellian Double Speak! Neoliberal totalitarianism? 🤥 But, is it? The liberals today aren’t the liberals of 20 years ago. Putin thinks the west is experiencing a fall, a cultural death at the hands of this neoliberalism. Speaking of Orwellian, it is the neoliberals that are changing the meaning of words, trying to compel speech, redefine gender, erase history, take away cultural identity. Is he wrong for thinking that will bring the collapse of a western civilisation thats stood since the ancient Greeks? These are very strange times indeed. We are encouraging weakness. Apathy and a feeling of futility has taken hold of people. The Ruble is doing great, they trading with the eastern markets, these sanctions aren’t killing Russia, they are killing the average bloke in Europe who now sees 1/6 of his salary spent on energy bills. The old will choose this winter between heat and food. Our politicians who don’t care one iota about sending our troops to their deaths, suddenly care more about Ukrainians than their own pensioners who have paid into a system for 50 years. What’s going in isn’t logical and its out of character. We are on the cusp of a global food crisis (I said this a long long time ago to you) and now even the Economist agrees with me. If you have high fuel costs, it puts farmers out of business, if they are out of business, we don’t eat, we starve. Supermarket shelves are gradually getting emptier. With the intellects we have in government, how is it that they can’t see the catastrophe coming? Or the impacts of their decisions. I spend my weekends often with traders and finance, they can all see it. Meanwhile the British government is offering to buy out farmers so they can retire, when a food crisis is looming. Perhaps what Vladimir is talking about has a broader meaning. Have you read Mattias Desmet’s “Psychology of totalitarianism” yet? It sure looks and feels like what we are being walked into totalitarianism. They tyrants create shortages and crisis to tighten their control. The flow of wealth is still going upwards. Oil companies treble profits on last year (same period). Where do you see this situation going, William? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Allison Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 1 hour ago, W. Niederhut said: Not sure what planet Taibbi is living on lately. He's a giant fake; he loves himself a good authoritarian. He got away pretending he "leaned left" for a long time, because he hated Bush. But the reality is that he just hates the power the U.S. possesses. I'm not trying to be snarky when I say he should return to Russia where he lived for a while. I think he would be happier there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 4 hours ago, W. Niederhut said: Ben, Not sure what planet Taibbi is living on lately. The biggest news story of the past 48 hours on my planet has been the 300 classified documents in Trump's confiscated trove from Mar-a-Lago. W- Meh. You know, and I know, anything can be "classified." In days of yore, left-wingers sneered at the the use of the word "classified" and the common mendacity of intel agencies. As I recall, the price of toilet seats in a B-52 was once classified.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Cole Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 Add on: You know, an interesting point has arisen in the Trump-Mar-a-Lago-FBI-raid follies, and now America's Donks are lining up on the side of the intel state, and casually state that it is the intel state, and not a US President, who can decide what is classified. But think about it: Who should have final say whether a document can be de-classified? If we accept the present Donk position, that means a US President could decide to de-classify a document, and be overruled by gnomes and ghouls inside the CIA. The President must go through the proper procedures, we are told. And if the intel state decides during those "procedures" that the documents should remain classified...then what? Really? The intel state has final say on the de-classification of a US document, and not an elected US President? You want to live by those rules? I understand Trump is unpopular in some quarters. Are we willing to further expand the growing powers of the intel state in our eagerness to stick a long knife into Trump? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Gallaway Posted August 25, 2022 Share Posted August 25, 2022 20 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said: As I recall, the price of toilet seats in a B-52 was once classified.... I realize you just "recall", but can you find a source for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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