Those delusional people who think Russia’s well-meaning president was forced into attacking Ukraine should watch this video.
How much will it take to convince those doubters that Putin is driven by imperial ambitions?
Tag Archives: Russia
Will Donald Trump commit political suicide?
Donald Trump is way ahead of Joe Biden in the race for the next President of America. Biden shows signs of the onset of dementia, but I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks. Elderly people’s cognitive powers slow, but their conceptual powers do not necessarily go with it. I’ve heard Biden speak sensibly about difficult political matters.
No, the real reason Trump is so far ahead of Biden is his connection with the concerns of ordinary Americans who are forced to observe the gradual destruction of the nation’s foundational principles. Trumps’s rhetoric is often rough, abusive and sometimes incoherent.
But the ordinary American can see past these faults to what he thinks about America’s problems and how he proposes to fix them.
Trump understands ordinary Americans and they understand him. The woke elite look on this with incomprehension, dismissing Trump supporters as an ignorant ‘far-right’ rabble. The more they do this, the stronger Trump will hold his constituency.
Trump, however, has an Achilles heel and if he doesn’t do anything about it, I predict he will lose the election to Biden or whoever may replace Biden. The Achilles heel is his attitude to Putin and the war in Ukraine.
It is dismaying to see so many conservatives swallow the narrative that Nato and the West are responsible for the war in Ukraine. They allegedly pushed Putin into a corner where this (alleged) defender of traditional values and Christianity had to come out fighting.
This is utterly delusional.
The cold hard facts about Putin’s idea of Russia’s history and its destiny, his scheming from the moment of the fall of the Soviet Empire, and his barbaric ‘special operation’ in Ukraine where civilians and fundamental infrastructure are targeted, show that Putin can justifiably be compared to Hitler.
Trump should be warned: many of his constituents who understand him also see the real Putin and his objectives. Everything Putin says and does points to his unrelenting efforts to establish a renewed Russian Empire. Their fear of this maniacal dictator will overcome their support for Trump – if he sticks to the false narrative. They will turn their support to whoever stands up to Russia’s delusional megalomaniac.
The video below is from one the best commentators on the war in Ukraine and Putin’s objectives.
War with Russia is coming – unless action is taken
As I have confessed, Putin fooled me as he has fooled and still fools many conservatives. The key aspect about Putin is that you cannot trust a word that comes out of his mouth. Everything he says is to manipulate the audience he is addressing. He controls the Russian population by strictly supervising the media, telling the Russian people a pack of lies, blocking foreign media, and jailing or killing those defying his dictates.
For the Western audience, he has a stock of conservative ideas to shower on them. He focuses on the Christian groups with sentiments about family, religion, and history. Indeed, I once thought he was essentially a Burkean conservative because of his valuing Russian history and its lessons. An appalling mistake that now embarrasses me.
In reality, Putin is a vicious murdering type of Russian Czar who is fixated on rebuilding the Russian empire. Nothing stands in his way. He is in a constant state of recalculating what he says to suit the time, place and audience. That’s the reason he so often contradicts himself – seemingly contradicts himself. He stays unerringly on the line.
If the West does not prepare itself, it might find Putin and his army in its backyard. The interview below with General Richard Shirreff shows just what’s at stake. Shirreff talks about rebuilding the army of the NATO countries. What he does not talk about are the emasculating ideologies that are weakening the West. These ideologies have to be eliminated. The reality is that men fight wars.
It must be a war of attrition against the Russians
I thought the expectations of Ukraine’s summer offensive were far too optimistic. At least, the media hyping of the war was optimistic – even delusional. Now everywhere the media are expressing disappointment that the offensive has stalled. I thought a more realistic stance would have been wait-and-see how the Ukrainians performed with the new weapons and the men they had.
Not far into the offensive, it quickly became obvious the tactics the Russians were adopting . It was a WW1 tactic: dig in and blast the attackers while having a bottomless pit of men they could throw into the meatgrinder. Putin is a vicious psychopath who has no regard for the number of Russian soldiers killed. He thinks he can outlast the weaponry the West is willing to give and the number of men Ukraine has at their disposal.
If Russia wants a war of attrition, let’s give it to them. The Ukrainians must dig in a fortress build-up and pound the lines of Russian trenches. Let’s see how long the Russian population is willing to suffer the losses, how long Russia can bear the sanctions, and how long they are willing to remain the pariah of the world, their friends being the world’s most barbaric regimes.
Frank Ledwidge, military analyst and lecturer, outlines this approach in the video below in a far more expert way than I am able.
Vladimir Putin – a vandal and barbarian after all
Vladimir Putin had reasonable issues regarding Russia’s security – the same America had at the time of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. John Mearsheimer, to whom I referred in previous comments, outlined a background – NATO’s eastward movement – for Putin’s concerns about security in his video, Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? I found his case compelling.
A second reason I had sympathy for Putin’s position was his projection of a Burkean conservatism in speeches that invoked Russia’s rich history, traditions and culture. But the idea that Putin espoused a Burkean conservatism was a chimera – a chimera destroyed by a brutal invasion that has since degenerated into barbarism and vandalism.
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shows he cannot be trusted and that his nationalism is similar to that of Hitler’s or Mussolini’s, both driven by a warped vision of their history. Their form of nationalism must destroy the sympathy of those who think history, tradition, and custom, circumscribed by the natural law, are of fundamental importance to a healthy nation. Nothing can excuse the indiscriminate pulverising of Ukraine’s cities.
The best outcome now for Putin is a Pyrrhic victory, the worst, total defeat. One must have not only sympathy for the people of Ukraine, but also for the Russian people, most of whom clearly did not want a war with the people of Ukraine and who regard the Ukrainians as brothers and sisters.
Hyping for a needless war
The numskulls in NATO and the US keep at it
It’s embarrassing to listen to the puerile belligerence of NATO and the US. The clear impression is that the Americans are angling for a war with their constant repetition of the ‘threat of a Russian invasion’ of Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is furiously pounding the biggest drums of war in decades. He’s like a gang leader daring his adolescent enemies to take him on. All the while Russia is saying that they have no intention of invading Ukraine. It’s just a lot of hysteria on the part of American and its European allies. All Russia wants is her security guaranteed by not having NATO and US missiles placed on their borders.
What part of the Monroe doctrine do the Americans not understand? What part of the Kennedy Cuban principle don’t they understand? I remember the Cuban missile crisis as if it was yesterday. Kennedy was prepared to go to war over the Soviet placement of missiles on Cuban territory. The world shuddered and then breathed a sigh of relief when Krushchev turned the ships around. Why not the same application for Russia with missiles able to reach Moscow within minutes from Ukraine?
And do Biden and the other numskulls in the EU think they will solve anything by threatening to crush Russia? Have they not heard that pushed into corner that threatens their very being, a country will come out all guns blazing? One despairs over the West. Have Edmund Burke and his principle of prudence been completely forgotten? Indeed, Putin sounds more Burkean with his talk about the prescriptive nature of custom and tradition, the balance of power, and historical antecedence.
I provided a link to Professor John Mearsheimer’s analysis of the Ukraine problem Why is Ukraine the West’s Fault? in previous posts. It has had nearly two million views on youtube. Yet I hear nobody – not in Australia or overseas – answer the details of Mearsheimer’s case against the West. The news reporting is particularly ignorant and superficial in Australia. It’s as if the reporting on Russia and Ukraine has been handed to cub reporters who can do nothing but reel off the narrative of the Cold War years.
If Russia does end up invading Ukraine they must know they will look like people nobody could trust, but their case will remain valid. On the other hand, I wonder what the response will be if Russia does not invade Ukraine. The conclusions will be more devastating for the US and NATO – that they are a bunch of clowns who don’t know what they are doing.
NOTE: I posted most of the above in the comments section of an article on the ‘Russian threat’ in the Australian newspaper. I ended the comment with, ‘Now print this if you dare.’ The comments editor didn’t dare. He (or was it a she?) knocked it back, as is usually the case with my comments. My comments stray too far from the Australian‘s allowable range.
Who is establishing a pretext – Putin or Biden?
One rule for all
The Biden administration claims without any hard evidence that Russia is seeking a pretext to invade Ukraine. Why not the other way around? Biden could just as easily be establishing a pretext for NATO to go to the help of Ukraine. One should not automatically swallow the claims of Biden’s girls and boys.
Russia’s insistence that the US and NATO not expand into territories which have been traditionally in their sphere of influence is reasonable and justified. If the US can create a Cuba principle and a Monroe doctrine, why cannot Russia create the equivalent? The threat of a senseless war which will reverberate worldwide is on present evidence coming from the Biden Oval Office.
Is Russia the baddie?
Has power-hungry Putin fixed his lustful eyes on Ukraine?
Commentary in Australia says ‘yes’. Vladimir Putin is just another Russian dictator about to crush a weak defenceless country – a country without the protection of the US and NATO. But this a stereotypical unresearched (even self-serving) view of President Putin. There is far more to the story and it could be the US and NATO who are at fault.
Professor John Mearsheimer provides a compelling case that the West is responsible for the explosive situation on Ukraine’s border in his hour-length video, Why Ukriaine is the West’s fault. If one wants to stick to the case that Russia and Putin are showing their characteristic lust for power, one has to answer the extensive detail in Mearsheimer’s case.
I have been taking an increasing interest in Russia and Vladimir Putin since the Oliver Stone interviews in 2017. Until then I thought of Putin and Russia in the way most in the West think – a communist dictator in a different dress, the Soviet Union in a different uniform. The interviews changed my mind, as they must have with many people in the West who saw them.
First, Putin was open, candid, and endeavoured to give straight answers all to Stone’s questions. Second, and this is what impressed me most, he argued with much verifiable evidence that the West had gone back on promises made to Russia. If Putin was right, then the West was playing a dirty game of shameless lies and deceit.
What? I thought. It’s the communists who are the liars, not us. We’re pure, innocent, keep to our undertakings. No, in this case, if Putin is right (and it’s easily verified), it’s the West who fits the image we have had of the communists.
Since the interviews I have been following developments and viewing the many youtube videos on Russian history and culture. Particularly informative are the Russian vloggers who give a fascinating look at ordinary Russians and Russian culture. As regards Professor Mearsheimer’s presentation, he has merely confirmed and filled out my own conclusions about the Ukraine problem.
The US and NATO are the problem and as of today, it looks they are prepared to unleash a senseless war which nobody wants.
My ongoing reappraisal of Russia
Russia has a rich culture – literature, music, ballet, Orthodox Christianity, and more. My introduction was exclusively with its literature – Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekov, at university level. The rest came much later. In recent years I have come to appreciate Russia’s dance tradition which is second to none.
The Soviet Union suppressed much of that tradition. The arts from the time of the Bolshevik revolution was under the control of Communist commissars. That control resulted in mutilated works, now only of historical interest. Until recently, my knowledge of Russia was limited to its literature. I knew little about the Russian people and their daily lives.
For all I knew, they could have been living in mud huts and spent their time hunting and foraging in the forests for their food. The internet has brought a big change. One can find many youtube videos which give a picture of contemporary Russia. I have a few favourite youtubers.
At the top of my list, as entertainment, is a foursome of charming unaffected young women who sing Russian folk songs against a rural background. They call themselves Beloe Zlato and regularly post on youtube. Their latest is a dreamy song titled, ‘Thoughts.’ (1699) Beloe Zlato – Думы // Thoughts – YouTube
I follow three vloggers who provide a fascinating picture of Russian society. Surprise, surprise, the ordinary Russian is not much different from people in the West. Indeed, the townscape of an ordinary Russian town differs little from those in the West. One difference is the state of disrepair and dilapidation of some rural towns. That contrasts sharply with Moscow which appears clean and super modern (see links below).
Natasha of Yeah Natasha is the star of the three. She has had a meteoric rise from a small basis a year or so ago to 240,000 subscribers. How has she become so popular around the world? Three factors, I think. She gives an engaging view of social life in Russia, her English is good, and perhaps most of all she is disarmingly natural. No affectation at all. A recent video (below) is of Vladivostok in Russia’s far east. Natasha is from Spassk, a small town north of Vladivostok,
Vladivostok, the capital of the Russian Far East | Chinese quarter, Japanese cars & Russian samovars
Next is Eli from Russia. Eli is older and from Moscow. Like Natasha, she aims to show the social and cultural side of Russia. She’s very professional both in delivery and production. Her English is very good. She covers what dating people would find interesting in Russia, particularly in Moscow. A representative video of her work would be:
Who wears the pants in a Russian family? | Gender roles in Russia
There is Viacheslav of Russiaplus who ‘makes videos about places from around the world.’ He speaks good English with an American accent. Representative is his video comparing Moscow with US cities. He gives a fascinating view of modern Moscow. This video in particular forced me to adjust my assumptions about Moscow – and Russia.
What US сities сan learn from Moscow. My Impressions After 2 months in the US.
Let me end with a delightful video of Natasha taking a walk in Moscow with Viacheslav of Russiaplus. They begin in Gorky Park. Another fascinating view of Moscow.
Walking in Moscow with Natasha. Talking about Russia’s Pros and Cons
POSTSCRIPT
There is also Dari Step. She’s young and new to the Vlogging business. She needs to develop her presentation and improve her English. But she’s enthusiastic and no doubt will improve over time.
(1730) ONE DAY OF MY LIFE \\ That’s How People Live In Moscow, Russia 2021 – YouTube
Is Vladimir Putin a Burkean conservative?
That would seem a weird question to ask. After all, how could a KGB officer of the former Soviet Union hold to a political philosophy, the core of which is ‘prescription’ – the prescription of custom, tradition, and settled, proven ways of social and political organisation? Prescription underscored by the natural law is Edmund Burke’s political philosophy in a nutshell. But President Putin is a Marxist-Leninist, surely?
Well, Marxists would already be looking askance at his efforts to reestablish the Russian Orthodox Church. Those efforts have included the building or rebuilding of hundreds of churches and a fair number of monasteries. That’s not very Marxist, is it? Remember Marx saying religion was the opium of the people, meaning the proletariat?
But, as a Marxist, one would have one’s hair standing on end listening to Putin’s advice to the West on how to deal with non-Western countries. Whatever the Russian President has said in the past, the advice in this youtube video is pure Burkean: BREAKING! Putin: NATO Created A Mess In Afghanistan But Entire World Must Now Deal With Consequences . Indeed, he seems to applying this approach in Syria.