A place for civil discussion of the events of the day for Tidewater residents without the limitations imposed by media forums.
This story inspires various observations.
Least interesting by far is the hypocrisy of demonizing Russia for spending $300 million to influence international politics when the US spends a hundred times more doing the same thing.
Continue reading “Perfidious Putin!”Were I to fault the writer, it would be for seeming too calm. If one is going to show that America’s civilization is ending, one is expected to be loud and furious about it.
On the other hand, there are probably very few Americans who suspect America is collapsing, and being loud and furious might only put them off the message.
Vladimir Putin’s speech on the occasion of signing of accession treaties yesterday with four of Ukraine’s oblasts is worth reading in its entirety. It remains for the Duma to formally recognize the oblasts as new members of the Russian Federation. Only then will the territories they represent become officially Russian.
The speech criticizes the United States and the West rather harshly. I noticed, however, that all but one the very same criticisms have been made in Tidewater Forum at one time or another by leftist commentators. And the one exception (genderism) is vaguely reminiscent of the old leftist complaint that Western Civilization is morally corrupt.
The speech illustrates an inversion: Those who once loved the Soviet Union, or at least Communists, now hate Russia.
In Putin’s unhinged rant at the “annexation” ceremony, he gave us some insight as to why he is so popular in MAGA-Republican circles. He know which buttons to push. He is fighting the West not to grab Ukraine but on behalf of Jesus Christ and against Satanism. He is fighting to protect the family and the idea that there are only two genders. Excerpt . . .
“Do we want to have, here, in our country, in Russia, parent number one, number two, number three instead of mom and dad – have they gone made out there? Do we really want perversions that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed on children in our schools from the primary grades? To be drummed into them that there are various supposed genders besides women and men, and to be offered a sex change operation? Do we want all this for our country and our children? For us, all this is unacceptable, we have a different future, our own future I repeat, the dictatorship of the Western elites is directed against all societies, including the peoples of the Western countries themselves. This is a challenge for everyone. Such a complete denial of man, the overthrow of faith and traditional values, the suppression of freedom acquiring the features of a “reverse religion” [the opposite of what the religion is] – outright Satanism. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ, denouncing the false prophets, says: By their fruits you shall know them. And these poisonous fruits are already obvious to people – not only in our country, in all countries, including many people in the West itself.”
“Retired U.S. General Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe, said a Russian defeat in Lyman after Putin’s declaration would be a major political and military embarrassment for the Russian leader.”
“This puts in bright lights that his claim is illegitimate and cannot be enforced,” he said.”
Debate about Ukraine winning, but Russia is certainly losing. I wonder if Putin believes his own propaganda.
Curry on Tropical Cyclones and Climate Change.
Every time there is a major hurricane landfall WAPO and CNN rush forward experts to blame global warming. Curry provides and exhaustive look at what is known and what is not. What is not known is what is most important.
Attribution of any storm or its intensity is speculative nonsense. We do not have the data to claim to know. Continue reading “Everything You Wanted to Know about Tropical Cyclones *”
WSJ 39 year nurse fired for refusing to confess racism
Elon Musk is right, Wokeness destroys the brain as surely as Mad Cow disease.
Confess and be punished or be punished anyway.
First it was in academia and government, and now it is spreading into medicine.
And the world laughs at us.
Stay safe. Hoping that you and your families are safe and dry. We may not be getting the full impacts of Ian, but we are getting enough to keep an eye out for ourselves and each other.
Prayers to all.
This opinion piece in the Washington Post was written by the imprisoned Alexei Navalny. He is the Russian opposition leader who after narrowly surviving a Putin poison job, returned to Russia to continue his protests. He is now in the Gulag.
He goes beyond arguing that Putin must be defeated in Ukraine. He takes as a given that “Ukraine must remain an independent democratic state capable of defending itself.”
He goes beyond regime change as a goal for the West. The removal of Putin is not enough. “No long-term goals can be achieved without a plan to ensure that the source of the problems stops creating them. Russia must cease to be an instigator of aggression and instability. That is possible, and that is what should be seen as a strategic victory in this war.”
His hope for a peaceful and prosperous Russia is its transformation from fascism to parliamentary democracy. The West he says should shape its policy and rhetoric to advance that goal.
He provides this background for the current war . . .
“First, jealousy of Ukraine and its possible successes is an innate feature of post-Soviet power in Russia; it was also characteristic of the first Russian president, Boris Yeltsin. But since the beginning of Putin’s rule, and especially after the Orange Revolution that began in 2004, hatred of Ukraine’s European choice, and the desire to turn it into a failed state, have become a lasting obsession not only for Putin but also for all politicians of his generation.”
This brief essay interests me because it presents a Russian opinion of contemporary America. The introductory paragraph is particularly striking:
Continue reading “American Roulette”
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