WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Recommendo: 19 Minutes Going Walkabout in Athens with Alex Christoforou of The Duran
byVanderleunonMay 27, 2022
I to you proposing am this truncated slab of selfie wandering about the cradle of democracy commenting on the craters of democracy. Of the dynamic duo of The Duran I tilt towards Chistoforou over Mercouris simply because Mercouris’ accent and inflection irritate the hell out of me. And then there’s The Duran’s rollicking sidekick, Gonzalo Lira, who drops in from house arrest every day or so in the same damn hat and t-shirt.
All of which is to say that I do try to play “Both Sides Now” but all I really think is that I hate this war more than life itself.
(And don’t even ask me about my Telegram subscriptions; so brutal and sad and visceral I can’t open them without fear and trembling.)
Zelenskyy and his money laundering buddies in the West may very well be getting exactly what they want out of this war.
Just look at Biden and Co tanking the US at every level.
People think this is all just poor governing?
Sid VMay 28, 2022, 3:17 AM
“People think this is all just poor governing?”
Exactly. People are under the illusion that Biden just is a hapless incompetent boob screw-up, when in reality he is just a figurehead for a malicious evil regime of communist ideologues deeply embedded within the federal government. This is Obama’s third term and this time he and Democrat leadership in general across the country really mean business in doing everything possible to finish what they started from 2009-2017. That is, the intentional destruction of the USA.
KCKMay 27, 2022, 1:04 PM
He acts as if infantrymen, tanks and missiles have no effect on the war. “It’s a script”. Yes, the entire war in Ukraine is a false flag…to which I reply, “go straight to hell.”
He may have a valid opinion, as any human may have, and yet his frustration is muchly about: Putin is not winning.
I appreciate the whole news approach, Gerard. I’m still plowing through the Stalin biographer.
Hum, my impression, without saying if it’s a good or bad thing, listening to the propaganda including the Azov “withdrawal” but paying more attention to the maps, is that Putin is in winning.
Casey KlahnMay 27, 2022, 5:50 PM
Russia is, putting it nicely, “off plan.” Putin’s influence is an open question going forward, and Kissinger is positing the the absence of Russia on the world stage.
Yes. NATO lost. The US lost. The media lost. Lies lost.
The truth won.
AnonymousMay 27, 2022, 2:28 PM
The ZMan looks at what the war has uncovered. It’s well worth the read.
This snippet made me smile.
” The EU is a mommy economy where Mother Russia makes sure her babies are warm and fed. Shortages and spirally prices are bringing this reality home to Europeans.”
Z man sez the Javelin is a huge bust, and Russia has made them obsolete. Is that why they are pulling T-62s out of mothballs?
ThisIsNotNutellaMay 27, 2022, 3:30 PM
I’ve also been watching Telegram channels. Definitely a case of Both Sides Now there. And doing it between well-spaced apart meals not involving hamburger preparation.
I saw close-in drone footage yesterday of Russians clearing a trench system. It ought to have been set to What a Wonderful World per the sequence in Good Morning Vietnam. Was like watching ballet. More on this below.
Taking the 10,000 ft view and dropping all the Slavophile/Slavophobe nonsense, this is the first time White Men have fought each other at scale with everything short of nuke/chem/bio since Yugoslavia and then a huge nothing burger stretching back to 45. I’m not going to go off on a Greg Johnson rant about the sheer waste of it all. What interests me about this is if you read your VDH he has a thing about the Saxon being slow to anger but particularly viciously good and inventive at it once he gets going.
As someone alluded to above, go read the Z Man for some insight into The New Russian Way of War. Why anyone would expect them to use WWII human waves or Cold War Fulda Gab busting massed armor and whole motorized rifle divisions thrown in in a world where a $500 drone and ubiquitous GPS/Glonass/EuroThing/Beidou allows you to walk legacy Arty onto anything that’s not moving and plenty of things if they can’t move at a high velocity.
So… this drone footage. Whoever was leading that Russian squad had the live drone footage and knew exactly when any Ukrainian was making a move. There was a lot of shooting, and a *lot* of grenades being thrown. In a perfect world, they’d have have cleared that trench with armed drones, but we’re not quite there yet. I get the feeling that the footage from Azerbaijan / Armenia with drones slaughtering Armenians in trenches seemingly at will was the Turks giving them a very good deal or freebies in order to get some sales promotional footage. It might not be economical at scale yet. But it soon will be.
I don’t pretend to know where this is going, but anybody who is interested in the Next Big or Small One had best be putting aside prejudices and preconceptions and surveying this new old world with clear eyes. There has to be much to learn. War is the great leaf blower that blows away all bullshit and suppositions.
ghostsniperMay 27, 2022, 5:20 PM
Gap. Fulda Gap. I lived there for 3+ years.
Nutella sed: “…anybody who is interested in the Next Big or Small One had best be putting aside prejudices and preconceptions and surveying this new old world with clear eyes. There has to be much to learn.”
=========
Agreed. This ain’t your dad’s war and new things are being tried everyday. If you wade into it old skool you’ll probably not back out of it. Distance, cunning, and millions of eyes and ears, are your troops.
ThisIsNotNutellaMay 27, 2022, 3:46 PM
Re Alex’s walkabout still shot: I’m pleased to see that Stoas have made a comeback in Athens.
Also have a very low tolerance threshold for Mercouris, but one must take the rough with the smooth. Stoicism FTW.
Steve (retired/recovering lawyer)May 27, 2022, 3:48 PM
I like Joanie, at least the pre-Morgellons (yeah, is that a real thing?), singer version, not the current edition, which has the faint smell of decay about it. She was not my muse, and I don’t wax rhapsodic about her. Maybe it’s because, to quote her Wiki entry, “Mitchell’s approach to music struck a chord with many female listeners. In an era dominated by the stereotypical male rock star, she presented herself as “multidimensional and conflicted … allow[ing] her to build such a powerful identification among her female fans.” On the other hand, she said that the parents of baby-boomers were unhappy, and “out of it came this liberated, spoiled, selfish generation into the costume ball of free love, free sex, free music, free, free, free, free we’re so free. And Woodstock was the culmination of it.” But “I was not a part of that,” she explained in an interview. “I was not a part of the anti-war movement, either. I played in Fort Bragg. I went the Bob Hope route [i.e., touring to entertain military personnel] because I had uncles who died in the war, and I thought it was a shame to blame the boys who were drafted.” (Same source.) You might like her more than I, or less, de gustibus non disputandum and whatnot. But in these times, I feel like a little Edwin Starr is more apropos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZI2aLQ9Sw
VanderleunMay 27, 2022, 5:25 PM
I especially relish the phrase “the current edition, which has the faint smell of decay about it.” Yes, dissolving detritus of mothballs and lace.
Snakepit KansasMay 28, 2022, 5:34 AM
Henceforth, eventually this war will be over, but not before some folks take advantage of all the money, weapons and materiel, blindly sent to Ukraine, to make themselves rich. When that much money is thrown around, corruption is drawn to it or fertilized. For many future years, Americans and allies will be facing the bad end of hundreds of thousands of full auto M4, M16 and belt fed machine guns left behind in Afghanistan. We are sending historically corrupt Ukraine much more lethal hardware currently.
SpellerMay 28, 2022, 1:22 PM
It amazes me how many idiots like to pretend that Ukraine somehow suckered Putin into attacking them and how many idiots buy into that absurd premise.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Define “good idea”.
Zelenskyy and his money laundering buddies in the West may very well be getting exactly what they want out of this war.
Just look at Biden and Co tanking the US at every level.
People think this is all just poor governing?
“People think this is all just poor governing?”
Exactly. People are under the illusion that Biden just is a hapless incompetent boob screw-up, when in reality he is just a figurehead for a malicious evil regime of communist ideologues deeply embedded within the federal government. This is Obama’s third term and this time he and Democrat leadership in general across the country really mean business in doing everything possible to finish what they started from 2009-2017. That is, the intentional destruction of the USA.
He acts as if infantrymen, tanks and missiles have no effect on the war. “It’s a script”. Yes, the entire war in Ukraine is a false flag…to which I reply, “go straight to hell.”
He may have a valid opinion, as any human may have, and yet his frustration is muchly about: Putin is not winning.
I appreciate the whole news approach, Gerard. I’m still plowing through the Stalin biographer.
Hum, my impression, without saying if it’s a good or bad thing, listening to the propaganda including the Azov “withdrawal” but paying more attention to the maps, is that Putin is in winning.
Russia is, putting it nicely, “off plan.” Putin’s influence is an open question going forward, and Kissinger is positing the the absence of Russia on the world stage.
Yep, Russia, putting it nicely or not, is off plan but, putting it nicely or not, Russia appears to be winning.
If Kissinger and the NYT say it’s over, isn’t it over?
Yes. NATO lost. The US lost. The media lost. Lies lost.
The truth won.
The ZMan looks at what the war has uncovered. It’s well worth the read.
This snippet made me smile.
” The EU is a mommy economy where Mother Russia makes sure her babies are warm and fed. Shortages and spirally prices are bringing this reality home to Europeans.”
https://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=27481
Z man sez the Javelin is a huge bust, and Russia has made them obsolete. Is that why they are pulling T-62s out of mothballs?
I’ve also been watching Telegram channels. Definitely a case of Both Sides Now there. And doing it between well-spaced apart meals not involving hamburger preparation.
I saw close-in drone footage yesterday of Russians clearing a trench system. It ought to have been set to What a Wonderful World per the sequence in Good Morning Vietnam. Was like watching ballet. More on this below.
Taking the 10,000 ft view and dropping all the Slavophile/Slavophobe nonsense, this is the first time White Men have fought each other at scale with everything short of nuke/chem/bio since Yugoslavia and then a huge nothing burger stretching back to 45. I’m not going to go off on a Greg Johnson rant about the sheer waste of it all. What interests me about this is if you read your VDH he has a thing about the Saxon being slow to anger but particularly viciously good and inventive at it once he gets going.
As someone alluded to above, go read the Z Man for some insight into The New Russian Way of War. Why anyone would expect them to use WWII human waves or Cold War Fulda Gab busting massed armor and whole motorized rifle divisions thrown in in a world where a $500 drone and ubiquitous GPS/Glonass/EuroThing/Beidou allows you to walk legacy Arty onto anything that’s not moving and plenty of things if they can’t move at a high velocity.
So… this drone footage. Whoever was leading that Russian squad had the live drone footage and knew exactly when any Ukrainian was making a move. There was a lot of shooting, and a *lot* of grenades being thrown. In a perfect world, they’d have have cleared that trench with armed drones, but we’re not quite there yet. I get the feeling that the footage from Azerbaijan / Armenia with drones slaughtering Armenians in trenches seemingly at will was the Turks giving them a very good deal or freebies in order to get some sales promotional footage. It might not be economical at scale yet. But it soon will be.
I don’t pretend to know where this is going, but anybody who is interested in the Next Big or Small One had best be putting aside prejudices and preconceptions and surveying this new old world with clear eyes. There has to be much to learn. War is the great leaf blower that blows away all bullshit and suppositions.
Gap. Fulda Gap. I lived there for 3+ years.
Nutella sed: “…anybody who is interested in the Next Big or Small One had best be putting aside prejudices and preconceptions and surveying this new old world with clear eyes. There has to be much to learn.”
=========
Agreed. This ain’t your dad’s war and new things are being tried everyday. If you wade into it old skool you’ll probably not back out of it. Distance, cunning, and millions of eyes and ears, are your troops.
Re Alex’s walkabout still shot: I’m pleased to see that Stoas have made a comeback in Athens.
Also have a very low tolerance threshold for Mercouris, but one must take the rough with the smooth. Stoicism FTW.
I like Joanie, at least the pre-Morgellons (yeah, is that a real thing?), singer version, not the current edition, which has the faint smell of decay about it. She was not my muse, and I don’t wax rhapsodic about her. Maybe it’s because, to quote her Wiki entry, “Mitchell’s approach to music struck a chord with many female listeners. In an era dominated by the stereotypical male rock star, she presented herself as “multidimensional and conflicted … allow[ing] her to build such a powerful identification among her female fans.” On the other hand, she said that the parents of baby-boomers were unhappy, and “out of it came this liberated, spoiled, selfish generation into the costume ball of free love, free sex, free music, free, free, free, free we’re so free. And Woodstock was the culmination of it.” But “I was not a part of that,” she explained in an interview. “I was not a part of the anti-war movement, either. I played in Fort Bragg. I went the Bob Hope route [i.e., touring to entertain military personnel] because I had uncles who died in the war, and I thought it was a shame to blame the boys who were drafted.” (Same source.) You might like her more than I, or less, de gustibus non disputandum and whatnot. But in these times, I feel like a little Edwin Starr is more apropos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztZI2aLQ9Sw
I especially relish the phrase “the current edition, which has the faint smell of decay about it.” Yes, dissolving detritus of mothballs and lace.
Henceforth, eventually this war will be over, but not before some folks take advantage of all the money, weapons and materiel, blindly sent to Ukraine, to make themselves rich. When that much money is thrown around, corruption is drawn to it or fertilized. For many future years, Americans and allies will be facing the bad end of hundreds of thousands of full auto M4, M16 and belt fed machine guns left behind in Afghanistan. We are sending historically corrupt Ukraine much more lethal hardware currently.
It amazes me how many idiots like to pretend that Ukraine somehow suckered Putin into attacking them and how many idiots buy into that absurd premise.