My God! – this article provides some deep insights - and for me, it joins up some of the dots on the possible causes of the rapidly decaying state of the West. A number of lines of thought come to mind. Here is just one - quoting from the Uncibal analysis:
“Unlike the ‘primitive’ wars of our era, was fought not between two sides, but by four constantly shifting coalitions made of the fragmented chunks of pre-existing States”.
The ‘West’ has seen something like this before. But, because the transmission of historical knowledge has been degraded by the collapsed education systems of Western countries, most people are not aware that the worst war in history prior to World War 1 was the ‘Thirty Years War’ – 1618 to 1648. (This, by the way, happened to roughly coincide with the early depths of the Little Ice Age). The ‘Thirty Years War’ was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history and it followed a course of ‘constantly shifting coalitions made of the fragmented chunks of pre-existing States’ – just as the quote from the article about ‘Without Sky’ describes. Many modern-day academics shallowly dismiss it as ‘just another religious war’. Not true! While it was triggered by an incident in Prague brought about by religious divisions, the Thirty Years War was a profoundly political conflict propelled by cultural factors. The result was that opposing Catholic-Protestant religious groupings often changed sides. The destruction was immense. It was fought primarily in Central Europe - but spawned a number of more geographically remote subsidiary conflicts. An estimated 4 to 8 million people – both soldiers and civilians - died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease. (Starvation or inadequate diets usually trigger disease). This was a huge number by the standards of the time. Parts of what is modern-day Germany reported population losses of over 50%. (If long history books bore you, then you can get a feel for the disaster of this war from a little known 1971 film called ‘The Last Valley’ - written and directed by James Clavell (1921-1994), and starring first rate actors. Clavell was eminently qualified to write about such things because he was a former inmate of the Changi PoW camp in WW2. He went on to author the 1975 novel ‘Shōgun’, as well produce other successful films & novels).
I suspect that since the end of the Cold War, the ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ of the West (driven mainly by the not-so-clever security apparatchiks of the U.S.), may have seriously misunderstood & underestimated what has taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union. I recall that about 10 or 15 years ago, Putin suggested that the West and Russia should work together to stabilise world affairs. He wasn’t begging – but I interpreted it as a serious plea. The U.S. & EU ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ effectively told him to get lost – because they were in charge now – Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ and all that.
As the U.S. and most of the rest of the West descend into political division & cultural chaos, we are now seeing the results of the short-sighted arrogance of the ‘intellectual’ class of U.S. leaders, and their inability to understand anything about other cultures, except how to make money. The U.S. now seems only capable of producing political leaders of the quality of an ‘Idiocracy’. (The way the U.S. chose to underwrite the technological build-up of the PRC and transfer its industries to China is another story – but it exemplifies the pure blindness of the long-term political thinkers of the U.S.) As the Uncibal article points out – Russia has centuries of deep intellectual tradition embedded in its culture. When one looks at the complete shambles that the universities of the U.S. and the rest of the Anglophone world have become, and the non-entities that run them, as well as the dumbed-down education systems of the Anglophone world - I suspect that it really might be Russia that is now pulling the strings - because they are smarter than us. Maybe that’s why the author of ‘Without Sky’ has been locked up by Putin – his short story spilled the beans.
I will leave my other comments for later – if I get time.
The spark that set off the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries was Herr Guttenberg and his printing press. This was dangerous because while it spread ideas, many in the Catholic Church felt that these ideas undermined their authority and something must be done about them. Unfortunately, their zeal to hang on to their presumed rightful place in the world matched the other side's zeal to replace them.
BTW the last outbreak of this particular form of Catholic-Protestant warfare is said to have been the battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.
It is impossible to ground ourselves in Truth when our lives are dominated by the political. Everything is politics. Everything. Because everything is about Government and Government is political. There is no reality outside of Government. It is the matrix within which we exist. The libertarian dream is to escape Government and ground ourselves in Truth. How can we ever escape though, when a majority of our fellow humans prefer to be governed and willingly cooperate in their own subjection?
I disagree with the notion that ''everything is politics", and that we cannot ground ourselves in Truth....or its constituent parts....perhaps a receptacle of 'truths'.
Governments exercise political controls over a nation and the populations within it to deliver for society ....the economy, education, health etc....it's been a fact of life going back centuries, part of the social fabric. It might be an inescapable part of life because we are governed, sometimes the 'governers' become the governed as one Party succeeds another, but it is not our only reality. There is the 'reality' of 'mind' and 'spirit', more than might be apparent from how msm presents our 'governed reality'.
I dislike that term 'matrix' ( no offence) because of its connotations with the film. It's like saying human beings have no autonomous reality.
Yes, many of our fellowmen do accede too readily to illogical government diktats but are they really the majority? It is a matter of perception. Governments do not want us to know about how they are constructing 'reality' but by their very policies and agendas that reality is revealed in all its grubby veniality. More people recognise the dangers of the false reality.
How can we ever escape? We do because we communicate, we think, we attend to our spirits and minds, and, we have truthful writers and speakers with whom we have common ground. I suppose we must never give up on the existence of the truth of that age old battle between good and evil, therein lies our reality.
My only quibble is that the Russian desire to stir things up is hardly unique - even their methods might not be unique. The Americans, the Chinese, the French are all up there in the 'Other countries that seek their own benefit from causing us discomfort'. You could add some Supranational entities too.
I suspect, as you suggest, that the Government of the UK is far to open to such influences. My Granddaughter's dance class ends with a rousing chant: "It's nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice!". It would seem that other countries are pushing against an open door.
The British liberal establishment, the Russian regime and Truth.....a complex tripartite relationship if ever there was! Brings to mind an old essay of mine written around the start of the Ukraine war. "Vladimir Putin may be a paranoid autocrat and a failing military strategist but when he talks about people in the West who want to "destroy [its]traditional values and impose their pseudo-values... which would corrode [it] from within" you surely have to ask yourself if he does have a point? Ironically, the people he presumably is talking of really do know how to mount a successful invasion......" https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/invasion-of-the-virtue-signallers
Is Putin a failed military strategist? It’s still too early to tell. All I know is the people who tell me that are the same type of people who told me lockdowns were a brilliant idea. We ought to be able to separate out in our minds the fact that he should not have invaded and annexed parts of Ukraine from the question of whether or not he is achieving his strategic objectives and what they are. The fact that our intelligentsia don’t appear to be able to do that is a concern to me.
The Western Media-Military Complex's attitude to Russia is a fascinating subject in its own right. Why - with all the Godawful regimes around the planet - is Russia always the first to be sent to the naughty corner.
Barak Obama: "You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorising that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose their trust in their leaders, mainstream media and political institutions, in each other - in the possibility of truth - the Game is won."
This is truly and exceptionally brilliant, David. I'm looking forward to the read. I agree with the message. A little clarity of the black and white type is in order, and i suspect not far off.
I can't help thinking that Surkov's description of the dismembered society of World War V is an exaggerated description of the internet, particularly that part of social media that indulges in intellectual and political arguments. However, I find his binary end-point, yes/no, black/white, good/bad? unconvincing. I suggest that the factions mill around variously colluding or fighting each other until they become aware of an external threat or find some sport that is violent enough not to produce blood feuds.
It was written in 2014, which makes it quite prophetic in a number of ways - I don't think we had anything like as good an understanding of how destructive social media would end up in those days.
The end point is I think obviously representative of the desire of a Russian to present Russia as possessing insights which the West does not. But I hoped to make clear that there is another way to read it.
David - I want to change my subscription - card, current amount - and I'm pretty annoyed with myself that I can't find a way of doing this. The Substack mail is from no-reply@Substack.com
When people are frightened and confused, they retreat to binaries. Hence, among other things, the rise in religious fundamentalism in recent decades. In the end, only (my) God can save us.
"What is Truth"??? If a definitive answer cannot be given to this question your "Truth", my Truth, their Truth, is only ever going to be "truth". So tell us "What is Truth"?
Quoting - “I think the repudiation of Russia and its people is mistaken”. Yes - it has been a serious mistake. JFK understood that - but unfortunately he was murdered for it.
My God! – this article provides some deep insights - and for me, it joins up some of the dots on the possible causes of the rapidly decaying state of the West. A number of lines of thought come to mind. Here is just one - quoting from the Uncibal analysis:
“Unlike the ‘primitive’ wars of our era, was fought not between two sides, but by four constantly shifting coalitions made of the fragmented chunks of pre-existing States”.
The ‘West’ has seen something like this before. But, because the transmission of historical knowledge has been degraded by the collapsed education systems of Western countries, most people are not aware that the worst war in history prior to World War 1 was the ‘Thirty Years War’ – 1618 to 1648. (This, by the way, happened to roughly coincide with the early depths of the Little Ice Age). The ‘Thirty Years War’ was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history and it followed a course of ‘constantly shifting coalitions made of the fragmented chunks of pre-existing States’ – just as the quote from the article about ‘Without Sky’ describes. Many modern-day academics shallowly dismiss it as ‘just another religious war’. Not true! While it was triggered by an incident in Prague brought about by religious divisions, the Thirty Years War was a profoundly political conflict propelled by cultural factors. The result was that opposing Catholic-Protestant religious groupings often changed sides. The destruction was immense. It was fought primarily in Central Europe - but spawned a number of more geographically remote subsidiary conflicts. An estimated 4 to 8 million people – both soldiers and civilians - died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease. (Starvation or inadequate diets usually trigger disease). This was a huge number by the standards of the time. Parts of what is modern-day Germany reported population losses of over 50%. (If long history books bore you, then you can get a feel for the disaster of this war from a little known 1971 film called ‘The Last Valley’ - written and directed by James Clavell (1921-1994), and starring first rate actors. Clavell was eminently qualified to write about such things because he was a former inmate of the Changi PoW camp in WW2. He went on to author the 1975 novel ‘Shōgun’, as well produce other successful films & novels).
I suspect that since the end of the Cold War, the ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ of the West (driven mainly by the not-so-clever security apparatchiks of the U.S.), may have seriously misunderstood & underestimated what has taken place since the collapse of the Soviet Union. I recall that about 10 or 15 years ago, Putin suggested that the West and Russia should work together to stabilise world affairs. He wasn’t begging – but I interpreted it as a serious plea. The U.S. & EU ‘Military-Industrial Complex’ effectively told him to get lost – because they were in charge now – Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ and all that.
As the U.S. and most of the rest of the West descend into political division & cultural chaos, we are now seeing the results of the short-sighted arrogance of the ‘intellectual’ class of U.S. leaders, and their inability to understand anything about other cultures, except how to make money. The U.S. now seems only capable of producing political leaders of the quality of an ‘Idiocracy’. (The way the U.S. chose to underwrite the technological build-up of the PRC and transfer its industries to China is another story – but it exemplifies the pure blindness of the long-term political thinkers of the U.S.) As the Uncibal article points out – Russia has centuries of deep intellectual tradition embedded in its culture. When one looks at the complete shambles that the universities of the U.S. and the rest of the Anglophone world have become, and the non-entities that run them, as well as the dumbed-down education systems of the Anglophone world - I suspect that it really might be Russia that is now pulling the strings - because they are smarter than us. Maybe that’s why the author of ‘Without Sky’ has been locked up by Putin – his short story spilled the beans.
I will leave my other comments for later – if I get time.
The spark that set off the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries was Herr Guttenberg and his printing press. This was dangerous because while it spread ideas, many in the Catholic Church felt that these ideas undermined their authority and something must be done about them. Unfortunately, their zeal to hang on to their presumed rightful place in the world matched the other side's zeal to replace them.
BTW the last outbreak of this particular form of Catholic-Protestant warfare is said to have been the battle of Quiberon Bay in 1759.
It is impossible to ground ourselves in Truth when our lives are dominated by the political. Everything is politics. Everything. Because everything is about Government and Government is political. There is no reality outside of Government. It is the matrix within which we exist. The libertarian dream is to escape Government and ground ourselves in Truth. How can we ever escape though, when a majority of our fellow humans prefer to be governed and willingly cooperate in their own subjection?
I disagree with the notion that ''everything is politics", and that we cannot ground ourselves in Truth....or its constituent parts....perhaps a receptacle of 'truths'.
Governments exercise political controls over a nation and the populations within it to deliver for society ....the economy, education, health etc....it's been a fact of life going back centuries, part of the social fabric. It might be an inescapable part of life because we are governed, sometimes the 'governers' become the governed as one Party succeeds another, but it is not our only reality. There is the 'reality' of 'mind' and 'spirit', more than might be apparent from how msm presents our 'governed reality'.
I dislike that term 'matrix' ( no offence) because of its connotations with the film. It's like saying human beings have no autonomous reality.
Yes, many of our fellowmen do accede too readily to illogical government diktats but are they really the majority? It is a matter of perception. Governments do not want us to know about how they are constructing 'reality' but by their very policies and agendas that reality is revealed in all its grubby veniality. More people recognise the dangers of the false reality.
How can we ever escape? We do because we communicate, we think, we attend to our spirits and minds, and, we have truthful writers and speakers with whom we have common ground. I suppose we must never give up on the existence of the truth of that age old battle between good and evil, therein lies our reality.
My only quibble is that the Russian desire to stir things up is hardly unique - even their methods might not be unique. The Americans, the Chinese, the French are all up there in the 'Other countries that seek their own benefit from causing us discomfort'. You could add some Supranational entities too.
I suspect, as you suggest, that the Government of the UK is far to open to such influences. My Granddaughter's dance class ends with a rousing chant: "It's nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice!". It would seem that other countries are pushing against an open door.
The British liberal establishment, the Russian regime and Truth.....a complex tripartite relationship if ever there was! Brings to mind an old essay of mine written around the start of the Ukraine war. "Vladimir Putin may be a paranoid autocrat and a failing military strategist but when he talks about people in the West who want to "destroy [its]traditional values and impose their pseudo-values... which would corrode [it] from within" you surely have to ask yourself if he does have a point? Ironically, the people he presumably is talking of really do know how to mount a successful invasion......" https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/invasion-of-the-virtue-signallers
Is Putin a failed military strategist? It’s still too early to tell. All I know is the people who tell me that are the same type of people who told me lockdowns were a brilliant idea. We ought to be able to separate out in our minds the fact that he should not have invaded and annexed parts of Ukraine from the question of whether or not he is achieving his strategic objectives and what they are. The fact that our intelligentsia don’t appear to be able to do that is a concern to me.
The Western Media-Military Complex's attitude to Russia is a fascinating subject in its own right. Why - with all the Godawful regimes around the planet - is Russia always the first to be sent to the naughty corner.
No I don't know either.... and for similar reasons. It was just part of a hook line on an article about something else entirely!
I think we ought to be asking the 'why' question, which the unintelligentsia are averse to do so.
Barak Obama: "You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorising that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose their trust in their leaders, mainstream media and political institutions, in each other - in the possibility of truth - the Game is won."
This is truly and exceptionally brilliant, David. I'm looking forward to the read. I agree with the message. A little clarity of the black and white type is in order, and i suspect not far off.
I can't help thinking that Surkov's description of the dismembered society of World War V is an exaggerated description of the internet, particularly that part of social media that indulges in intellectual and political arguments. However, I find his binary end-point, yes/no, black/white, good/bad? unconvincing. I suggest that the factions mill around variously colluding or fighting each other until they become aware of an external threat or find some sport that is violent enough not to produce blood feuds.
It was written in 2014, which makes it quite prophetic in a number of ways - I don't think we had anything like as good an understanding of how destructive social media would end up in those days.
The end point is I think obviously representative of the desire of a Russian to present Russia as possessing insights which the West does not. But I hoped to make clear that there is another way to read it.
David - I want to change my subscription - card, current amount - and I'm pretty annoyed with myself that I can't find a way of doing this. The Substack mail is from no-reply@Substack.com
my email is hywelquebec@icloud.com . Hywel Morgan
I will investigate!
When people are frightened and confused, they retreat to binaries. Hence, among other things, the rise in religious fundamentalism in recent decades. In the end, only (my) God can save us.
"What is Truth"??? If a definitive answer cannot be given to this question your "Truth", my Truth, their Truth, is only ever going to be "truth". So tell us "What is Truth"?
A good comment, Accipiter.
Quoting - “I think the repudiation of Russia and its people is mistaken”. Yes - it has been a serious mistake. JFK understood that - but unfortunately he was murdered for it.