Dear Steele Redux,

I have been afraid to use the ad blocker. When I get an offer which sounds too good I feel I will have to pay for it in the end. I have read transcripts of Dugin's views, and they seemed scary. I admire George Washington. He gave up power even though he could have been reelected for life. Generally, anyone who wants power isn't fit to have it. Maybe Hitler, Putin, Trump and others were once scared little boys at the mercy of an overbearing parent. I know I have a great potential for violence within me and feel it's probably good for others that I never had power over them. What rough beast is that slouching toward Bethlehem?

Dear davidf,

Adblock Plus is from a .org site as is UBlock which is also open source. As such they are less likely to be extracting a pound of flesh than other more commercial ventures.

I have little hesitancy recommending them both. Further AdBolck Plus allows me to permit ads on sites I believe deserve advertising revenue generated from my viewership for instance Friendly Jordies.

Yes Dugin's views are scary although his critique of Western liberalism isn't without merit. It is his alternatives which are rightly concerning.

I'm afraid 'the beast of prey; the magnificent blonde brute, avidly rampant for spoil and victory' has long ago sidestepped Bethlehem

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Dear david f,

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I agree with your opening gambit on this thread.

In addition to the possible explanations you indicate for the difference of attitude of the US and other nations to what is happening in Ukraine compared to what happened in Syria, there is also the fact that Ukraine is located geographically among the world’s most highly democratic nations (The Economist’s Democracy Index 2020), whereas Syria ranks at the bottom of the list, in 164th position from a total of 167 (the last being North Korea) – as one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes.

Russia, by the way, ranks 124th – also, of course, as one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes.

For some reason, Putin’s strategy of hiding the extent of the loss of his soldiers from their families and the Russian people, in general, reminds me of Virgil’s poem “The Pyres” (Aenid, Book XI), written between 29 and 19 BC :

http://soundcloud.com/user-243983744/03-the-pyres-aeneid-book-xi?in=user-243983744/sets/christian-bok-reads-poems-from-the-paris-review-archive&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

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It’s interesting to note that the US non-profit organisation, ACLED, which collects information on political violence and protest events around the world, over 100,000 people have been killed in Yemen, including more than 12,000 civilians, as well as estimates of more than 85,000 dead as a result of an ongoing famine due to the war. In 2018, the United Nations warned that 13 million Yemeni civilians face starvation in what it says could become "the worst famine in the world in 100 years.

The Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign has killed or injured an estimated 19,196 civilians as of March 2022.

The United States has provided intelligence and logistical support for the campaign that continues despite the Biden Administration's pledges to withdraw U.S. support for Saudi Arabia in the Yemen War. The U.S. has also been a major supplier of weapons to the Yemeni government, although according to the Pentagon, hundreds of millions of dollars worth of that material has gone missing since it was delivered.
Russia called for "humanitarian pauses" in the coalition bombing campaign in 2015, bringing the idea before the United Nations Security Council.

In 2019 a UN report said the US, UK, and France may potentially be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons to the Saudi-led coalition which the report said was using starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare :

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/03/uk-us-and-france-may-be-complicit-in-yemen-war-crimes-un-report.

That sound familiar, doesn’t it ?

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Dear Banjo Paterson,

At the Nuremberg trials US Judge Jackson said the US would be subject to the judgment of an international Criminal Court. Considering the actions of Saudi Arabia which has been supplied by US arms sales and supported by the US Jackson and the US have been dishonored.

During WW2 a British induced famine starved to death possibly 3 million Indians. The Russians massacred Polish officers in the Katyn forest. The Nuremberg trials only considered the crimes of those who lost WW2.

I will have to look up your reference to Virgil. My hearing is not good enough to decipher the sound clip.

Dear SteeleRedux,

I looked up Alexandr Dugin. In his bio was this:

"In June 2012, Dugin said in a lecture that chemistry and physics are demonic sciences, and that all Orthodox Russians need to unite around the president of Russia in the last battle between good and evil, following the example of Iran and North Korea.[116] He added: "If we want to liberate ourselves from the West, it is needed to liberate ourselves from textbooks on physics and chemistry."[116]"

It's a war on reason.

Dear davidf,

Dugin it to Putin what Bannon was to Trump. Someone who manages to wrap obvious truths around some pretty nasty nuggets. But those truths are nonetheless potent and worthy of discussion in my opinion.

There is some nuance to be considered regarding your opening post. There had been over 12,000 casualties in Eastern Ukraine before the invasion. Nazi brigades were rampant in the region and their abuses well know. But any Western outrage was muted at best. Why? Because it was ethnic Russians in the firing line? This doesn't quite fit with the “blond, blue-eyed Christians” premise you led with.

Vice did a good program on the Nazi brigades on the front line over 3 years ago. Their flags of red over black symbolising blood over soil.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMMXuKB0BoY

Why wasn't the far more outrage over this aspect of the conflict. It certainly allows people like Dugin to slant the narrative more effectively because of it.

As to the quote about chemistry and physics being demonic sciences I'm struggling to find a reference that gives any context. It certainly wasn't in the one provided by Wikipedia.